Word Count: 1946
As she had counted the trinkets that were accumulating around her neck she had come to a conclusion. Regardless of what Gideon might have said, he was a special creature, an entity in some form. She had begun to suspect that he was the harbinger of chaos himself, but the more she observed him the more she realised that his methods were too orderly and succinct. Every tiny motion, no matter how minut, was done with such precision that she had soon adjusted her theory - he was the harbinger of death.
He swept through the jungles with scarcely a sound and when the time approached and the end was near for one of the participants, it would be him who struck the final blow. They may not expect it and on some occasions two or three hadn't... but they couldn't fight it. He had appeared behind at least two of the more successful contestants and by the time they had realised, it was too late. Whatever song he uttered as he silenced them for eternity was still a mystery to her, but each time it floated across the air to her ears, she knew what it meant.
...And all the while, she was still alive.
But why?
Now that she had taken the time to count the trinkets around her neck she had come to a startling conclusion. All sixteen were carefully resting upon it, clinking and flickering as the sun's rays bounced off each. A game and sport that should have lasted for a few weeks had been ended within just two days... and bizarrely, she was the victor. It was not something that she had ever anticipated would happen. By now she should have been dead, killed mere moments after the games had begun and yet here she was, as the last one standing. The unfortunate consequence of this realisation though, was that she was going to have to return to face the elders and that point she would be alone.
There would be so many questions, so many narrowed and suspicious eyes as the elders desperately tried to figure out how she had been favoured by chaos. However even she was beginning to wonder if it had been chaos who had granted her this chance, it didn't seem likely, nor did the god of war tend to favour the weak. Certain things just didn't add up and hesitantly she turned to look at Gideon who had found a spot to sun himself - unsurprisingly, he still did strange things to her stomach, she didn't understand them but she did accept that she found him appealing to look at.
"Yes?" he enquired, his eyes remaining shut even though his ears had swivelled towards the cheetah expectantly. In the last two days it had been this ability that disturbed her the most, she didn't know how he did it but he really did seem to see everything - it made no sense to her.
"I have to go back," she confessed and stared down at her neck. "I'm the last one, I uh...won the game," she murmured uncomfortably and lifted a paw to prod at each of the trinkets. It was then that the lion opened his eyes and turned to examine the cheetah. Still young and naive, but he had been impressed that she hadn't panicked, flinched or screamed in horror as he had done what she couldn't - if only she had known that it was his entire reason for being here.
...Granted he hadn't realised that until a few hours into the entire event but when he did, his previous vision had made quite a lot of sense.
"Thn I would suggest you claim your prize," Gideon replied without a trace of concern and pulled himself to his paws. Giving a shake, he seemed to puff up quite a bit due to the static caused by the heat and then padded towards her. "What is it they said, honour and glory in the eyes of chaos?"
"Something like that..." she conceded.
"And no one realises that the rewards in themselves are completely contradictory to what chaos is," he mused and without further remark, began to pad in the direction of her home. She gaped for a moment, gave a squeak and then bounded after him, leaping in front of him before he could proceed any further forward. "Yes?" he asked, his eyebrow lifting in a fashion she had now grown surprisingly used to.
"You can't go, they'll -" she fell silent, sat down and seemed to rein herself in as she considered what she was about to say. Gideon in the mean time, waited patiently for her to draw whatever conclusions she needed to make. "They heard you in the forest," she said finally and shook her head, "They would think I was the first to die, but if you came back with me then...they wouldn't know what you were but they'd see I was still alive and then maybe they would -"
"Think you are more useful and blessed alive, rather than dead?" he offered.
"Yes," she conceded and stepped out of his way. "Something like that, at least."
******
With nothing to threaten Noona or pose an obstacle, it didn't take her very long at all to return home and with a newfound confidence in her step (no one would harm her with a harbinger in her midst), she entered the clearing and smiled at the audience. She was not what they had been expecting when the scouts reported that a contestant had finished the games and was returning - unsurprisingly, just as Gideon had said, she found that the stunned silence and horrified expressions were ever so slightly satisfying.
She, the one who should have died as a basic sacrifice and scapegoat, had returned unscathed and more importantly, with a towering beast behind her.
