Burning Rage - End

My name… hm… that was unimportant and so too was my opinion on any of this. Forcefully transported to this place. To be hunted like cattle by those of lesser blood. All for the en- No, it was not entertainment.

We were seen more as instruments to train those students. My whole clan, my whole coven. Slaughtered because they were just too strong to properly train their students.

But…

But…

But as I stared at the sparkling silver of the moon, its rays shining down the reflected star. I found myself not caring… for maybe just this one night.

I would not dwell on the death that would come for me, or for all the friends I had made among these creatures. Who had been so kind to me in my moment… scratch that… in my moments, emphasis on that 's'.

There were times where even my great self control was lost. When I could barely contain that arrogance that came about from miniscule power.

I wanted nothing more than to be rid of this taint. But to do such a thing was and still is impossible. There was no known cure that my clan could think of.

The best option was suicide. Killing oneself before the inevitable, where one would slaughter their own clan. All because they could not distinguish friend from foe.

And when I thought back to when I was but a kitten, wandering through the world. I found myself lamenting the stupidity of it all. Finding the lack of a cure so cruel.

For we had not asked to be born like this. We had not committed some great sin. No, we had been born cursed and had lived with the hate and prejudice of those born of fortune.

That was why I lay here, watching, lamenting the error of the world. So wretched was it.

…

When I woke once more, it was not to the underbrush of leaves, who so warmed me. Nor was it the comfort of the silver light over my fur. Or the curling of my tail over some inane bark.

It was to human hands, who pet me so nicely. I tried to escape from… from… I looked up and found a smile on his face.

I discovered more.

There was this… what was I to call it… there was this sadness among his features. Knowing of some harsh truth.

Of reality… maybe?

Honestly and truly from my heart, I found that look so similar to mine. The depths of pure sadness that seemed to only permeate further through his features.

I… I could not ignore a look so sad. Even if he was human.

Yet as I tried to pur, to show some sort of sign. I could only understand, not read or speak the humans language. It was another reason we were thought of as but mere beasts.

To not be able to use that gift, so graciously given to them by the Goddess.

I scoffed, an intelligent action that did not go unnoticed by the little one. He tilted his head, letting his hair fall over his face.

A soft hand pet the side of my maw, brushing against my sensitive whiskers.

"You… can understand me?" He asked, oh so softly. And within me, an awakened part.

So new, even to me.

A maternal instinct, forcing me to rub up against this boy. To pur against his hand in an affirmative. Sending signals shown only to cubs. But I had never had one. And… and maybe it was because of their slaughter that I felt so attached to one such child.

"Shh…" He spoke, placing his hand over my head, closing his eyes. Sweat poured down his face. An even greater grimace over his face.

What-

…

What the- 

What had happened. 

At one point in time I was curled in the boy's lap, his gentle hand rubbing against my own paw. Playing with it so thoroughly, and the next I was here.

This endless swirl of void. Where up was down, left was right. Everything was wrong, as I knew it at least.

For when I tried to move, I gained not any distance. Nor was there any sensation.

But when I did try and go further beyond that border…

Oh, the border, yes. After an indeterminate amount of time, as time was hard to tell in this void like space.

I could only count on my own paws, to track the very amount of steps I took, equate them to the average time a step would take and estimate from there.

As one might think, yes, it is and always will be mentally draining to do such a thing. And it is to me. But this space did something loopy to my brain.

No, it did something loopy to my soul. It was ridding it of the taint whom had always been that stray thought away.

It gave me the capacity to do such a thing and oh how freeing that felt. To be able to see and feel without that devil over my shoulder whispering such atrocities.

It was…

It was…

It was…

I tried to think further but my thoughts were taken by a great light. One that shone of the greatest of whites. An ultimate white that promised eternal rest. Yet as I walked towards it, so enshrined by the glamorous feel.

I felt another. Smaller, faint, downright pathetic. 

But to have any color in this world of black. Such power could not be ignored.

And as the old adage said, curiosity killed the cat. And oh how curious I am.

Despite that promise of eternal salvation. There was another. Such a sad voice that called for me. And who was I to ignore that motherly instinct within me.

If it were to be my last, let it be in dignity. A mother protecting her surrogate. Fighting for the life of another.

At least in the mind of myself I would not look down on myself. No longer would I let that self-loathing reign my thoughts.

For in my final act I would comfort that crying soul.