Persephone

You drop 150 silver beetles before the scrying stone.. And the markings are revealed to be... Noctis Okapi (Slot 11), Noctis Freckles 1 (Slot 12).


Like the morning mist she fell upon the pride. A dark cloud looming above threatening a downpour.

Who would suspect a cub? An innocent creature that has yet to have a taste of the real world? What real hunger and real terror felt like. Who has yet to see the true evilness that could be wrought upon those that walked the plains of earth.

Like other cubs she had an innocent smile and a curious tilt of her head. A creature that showed that she needed protecting and needed the love of a pride. At first there was nothing. Things were normal. The lionesses went out to hunt, cubs were born and brought into the pride. Things seemed good and were good.

But slowly and surely the lionesses began to take note of a few things. Small though they were they were enough to draw the attention of several eyes. Their King was steadily changing. A man that had once prided himself on the fact that he was constantly involved with his pridemates, a man that was kind and sure of himself was slowly becoming wicked.

A snap here and there. A growl or a snarl and an unsheathing of the claws to bring hellfire upon some unsuspecting cub. Tempers were short already with the time of year. A surplus of cubs were being born and the amount of prey being brought in was dwindling. Death was all around and the King's unusual behavior was cause for concern.

One lioness came forth drawing others with her. They whisper amongst themselves and attempted to approach the King several times but each time they were sent away. He would not send the cub away. They could not understand - he had sent many cubs away. He had sent lionesses that had just birthed cubs away with their infant children. They watched in horror as he banished one after another after another until they could watch no more.

The troubles began when the cub came into the pride, right? So to get rid of their troubles they must first dispose of the cub and make sure she could not come back. Sending her away would do no good for the King would just find and bring her back or she would just find her way home or trouble some other pride. No, they had to get rid of her.

When the hush of slumber fell upon the pride and the King was sleeping soundly in his own den the group that had spoken against her stole away into the nursery and snatched her from her nest. They had to take her from the pridelands to get rid of her.

They would drown her.

Carrying her to a wateringhole that they often passed when hunting outside of their own lands they drew close to it before throwing her into the water. They watched as small paws flailed, pawing and kicking to stay afloat. For a moment, just a moment, one started forwards to halt the execution of the cub. How could they of thought that this innocent creature had wrought such troubles upon them? Their King must be sick! Good Kings could turn bad, it happened all of the time.

She was stopped by the lead lioness with a snarl.

Soon the flailing stopped and the cub disappeared below the surface followed by a stream of bubbles. The females stood watching and waiting till they ceased before turning away and heading back to their home.

Their troubles were over.

Nothing more happened that night and when morning came and the sound of birds woke the females they blinked with bleary eyes around their den. The lead lioness was nowhere to be seen and only a faint scent was caught.

She went hunting, they all said.

As they gathered themselves up and left their den that was when they saw it. A ghastly sight. The stood wide eyed at the figure in the center of the camp. Twisted in all the wrong ways. Jaw broken and gapped to the side with wide ,white, staring eyes. A vacant look spread over the lifeless face of the lioness they had once known. Their king stood a few feet away with his eyes cast down upon the figure while the cubs stood to the left , just outside of the nursery. Among them was the cub that they had disposed of, standing with her eyes angled towards the group of lionesses, her strange eyes glinting.

What.Had.They.Done.

An omen... That child was nothing but a blight upon the pride and they had brought more trouble upon themselves by trying to dispose of her.