The story of how the world was formed and how the sun and moon came to be has been told for many years before the tribe in the mountains had existed. Ancient legends from long ago tell stories about lions and leopards, and the tribe may sometimes even see a big cat for themselves; the cougar. However, the cougar will never rival the beautiful stories of Horakh ("Hora" meaning lion, kh being a part of the word "rikh," meaning sun.) and Mataray ("Matar" meaning leopard, and ay being a part of the word "ayarra," meaning moon). Horakh is a large lion, however his fur color ranges from any shade of red, brown, yellow, orange, and even blue. His mane colour also changes, from red, yellow and orange. He has whiskers the length of his mane, and his ears are as round as the sun. No cat knows his eye color, and the stories only mention that whoever stares into them is blinded forever. He is very protective of the cats, as he keeps two eyes on them at all times, and gives them plenty of light. He is very stern, however he is also forgiving. Mataray is also a large leopard, and her fur color as well can range from dark shades of almost any natural color, even green. The spots in her pelt are always moving and changing, and they never stay in the same place twice. They look like stars, and can range from any light colors of yellow, white, orange, and blue. Her whiskers are as long as Horakh's as well. One of her eyes is the moon, while the other is never described, and no cat knows about it. Her personality is almost opposite of Horakh's, she only keeps one eye on the cats, and even then, she sometimes closes it. She is very relaxed, although if angered, she will punish you with all of her might. Many seasons ago, there was only darkness. Out of it came Matahora, the mother of everything. She was pure white, and her pelt gave out a brilliant glow, lighting up the darkness. She had a long mane that was unlike what Horakh's looked today, except the fact that if any creature looked at it, they would be blinded. Since there was light now, all sorts of creatures started appearing, and Matahora could shape them to however she desired. Her favorite creature were the cats, as they looked a lot like her. They were perfect, with stealthy paws to hunt, sharp fangs to sink into their prey's neck, and whiskers to locate their prey. However, they were small. Other monsters that had adapted to living on the outskirts of Matahora's light, and were created by the darkness, would periodically feast on the cats, picking them off one by one like trapped mice. Fox like creatures would shift to become cat-like, only to transform again and swiftly kill the cat that talked to it. Other monsters were huge in size, and were twice the height of bears with claws twice the length of one. Matahora had to do something about this. The monsters were sensitive to light, as they lived very far from Matahora. The cats had to also hunt far from her, as their prey knew that the cats lived around Matahora. First, Matahora tried leaping high into the sky, and running back and forth to ward away the darkness-feeding monsters. This worked only for a while. Soon, Matahora got tired, and had to rest. As quickly as they fled, the monsters came back to feast on the cats. After this, Matahora realized she couldn't do this herself. She gave birth two her two kits, Horakh and Mataray, and had all three of them run through the sky, one at a time. This was also working, however a season later, all of the creatures below were starving. Matahora leapt from the sky, coming down to see what was wrong. "What's happening?" She asked her cats, who were barely alive. "The monsters had gone away, but there is no more water," They rasped, "therefor, we have no prey, as they all died from thirst*" Matahora realized that the three of them were two bright, so she decided she would stop running in the sky. She sat down onto a hight mountain, and as the days passed, the great mother melted into a hue pile of snow. The snow started melting, and soon enough the rivers started running again. The monsters had shrunken due to exposure to the light, and had their powers taken away. The cats could now freely live their lives, and even though they still had to be cautious of wolves and bears, they could outsmart them and swiftly run away. When Mataray realized this, she started closing her eye every once in a while, as the stars on her pelt could light up the world as well as her eye could. Now, the two cats have helped create balance in this world, and the cats are forevermore grateful. *Cats get most of their thirst quenched by the water in their prey's blood, so they don't have to drink water as often as they do in warriors. _______________________________________________________ If you liked this story, check out my other projects! ^^
