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A lioness born with beautiful features, she grew quickly into a fine hunter. But her greatest flaw was becoming arrogant, thinking she deserved respect from her pride. Much to everyone's already high regard for the Lord of Creations, the demigod agreed for the lioness' sake, granting her the privilege of being seen as something worthy and eye-catching. So it began: the lioness was nothing more than a lion that somebody should bow down to. The Lord dismissed it, saying nothing else about it, letting it run its course until the lioness grew tired of such fame.
Until then, the lioness took it a step further, wanting something more than just respect due to her arrogance. She requested that she could create things just like the demigod.
He declined, reasoning with her that such power is only in his paws and cannot be given to others. His power was something special to him—bringing life, creating, and shaping the world. He could destroy mountains with a single paw strike but also create them with the flick of his tail. It was a big deal, basically. But the lioness shook her head in protest; she wanted to have powers too! She whined like a cub; such a bratty nature is unusual for a lioness. Alas, she never truly matured, now did she?
Despite the Lord's attempts to dismiss her, he gave in, sighing before bowing his head. It was at this moment that he led the lioness to a fairground surrounded by mountain cliffs and steep rocks. The very mountain the demigod shaped and fixed to provide protection for his pride.
However, as he brought the lioness close, he whispered in her ear three words she had to repeat and to drop an incense stick into the small pond. The lioness scoffed but did so anyway, feeling quite giddy at the prospect of knowing what she was about to get soon.
The demigod nodded his head, stepping forth as his paws had a lichen glow to them. His powers were unleashed, but only a small percent of them were given, sending such godly powers flying into the air and knocking the lioness back off her paws. She fell but recovered, clearly taken off guard by the intense feeling in her body. It made her shiver and wail out to the demigod, but he did nothing yet, standing still with eyes brighter than the moonlight. It was then that he stepped forward and flicked the lioness on the forehead, making her come back to her senses and recover from the strength of the demigod's powers. As she did so, she groaned and sat up, but soon realized her paws and parts of her body had changed. They no longer held their usual colours, for they were golden, the rich colour seeping out of the lioness' mouth.
The Lord of Creations hummed, standing tall and facing down at the lioness. "If you want to create, then you'll create gold." And with that, the demigod turned away to leave the lioness seeping gold from her mouth and paws, the mountains hard stone turning to man's riches.
From that day on, the lioness loved her new gift, despite it really having no use to lions. Gold? Well, that's what humans want, isn't it? So what purpose does a lion have with such power? Nothing, but the lioness didn't care; she went around prancing about with her power; everything she touched turned to gold, and that meant walking on her paws that turned the soil into halcyon. The rest of the pride began to complain, but they were never listened to by the lioness, who then turned the prey pile into gold.
Of course, the Lord of Creations took pity on his pride, knowing that the lioness' power was a burden to the rest, especially if half the mountain was painted in gold. So naturally, the demigod approached the lioness, asking out of regard for the rest of his pride. He forbade her the power, threatening to take it away now for the sake of others. But the lioness shook her head, protesting and damn near hitting the lord with the swipe of her paw. The demigod dodged, followed by him knocking her to the ground with a harsh whip of his tail. The very same tail whip that shattered the ground beneath him.
The lioness gasped, tumbling far from the Lord. She sustained injuries unlike others; instead of blood leaking out from her cuts from loose stones, it was pure gold that flowed like a stream out of her injuries. She shook her head, presumably regaining herself, before shakily standing up. Her head hung loose on the side, staring at the Lord with nothing but a deadpan expression. Then she charged, her claws scraping the golden terrain as she planned to attack the demigod. But of course, the Lord of Creations terraformed a wall of pure stone, causing the lioness to lose her balance and knock her head on the stone.
She fell back with a huff, clearly dazed by it. And before long, she placed a paw on her head, holding back a deep wound on her lower brow, gold oozing out of her.
Oh, but that was her mistake. The power had affected her too, had she not forgotten so soon. Her power engulfed her, her wails ceased, and she was nothing but a statue of a lioness who tried to call out for help to the demigod.
The Lord of Creations shook his head, lowering it before turning away. The lioness was nothing but a tale to the cubs in the pridelands, one of greed for power.
Hence the nickname,
The Golden Touch.
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