"I want to go hunting with Zawa."
"Samson…" peering down at her child with flames dancing within her hazel eyes, Arachet shook her head, "…my son you are yet still a seedling with plenty of moments for growth. Why rush a spirit that is eternally waiting?"
Raising his head to gaze up at his mother Samson told her.
"Because I am strong like Zawa."
"That is reality, my love but…" Returning a compassionate gaze Arachet smile never wavered, "…but with strength comes wisdom and demon you yet to master."
Breaking free from his mother's grasp, Samson spun around halfway. "Demon?" he said with questioning eyes and a raised brow. "What demon? Does it have sharp teeth and many eyes?"
Giggling at her childs remark, Arachet head slowly shook. "I don't know about sharp teeth and many eyes, but I do know that even the strongest of men are unable to conquer it."
Eyes sparkling with intrigue, Samson practically leapt into his mother's lap. "What is this demon Rubi?"
"It's…" Glancing from left to right, Arachet leaned in as if revealing a secret. "…a demon that once conquered would place the universe in your hands."
"Universe." Imagining men, beasts, and all of nature itself, Samson, eyes lit up as bright as the fireplace they set in front.
"Yes, Universe. Would you like to know what this demon is?"
"Tell me!" said Samson, practically shouting.
"It is the demon of impatience," replied Arachet, fighting back a grin. "It seems seedlings have a hard time conquering this beast, but with deep meditations and the twisting of your hair, you may attain the strength to defeat such a fiend.
Beaming at his mother with a pout, Samson spun around and threw his back to the wooden chair. Crossing his arms, he said, "That's not funny."
~Few Miles Away~
Owent, owent!
Tossing his head at the franticness of his mount's movement, Ohr slid a hand along the beast's neck to calm it. "What is it, girl?" he asked while following the rotation of her ears. "Is something approaching?" Staring at the mountain's edge for a moment, he slid off his ride and crept over to a boulder. Taking a peek at what laid underneath, his body shook then went stiff. "Lions?"
Backing away slowly while controlling his breathing, Ohr's gaze flew past his mount as he cautiously made his way back to the beast. "We can make it to safety. Just remain calm and head to the trees over there."
~ ~
Hmmf, hmmf, sniffing the air, one lion let loose a growl. Transitioning into its Arcadian (lion/humanoid form) the were-beast said, "We have company."
Ears perking, the rest of the pride transformed as well until they all stood on two feet. "I can smell the fear emanating from the mount." Spoke a lioness with a lick of her teeth. "How tantalizing." Taking a deep inhale, she shivered with delight. "Please tell me we are going on a hunt."
"The rider is ruach, a weak one from my observation," said another Arcadian.
"As Schenti…" The alpha grinned menacingly; "…every treasure is worth plundering." Releasing a roar, the Arcadian said, "Panthera, seize and capture the ruach and his mount."
~ ~
"There we go." spoke Ohr, gently. "If we make it to the inner chambers of the mountain." Descending a steep, rocky slope, a tug of his beast's reins brought it to a halt. "Okay." Rotating his mount thirty degrees, they came to face a road of rock pillars that led to another segment of the mountain.
Staring at the path for a short while, with a deep sigh then a whip of his mount's rein, Ohr told the dino cat of a steed, "Forward." Shaking its head and stomping as if in protest, the beast took calculated steps backwards before bolting forward, leaping from one perch to the next.
~.Cabin~
"Samson."
Hearing his mother's sweet voice within seconds, Samson's head slid past the door frame. "Marrubi," he replied, body halfway in and out. "You summoned me."
"Could you do your Rubi a favor?" asked Arachet playfully.
Pulling his whole body out with a wide grin, Samson said, "Yes, marrubi?"
"Your marrubi is becoming frozen stiff, and I need someone big and cuddly to help keep me warm while zawa is away. Do you know anybody who could be of assistance?"
"I can! I can!" hollered Samson, leaping up and down. "And…" Running over to the fireplace, he took a huge deep breath then blew a spiral stream of fire into a teardrop stone vessel covered in a mahogany coat of wood with the inside copper.
