Speech =``...´´

Thoughts = [….….]

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The evening wind gently pushed the Furines hanging from the ceiling, the tinkling sound of the small bells attached to the papers decorated their surroundings with a faint melody that dissipated with each gust of wind.

The clouds, scattered across the blue horizon, moved curiously extremely slowly in their mindless wandering. As if they were glued to the heavens rather than free to exert their own will, allowing in their stillness the rays of the evening sun to begin to paint the fields in a more scarlet hue as the star glowed more brightly as it started to settle beneath the mountains.

Her ears softly perked at the sound of the myriad of voices that laying outside the boundaries of her home.

She did not need to look down the open balcony to see the people of the tribe that were mingling to their own business, children and adults alike. The sound of mild laughter and conversations mixed with the hushes of mothers and the barking of fathers while further away she could hear the way tools clashed and echoed a bit abruptly with that ring of steel as others worked their craft.

For a tribe of Beast-kin which were considered thanks to the ill willed rumours of humans with small imaginations as more beast than men, they really put those notions to shame.

She sighed, slowly…placing one of her hands over her chest, the other falling limp on the floor while she leaned against the cool wooden frame of the door that led to the balcony. It was still warm from the time it had been exposed to the sun though, granting her no small amount of relief as she nudged against it,.

Something that she had done since she was just a toddler, and had the suspicion would continue to do onwards into the future.

A tick that soothed her, alleviate her self after a long day as she slowly retracted to a more childish, if just sloth like self. The same way a puppy would fall down asleep under the heat of its mothers embrace.

But it did not alleviate her doubts this time, those that had crawled inside her heart a few weeks ago and taken deep roots inside.

She sighed once more, the air coming from her lips cold while her lips turn downwards, growing stiff, bitter.

A book of ancient history laid ajar on a random page, the ink lying sparse on the yellowed pages, but legible enough to glimpse the message they were trying to communicate to those who might take the time to read it.

A book that would normally always lie between her slender fingers as she would spent the minutes reading the pages, humming a tune to herself as she did...

But right now, she felt no desire to read it…, she felt no desire to read anything.

She had not known that day would have come.

She bit her lip, what could she do now? What was left of her to do now? The answer she sought….did not exist.

The ones she feared however...

`` Lilim, my dear...finally I found you´´

A soft and warm voice startled her from her thoughts, her eyes darted to her right in an instant, rapidly finding the culprit of the agitation in her heart. They widened when they did, softening and closing to a half lid afterwards…

Only to open a little more wide again once she realized that it was Her.

``Mom? You should not be here´´

She spoke out, her voice still a bit mellow as she try to regain her composure. Shifting away from the door she had been leaning into until then.

The tall woman standing a few feet away from her merely cocked her head to the side bemused, chuckling lightly as she approached her.

``And where I should be if not in my own home..?´´

[Well, that did not came of rather well...]

``Mom...I did not mean that.., its just-´´

``I know, dear...I know, though why would you surprised in the first place is what surprises me more if I am honest..´´

The small, blond haired Theriantrope sighed, this time even more loudly. It seemed that she had been a little too obvious given her mothers words. Having been to engrossed on what laid outside her home while her thoughts remained in turmoil only to be spooked by those that were within.

Her purple eyes closed to a half lid as they met her mothers, watching her reflection over those purple pools not unlike her own.

She wished she could tell her, that she could be honest about why that had happened.

She bit her lip, but she couldn't...

``Its just that you say you were having problems moving around. I did not expect you to come to my room at this hour´´

It was not the truth, it was a full lie either though...

The pregnancy was taking a toll on her mother, the still not completely swollen belly having impaired the matriarch of the Golden Panther tribe from her usual speed.

Clearly not enough if she had decided to come up her room though...

``Well, I have to get up and about from time to time, so why not inside the confines of my own home..?´´

Her mother said, beaming a broad smile as she did. A soft, white furred tail started swinging slowly from left to rights as her mother placed her hands over her hips.

She shifted on her feet, her face growing a little more redden in her cheeks before she shook her head.

