Dread Lion

Emmia hugged the rabbit like there was no tomorrow. Only after the rabbit started poking her with the carrot did Emmia stop.

Seril was still baffled on why there was a rabbit with the twins when Emmia said to the rabbit, "I should give you a name!"

The rabbit paused and then nodded its consent.

"How about.... Bitsy!" Emmia proclaimed. The rabbit promptly started hitting Emmia with the carrot to show its displeasure.

"Ow, ow, why?" Emmia huffed. "Don't you like the name?"

The rabbit shook its head vehemently.

"Umm, then Brownie?"

*Smack*

"Rabbi?"

*Smack*

"Speedy?" Emmia asked hopefully on the verge of tears.

*Smack*

"Oww," Emmia cried out rubbing her arm which was the targetted site of carrot injuries.

"Seril, can you please think of a name?" At her wit's end, Emmia turned to Seril with pleading eyes.

Seril looked at her with a blank stare.

"You want me to name a rabbit?"

"Yup."

"Aren't you going to eat it?"

"No! We won't eat him!" Emmia protested.

"Fine," Seril sighed after looking away from Emmia's hopeful gaze.

After thinking for a moment, Seril suggested, "It seems like a boy so how about, Jade?"

At the same time, she glared at the rabbit thinking, 'Hit me with that carrot and see what happens.'

Somehow getting the message, the rabbit nodded vigorously, accepting the name Jade.

Unbeknownst to Seril or Emmia a small portion of Universal Energy broke away from the surroundings and entered Jade's memory space. Inside the memory space, a single line of text was floating indicating Jade's gift, «Acceleration».

The small portion of universal energy shimmered and started to form a new set of letters. Right above the space where «Acceleration» was written, the word 'Jade' was formed, giving Jade the acknowledgement of the world.

Emmia jumped up and down, happy that Jade accepted his new name. Then in a series of events, she proceeded to trip over Icarth and then tumble backwards towards the river

As quick as lightning, Jade grabbed Emmia's legs with his tiny rabbit paws....and proceeded to follow her into the river because he wasn't nearly strong enough.

Icarth finally woke up to a scene of a lioness jumping over him. Since he didn't feel any danger, he sat up and saw the lioness grabbing Mia who had almost fallen into the river.

"Haah, be careful next time. Especially when you're near water," the lioness grumbled, placing his sister down, a good distance away from the river.

"Oh you're up, I'm Seril," the lioness introduced herself.

"Icarth," Icarth replied blearily. Trying to stand up, he finally noticed his broken leg. Although it wasn't giving him any pain, it certainly wasn't usable in the slightest.

Icarth sighed and sat back down to think about the events that had transpired.

Emmia fidgeted slightly with her hands.

"Ica, I'm sorry, I couldn't help you because I'm too weak. And now your leg..." Emmia trailed off.

"It's fine Mia. My leg doesn't hurt. Besides, you were the one who saved us by finding that lake," Ica reassured Mia. If Emmia hadn't snapped him out of his self-loathing spiral, then they really might've hit the surface the wrong way and broken something more than just a leg.

Icarth slumped back on the ground and asked, "So what do we do now?"

"I guess we wait for grandpa. Oh, and Seril said she would stay with us until then," Emmia answered. "And look Ica, the rabbit survived. We've named him Jade!"

Icarth turned his head to see Jade munching on his carrot. Jade gazed back at him while nibbling the tip and bobbing his head up and down as if to say 'sup'.

Icarth felt his eyelid twitch as he looked at Jade. Because of that rabbit he had a way tougher time getting them to safety. And now that same rabbit was enjoying life while eating a carrot.

"We should move from here," Seril suggested.

"Okay!" Emmia agreed. "Maybe we should go back to that big lake?"

"Hmm, if you're talking about a lake, there's one nearby. It's where this river originates from," Seril mused.

"Hmm, then we should go there," Emmia said.

"And how am I going to walk with this leg?" Icarth asked lazily.

"Umm," Emmia paused.

"Just lay him on top of me. I'll carry him," Seril sighed.

"Thanks," Icarth said as Emmia helped him lay on Seril's back. He laid on his stomach with his head to the side so that he could speak if necessary.

'Warm,' Ica thought before snuggling in.

So the group set off, following the river towards the lake. On the way, Emmia described Julian and the city that she lived in. Seril was confused, to say the least. She had never seen a human in her life although she had heard of them from her tribe.

"What were you two doing in that 'city'?" Seril asked.

"What do you mean?" Emmia asked back.

"I mean you two are Dread Lion cubs so what were you two doing separated from your tribe?" Seril clarified.

"Dread Lion? What's that?" Emmia asked.

"You don't know? It's what you are," Seril answered a little bemused.

"Well, grandpa only told us that we weren't human. He said he didn't know what we were though."

"I see," Seril said.

"So we're Dread Lions? What are the others like?" Emmia asked curiously.

"Well, for starters, I'm also a Dread Lion. Although I'm not the average Dread Lion in terms of looks or capabilities," Seril seemed a little sad when talking about her differences. Her memories of being shunned resurfaced from the depths of her mind.

As they say, no matter how strong you are physically, you can still be affected by things emotionally.

Sensing Seril's sadness, Emmia's mind raced for a way to make her better.

"I think your fur is beautiful," Emmia blurted out the first thing that came to her mind.

"Your eyes are very pretty too," Icarth added in suddenly as well.

Seril was slightly stunned by the twins' actions. Nobody had ever complimented her looks. All she had ever heard was how hideous she looked compared to the other Dread Lions.

Seril smiled, "thank you." Feeling warm inside she continued her explanation of the Dread Lions.

"All other Dread Lions are black in colour. They aren't as strong as compared to other animals, but their true abilities lie in the gift they have. «Fear Merge». They fight by manifesting your fears. This way they can be a very dangerous opponent."

"Ooh, «Fear Merge», will we awaken that gift as well?" Emmia asked excitedly.

"Maybe," Seril laughed slightly. "Even I haven't awakened it yet so we will have to see."

In reality, Seril had already awoken her gift. She was just incapable of using it. For her, an unfortunate trauma prevented her from using it.