Word Count: 1680
It hadn't been intentional and she had certainly never asked for it. But as fate would have it, the Cheetah was destined for selection and had been cast out from her den to take part in the ritual that should have killed her. She'd only been a mere child at the time, barely an adolescent when the elders had gazed down upon the cubs available to them and the selected her among a number of other participants.
For all intents and purposes the rules were simple, she, alongside all the other selected children, was to participate in what could only be described as a gladiatorial challenge. It was be or be killed, which was fine for some of the contestants who thrived on such challenges. However for this particular female, it positively terrified her... She was an oddity among her kind and a noted pacifist even as a child and this was probably part of the reason for her selection - if she could not respect the way of the community and cast a disrespectful gaze towards the gods, then this was the only way she could be granted honour.
In short, she had to die.
Alas, it seemed that not just the gods of chaos and war looked down upon her - as luck would have it (and much to the misfortune of her kin), they would not be witness to her death in the approaching months of the trial, or more importantly, during the trial itself. After all, few could have anticipated the visitor they would have received and the decisions he would make following his arrival...
******
By the time the opening ceremony for the trials had come, the female had already hardened somewhat. Mentally speaking she was in tatters, unaccustomed to the violence and otherwise inclined to hide, but physically she had hardened. Battered, bruised and aching, she could at the very least move through suitable amounts of pain. Pain was something she was used to by now and as such, she didn't shy from it... However, with that aside she was still one of the weakest and insignificant challengers - after all, she could withstand the damage others threw at her but she couldn't dish it out!
Nevertheless, the time for preparation was over and as the community enjoyed the festivity, each of the participants was granted the elder's blessing, wished luck and granted a trinket. The trinkets served their purpose of course, trophies to be gathered by the victor each time that they struck another contestant down.
Alas, when the elder came to a halt at her, he regarded her with a certain amount of disdain before placing the seashell around her neck.
"The only honour you will have, is in death," he stated without a hint of remorse. In his eyes, her fate was already sealed and he expected very little from her, the others however, were regarded as having much more potential.
Rather than speak out against the elder, the pink female merely lowered her gaze and bowed her head in respect, a small part of her conceding that perhaps he was right... perhaps this world was not for her, with the brutality and bloodshed that surrounded her - she was an oddity and an ominous presence who could potentially bring the wrath of the gods, so could she really blame them for their hostility?
No, not really.
The festivities continued into the night and in the morning, the games would begin.
******
The elders had decided, that as a matter of 'decency' they would permit her to have a head start. Perhaps it was because they would regard it as better sport and entertainment if she had the opportunity to hide, but she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. As the elders had said, she had ten minutes and then the other participants would begin as well... there was no time to delay and without further encouragement she had run.
Selecting a random direction, the cheetah darted into the jungle and never looked back. Instead she bounded through the trees, placing as much distance as was possible between herself and her home. Her intentions were clear, she would hide, perhaps in a den so deep and small that they would care to try and dig her out. That way, she could wait until they gave up and in their exhaustion...
She could scarcely fathom what she intended to do herself, but oddly, she just couldn't bring herself to lie down and die.
Alas, the female didn't have the opportunity as she heard the rallying cry behind her and then slammed into something warm and soft - that was when she met him, a creature she didn't initially recognise but who towered above her with a look that seemed to mirror the annoyance of the elders. She wasn't entirely sure what he was, but never in her life had she seen anything quite like him.
Massive in composition, he was like a tree in comparison to her lithe form. Muscular and with a small kink in his nose that made it bend down in a manner that seemed to give him a permanent sneer, she couldn't quite decide if she found him a bit ugly or incredibly attractive. Suffice to say that in every respect he was foreign territory - a bizarre creature and unusual feelings all boiled into one. However, it was when he arched his brow and the hair that enveloped his face and neck gave a quiver that she came to the conclusion that he was actually incredibly impressive...even if he was probably going to kill her.
Stunned into silence she instantly backed away, her lips parted and head bowed. Sadly, she had nowhere else to run either as she could already hear at least two of her fellow participants hot on her trail.
"I..." she uttered softly, struggling for words.
"Yes?" the lion uttered, clearly not one who struggled and squirmed in awkward situations.
"I..." she continued.
Alas, the gods bought her a little more time - no sooner had she opened her mouth to speak again than one of the younger contestants leapt through the trees and barelled straight towards her. Lacking the reflexes to dodge his attack from behind, everything should have ended then and there - except it didn't, in the midst of her confusion the lion had moved and with a solid swipe of his paw had thrown the child against the trunk of a tree. A momentary pause, and the female watched in awe as the lion sauntered towards her fallen contestant, opened his mouth and roared so loudly that it sent a quiver down her spine.
Suffice to say that his presence was soon known by all as the sound rippled through the jungle and a number of the contestants froze. They had been in the nearby area, waiting patiently for their opportunity, except that it now seemed that would never come.
"I would suggest running," the lion stated coolly to her fellow participant, sweeping the adolescent up into his paw and tossing him into one of the clearings. "Before I change my mind," he added. It was at this point that she watched in fascination as the contestant turned tail and ran, it was something she never thought she'd ever see, of course, if this was the case then what would happen to her? Would he wait until she had apologised and then do the same?
Eek!
"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to bump into you, I didn't even see you!" she said at last, breathlessly and still cowering. In reply, the lion glanced round, lifted his brow again and then examined the glowing markings upon his paws. Now that he was examining them, even she had to admit that he stood out quite a bit.
"Blind panic does have a way of making that happen," he concluded after a few moments and set his paw on the ground again. He then motioned over his shoulder towards the direction her pursuer had come from. "Friends of yours?"
"Contestants," she replied uncertainly and shook her head. "It's the festival of chaos, I uh... In order to satiate the deity of chaos we have an annual hunt. We have lucky participants who uh...compete and the winner comes home to great honour."
"And the losers?"
"Die," she stated flatly and rolled her shoulders. "But they still receive a great honour in doing so, their sacrifice is regarded as sufficient in the eyes of chaos, it makes him happy."
"To see children in a pride turn against and murder one another," the lion stated, clearly not buying into this festival at all. She couldn't help but hazard a small smile, apparently whatever this creature was, had a similar mentality to her own, or at the very least he didn't see sense in violence of this kind.
"I'm not really a child you know," she pointed out quietly and shook her head.
"You're still a child until you find your own paws," he replied and then flicked his gaze over his shoulder, his nostrils flaring as he caught wind of another foreign and potentially hostile scent. "Forgive me for saying but you don't appear to have the build for this event."
"I was never supposed to," she replied gently and shook her head. "The only honour I'll have is in death," she explained, echoing the sentiments of her elder. It was at this point that the lion raised both eyebrows and then shook his head.
"And you believe this?" he enquired stiffly. At this she hesitated and slowly shook her head, when push came to shove, she really didn't want to die.
"No," she whispered.
"Then I suggest we move," he ordered and motioned with his head for her to follow. Without looking back he began to pad in the opposite direction she had come from, cutting swatches through the undergrowth. Rather than hesitate and be left behind, the female simply glanced over her shoulder briefly and then bounded after him...
