Fan Fiction ❯ Actions Decisions and Consiquenses ❯ Gods and Bureaucracies ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: I own this story. All characters in it are © to me. This is just the first part of the story I don't know if I will ever continue it. If you have any questions you can contact me at myst_runner_916@yahoo.com. Thanx

ACTIONS, DECISIONS, AND CONSIQUECES.

By: Myst Runner

Dark everything was dark you couldn't even see your own hand in front of your face. Two voices shattered the stillness.

"So if I give you power and immortality you will give me the Jungle Cats," A voice, harsh and cold as stone, split through the air.

"Yes Cly-dar, the Jungle Cats will be yours they don't follow your sister anymore," a voice murmured fear timid ness evident by the unsteadiness in the voice.

"All sketti follow something or someone. 5Who do they follow that's what I want to know."

"As far as I can tell most of them follow the Nameless One."

"Ah, Yes, the Death God," the voice whispered, smooth as silk.

"They believe that he will be reincarnated into their kind."

"Hum… I have failed at every turn to get the death god to come over to my side," the voice paused. A loud clicking could be heard much like a claw tapping against stone.

"Ma'am," the other voice cracked.

"Yesss… Yesss… This will work nicely," the voice had a touch of shrewdness about it. "Fine I will give you immortality Dalik."

"Yes! Thank you my Lady. Thank you," Dalik's face broke into a feral grin. Even though you couldn't have seen it for all the darkness in the room.

"But…"

"But what ma'am?"

"But you are only immortal in that the sense that you can't die of old age. You will live forever but you can get killed. IF hit in the right place."

"And where might this place be my Lady."

"The soft part of your chest where you neck meets your body."

"Yes ma'am I will heed that warning."

Cly-dar snapped her talon. A roll of parchment and an inkbottle, with a quill pin sticking out of the top, appeared before Dalik. "Sign on the dotted line to add the Jungle Cats to my horde."

Dalik did as Cly-dar bade him to, and somewhere far away from the dark room a whole race had no clue that they had been signed over to the evil side of a war. A war that had been going on for millennia. A war between GOD's.

* * *

They say the Palace of the Gods is one of the three wonders of the sketti world. The only wonder greater then the Palace would be the hanging cities and gardens of the Jungle Cats, and the third wonder of the sketti world would be the grand, expansive, cavernous, underground cities of the ground dwelling Dorhishia sketti. Out of all those things the Palace was the most revered of all.

The Palace of the Gods was located in the exact center of the island continent called Dehli. It ever so happened that the Palace of the Gods sat on the wooded summit of the tallest mountain on the planet Skybow. Dehli, the God's continent, God's lived, breed, and raised their young here. Only the most divine sketti could pass through the magical borders of the continent. If they had achieved the rank of Gods they where allowed to live either in the Palace of the Gods or on the hallowed grounds of the palace.

At that moment, inside the Palace, in one of the High God's personal suite lay the snow-white goddess of storms, Thunder-rah. She was known far and wide as the last of the Black Tiger Clan. She was basking in the warm tropical sun that shined all year long. Her huge golden draconic wings were partially opened to catch the sun's rays as they shone in through the open window. Her snow-white fur seemed to glitter like freshly fallen snow, or diamonds. Her beautiful golden almond shaped eyes were partially closed in bliss because of the warm sunlight stroking her wolfish face with its elongated ears and muzzle. Her long dragon like tail lazily swept across the floor behind her. She had her head resting on her stubby hand-like paws. Her claws where retracted as far into her talon, as far as they could go. This left about two centimeters of the claw visible.

At her feet six pudgy, roly-poly, sketti pups played. They where about three months old and ranged in color and markings from the sparkling white of their dam. To the gleaming gold of their sire, and other colors in between including forest green, obsidian black, dark blue, purple, and others that you wouldn't find on any normal wolf or other furred creature on Earth.

At that moment the huge heavy doors to the chamber opened forcefully. A young silver sketti, named Yokai, came running in. He was the messenger of the Gods. He had been given immortality to serve as messenger. He mainly served Deinari and Neri, the King and Queen of Gods, as their personal page. He had been bleached to a sliver white; you could still see some of his light gray fur; because of the powerful magic's that flowed around the King and Queen at all times.

"Lady Thunder, Lady Thunder a message for you from the Queen!" Yokai bellowed as he came to a sliding stop in front of the snoozing Goddess. He stood there for a few seconds. "Lady Thunder?" Thunder kept her eyes closed. Yokai blinked his eyes a couple of times. "Thunder?"

Thunder kept her eyes closed feigning sleep. She had woken up when she heard the doors open. `I wish that he would shut up. I don't want to go to no damn God's Counsel. Oh well maybe it I keep this ruse up he'll leave.' Thunder's ear twitched.

Yokai had never given Thunder a message personally. He had either given them to her mate, Helios, or if at the time she had an older litter of pups he would tell one of them. `Damn! What is it that you call her to get her attention.' Yokai remembered Helios calling Lady Thunder, Thundra, once. Maybe that was it. "Um, Thundra? I have a message from the Queen."

Thunder opened one of her eyes and glared at Yokai. Her huge golden eyes seemed to be peering into Yokai's soul. "Go on. Tell me the message."

