CURSEDMAS DAY 1 IS...
The Lightning Prodigy - The Discovery
Years in the making, The Lightning Prodigy promises to be one huge last hurrah for the Clans of the Valley Series. Taking place during a time when the Valley was nothing more than a desert, the remaining descendants of the four clans struggle to survive in this harsh environment. When rumors start circulating about a prophecy that speaks of a powerful leader who will rise from the sands to lead them to paradise, two representatives of the patriarch factions set out to find the source of these unbelievable rumors...
“All along the western front, people line up to receive.
She got the power in her hands, to shock you like you won’t believe.
Saw her in the amazon, with the voltage running through her skin.
Standing there with nothing on, she gonna teach me how to swim.” –
Electric Feel by MGMT
Sand coalesced and swirled, dusting everything in its path. The thickness of the onslaught nearly blocked out the burning rays of the sun, providing some shade to the burrowing little creatures in the ground if they could withstand the stinging of the particles.
But, against the rage of the storm, two figures ran at full speed, charging through the wicked attack as if it was cool refreshing water, their excitement tangible even to those who could not see them through the sand.
They were an odd pair. Not just because they were laughing as the sand grains whipped and cut into their bodies like tiny claws, but because one was extremely large and bulky, and the other was very petite and slim; bodies that shouldn’t fit into this desolate environment.
The bulky one, a stone grey she-cat with steely amber eyes, came to a halt as they reached the shelter of a cluster of Socotra trees, their branches spread high up above them in a near perfect circle.
“Titania, do you think the rumors are really true?” The smaller cat asked, a tom with a pale orange coat and washed-out blue eyes. His long whip-like tail twitched across the rocky, sandy earth, his gaze full of curiosity and speculation as he observed the barely visible wastes before him.
Titania shrugged, though an excited gleam purred awake in her eyes. “I doubt anything those crazy nomads say is true, Makas. But you have to admit…it would definitely make relationships between the patriarchs very tense, wouldn’t it? I miss having my claws sink into something other than lizards…”
Makas warily flicked his tail, his eyes rolling off to the side. “Ah, Titania, you were always the eager one.”
Titania smirked. “And you were always the reluctant one.”
Makas rolled his shoulder blades, glaring around them at the sand that blocked the sky and the sun. “We should keep moving. We want to get to the oasis before this becomes unpassable.”
“Whatever you say,” Titania said dismissively, taking the lead as she followed a snaking path through the alien-like trees.
As predicted by Makas, the sandstorm picked up and became more ferocious, making the companions trip a waste, that was, until someone managed to snatch them from the clutches of the raging storm.
“Titania and Makas, soldiers of Bregis’ faction…welcome to my home.”
A very tall, hairless she-cat with large, wise eyes stood in front of them where an immense sand blasted rock outcrop rose up behind her. The sand buffeted the she-cat’s pale ginger skin, but unlike Titania and Makas who crouched low to the ground and winced against the grains tearing through their flesh, she kept her tall stance and didn’t react to the stinging sands.
“Some home this is!” Titania spat, curling her tongue against the roof of her mouth in distaste.
Makas gave Titania a disapproving look and then dipped his head respectively to the wiry she-cat. “Thank you. May we pass into the oasis?”
The she-cat narrowed her stunning sky blue eyes. “You wish to see her, don’t you?”
“Of course! Why else would cats from the patriarch factions come here to a nomad’s camp?” Titania spat, growling as sand slipped into her open mouth.
The she-cat hissed slowly, a warning on her lips. “You enter here by orders of Bregis, your patriarch, do you not? You are his puppets, just like the other soldiers. All you do is take orders and clean up his messes. We nomads live here in freedom and peace; independent of the patriarchs who live across the endless sands. Keep that in mind. Just because you enter here under my request does not mean I will protect you from my fellow den mates.”
Titania’s steely orange eyes widened in surprise, shocked that some old nomadic queen was talking to them this way, but when the grey she-cat looked at Makas, he only nodded in agreement and gave Titania a pointed glance.
“Mess up in here, Titania, and you know who Bregis will blame the failure of the expedition on,” he hissed in her ear.
Titania nodded tightly, pushing away that thought as she pushed past Makas and walked up to face the wall of sandstone.
