Stygian

Prologue-
As you were permitted your temporary stay in heaven, a young lioness catches your eye! Usually pridemembers here are light colors or very colorful! Even if they were dull in their mortal life, their pelt changes. It seems that this one hasn't. You watch as this one gets tormented by other angel lions. Calling them "Dolos" the god of trickery. Saying she's a demon in disguise, or she would never be one of them because her pelt hasn't changed no lions had black wings. Ever. And she was the first one. Ever. The angel lioness sat there in humiliation as other called her names, and downgraded her from their level because of their differences. "Aww! Little Dolos is gonna cry! We don't want her crying to her demon mommy and daddy!" They all laughed as she shed her tears. As they flew off laughing, you wander over to her. You ask her name and she looks at you timidly. Oh! Right! Silly you! You explain who you are and why she never noticed you before. "No, no, I've noticed you when you came.. I kinda have a keen eye of other people... sorry if that's weird," she apologized. She gave a long hard stare at the ground before continuing without looking at you, "I'm Stygian.." Once she looks at you, you nod at her, in greeting. She gives a soft smile before standing up. "I'm.. sorry but," she excused her, "I have to get going. Wouldn't want them seeing me here again." You try to get her attention to figure out what this is all about, but she continues flying off. Boy Angel's sure are fast with wings.. maybe if you gain more trust, she tell you more? So far you only know her name.. hmm...



Month 6,Day 1- ~Meeting Stygian~
You walk over and greet her while she's fishing. She stares at you, unsure of you. You reintroduce yourself and explain you are for a visiting heaven because of relative. She nods a feels a bit more comfortable. She admits she had forgotten who you were then. "My mother isn't here yet, so her healing abilities aren't available at the moment. She has gone to get more herbs, but are there any herbs here you need? I can tell you which ones she is out of and which she is happy to give. I'll let her know you're borrowing a few," you nodded. It was well over an hour when she started talking about the hierarchy of Heaven. Come God/Goddess all the way to newcomers. An albino crow landed on her wing. She looked at it with wonder. You're curious to see if she was maybe the angel of darkness? You didn't want to sound like others ho bullied her so you asked if she was the angel of birds? She shook her head and a boom suddenly broke out. She looked towards the sound and looked back at you in panic. "You might want to go! I'm not saying you're no match, but this is an immoral battle. You need to go. I don't think you want to be magically dead by a bunch of magic undead lions!!" she yelled. She lead over to the secret safe staircase for newcomers who had died and didn't yet have wings. She wishes you good luck on your way back home, and ran off.
You wanted to help so bad.. but she had a point. You can't help them unless you wanted to be dead yourself. And being killed by an angel or demon meant you becoming a spirit. You'd be no help if you were dead and never came back.


Month 7, Day 2- ~Scars Uncovered~
You're eager to greet her again. It's been almost a whole month since seeing Stygian. You send a message along with an eagle. The next day a dove comes by with a message. You read it. "Hello! I have gotten your message. I see you want to visist someone and I sent a dove to lead you the way. Please be careful as it is my mother's dove. If you leave now, you can make it before dawn! Do be careful though. The journey is not easy."
You nod at the dove and it shows you the way. You didn't think you'd see a dove in the Savannah. You follow the dove on a long ass journey through the earth randomly opening, the Rushing River of Holiness that will sweep away any bad lions. Luckily you weren't evil enough to be swept away. Though you can't say you are pure either. Multiple other obstacles like guardian angelic beings that you as to convince or sneak pass. The others you can't even describe how hard it was for a mortal lion to get to. You finally reach heaven and you rush to where Stygain normally is. Only to see her covered in scars. Not just past but present too. You walk up to her to talk. But she seems to not want to. You tried all you can, but she just forced you to leave her alone. That she's better in a month.


Month 8, Day 3- ~Training?~
It's been a while since you've seen Stygain. It was like she almost died in war. You walk over to her and greet her from afar. She looks at you and greets you back before getting plummeted by another angelic lion. An older lion calls them off and makes them face eachother again. You decide to watch like the others doing and observe them fight. There was a long pause as if letting get their breath. And then. He flicked his tail in the slightest moment possible. And they faught. The other angelic lion was brown. She had grayish eyes. Almost like the mist in a spooky forest. She launched at Stygain but she dodged. The brown lioness pounced on nothing but grass and dirt. Stygain was about to get pounce on the lioness but the lioness rolled away. Seeing as she was still down, she took the opportunity to try and pin her down. Though that did not go well as she was kicked off and almost out of bounds. Stygain recovered, but not quick enough. The brow lioness pounced her, and they rolled. It was hard to tell what they were doing. It was a full minute of tussling before Stygain was finally pinned. Both were tired, but didn't show it. As the older lion counted, Stygain tried to get her off, but she couldn't move. The round was over and Stygain sadly didn't win. You trot over to her, genuinely worried. She hisses ever you touch her wounds but continues to be friendly with you. She starts to talk more about training in heaven. Huh. Interesting..