Yokai gulped and then delivered the message all the while trembling like a leaf in a gale. " `To Lady Thunder. From Neri. God Counsel has been called. It seems that your precious Jungle Cats have overstepped their bounds again. They have joined your sister's side. This counsel is to decide what to do with them. You are ordered to come. Neri out.' That's all she told me."

Thunder had sat bolt upright at the mention of the Jungle Cats joining her sister's side. The whites of her eyes where showing because of the overwhelming fear and apprehension she was feeling. Thunder's mind raced around in circles much like a rat in a barrel. `How could it be. The Jungle Cats have been loyal to me and or No Name for millennia.6This cannot be. There one of the old breeds. Their clan is even older then I.' "How the hell did this happen?" Thunder roared, for once forgetting about her pups. The pups dashed to the safety of their mother.

"I dun know. You'll have to ask Neri," Yokai shrugged

Thunder nodded her head, "Then I will." She turned and did a sort of whistling trill at her pups. The pups answered back with a short squeaky bark.

"Waddyah tell them?"

"I told them that mommy had to go away for a while and that YOU would watch them."

"Oh," Yokai paused for a bit like he hadn't really comprehended what Thunder had just told him to do. His eyes went wide and his ear snapped up. "WHAT?… ME…"

"Yes, you. Now stay here and watch them don't open the door to anyone except for me." Thunder brought herself to her full height of nine feet at the shoulder. She glared down at him. "Got It."

Yokai trembled he could see that Thunder's eyes had changed. He could see a stormy sky reflected in her eyes. Once in a while a flash of lightning would appear. As long as Thunder didn't blink or try to fly he would be all right, "Kay."

"Good," Thunder snarled as she lumbered off her tail lashing around behind her. She wasn't looking forward to this at all. Last God's Counsel had been to exile Cly-dar from Dehli and that one had lasted for three whole months. "Hope this one don't take as long," Thunder muttered to herself.

* * *

It had been three and a half hours, three and a half hours or torture for Thunder. She knew that the Jungle Cats weren't the culprits. They had been played false she know it. Though she thought the sentence dealt was a little harsh. Thunder closed her eyes a flash back occurring.

: "Yes Thunder I know the Jungle Cat's weren't the culprits but the crime has been committed and it must be dealt with."

"But Neri…"

"No I won't listen to you."

"Neri the Jungle Cats aren't to blame. It's Dalik we should be after."

"Dalik is a Jungle Cat so thus I will punish them all."

"Hasn't it ever occurred to you that maybe, just maybe, you could punish Dalik and not a whole freaking species.":

Thunder remembered sitting there watching Neri punish all the Jungle Cats for a crime that only one of them committed and not a single one of them knew about it.

:"The Jungle Cats will have seven hundred years taken off of their natural life span."

"But that means that they will have only one hundred years to live."

"Thunder if you keep on interrupting I will make you leave."

"Yes ma'am."

"Good, now since the Jungle Cats have a natural life span of eight hundred years they will now only have a life span of one hundred year. No more. All Jungle Cats who are over a hundred will die with in a few months of this happening."

"That means that three fourths of their population would be gone."

"Thunder what did I tell you. Keep your thoughts to your self."

"I'm leaving. I will not have any part in this if this is what you are going to do to them":

She remembered getting up and running out of their and into the gardens. Right now she was laying beside a small pool with fish in it. "Why now. Why all of that for just one." Thunder sighed; this was going to be hard to watch. How she would handle it she didn't know.

* * *

Fifty years had passed and the Jungle Cats where still around. True to Thunder's words they had lost almost three fourths of their population. That decision made by Neri had affected every single Jungle Cat, but it seemed to affect one more then the others. Drakan had been five months old when his mother and father had died mysteriously. Nobody in the Clan Tigras knew what was happening. His brothers and sisters had died shortly after from starvation. They hadn't been smart enough to go out a hunt their own food unlike Drakan. That's how he had survived. He now lived on the outskirts of the Tigras lands.

He yawned, this was getting boring, and he had been tracking the same humans for hours. At least now they had stopped for the night. The only bad thing being that they had started a small fire and Drakan knew from past experiences that fire was deadly. Especially when used by dumb, ignorant humans. Already he had watched at these two had captured a bird using nets and then using cruel methods to detain it and transport them.

Drakan was normal in appearance for his species. He was a solid black sketti with lamp like yellow eyes and if the light his is ebon fur just right you could see leopard spots on it. He hadn't lived in the grand Tigras city for years. He had no wish to return. The reason being that it felt empty. Thirty thousand Jungle Cats had once lived there. Now only about a fourth of that remained. The city just seemed to deserted for his tastes.

He glanced back down one of the humans was asleep the other standing guard. Looked like a another long night to him "Might as well get some rest while I can," Drakan yawned as he got up from the tree limb he had been sitting on and stretched like a cat. "Now where would be the best place to sleep," Drakan murmured as he glanced around trying to find a sturdy wide limb that he could go to sleep on. He looked over his head and sure enough there was just the type of limb he was looking for. Drakan unsheathed his claws and started to climb up the huge jungle giant's sturdy trunk.

He yawned once again as he stretched out on the limb to find a comfortable spot to sleep. This defiantly was going to be a long night with and early wake up call. He could hear zillions of insects buzzing all around him and all of the other nocturnal jungle animals. The sad lonely cry of the trapped bird drifted up to him in his tree. At least he wasn't the bird. Darkness soon over whelmed him in sleep and would only be lifted by the break of the morning sun.