OMG! Look what Cerrates had commissioned for me:
In the dark of the glade there is something else: a burning cave. The lioness within regards you coolly, though flames seem to pour from her fur, overcoming her eyes, glistening from her nostrils and throat as she speaks. The ground smolders under her paws. Her face is hidden under a mask created from the skull of her ancestor. Yet, even when everything about her screams danger, she approaches you slowly so as not to frighten you, and at long last offers a greeting, her voice trembling with unearthly heat:
"Welcome to my cave, Wayfarer. I am Elata, the Elevated, the Burning One. I see the past, the present, and the future. I see you..."
Heat washes over your face as she speaks to you... you stay until you can no longer bear her soul-searing eyes. You flee quickly from the Burning One's home, her all-seeing eyes following you even when you are well beyond her lair.
[Newborn]
There's something...
strange about the young cub. She sits and mewls softly like any normal cub, but Mom looks worried. October is always a strange month, but she's pretty sure cubs' insides aren't supposed to glow like fire... especially newborns'. And are those... horns?
[1 Month]
Elata crawls over to an old lion skull sitting in the hoard and places one paw on it. They share a... moment. Mom blinks nervously. Baby cubs aren't supposed to have glowing eyes. Or be fascinated by the skulls of their kin.
[2 Months]
Those are definitely horns growing on her head. And spikes are starting to grow along her spine. Is she a demon? Even Mom isn't sure... Elata looks up with glowing eyes, right through Mom, right through everything... like she's not completely there.
[3 Months]
Elata discovered a vulture skull today. She asked if it could go around her neck. Yeah,
why exactly does she like skulls?
[4 Months]
Elata accidentally burned another cub with her flames today. It was only a matter of time, still, the way Elata cries about it makes your heart wrench... she snuggles close to your paws for comfort, and you ignore the sting of her little paws on yours. Mostly.
[5 Months]
Elata told another cub today they were going to die. They run away sobbing while you explain to Elata just why she can't go saying things like that to her pridemates. She looks at you with big, glowing eyes, nods, then says: "You'll die too." She starts sobbing.
[6 Months]
Elata is staring into a pool of water when you approach her this morning. You ask what she sees, and she just looks at you blankly. It becomes clear she isn't going to answer that question.
[8 Months]
You notice Elata poking at leaf with her paw... and
not setting it on fire. How'd she learn to do that? Her paws are definitely still burning, but nothing around her is flaming! Wow! She looks up when she notices you watching her and offers a glowing grin.
[9 Months]
After saving another cub from a high place, Elata appears to have made her first friend.
[10 Months]
Elata has formed a close bond with Iolanda. Today Elata approaches you, burning eyes glowing up at you cheerfully. "She's special," she tells you simply, "like me." What?
[1 Year, 4 Months]
In the earliest hours of morning, before the rest of the pride is stirring, Elata goes out to find Japera. The old, silky-furred lioness has left the cave of her elders and wandered to the edge of the oasis where she lays quietly on her side, her old ribcage shuddering with each labored breath. Elata sits beside her, the flames on her body seeming to grow and glow brighter as she sits silently beside her elder. "Don't be afraid," she whispers, her unearthly voice surprisingly mature. Fiery tears slip behind her mask—she'll miss her old denmother. "I will stay until it is done." Only after Japera has breathed her last does Elata slip away to inform King Azarasti.
[2 Years]
Elata seems to have accepted herself at long last. She rests at ease, away from the rest of the pride. Her foresight and strange appearance have garnered both fear and respect from her pridemates.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
The Burning One.
"Elevated."
Born into the pride on
October 27, 2017 with
73 stats.
[] Gained skill. [9/10]
[-] Trained. [4/5]
+ Elata wrestled you to the ground, then promptly rubbed her chin across your cheek. Aww. +4% training experience!
+ She should have been pouncing on the feather, but Elata was far too busy admiring how fluffy and soft it was.
+ Elata didn't mind not catching you this time, she'll get cuddles off you later.
+ Elata would rather rub her head against your chin than stalk about.
+ Another cub had somehow managed to get stuck atop a huge rock, and Elata clawed her way up to rescue them. +2% training experience!
+ Elata wrestled you to the ground, then promptly rubbed her chin across your cheek. Aww. +6% training experience!
+ Elata leapt and grabbed the feather almost out of midair… then rubbed her face against it. So soft! +5% training experience!
[x] Hunted.
+30 STR
+14 AGI
+1 SPD
+16 STM
(
143)
