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Eclipse prowled the gates to the underworld, waiting for her next client. She had one job- she was the receptionist for the souls of the dead here at the underworld, and it was her duty to show the newly deceased around their new realm. Her work here at the Gates of the Underworld could be monotonous, and it sure could be tiring at times, but she had a gut feeling her next client would be something special. Waiting at her station, she played with her mane as she wondered who her next client would be.
Soon she saw her colleague Schatten- a young Reaper in charge of gathering souls- running for the gates, a soul in chains following her. She ran to the very front of the gates, ready to welcome the soul to the underworld. Schatten quickly handed Eclipse the chains and ran off as fast as she could, without giving any information about the soul she had brought with her. In the few seconds she could see Schatten, Eclipse noticed a fearful look in her eyes, as though something wasn’t right….
“Ok. State your name, and the last thing you remembered before you got here….”
The soul refused to respond to the question. She just rotated her neck to stare straight at Eclipse, then proceeded to stare at her with hollowed eye sockets, her unwavering sight reminding her of a ventriloquist dummy.
Eclipse took the silence as a chance to size up the soul. She couldn’t discern quite WHAT she was…but whatever she was, she wore a skull on her face with hollowed out eyes, which gave her the creeps. A rabbits foot hung around her neck, and she had massive, bloodied, teeth pointing out from her skull.
She asked the soul the question again. “What is your name, and where did you come from?” The soul spoke this time, with a chilling voice that even Eclipse would learn to fear.
Her response was simple.
“Hunt. Dominate. Survive.”
As she spoke her words, the soul morphed into a horrible beast, with withered wings and bloody spikes emerging from her back. Eclipse gained a sudden urge to run from the beast, but her legs wouldn’t budge….she panicked, in constant fear, trying to flee, but she just couldn’t move. She tried to close her eyes to get the horrible delusions to go away, but she couldn’t…
She fell down, frozen in place, as her coworkers grabbed her unmoving body, and rushed her to Tate, the pride shaman. Eclipse, still fully paralyzed and unable to speak, was taken to the back of the office on a white stretcher, as her coworkers surrounded her.
Tate laid Eclipse’s frozen body down, and began studying the paralyzed lioness. It didn’t take long for her to realize there was nothing that could be done. Tate shook her head, and Eclipse could only hear the horrible news being told to her friends.
“I’m sorry, she’ll be like this as long as she lives.”
Eclipse couldn’t believe it, she had cubs to feed, a mate to care for, and now she’s going to be paralyzed for life. What would her family think of her? Would they still care now that she was stuck like this? Who would take care of her?
Eclipse thought of the soul who sentenced her to this fate. Only she knew there was now a beast capable of doing…this…to a lion with a simple growl, and now…she couldn’t warn anyone. Her eyes looked toward the roof, hopelessly. She was the first to be sentenced to this fate…but she knew she won’t be the last…and she could only watch.
On the other side of the pride, the soul walked through the black gates to the underworld, and began to sow the seeds of chaos.
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