She had always been reserved and collected when dealing with others, hearing before speaking out, waiting instead of intruding in a conversation. And if possible, remained secluded away from prying eyes in the comfort of her own company.

But when it was her family…, she could not help but melt a bit.

She wondered were she got those characteristics from.

``I suppose you are right, just don't force yourself too much ok, mom..?´´

Her mothers smile grew even larger, taking a step forward before she started to softly pat her head, her fingers playing and toying with her short golden hair.

``That is kind of you, my dear…, but if I survived your fathers antics and a birth already I believe I can deal with another just fine´´

She rolled her eyes at the not hidden jab, though this time it was her time to chuckle, albeit more timidly as she tried to hid it under the cover of her hands. Her mother was not wrong to say that, her father albeit a serious man had a soft heart for jokes and tricks to annoy them from time to time.

She really did not mind….

Her mother had said it was one of the vestiges of the child he was once before becoming the chief of the Tribe. She was bemused by them, though perhaps that was because she spent more time reading books and studying than actually been at the mercy of her fathers sense of humour liker her mother.

``I suppose you are right...´´

With that said the two remained silt for a while, with only the humming sound escaping from her lips as her mother continued to rub her head while the wind blew a breeze through the open windows.

``So…, what were you doing here?´´

``Just...thinking, lost in thought., the usual...´´

Her mother nodded at her, her eyes darting to the side as she looked at the open book in the ground before looking back at her. Walking softly towards her, then a bit more before she sat right next to her.

``I see…´´

She said before looking away from her and into the village and beyond. An aura of maturity wrapping around her mother as her eyes softened slightly.

`` Is a beautiful day to remain idle under the warmth of the sun. You would not know how many times I have gone up here to do just the same, with the breeze of the wind and my own thoughts to accompany me.. ´´

``That is hard to believe…´´

``We all were children once, even those pesky elders...´´

She shook her head in dismay.

That would be quite generous of you, I think that they were born old already. Not a chance to be children..´´

``How curious for to say that...´´

Why is that?

``In my case I think they are in fact more children like than anyone else in the tribe...with their rants and hard one lessons. Always clawing for attention like small little brats wanting for a new toy..´´

The two chuckled at that, truly...the elders really did not live out to her expectations as wise old men.

They were just old men...writhing in old glories nobody cared and customs so long and boring she was glad fate had spare her from the need to obey as the daughter of her father.

Seeing her mother signalling to sit down she followed through.

``Mom.., can I ask you something?´´

``Of course, anything you want dear...´´

``Father.., where is he? I thought he was with you...´´

``He was, but right now he is out, I believe he is busy with one of the elders...´´

[The elders?]

It was not rare to hear her father having to deal with the other eldest members of the Clan from time to time, but now? She was sure that today was not such meeting schedule.

And it would have taken something big to make her father move away from the embrace of her mother when the hour of the wolf approached.

The walls of her home were rather thin…..

Perhaps a bit too much..

``Did something happen..?´´

She asked, eyeing curiously at her mother, but she merely shook her head. Raising a hand in a placating manner while the other merely remained resting over her belly.

``Nothing, just the same old story that they like to bark around from time to time…and since no one else is wanting to endure their shenanigans your father is the one and only to bear it´´

``I see...´´

``Indeed, but don't worry...your father will get it sort it out in nothing, just like all the times before...´´

After that a moment of silence stretched between the two once more. She did not mind it, not really though.

It was a good change of pace, some food for thought even if the matter of what those two had to talk in the first place would be revealed to her if she just asked her father afterwards.

But in the end her thoughts landed once more on the crux of the matter that had alarmed her when she had realized who was intruding inside her room. The reason that she had fallen apathetically after her unsatisfactory investigation.

Unwittingly bringing one of her hands up and clutching her left shoulder...

``A storm is coming…´´

The sudden interruption caught her by surprise once more, but perhaps what startled more was the coldness that had taken over her mothers tone.

She blinked, purple eyes looking baffled at the older Theriantrope.

