Prologue Part I: Death of Tsura

I won’t be alive much longer. You must get the child to Celestia as soon as possible. Do not let her fall into his hands. Protect her with your life.

Tsura struggled from the ground after being struck down by her opponent yet again. Her breath came in huffs as she placed a hand on her knee and began to push herself up to a kneeling position. Several drops of blood fell to the ground. Grabbing her twin blades, Tsura stood to face Serkan, who stood a few feet away smirking as he held a large broadsword in a relaxed grip. Blood from numerous cuts and dirt tarnished her garments, while the cat spirit remained nearly unscathed, save for minor scratches. For a change of pace, Tsura who attacked this time.

The sound of metal slamming against metal rang through the air as the young woman’s twin blades made contact with the broadsword. Serkan lunged at her using his long tail for a counterweight when he landed, breaking the band that held the girl’s hair in place while forcing her off balance. Tsura swung her leg back hoping to trip the brown-haired spirit, but he jumped to a tree branch, avoiding her counter completely. The young woman pushed off her arm and back flipped to face her opponent with her blades poised for attack.

A gentle breeze whistled through the trees disrupting the tense silence between the two adversaries. More blood seeped from Tsura’s wounds as she faced the cat spirit. Serkan stood tall on the thick tree branch, his ears flicking slightly for any noise, and his tail swished behind him. The girl below him clenched the hilts of her weapon, bracing herself for another attack.

“Where are you keeping the child?” the spirit asked Tsura who stood below him, with a slight anger.

“There’s no force capable of making me tell you Serkan!” Tsura responded as her blades turned an intense light blue.

Serkan’s golden eyes flicked to look into the second story bedroom window of a house that was not too far from him. Inside, he saw a baby sleeping peacefully while wrapped in a warm blanket. There, he thought anxiously and turned his attention back to the girl who shouted for it. So she has hidden the child in her home.

“I will have that child,” The spirit’s eyes focused on Tsura, and he leapt off the branch in her direction with his sword raised. “Understand?”

The young woman pointed one of her blades at Serkan, and a light blue blast of purified energy came from it, but it only scraped the spirit’s tail and left nothing of the tree branch where he previously stood. Several other blasts followed in rapid succession as the second blade joined the first. Even though the small blasts looked to be doing a great deal of damage, they only succeeded in kicking up dust and defiling the landscape, as they were no match for the spirit’s greater speed.

Where is he? Tsura asked herself while continuing to blast the areas where she believed her speedy opponent passed. Beads of perspiration slid down her forehead and stung her eyes, causing a pause in her assault.

Serkan took advantage of the momentary ceasefire, as well as the cover the dust and dirt provided him, and charged at Tsura with his sword behind him. A well-timed blast that eliminated Serkan’s attack saved her from a painful death.

When she recovered from the energy loss, Tsura grasped her right arm where she felt a stinging pain. Her chocolate eyes widened slightly when a warm liquid touched her hand. She looked at her arm quickly and noticed three bloody slashes that bled freely onto the red leather surrounding it.

--

Serkan growled as he lifted himself from between the broken halves of a tree trunk. One of the halves shattered in his grasp once he was sitting up fully. The scent of his own blood in the air made him grimace and caused him to bring his hand to his stomach where he felt a small amount of blood through his dark shirt. The shock and pain the purification blast brought him was so great that his movements became sluggish.

After regaining most of his momentum, the spirit began to search the greenery for his weapon. His sword lay several meters from him in a bush with the hilt sticking up out of it. Retrieving it, he smirked at the familiar scent of luminarium blood in the air. She will not last much longer.

Before he could enjoy his triumph, a small blast of light blue energy flew through the forest toward him. Stepping swiftly to the side and readying his sword, he dashed for the source of the attack. Another blast scraped his shoulder, but it went unnoticed as his solitary focus was on the luminarium girl in front of him.

“You missed!” Serkan let a sly smile slip onto his face as he leapt for Tsura.

“No I didn’t,” Tsura remarked, loosening her grip on her twin blades for a moment. “I was aiming for your sword.”

“No matter,” the cat spirit began as he looked casually at his discarded weapon out of the corner of his left eye, “Be so kind as to surrender the child to me now and I might let you escape with your life.”

“I’d much rather die!” Tsura’s blades began to glow a light blue with small blue sparks jumping from them.

“That can be arranged,” Serkan’s golden eyes went colorless as he took on the form of an enormous cat.

--

A doe and her fawn were grazing grass peacefully, blissfully unaware of the battle taking place. Rays of sunlight lanced down and reflected off of the small amount of dew covering the grass and warming their light brown fur. A slight rustle in the brush caused the doe to look up suddenly. Seeing nothing unusual, the deer returned to grazing. Little did they know, they were being observed.

A pair of amber eyes focused on the small fawn. A low growl sounded from the hungry tigress’ throat as she crouched lower to the ground, waiting for the time to pounce. She was hidden surprisingly well for a white tiger, sitting in a patch of greenery which was increased by her top bottom half being covered partly in thick mud. Her claws flicked out and dug into the dirt, preparing to leap.

Just before executing the pounce, the tigress’ unusually sharp hearing picked up on the cries of a baby in the distance. This could only mean trouble. She had been certain that Serkan didn’t track the infant this far. Weighting the option of hunting deer versus checking on the infant, the large cat quickly turned around and darted in the direction of the cries.

