PART ONE: The Beginning

"Long, long ago, long after the first war of the realm things had begun to settle down. The other gave up searching for the Cat Tribe, who had mysteriously disappeared following the last battle. For now they were nothing but legends, forgotten by all but the very eldest. All this was true, until a certain child was discovered in the forest surrounding the Stag Tribe…"

Lynx raised her wooden blade and positioned herself in the center of the ring. Antelope grinned maliciously at her, cold blue eyes glittering. Somewhere behind them a bell rang, and fair haired Antelope leapt forward.

Lynx parried, before lunging back at Antelope. Gradually Lynx advanced, gaining the upper hand, her cat ears flat against her head in concentration. From a distance, she would have looked like an ordinary human.

Stepping back, Antelope parried each blow, recovering just in time to parry the next. Swifter than a blink of an eye, Antelope was replaced by a young female stag, small antlers emerging from between the velvet ears. Lynx stepped back nervously, surprised an unable to attack. In a flash a foot came out from behind her, and Lynx fell back as Antelope resumed her human form. Coming upon Lynx like a hawk swooping in for the kill, Antelope triumphed, the wooden blade pressed against Lynx's tawny neck.

Eldon stepped into the ring, a worried face creasing his already worn features. Gently he pulled Antelope off of Lynx, and then offered Lynx a hand. She brushed it away and stood up on her own, her brown hair tangled with leaves and twigs. Lynx stared at the ground as Modan, the tribe leader stepped into the center and raising Antelope's right hand announced her winner of the Women's Tournament.

Antelope flicked her hair back and glared at Lynx one last time before returning to her cronies, Kalikka and Messa. Lynx turned and headed out of the circle, pushing away Eldon's arm in an offering.

Every year since Lynx was old enough it had been the same. Antelope was loved by everyone, as the most promising young woman of the Stag tribe. No one ever thought of Lynx, the outcast. Antelope had never considered it beneath her to torture Lynx about anything and everything.

A hand rested on her shoulder from behind. She brushed it off, knowing exactly who it belonged to and turned around to face Eldon. He looked at her gently, his gray blue eyes filled kindness and understanding.

Looking at the ground Lynx muttered, "I failed you."

Eldon chuckled gently. "No, no you didn't. You are still young, and have not reached your potential. Besides, Antelope cheated."

Lynx looked up at him angrily, her eyes glittering with unfallen tears. "Then why wasn't she called?" Sighing Eldon shook his majestic head. "I don't know."

Lynx was not satisfied with Eldon's answer. "Why don't you just say it?" She said accusingly.

A puzzled expression crossed Eldon's face "Say what?"

"I'm different. You know it's true!" Those unfallen tears began to trickle down her cheeks. She was different. Ever since she was young, she had felt that difference. Though Eldon and his mate Eilen had accepted her into their family, Lynx never felt like she belonged. She wished desperately to look like everyone else, with a long, thin frame instead of her fluent muscular one, clear blue eyes in pale of emerald one, and ivory antlers peeking out of her hair instead of furry cat ears.

Lynx turned away. Eldon had accepted her however. He had accepted her despite her physical differences. He had accepted her, loved her, cared for like she was his own. Eldon wrapped his arms around her, and she cried into his chest.

"Shhh," he crooned, and gently rocked her side to side, stroking her terrible cat ears.

Slowly they returned back to the main camp, where everyone was preparing for bed. It had been a long day, though festive and fun. The moon had risen, casting silver shadows throughout the camp. In the center a campfire still flickered, surrounded by a few people draped in blankets.

Lynx pulled back the leather flap and entered into Eilen's tent. Eldon slept in a tent nearby. Eilen had already gone to sleep on her bed of feathers, wrapped in a woven blanket. Next to Eilen was Elizen, curled up in a small ball. Just above Elizen's pale blonde hair was a pair of antlers, just beginning to bud.

Lynx gently stroked her foster sister's hair before lying down on her own mat. She lay on her back, staring at the top of the ceiling, waiting for sleep to come. Eventually it did, uneasy and restless.

The dew sparkled in the morning sun. A spider scurried across a twinkling web to hide in the grass after a long night of hunting.

Sunlight hit Lynx's face through the open flap. Yawning, she blinked and a shadow covered her face

"Lynx", a voice hissed in the silence of the morning. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, and tried to make out who was standing in front of her. "Lynx come here." The voice was deep and the face shadowed. Suddenly the figure stepped back and Lynx recognized the tribe healer and seer. She threw back the blanket, and scrambled out into the cool morning air.

The sun hit her heavily, and she blinked a few moments before her eyes adjusted to the light. She vaguely remembered a dream, a dream of a spiraling vortex and a shadow flitting throughout the forest. Stretching slightly, she followed Sacre to his hut on the corner of the camp.

He held open the flap for her, and then followed her in. He motioned for her to sit down before speaking.

"As you know, "he began."I am required to choose an apprentice to follow in my footsteps. There are several candidates. You are one of them, therefore I ma testing you today." He began searching through a shelf. Ceramic clinked against ceramic as he shuffled through bottles and bowls.

Taking a few bottles, an empty bowl and a grinder, he smashed some leaves and liquid into a sticky past, then handed the bowl to Lynx, along with a spoon. "One spoonful only please." He instructed her.

Hesitantly she took a spoonful, and closing her eyes swallowed it. She felt Sacre take the bowl from her hand, and soon a hazy smoke filled the room. "Breathe in deeply, clear your mind." Sacre said from what seemed like a distance.

As try as she may, picture kept appearing. A blue haired boy flashed across her vision, followed by a pair of rabbit people. Above them floated mysterious red eyes that gave her the chills.

"Let the visions come." She heard Sacre say. She stopped suppressing the images, and they came back in a flood. The blue haired boy, his rabbit friends, a swirling vortex and a small boy with any animal attributes, a stranger to the realm. A strange symbol swam in front of her, followed by a flash of black and a vortex of spiraling colors. Then, as quickly as they came, the visions were gone.

Blinking, Lynx became aware of a throbbing pain on her left wrist. Glancing down she realized her hand was clenched tight around it. Prying her hand off, a sharp shooting pain shot through her arm. Gritting her teeth against the pain, she revealed a symbol faintly imprinted on her wrist. She recognized it as the same symbol that swam in front of her when she had the visions.

She examined it closely. It started with two points, then extending down into a strange squiggle and a connecting triangle.

Sacre glanced at her in amazement. She smiled weakly.

"May I?" he asked. She offered her wrist and he examined at it closely. "Unusual." He murmured. Letting go of her wrist, he stood up and began looking threw a bookshelf that was hung over his head.

"I believe I have seen that symbol before." He muttered. "Ah ha!" he pulled out a large leather bound book. He opened it and flipped through it a couple times. He stopped at a page and looked at it closely. "It all fits." He breathed.

"What fits?" Lynx inquired. Sacre gazed at her, taking in the furry ears upon her head and the long tail wrapped around her feet. Silent, he pointed at a small symbol in the corner of the book. It was image of the symbol on her wrist. Below it the caption read, 'The mysterious symbol of the Cat Tribe, who unexplainably disappeared following the years of the War of the Realm.' Sacre scanned the rest of the page before shutting it.

"You, my dear, are a member of the Cat Tribe." Lynx just stared at him, astonished.

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