"Oh my Catyph, you truly are brilliiant! Now, all I need is something furry to keep me warm."
Staring into his marrubi's milky brown eyes, Samson's cheeks blew up along with a loving, radiating smile that lit the entire room. "My eye has the perfect image."
Imagining the figure he wanted to become, Samson went through a transfiguration that left him standing on all fours.
Laughing deeply to where her gut puffed out, Arachet took graceful strides to her child until his cat head softly pressed and nudged into her gut, displaying his love with each nuzzle.
Rubbing her hand through the thick wave of fur that her Catyph wore like water, Arachet's head fell onto its thick mat like a puffy, then padded pillow.
Yawning with a couple strokes of Samson's fur, Arachet fell asleep the moment her head touched the straw and leaf-stuffed mat.
~.In the caves ~
"Couldn't this pathway have been less difficult?" Clambering down a mountain wall at a slow and steady pace, "Curses," whispered Ohr to himself.
"I found him." Spoke a Panthera. "He's climbing down this slot."
"God, I'm going to be frozen stiff before I make it home." Sighing, with a rub of his temples, Ohr muttered out.
"I see them!" shouted an Arcadian. "All I have to do…" Raising an arm and holding out as if she held an apple in her hand with a flex of lioness muscle, claws shot out. Lowering herself to the gorge, the Panthera put a paw on the wall, then whoop, fell in head first.
"Ha! Creating foot holds for me to descend this treacherous mountain was energy well spent. Catyph appreciation because your talent made this moment."
~ ~
"It's alright." Rubbing the scaly side of his mount, Ohr head swung from left to right, taking in the wavy curved walls and columns surrounding them. "The light will reveal the path." Raising his hands slowly, the Ruach made sure that his back was facing a wall. "I have one destination."
Holding his calm and his beast's reins tightly, Ohr swept across the canyon, inspecting and processing every movement down to the flicker of every shadow in the bluish-green arctic light reflecting from crystal stalactites hanging off the ceiling.
"We do as well."
"How?" Exhaling all fear, Ohr held his mount steady in a seated position. "He may have found grounds above me, but location alters nothing." Thought Ohr with a breath of confidence. "Force is in motion."
"And you just became an extra on our expedition."
~ ~
"Zawa…" Hanging over his father like a disco ball spinning and taking snapshots of the inner cave, Samson's consciousness zoomed in on Ohr like that of a satellite camera. "Hum" aware of all the space through waves of vibration, he was both transmitting and receiving the child focal point kept over the target, spinning and collecting data.
Observing his father, arms and hands up, Samson felt the energy rising and vibrations moving through space, allowing him to perceive the situation from Ohr raising his arms up then lowering them to the spark of blue and yellow flames igniting from the pinky size daggers his zawa kept hidden up his sleeve.
Watching the sparks erupt into a beautiful tidal wave of blue, green and yellow flames, Samson's eye caught his father reaching into a bag, along with every panthera detail rather it was them shielding themselves from the massive flames, running in disarray from being caught on the gas lines or being burnt to a crisp from being fully enveloped in the fiery wave wall separating predator from prey.
Taking in a last display of colorful smoke and gas, Samson's consciousness rose into the heavens, and then he snapped awake.
~ ~
"I thought stripping them of their sense of smell would slow down their progress, but…" Anchoring his arrow in the bow, weesh, Ohr shot a Panthera before it was break through the flames. "...those Arcadians were able to track me."
"Fighting back is inane." Spoke the pack leader beyond the great wall. "These flames will flicker away, or I will find my way through this labyrinth. That's if one of my subordinates doesn't capture you beforehand. Why extend the inevitable and add to your torment? Simplify this hunt that way we all come out on top."
Gritting his teeth, Ohr said nothing, yet thought, "There is a way out I…" snapping his head to the right then left at two hollering Panthera, his gaze locked on to the three that stood before him with no burns of flames latching on to them. "I only wish to return to my family."
