Prologue

My paws hit the dew-covered grass as my prey escaped. It squeaked once as if to taunt me. I hissed angrily, black leopards like me rarely ever miss our mark.

“I’ll get you,” I growled through razor sharp teeth as I circled the tiny rodent.

My muscles flexed with every one of my movements as I prepared to leap. I let out a purr as I saw the mouse shiver with terror. It was about the size of a tennis ball and really needed to consider going on a diet. Cruelty clouded my mind as I swept the unfortunate mouse into the air with my paws repeatedly. Tan and white fur melted together in a blurred mess every time my prey flew upwards. I could only barely decipher its string-like tail, thin whiskers, and bulging liquid black eyes. Eventually, all you could see of the mouse was a small tuft of fur poking out from the edge of my mouth.

The light sound of fallen leaves quivering rang about in my keen ears. Soft steps bounded across the forest floor and stopped next to me. I glanced sideways and saw an elegant feline figure cloaked by the sun’s warmth. Endless black dampened the markings that would normally show on her fur. Since she was my sister, her appearance looked only older than mine did, but otherwise, no differences existed. Cold hatred shone in her lime green eyes. From the corner of one of my aqua eyes, I saw her lash her tail back and forth a few times.

“Shadowglaive, how many times do I have to remind you not to play with your food? Honestly, I’d expect that you would know this by now,” reprimanded Shadowmoon.

Her searing eyes set aflame the mound of guilt in my stomach. Both of us knew that Mother had always taught us to respect our prey and not to torture them.

However, instead of apologizing for my behavior, I replied frostily, “And how many times do I have to remind you that I’m no longer a helpless kitten?”

Shadowmoon’s narrowed eyes filled with annoyance as she twitched her tail and then left, slinking off into the abundant ferns. No guilt laced my heart for retorting back at my perfect sister. Sometimes her flawless ways irritated me more than she would ever know. My eyes traveled to the sky as I drifted of into daydreams about a world in which there would be no one to tell me what to do.

Sharp claws raked into my back, leaving a stinging sensation that clung to my fur. A familiar mew sounded next to one of my velvet ears.

“Hey Shadowglaive! How come you didn’t hear me earlier when I was yelling at ya in order to get your attention? Oh well, never mind that. Talk to me. Amuse me, cause I’m really bored,” chirped my jaguar friend in her usually bubbly way.

Groaning, I tried to escape from Starsong’s grip. Today, her fur seemed to shine like polished glass and her usually dull spots seemed to glow and sparkle like the morning dew. I turned around and padded off. However, before I could leave, I felt her claws collide with my already torn flesh and she clawed my back once more. I turned around to stare into Starsong’s angry yellow eyes.

“I was talking to you,” she hissed, each word spat out with extreme hatred.

I leaned back and proceeded cleaning my blood stained fur. I heard her let out another hiss. Then she began to lecture me about how I should never ignore her. Of course, I didn’t need to listen, for I had heard this rant more than a million times.

Jaguars are such vain creatures. Practically all they ever do is preen themselves and then bother their only friend who is their friend just because they are scared to death of the said jaguar. Then they brag about how jaguars are the best species in the world Sometimes I wish that I could just slit her throat and then walk away without any remorse.

Those thoughts raced through my head while she continued to speak. If I had ever taken the careful time to notice, I would have seen that at the beginning of our friendship, Starsong had been kind and patient until I started ignoring her and finding her horrible because of all the bad things others say about jaguars. If I had taken the time to notice, I would have also seen that all my friend wanted to do was reassure herself that she still had a friend who cared about her no matter what others said. However, I was definitely not the kind and considerate friend.

By the time all my thoughts left me, Starsong had already left, signaling for me to follow her. We passed gorse bushes, gargantuan trees, draping vines, and the usual rainforest scene until we came near the edge of the rainforest where humans had started developing. I saw a rifle propped against the base of a tree and stray bullets lay strewn on the forest floor. No humans were in the area, apparently, they had left for a short while. Thousands of leaves covered a circular area on the dirt. It could have seemed regular if it were not for that, the dirt around the circular patch had no leaves covering it.

“I wonder what that pile of leaves is for,” I murmured half to myself and halfway to Starsong.

“Maybe you should get a closer look,” my friend replied.

If I had been paying attention, I would have noticed the evil glint in her eyes. I inched forwards until my paws nearly touched against the dry, brittle leaves. As soon as all my paws rested on top of the leaves, my body plunged downwards until I hit the dirt beneath. Snarls and cries for help flew from my jaws. Running footsteps could be heard in the distance and Starsong’s sleek body slipped off into the distance. Human voices spoke to each other above my prison.

“This one will catch a large price if we skin it,” I heard one say, not really comprehending the words they used.

A reply that I didn’t quite catch from the other human came. The sharp earsplitting sound of something exploding rang continuously in my ears as searing pain struck inside my chest. More explosions crashed about, causing more pain to seep in my now bloody body. The colors of the spectrum flashed in the back of my closed eyelids until all turned to blissful black. My body became numb to all pain and I drifted out of painful reality and existence. The last thing I saw were a pair of green eyes watching in fear.

This is a prologue to a much greater plot. Please tell me what you think...