Month 9, Day 4- ~Almost Official~
You greet Stygain again and she happily greets you again. She seems excited and you wonder why. "I only have one month until my ceremony!"
Ceremony? Angel's have ceremonies? Huh. You ask her what it's about and she goes crazy into detail! "It's when adolescent angel lions have turned exactly
1 year and 10 months old and go to a place called 'The Halo-Horn of Souls'! Hell has this too. At this age, we go to the Halo-Horn of Souls to determine if we have the right if to be here or not. You have your own halo assigned to your name. And they set one one 10 stones. One for each stone. No one is allowed to touch them. No one. Your own halo keeps track of your every move to make sure you're doing good. And since there are only 10 stones, only 10 cubs are allowed to be born every 11 months. But every cub deserves life so if more than 10 cubs are born before or during 11 months, they send them to earth for parents who want children. Or who we feel are ready for one. Either way, if you are there having your ceremony, your own halo will be put on your head. If it turns white... white is enough to send you down to live among mortals. And they will kill you if they found your identity. So you really have to hope for your halo to turn golden in order to become trusted and become a proud angel of heaven! And though this has happened for billions of years and not a single angel was send down for fallen.. It's the only part I'm scared of.. what if I'm not good enough..?" she questions. Seeming concerned, you calm her down and reassure her. You let her know everything will be ok and they she will be proud to see her a full angel. That might be why you never saw any cubs. And why you never saw her with a halo. But it seems time has passed by quickly. You give her a reassuring elbow nudge and wished her a goodbye..


Month 10, Day 5- ~Extermination~
You wake up next to someone and welcome their morning. You let your pride know you're off and ran off to the venture of heaven. It wasn't too long when when you were stopped at the gates of heaven. They don't usually do this. No biggie! Just tell then what you're here for! You explain to them you're visiting and that God Heaven'Mane has agreed to let him visit someone. They let him know that Stygain was supposedly banned from heaven. As this place was only for those that only bleed pure gold. You knew what they meant and the only word escaped from you was "WHAT?!?" They let you see for yourself as you rush past them and look for Stygain. Her den is empty, and her parents let you know she isn't here. That their own daughter wasn't pure enough.. you question them, asking if they ever thought to do anything about it. They shook their heads. You angrily listen to the mother who spoke first, "We can'tdo anythingabout it. Trust me. We did it many times with our past daughter.. and once you become an official angel, you can't even be sent down. They threatened to dissipate us by sending us the hell. We'd be killed on sight. The best we can do.. is hope that she's alive. And hope she makes it to at least adulthood.." Then, the father spoke, "She's gone missing. We can't sense anywhere on earth. Where she is.. she's hiding. But I doubt it's here,"


2 Years later, Month 8, Day 6- ~Where have you been..?~
You run around trying to find Stygain. It's been almost 2 years since you've seen her.. she's been missing after she fled heaven. You suddenly hear a psst. You turn to see 2 yellow eyes glowing at you. You can't see anything but eyes. You walk towards it.. was someone luring you in? Well.. curiosity killed the cat! You walk in and call out. Suddenly someone rushes past behind you. You turn around instantly. Your paws turn you around once more once you hear it again. Yellow eyes look at you again. You take a step black. The eyes closed and you turn to escape but you bumped into some fur. "[NAME]? What are you doing out here? This is the outland! You could die out here.." She looks genuinely confused on why you're out here. You let her know you were looking for her. It's been almost 2 years since she's gone missing. "It's.. it's a long story.. something's.. wrong with my halo.. it.. it wouldn't show them what I did wrong, but.. when the trial began and they got to me, my halo.. it turned black.. they said they had to either escort me to hell.. or kill me.." she didn't have normal eyes, it was like she had goddess yellow eyes. Her wings drooped.. "So I fled.. I swear I would stay a good lion.. but I could never survive in hell.. you should go.." You try to call after her but you're suddenly at home. Your lionesses look at you. You found Stygain.. but now what..?