"You will have a new family." Said one of the Arcadians drawing closer. "That's if our King allows you to live."
~ ~
"Strong will, bit into your leg, tore at your tendons, clawed at your sides, even ripped off an arm." Pacing left and right, the leader of the Panthera shook his head then let out a sight. "You would've been a grand slave but now the damage you have succumb has made you about as valuable as Orin shit." Sighing then grunting in annoyance, the Arcadian took a couple steps forward until he stood over Ohr.
"Zaaawaa!"
Hmmmm, turning their heads with interest, the Panthera slid their head around and then up a thirty-six foot high wave column. "Excellent!" Said the King with gleaming eyes. "Now, a loss will not have to be taken." Staring greedily at the child, a menacing smirk crept up the Arcadian's face. "For you have brought us an even greater product."
"Samson, run!"
"I see it." Shifting her eyes from Samson to Ohr, a lioness eyes flew out like a squeeze doll. "That's your seed. No denying he is your exact image." Taking another glance at their prey, the Panthera asked. "What are we going to do with him?"
"Due to his condition, he is no longer of any use to us. Physical damage could become mental damage and…" Looking at Ohr's battered body, the leader's head bobbled. "He hardly can stand. He's falling all over the place. Might as well send him to oneness, we do not want him to spoil. The energy we consume must be of the hunt and nothing else. For that is how we gain strength."
"Your word will be fulfilled." Projecting curved daggers for claws, in a flash step, the lioness stood face to face with Ohr, with blood squirting onto her dirty brown furry torso and half an arm poking out of her victim's back and the rest buried in his midsection.
Eyes growing wide from horror, tears fell down Samson's cheeks. "Zawa," he cried with glowing red eyes. "Zawa" from almost four feet to a seven-foot linebacker, the now badger face child beamed down at the Schenti. "Ahhhhhh" Wailing, an exoskeleton snapped on his body as his body bent backwards like a were-wolf howling at the moon.
"I thought the child was ruach." remarked a Panthera. Covering his face from the waves of energy. "Yet…" gritting his teeth as shockwaves slammed against him the cry of his peers being blown into the canyon walls hit his ears.
Pressing a taloned foot into the marble floor, black wings erupted from Samson's back as his reptilian body fell into a squat. Roaring with rage, with a beat of his dark wings, the child shot across space, chopping down multiple Panthera before plunging a flaming black badger paw through the chest of his father's attacker.
Watching his child slice through the lioness, Ohr's eyes didn't leave his aggressor until her body hit the floor snapped and half, and a black mesmerizing flame danced into view. Trailing the flame up to its source, there wasn't a stain of blood on the blade of fur.
Reaching his father's side with a flash of a step, Samson stood over him in a crouch. "Zawa," he cried before taking a deep, deep inhale that expanded his chest out like a balloon. Feeling the fire bubbling in his chest, the young boy let loose a spray of fire and smoke. Enveloping his father in the cloud of flaming smoke, Samson stood up slowly as all consciousness faded.
"What sort of daemon is this child?" Taking a step back in fear, a Schenti threw his hands up in agitation at a glimpse of his leader. "This kid just cut down several of Panthera in a moment then choose to manifest five more daemons of himself." Shaking his head like a mad dog, the Arcadian sighed. "I don't know who's more terrifying, him or our Suru." Clenching his lion jaws, he prepared for what was to come.
~ ~
Ommm, coming to awareness, Samson's eye sat above a still darkness, while his body vibrated out in all directions, connecting his essence with the millions of twinkling stars encompassing his newfound consciousness. "Where am I?" Noticing the expansion of his thought spread out into the vast nothingness of space.
Ahhhh, replying with a conch shell of a melody, the universe's response was to suck him up a tube of rotating energy like water through a straw. Feeling the pressure of his soul and spirit rising, Samson also felt his energy mixing, blending with the infinite stars until a glowing green sphere stood in front of him, drawing him in like a fly to light.