Hey guys! I've been wanting to write this story for some time now, and thanks to T16 for encouraging me to write, here it is! I hope you enjoy it!
Prologue: Prison Break
Halfway up the long slope to the Threshing Hill, the young Leopard heard the sound of a tolling bell.
He stopped and looked around. The sound came thickly through the chilled ashen- blue mist that rose all around him, yet he heard it as sure as he felt the vibrations in the ground beneath his feet.
The first bell was ringing at the bell tower.
The young Leopard remained standing still, uncertain of his next step. He knew all too well what the tolling of the first bell meant, though it had never been sounded in his living memory.
He could continue to the top of the hill, but there he would only find his brothers standing still as he was standing now, their hands stopped from their work of pushing the Great Wheels. He should run to them, join them, and become one of their numbers. That had to be better than standing here, frozen to the spot while a unspeakable unease rose inside him.
"But is there not more here than just unease?" He wondered. The young Leopard put the palm of one paw to his black- robed chest.
As a protector, he had no word with which to refer to himself. He had no self. He was a part of this place, the nameless land- a fragment, made to express its will and nothing more.
He had no soul.
Yet he felt there was something missing inside of him. There were people, besides the protectors, who had in the past visited this land from other worlds. They came from the stars or other countries, full of life and possessing both color and names. These visitors called this thing emotion. Others simply heart. Others called it the very stuff of humanity.
Regardless of what it was called, he knew it resided here, beneath where his paw touched his chest.
There was no time in this place. For the Protectors, there was only work to be done on top of the hill and the guarding of the Hall of Knowledge; that was all. They did not rest, but also they did not tire. The only unpredictable elements of the place were the flow of clouds and mist, and the coming of visitors.
The young Leopard felt a shivering well up inside him. He realized that somewhere inside his body, something had been waiting for that first bell to ring. He clenched his paw upon his chest into a fist. Closing his eyes, he let himself feel the trembling inside his body.
"Something is happening. Events are happening. Soon a new visitor will surely arrive" He said opening his eyes," For it is free. Soon, there will be war."
Alright. There it is guys, my first chapter to my first story. Hope it was ok. Please tell me what you thought. And I'll be posting a new chapter pretty soon!