The Unnamed Dreamer
Mira
The wild cat lowered herself onto the flat rock face, digging her black claws into the cold stone. Wind buffeted her, making her fur bristle and her muscles stiffen. It howled in her ears and made her head ring, but she did not allow herself to be distracted. Her eyes were an intense sea green, and her pelt was as black as night, with a few streaks of white and gold down her neck. A long scar ran across her left shoulder and neck where the fur had not grown back. It was obviously a burn, and the skin was disgustingly healed in odd angles, probably due to lack of treatment. The young female prowled forward, clinging grimly onto the rock. Her tail raised, she paused for a moment and her ears flicked forward. She was built quite well, with somewhat longer forelegs and shorter hind – a rather uncommon build for her kind – and her face was very odd, as well. Her forehead sloped down to meet her nose steeply, complimenting her feline features. She paused and cast a glance over her shoulder. The snow that still clung to the rocks was mushy and wet, probably due to the warming weather. Spring was coming, and it was the first one that the cat had seen. She had been born a little later, during the summer.
The cat leaped from her perch finally, her muscles rippling beneath her night-black pelt and her eyes gleaming. She dug her claws into the pelt of the three-horn and yowled with triumph. Other cats shot from behind the stones, coming in to tackle and finish off the animal. The black female backed away, curling her nose and waiting. Once the others had eaten their fill they left the kill to the black. She slunk forward and took a bite of the three-horn's flesh, gnawing on it for a little while before settling down to lick any leftover meat from the bones. As usual, the other wild cats had left her little in the way of food.
"Black One come soon," a growl interrupted the female. She turned and blinked at the old male who brown muzzle was surrounded in gray. She glared at him and snarled.
"Mira eats now. Help make kill. Get food or die and leave nameless no smart one." She said hostilely.
"Call self Mira but nameless like others," the elder snarled furiously. Mira looked away. She did not like having no identity. It made her feel… empty. She would never conform to the ways of her kind. She wanted something more. But what she just wasn't sure of yet. Most of the wild cats around her could not speak like the elder could. They rolled around or bit at each other or snarled challenges. Mira did not want to be like them though. She turned away and gnawed absentmindedly on one of the bones.
"Call self Mira, Mira brave. Mira good. Want to be Mira." The black female said stubbornly. The male sighed.
"Listen to many stories, Black One. Too many stories." The elder muttered. Mira smiled.
"Like stories. Like hearing talk. Too many cats dumb, not understand, not speak." She growled.
"Black One is angry with us?" The elder asked, seemingly horrified by the idea. Mira sighed crossly.
"No, is not angry. Is tired. Is tired of living with nameless. Want to find something more." She muttered. The elder looked at her keenly and then shook his head.
"Not find much out in wastes. Not sure what out there." He said gravely. Mira sighed and looked out into the fields and forests that she had never once explored. They were forbidden for the nameless to venture, but she did not know why. She wanted to know though. She would know one day.
"Want to see. Want to go." She murmured. The elder stared off into the distance and then nodded.
"Was like Black One once. Wanted to see. Wished now could have gone, too old. If want to, Black One should go. Black One should see." He said. Mira looked at him and then nodded.
"Will go. Wish elder come." The old male sighed and nodded.
"Wish so, too. Have safe journey, strange Black One." He said, watching as she left. Mira turned and bounced away, her face wreathed in happy smiles. The other nameless shot her hostile looks or just confused ones, those blank expressions that so many wore. Mira darted through the wasteland territory she had always lived in. Her mother had taken her here a long time ago, and she could only faintly remember ever being somewhere else. She peeked into one of the caves that her close family lived in. She found her mother where she usually was. The stately red-pelted female sat with her crème tail curled around his hind paws, and her forepaw resting on the head of a rambunctious young cub. She looked up at Mira with narrowed eyes.
"Why do you return, cub? Or do you still fancy yourself like that old cat I used to tell you of? What was her name… Mira…?" The female mused. Mira looked down at her and wrinkled her nose. She hated how nicely her mother talked. It made her feel dumb. But she had learned speech mostly from her less articulate father.
"Feel must have some name. Some way to call self something." She said persistently, though she wasn't sure quite what she was really wanting.
"So your heart has truly remained the same? Curious." Her mother mused. She tilted her head to one side and stared at her blankly.
"So what do you want?" Her mother demanded.
"I leaving." Mira said softly. Her mother's head darted up and her eyes widened.
"What? Why?" She growled. Mira sighed.
"Had dream of other places. Of other cats that need Mira. Will go. Will find them. Have to." She said quietly.
"Those are just dreams, foolish oaf. If you follow them you'll be leaping to your doom. The fire-cats live out there. They will burn you like they did when you were a cub!" She growled. Mira winced and drew up her left leg, which grotesquely distorted the ashen skin of her burn scar.
"Will still go. Will burn if that what must be." She growled. Her mother stared up and her and then shook her head.
"You are very strange. I should have let you die all those seasons ago. But no matter. If you wish to go, then go. My people will be better off for it." She said, and Mira just dipped her head and left. Her mother had never let her believe she belonged. She had always been told of the fire-cats who had burned and disowned her when she was a cub. She didn't remember them. She only remembered a face. Only a face… And in those green eyes she saw love. But why had that love turned to the burning of fire and the pain that had almost killed her? Mira did not know. She had no answers to the many questions that buzzed in her mind. She leaped onto one of the rocks that bordered her mother's keep. She stared out at the land that stretched before her, and a deep longing filled her. She wanted to go there, to know why she had been made an outcast among the Unnamed. Why was she unwanted? Mira wanted to know.
"Will find Green-eyes. Will ask why." She murmured, and with that the dark cat leaped off the rocks and pelted into the thick trees of the wilderness territory, where somewhere the fire-cats dwelled with their strange burning weapon held in their jaws.
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Alright, so it's Ok for a first chapter I guess. I didn't know how to get the story off the ground really, so I improvised. I hope you like it anyway. Thanks for reading. I know that you've just been thrown into Mira's life with no idea what's going on, but don't worry, knowledge will come later :3 For now just enjoy.
-Lion