DON'T BE SO TERRIFIED
In a forgotten corner of a world steeped in twilight, where the once-green savannas were now shadows of despair, lived Shiheyar, a lioness with a mane that spiraled like clouds in a tempest. Her eyes, crepuscular and bright, held the vibrant hues of dusk—pink and orange, a glimpse of forgotten beauty. But beneath that splendor, a malignant infection had begun to sweep across the land, turning noble lions into grotesque beasts, driven by primal hunger and madness.
Each day, Shiheyar ventured through the haunted terrain with Nyali, her loyal companion. They had traversed the barren earth together, sharing stories and laughter, even as the darkness encroached around them. In the aftermath of calamity, their bond blossomed, blooming as brightly as any flower in the desert. Nyali, with her comforting nature, kept Shiheyar's spiraling fears at bay, and eventually, amidst their struggle for survival, friendship bloomed into love. “Kiss me,” Shiheyar would whisper playfully as they rested under the flickering stars, their hearts beating in perfect synchrony.
But as the shadows grew longer, an ominous change took root within Shiheyar. At three years old, she began to sprout large, bulging bumps along her back. Initially, she disregarded them, brushing aside Nyali’s worries as mere figments of their collective paranoia. However, with each passing days, the changes intensified; her limbs warped, her form twisted, and the innocence in her crepuscular gaze began fading. Her once-gleaming teeth became grotesquely elongated, a reminder of the horror that lurked within.
Despite the outward transformations, her feelings for Nyali remained firm. “Kiss me!” she still called out, her affection unwavering. But deep inside, a dreadful truth lingered like a thundercloud, threatening to break. Nyali could sense the darkness creeping into Shiheyar’s soul and couldn’t shake the feeling that the time they had cherished together was slipping away.
As the last threads of her humanity unraveled, the light in Shiheyar’s eyes waned, leaving behind an emptiness that terrified them both. Yet the two still tried to cling to hope. “Help me,” Shiheyar whispered one dark evening, surrendering to the pain that surged through her twisted body.
One fateful day, in a moment of weakness, the inner beast unfurled its long-suppressed rage. Shiheyar lashed out, succumbing to the ravenous hunger gnawing at her existence. “KISS ME! I WISH I WAS STRONGER!” she screamed, a chilling echo across the desolation.
Nyali, heart pounding, understood what needed to be done but hesitated. “Kill me,” Shiheyar pleaded, lying down as if offering her life, “I won’t stay down much longer.” . . . I'll only wake up stronger.."But the hesitation was fatal, and as Shiheyar spiraled into madness, her form grew larger, more grotesque, and the once-majestic lioness transformed into an abomination of terror.
“Oh~!” her monstrous voice roared, “KISS ME! YOU’LL NEVER—” The infected lioness uprose with a loud bellow in her voice, her bones sounding as if they were breaking in the moment
Before she could finish, Nyali struck. A swift blow to her throat severed the final thread of connection between the lioness and her mutation. Silence hung heavy in the air after Shiheyar fell quiet, almost as if her mind had not processed her death. Black mud fell from the lionesses mouth, looking into the eyes of Nyali before she collapsed, lifeless—at least that’s what Nyali believed.
Time passed painfully for Nyali, each day a reminder of the love lost to the darkness. Alone in the desolation, she grieved until an unsettling sound tore through the stillness. “(Kiss me!) (Kiss me!) (Hide hide!)” a disoriented voice echoed in the air, sending chills down Nyali’s spine.
As fate would have it, Shiheyar wandered the twilight wasteland, consumed by her horrifying mutation. Her eyes, once splendid, now roamed void of life but hinted at twisted memories, and she let out a chilling bellow of anger, followed by a haunting plea, “KISS ME!” with black ink seeping from her maw—a sign of her transformation into a nightmare.
It wasn’t long before their paths crossed again, the anguish of the past palpable in the air. Shiheyar, now a grotesque shadow of her former self, closed in on Nyali, the scent of familiar love and panic igniting a predatory instinct. Nyali ran, using every ounce of her energy to escape.
Yet Shiheyar was relentless, her monstrous form pursuing. Chasing after Nyali, the only task was to kill her. The sound of skin tearing apart as the infected lioness ran, overstimulated Nyail's mind, “Kiss me,” she murmured, frantically echoing her broken desires. Nyali cornered, felt the icy grip of inevitability. “Help me,” Shiheyar’s voice transformed from feral to desperately. . . human.
As Shiheyar loomed closer, Nyali prepared for the end. The lioness stared with darkened eyes, yet in a fleeting moment, some flicker of recognition shone through, “Kiss me,” she pleaded softly, a final whisper of the love that had once been, they made eye contact with each other, "KIss me, i'm feeling so much better, kiss me and I can make you STRONG. Shiheyar acted as if she wanted her mate to become infected along with her, to suffer with her. But Nyail took the chance to hide in a bush, her paws covering her maw as she tried to hide still hearing the voice of Shiheyar calling out to her.
"I'll find you soon enough!" Shiheyar roared, searching for the lioness. JUst moments later a large light came from Shiheyar, an image of her old self, her beautiful self. . . the lioness that Nyail loved, " You're bones will harden, and your skin will slough". . . This triggered nyail to come out, truly beliving the curse was over, nuzzling Shiheyar for a second before backing up. Black. . . slob covered nyail's paws, she uplifted her head only took see the infected once more.
The tragic cycle repeated as Nyali prepared for the end, but instead of death, Shiheyar's heart surged with remnants of their love, battling against the chaos coursing through her. “Kiss me…” she whispered once more, as the shadows of their intertwined destinies faded into the darkness, echoing through the void—two souls forever trapped in a dance of love and despair in a world ravaged by infection and loss.