The she-cat watched for a moment before she stepped to the side and lifted her head to the sky.
“By request of Dessyria, leader of the nomadic clan of the Valley, I ask Father Earth and Mother Sky to grant Titania and Makas safe passage into the Oasis.”
Then the stone rumbled, and like a tomb cracking open to reveal the secrets wrapped up inside, the doors to the only oasis left in the valley opened…
. . .
Large, ancient pines dotted the tough dry grass that waved in a gentle breeze, and little rainbows sprouted midair in the afternoon sunshine from the mist that floated from their decent on the backs of waterfalls. Cats of all shapes, sizes, and colors lounged on the warm grass and stones near the deep clear pools, their purrs and chatter creating a friendly atmosphere. The smell of freshly caught prey and the now rare and precious plant called moss instantly made Titania bristle with envy.
“It’s hard to believe the entire valley used to be covered in green plants, tall pines, and enough water to sustain every living cat in the desert…almost makes you believe in the speculation that we are being punished by Father Earth and Mother Sky,” Makas murmured, his pale blue eyes distant and wistful.
“Yes, but why? What has our kind done to displease these so called deities?” Titania countered, “I don’t remember anything being told to me about our ancestors choices being worthy of punishment.”
“That is not for you or anyone else to decide,” Dessyria meowed calmly as she stood beside them. “All we can do is put our faith in them, and in the end they will show us the gates to paradise and we will once again thrive in The Realm of the Stars.”
Titania huffed quietly and muttered under her breath, “Yes, put our faith in them until we turn to dust in this wasteland…sounds like a reasonable plan to me.”
Dessyria lead the two deeper into the Oasis, coming upon a thicker patch of trees that provided shade and a soft bedding of pine needles. The sounds of thumping, scuffling, and the occasional grunt and hiss of frustration could be heard here, and both Titania and Makas’ attention became zeroed in on the clearing before them.
A loud crack and a blur of creamy off-white and grey rolled past the group, and Titania narrowed her eyes as the blur stood, revealing a young Siamese tom mix with sharp blue-green eyes.
“Hey! That was unfair!” He shouted back to the trees, leaning over his paw and yanking out a sharp shrapnel of wood from his pad.
“All is fair in love and war, brother, isn’t that what you keep telling me?” A husky female voice echoed out from where the tom had been thrown.
Dessyria coughed to get the tom's attention. He turned at the noice, his eyes widening a fraction before hastily dipping his head to her. Dessyria nodded to the tom, giving him the OK to stand up. He did so and grinned back at the leader of his clan.
“Fetch your sister, would you? We have guests here to see her,” Dessyria said politely with a bit of an edge to her light voice.
The Siamese tom glared with open hostility at the foreigners. “Why did you let them in, Dessyria? My sister doesn’t need these despicable low-lives to interfere-”
“I said fetch her, Caspian,” Dessyria snapped.
Caspian growled and spat at Makas’ and Titania’s paws before padding away, leaving small spots of blood on the pine-needle covered earth from his injured paw.
“What a bunch of savages…” Titania muttered. Makas only twitched his tail in reply.
And then, a few heartbeats later, Caspian walked back with a cat who looked nothing like his sister.
Her coat was a mixture of bright yellows, whites, calm gingers and pale browns that streaked through her pelt, accented by a few strikingly placed warm brown tabby markings. Her eyes were wide pools of cobalt, and her body radiated an invisible white hot energy that could be felt deep within every cat standing around her.
But what interested Makas the most, and what made Titania do a double take, was the long jagged white mark across the she-cats right eye.
“Makas and Titania of Bregis’ faction,” Dessyria began, the tone of her voice becoming warmer as she spoke. “This is Niziri: Rabbit Keeper, Light Bringer…and the Promise of the Valley.”
An unconscious intake of breath, and a brief withholding of that air built pressure in Makas’ chest. He no longer cared what he and Titania reported back to Bregis.
In fact he didn’t want to tell his patriarch anything.
For before him, locked away in this paradise in the middle of a dying wasteland…
There was hope, marked by the strength and favor of ancient and powerful warriors.
Niziri smiled vibrantly, and said, “Say, you two wouldn’t happen to have an eagle’s feather on you, would you?”