--

The baby’s cries had led the large black and white tigress to a large house in the center of a forest clearing. The grass in front of it was stained with large spots of crimson blood. The vanilla walls had also seen some of the blood spatter. The tigress growled when she inhaled the scent of the blood. Her concern for her owner increased when the sounds of a nearby fight reached her ears, along with the scent of another cat.

Hoping that the young woman could hold on for another few minutes, the black and white tigress made her way for the nearest entrance, the sliding side door. Large shards of glass were scattered in front of the tigress’ paws, indicating that the fight had originally began inside the home. The condition of the front room also signified that.

Stepping swiftly and quietly through the debris, the tigress hurried to the stairs, hoping nothing had happened to the infant. As her heavy paws pounded every couple of stairs, the cries became more audible. She knew she found the right room when she spied a small bundle moving around in a blood red blanket. The cat stalked through the open door as her lengthy tail swung back and forth.

A light breeze caused a sheet of paper to flutter from the abandoned desk to the cat’s paws. Crouching before it, the cat began to look over the quickly written note.

I fear that I won’t be alive much longer. Serkan has managed to track us to the Mortal World and now he seeks my child. I implore you, Zelma; please get the child to Celestia. She is not safe here any longer. I have made preparations for this day as soon as the oracle foretold it six months ago. There should be a safe house on the southern border of darkkan territory. Serkan’s army grows stronger and larger with each passing day. For the safety of the child, go only in the cover of night.

Whatever the cost, make sure that she never falls into his hands. If that were to happen, it could possibly mean certain doom for Celestia in the coming decade. Take my wakizashi and give them to the child as soon as she turns seven. Until then, you must protect her with your life.

Zelma looked up from the note to find a small face peering out from under the scarlet coverlet. When the tigress took a seat in front of the small crib, a baby girl tumbled clumsily out of it while reaching for her. As Zelma stood up, a slight pressure pulled on her leg as the child climbed it, blanket and all.

“Ma!” the child squealed, hugging the white tigress around her neck.

Zelma chuffed in contentment for the moment. A pain-filled shriek reminded the feline of her current duties and broke the cheerful demeanor of the baby as she recognized it as her mother’s voice. Flinching at the loud cries of the child, Zelma immediately began to purr deeply in an effort to calm her. Small giggles came from the small child, signaling that she had calmed.

The feline shook her head quickly, causing the baby to lose her grip on the soft fur and caught the bundle with her teeth in a gentle grip, akin to how a mother cat would hold her kitten. She placed the bundle down before she used her claws to break the window. Picking up the lively bundle once more, Zelma took a few steps back before making an effortless leap out of the broken window, barely missing the sharp edges.

--

Serkan brought his blood-soiled paw down and sniffed the air for a short time. He turned away from the bruised and bloody young woman on the ground. His fierce amber eyes locked onto a smaller white tigress holding a red bundle. Recognizing the sweet scent, the enormous auburn cat began to chase after her. Adrenaline and willpower alone pushed Tsura to get up after Serkan’s onslaught.

“Leave them alone; I’m your opponent!” Tsura yelled sending numerous blades of light blue energy in the large shaggy-haired cat’s direction.

Serkan hissed in extreme pain as the blast threw him forward into the nearby forest. Zelma jumped out of the way, landing a few feet from Tsura and crouched into a fighting stance. Once the cat spirit got to his feet, he received fearsome warning growls from the feline in front of him. Claws dug into the soft earth, and Zelma motioned to set the red bundle down as her tail swished in aggravation.

“What are you doing Zelma?” Tsura inquired as her blood-slicked hands clutched the miniature blades.

The determined look in the tigress’ eyes told the teen that getting her to go along with the original plan was not going to be easy. Tsura knew that her plan would most likely result in death, but it was a sacrifice that she was willing to make. However, she never guessed how it would affect Zelma or how it would affect her daughter in the future. Her brown eyes shifted to look at the small bundle in Zelma’s teeth. This child—my daughter—could possibly be the only thing standing between Serkan and his goals. It’s vital that she makes it to Celestia safely!

“Get Kiki out of here while I keep him busy!” Tsura commanded, earning a livid growl from the tigress. “This is not the time to be disobedient!”

Zelma held her position until a nudge from the sullen teen prompted her. Reluctantly, the tigress began to saunter off, slowly picking up speed. Serkan cantered toward the fleeing Zelma, claws extended and ready to rip into her flesh. The white tigress pumped her legs harder to escape her pursuer. When the larger cat noticed Tsura approaching from behind, he whirled around with his claws extended toward the girl, skewing her through her center and chest.

Zelma froze in place and almost dropped the sleeping child when her heart skipped a beat. The two blades fell from Tsura’s hands as their grip loosened. They hit the ground a few seconds apart from each other with a seemingly endless thud. Tsura’s eyes gradually glazed over as the word ‘run’ formed on her lips.

Terminology

Spirits- Creatures which have the appearance of a human with animal-like characteristics. There are as many types of spirits as there are animals. They age slower than mortals and have above average speed, strength, sense of smell, etc. Their primal form depends on which type of animal spirit they are.

Luminariums- This group of mortals are the Darkkan’s sworn enemies. They age like humans and have the holy power of a priest or priestess. This power is used to destroy those whom they deem evil.