She had never seen the Elders act so warily before, skirting around the 'lion' as they came to examine the trophies around her neck. They barely uttered a word of discension either, regarding Gideon with equal parts suspicion and fear before backing away once more. It was only when they had confirmed she was in possession of every trophy that they spoke, momentarily disregarding Gideon's presence.
"How?" it was a simple question and one she had thought long and hard about whenever she was on her way home.
"Physically I am not the strongest contestant, mentally I'm not the most vicious either," she replied gently and glanced towards Gideon who gave a very slight nod of encouragement. "Truth be told I have many vulnerabilities but I also have strength and diplomacy is one of them," she motioned to Gideon with her paw and took in a breath, gathering her composure which was threatening to leave her at any moment (by the gods she hated confrontation).
"I had no weapons, so I found one - "
"And you used it to cut swathes through the contestants rather than accepting your position," the elder wrinkled his nose in distaste, at which point Gideon's eyes narrowed and he stepped forward, pressing his nose against the elder's until it caused the cheetah to sit and bend his head down awkwardly into a bow.
"I have no qualms with allowing you to join your chosen champions," he murmured dangerously, acid-like in quality. It wasn't long before the Elder whipped away from the lion and retreated. "Fair is fair, and they did attempt to assault her three on one," he waved his paw as if dismissing the idea and chuckled. "So surely having assistance from me was not against the rules, after all...she was still one body down," he pointed out.
"They would never -"
"No? Then why were three of their bodies in the exact same area mere inches from each other?"
There was a silence and Noona watched as the elders wrestled with their desire to exert their influence and the fact that they were outgunned by a beast they had never encountered before. Even they were responding as she had, wary of his presence, suspicious of what he was, but aware that he was something extraordinary. Whether Gideon liked it or not, he was a messenger of the gods in some description and nothing was going to change that for this small clan.
It wasn't long before the Elder admitted some form of defeat and retreated to discuss the events with the council, disappearing behind a throng of cheetahs so that Noona could no longer see him. However, one sideways glance towards Gideon indicated that he could see everything...
A few minutes later they returned and gave a nod of acceptance to Gideon. His point had been made and had been regarded as valid and in a manner of speaking, when it came to chaos, there were no rules, were there?
"We will concede that chaos favours...you, this year, Noona," one of the elders spoke with some difficulties, fighting the urge to say 'the weak' instead. It caused a tiny smile to lift onto her lips in those moments, she wasn't sure why, but she felt elated. Generally speaking she hated confrontation but there was something different about watching someone argue on your behalf...and give no quarter when doing so either.
"You are free to return home," murmured another and then, much to their surprise, she shook her head.
"I don't want to," she said at last, pulling off each of the rophies until she was left with her own token. Setting them neatly into a pile, she took her place beside Gideon and smiled - however this time it was different, she was radiant and liberated now that she had found the courage to make her decision. "I want to see the world of the gods," she continued, her smile still plastered to her face as she heard Gideon sigh in exasperation beside her.
"I want to see what they made beyond our home, what they're still making and Gideon has said he'll take me!"
He hadn't, she knew that, but to his credit he didn't deny it even if he did turn to watch her in silence.
"Be honest," she focused on the elders and shook her head. "You don't want me here."
"You will bring wrath upon us," they muttered. "For releasing our own into sacred -"
"Bullshit," Gideon intervened and snorted in distaste. "They'll be delighted to have her," he corrected and tilted his head to the side, though he said nothing more than this.
"I'll bring wrath upon myself, if anything..." Noona corrected and hazarded another small smile. "After all you expressed your discontent, it's me who's just going to ignore it." she finished, tidying up the little pile of trinkets before backing away and turning to Gideon. It was at this point that she had no desire to wait for her former elders to interject again. "I'm ready to go now," she murmured hopefully and fortunately for her, Gideon appeared to concede.
"Start walking then," he ordered and obediently she did, however, he paused briefly to glance behind him and towards her clan, a dark smile on his lips. She may not have been confrontational but when it came to cultures he didn't agree with he definitely was.
"Just a heads up," he began and flashed another rather wicked smile. "Chaos hates orderly festivities, arrangements and traditions are offensive," he pointed out and with that, padded after the pink cheetah. He wasn't quite sure what she was going to do when he finally led her into the 'god lands', but at least he knew she would be happier...