Eh? A storm, mother...? What do you mean?´´

She does not answer her query right away, her eyes narrow, lines form around her face as a scowl warps around her soft features, but in the end she nodded.

``Indeed, I feel my bones quiver...even from here. Did you not feel it? The change in the wind? How the air has grown a little more heavier? It was what brought me here in the first place...´´

Really? She truly had not felt something as deep as her mother had.

True, she had come to feel something ruffle her ears as she looked at the horizon...but she had been too lost in her thoughts to actually put much attention to it.

She had merely attributed it to external shift in the air and little else..

``I-I am sorry, I did not notice´´

``Well, then why don't you look there…?´´

Replied her mother calmly, her features regaining that youthful softness they had as a slender finger rose and pointed somewhere hidden in the vastness of the horizon.

She looked, ignoring the tens and houses of her tribe, past the fields of lustful green and trees that surrounded them, peering into the cold and high mountains that cut through her sight, but she did not found it.

Only when her mother guided her did she realized that something was amiss where she was looking at. Eyes narrowing in visible confusion as she looked what laid behind the mountains weeks and weeks away from them.

``Isn't that...the shadows of the mountains…?´´

``Shadows do not spurt out lightning…, nor do they shake the air..´´

As if just on cue she witnessed timid and brief flashes of light course through the black misty clouds and disappear as rapidly as they descended towards the earth.

The fact that even from there she could make out the outlining of the bright strikes that came from the heavens to the ground spoke volumes of how massive they were.

She had never seen something like that...

``Is rare for storms to grow so strong and visible..from this distance at least´´

``The amount of destruction…, I dread to think what is going on there..´´

``Storms are not necessary bad things, my daughter...they bring destruction yes…, but they also create life in their wake.´´

``Life? What do you mean...?´´

``The water floods the very grounds they trail, allowing grass and fungus to pop out afterwards from the soil strong and ready to take their first steps into their given life. The trees that were felled become nourishment to the plants around them or homes to other critters that need a new home...and so much more´´

``I see, I had not seen it that way.´´

Her mother shrugged.

``When you grow old you have a lot of time to ponder about simple things..In time you get to see them everywhere´´

``So, what does this storm makes you think? Does it bring life, or destruction? Should we ignore it or prepare before hand for its arrival..?´´

``That, my daughter, like any threat or problem we may believe we will face or have... only time will tell...´´

With that she rose from her sit and walked away, though not after hugging her softly and pressing her head against her chest.

As she remained still where she stood her mothers words rang inside her head long afterwards.

They were truthful and filled with wisdom, of that there was no doubt.

But if they really foreshadowed either thing, she already knew what was to happen in the future and what it would entail for her and her family.

Her breath hitching and her blood running cold once again as she shifted aside the cloth covering her left shoulder and exposing a series of black spots of rotten meat.

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A/N

Answers.

Kerberosthe: I am glad you liked the gore and guts that were spilled then, and if you are looking for more then dont worry, there is plenty juice to go around. War is brutal and dirty and the mc brings the heat where ever he goes.

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Yes, there may be sex down the line in the story, we already have mentions of rape so it would not be that crazy. But to reach that point between the mc and the seven shadows? Well…

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The fallen Lord is the mc, is the way the gods and demons that faced him called him. An insult to be sure, though one filled with a modicum of respect, the same way the Covenant called the Masterchief "The demon". After all, I am sure they would not be happy to call the mc Dennys if there was a chance they were about to be defeated. The shame in the afterlife would not be able to be overstated.

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I too disliked some of the misunderstandings tropes, though mostly for their shameless overuse and plot-convenience than anything else. There is a point that you can tolerate, and some you can not, is just depends on the person I guess...

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Dont worry, its not creepy or worrisome to see all the messages in one page, through the settings I can see them individually in which chapter they are without having to look at the review zone. In AO3 happens the same way, the comments appear only in the chapter they are made and nothing else.

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Yeah, Iris had no manners….deserved the curb-stamp she received later.

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See you next time..:)