========================================= >> DTAE for Winter >> I changed the color of the eyes >> I changed the rune bracelet into a collar >> Light and shading :3 >> I honestly don't know how long I took to draw this >> Winter's new name is Epiphany ========================================= Winter batted away her brother and began to wrestle with him across the den floor. They were alone for a little bit while their mother went hunting, their father- nobody knew where he was. "Hey! That's my paw!" Autumner exclaimed, pulling himself out of the wrestling match. "Sorry." Winter apologized, following to see what harm she had done. After a moment of watching her brother licked his paw, and she realized she had only injured his pride. "Do you know when mother will return?" Winter asked, turning toward the entrance, dim with evening light. "No." Autumner replied, sitting next to his sister. He sniffed intently toward the opening and shivered. "I understand why mother named you Winter." Autumner said, after a moment of silence. "Why's that do you think?" Winter asked, curiously. "You're cold like the ice outside." "Your pride fell like the autumn leaves. I had no choice but to win." Winter retorted. "Cruel cat." Autumner muttered under his breath, he lashed his tail twice and stood. "I am not cruel!" Winter exclaimed, following. "Prove it." Her brother snarled, whirling back around. Angry and frightened by her brother's behavior Winter skittered away. "I'm telling mom you're being rude." She announced, pulling herself out of the den entrance. "Winter, no! You could get lost!" Autumner exclaimed after his sister. Ignoring him she stepped foot into the drifted snow. Her paw alighted on the snow. Autumner followed quickly behind, but he sunk down into the cold, wet, and deep surface of the snow. Winter was pleased that she was smaller, for once and started to walk away. "Winter! Come back!" Autumner was sitting at the den with a pleading look on his face. "You just don't want to get in trouble." Winter observed, glancing back slightly. "No! I don't want you to get lost, please! You don't know where mom is, besides what if there's a blizzard?" "Mother's tracks go in that direction. I'll be right back." Winter assured her brother. "I'll be gone only for a second. You won't even miss me." "Easy for you to say." Autumner called back. "Bye!!" Winter said, bounding out of sight. For a little bit she followed the tracks of her mother, but her legs were growing tired, and she wondered how her mother could go so far. Thoughts of turning back crossed her mind, but she refused, instead she pressed onward. A bird flitted from one bush to another, catching Winter's attention in her peripheral vision. She snapped her head to gaze in that direction, her eyes dilated. Paw step, by paw step, she left the tracks her mother had made to follow the flitty little bird. It paused on one branch, fluffing its feathers, then as Winter drew closer, it sensed her presence and darted to another bush. This continued for a while, until the bird had had enough and made Winter quite lose her way taking her in circles farther and farther away from where she originally started. The bird flew up to a high branch on a tree and Winter groaned. She was hungry. Too bad she hadn't had the skill to catch the bird. After gazing longingly at it she turned away as a snowflake drifted down from the sky. Winter shivered and gazed around her. More snowflakes fluttered down. At first Winter thought that the bird had disturbed snow resting on the branches, when she realized that in reality, as the day grew darker, that the clouds were releasing these cold flakes of ice from above. Winter looked around, searching for her pawprints in the snow. She had to find her way back and swiftly. Her tiny prints, as she walked around, filled silently with snow without her knowledge. Frantically, fear pumping in her little heart, she bounded in one direction. Allowing her adrenaline to carry her from place to place. Finally, long after the snow had begun and the faint light of the sun had disappeared Winter felt faint from hunger and fatigue. She changed her motive, knowing that if she didn't have a safe place to rest an owl might swoop down and carry her away. Finding a place between tree roots she dug out a hollow and slipped inside. She watched with tired eyes as the snow fell outside. A little bit drifting inside to melt on her dry nose. When Winter woke the next morning, she was sure because she felt well rested, she found herself in a dark place. She stood and scraped her back against the dirt roof of her hollow. Memories of where she was came flooding back to her and she laid back down, afraid to hurt herself again. Wincing from the sharp pain along her spine she attempted to find the opening. She found the snow blocking out the light and began shoveling it away.
Winter's paw pads were cracked and beginning to ebb with bl00d as she dug through the ice. Her stomach rumbled and her mouth watered at the slightest thought of food. She felt warm because of her enclosed space with her hot breath, but she still shivered. Winter had made little headway into the snow that had blocked her from the outside world and finally she had to return to the security of the earth hole she had dug hours before. Under the tree she set to widening the space a little bit, but failed to accomplish anything, her tiny body collapsing with exhaustion. Days later Winter was restarting her snowy tunnel back to the surface. Her paws moved slowly. They were scabbed, her nose was dry, her stomach rumbled endlessly, she shivered constantly, and she could see each and every one of her ribs when she went to clean herself. Every day she had to restart her tunnel because every time she left and slept for the night the snow collapsed back in on itself. Once she tried sleeping in her tunnel, but she got so cold and felt like her blood had frozen, she decided not to do that again. Finally on the fifth day of being trapped Winter dropped, falling into a deep unconsciousness like death. Such was her juxtaposition from nearly a week before to now. Winter opened her eyes to see a soft white glowing all around her. A leopard a soft yellow like the sun was resting beside her. "Am I dead?" Winter asked, gazing around herself with wonder. Nature, as though it were spring, was growing around them. "Not if you don't want to be." The yellow leopard responded, gazing down at Winter with love greater than her mother's. "I want to go back; I have to see my brother. My mom must be so worried!" Winter exclaimed standing up as her words tumbled out of her mouth in a rush. "Be still youth." The leopard calmed Winter's rushing pace with those simple words. "When you return you won't be who you were before. If that's what you really want." He said. "I want to. I have to." Winter explained. "You're positive you don't want to enjoy these lush gardens with me and see all there is to explore? Like you've been doing for the past while." "What do you mean 'past while'?" Winter asked. "You don't remember your days spent here? My, I guess you really are waking up. Before you go, I must give you my gifts." "Gifts? You're making zero sense!" Winter exclaimed. "I just woke up here, please! Stop speaking in riddles!" "It's too bad that you don't remember the fun you had with your own father." The yellow leopard whispered softly, his words like sunlight peaking through the trees. "What??" Winter asked, confused as ever. "There isn't much time and I'm sorry I can't explain more, but- here. Remember me as you wear this crown." A heavy weight appeared on Winter's head and she lifted her head higher in attempts to get a glimpse of what was on her head. "And these: wear them proudly and remember your strength." Three sharp pricks on her ears. She reached a paw to touch them and felt metal she looked up at the sunny leopard. "And this, remember this place like a far off memory as you read the inscription." Something metal appeared around her neck and again Winter touched it. "In memory of the snow you were trapped in wear this and remember the origin of your powers." "Powers? I don't have powers." Winter said incredulously. "You do now." He said, gazing down with love and regret. "Now, one more thing before you depart. I name you Epiphany, another reminder of who you now are. My daughter, your strength, your memory, and your powers. I love you my dear Epiphany. Safe travels on earth may you be who I know you are." The white light began to fade and Winter now Epiphany blinked once, she was in a den, it was warm and large, it held a firey glow and she glanced around. A leopard stepped into the room and dropped a woven basket of herbs with surprise. "She's alive!" Then a curious inspection of all the new things. The crown of antlers, the earrings, the collar, and the necklace. "Oh darling Winter." The leopard said, nuzzling Epiphany. "Actually-" Epiphany said, pulling away. "I have no idea who you are and my name isn't Winter anymore. He named me Epiphany." "Who?" "I think- my dad." Epiphany stated hesitantly. THE END (to be continued as a comic if I win) =========================================
