[center][h3]The Panther[/h3][/center]
He had woken with a ravenous hunger. His head felt heavy and somehow bigger. Its back was also weighing it down. As if a stone was resting on it. Slowly he opened its eyes. It was night. Good. The night was always good. Things didn’t see him at night. He craned his neck backward, to see what was weighing down its back so much. When he saw what it was, he jumped up in surprise. Those two, big, folding…things on its back. Like some of his prey had. The feathers had the same pitch-black color as his fur. They used it to go up in the air. Away from him. Could he go up too? The things, as a response to the thought, unfurled themselves from their folded state. The wingspan was large. With a few beats, he could feel himself become lighter already. Yes! With this, he could hunt even when the other things fled to!

He was nowhere near its home territory though. Home was a place of large trees and strong branches where he could sleep on during the day. It was a place where he found his prey. Big ones and small ones alike. Where he also found his mates. Here there was nothing. It was big and open. Only grass grew. How did he get here? Memories were spotty. There was a light. No, not a light. Many lights. Many lights flowing around him. Before that? What happened before? He was resting. On a branch. He had eaten a little. Yes. Then the lights came. It picked him up. He tried to fight it. He growled and slashed. Hitting nothing but air. He got weak and tired. Weaker and more tired than he had even been. Breath was escaping him. Eventually, his lids had grown heavy and he fell. Was he sleeping? He looked around. No, everything seemed real.

Then he heard something. His predatory senses made sure it could detect its prey far before they ever saw him. Yet he lowered his body into the tall grasses none the less. The wings folded back over his back. Barely making him larger. The night was good. Night was always good. The bald monkey things never saw him in the night. Not until it was too late. Though he never hunted one of them. Now though, he didn’t just feel a need to hunt. He felt a need to find things. Like one would find a good branch to sleep on. He stalked across the plains towards the voice. It was high pitched, which meant young. Yes, younglings were weak. Though they didn’t have a lot of meat on them.

Another voice joined the first. Lower pitched. Female. Her smell was on the air. She was larger. More meat. She too wouldn’t see him in the dark of night either. He got closer. They were running. The little one was careless. The older one filled with fear. He could smell it coming from her. His legs moved slower now. The purple moon gave just enough light so he could see all other things clearly. The larger one had turned towards him thrice now. Every time he froze. She never reacted. Even when he thought he would smell her. He pushed closer, and closer. They were being stupid. When he got close enough he had to make a decision. Once he would go after one, the other would run. The largest one would be harder to kill but better to eat. More meat. The little one would be easy but without a lot of food on it.

To his own surprise, as he prowled closer, two shadowy figures appeared from his own fur. Exact mimics, with the same folded wings on their back. They were not his mates or blood. They were here to steal his prey! The other two turned towards him. They suddenly gnarled and roared at each other and he snarled back. Daring them to steal his prey and threatening to wound the other one.

The bald monkey things had heard them. The larger one was already running with the small one in its higher paws. It was crying and screaming. Fear oozed from both of them now. He and his two rivals turned their heads immediately. Forgetting their feud. The chase was on. In the distance, they saw the bright lights. The larger thing kept screaming something.

Him and his two rivals were closing in fast though. They had to catch them before they reached the bright lights. The bright lights would betray him. He needed meat. He wanted them both! He was getting close. One of his rivals was on his left, getting close to her side as well. He snarled. It snarled back at the same time. Which cost them both precious moments. Something came whizzing through the air. It pierced through his rival but… it just kept on running. The straight branch was behind him. Embedded into the ground. How?

It elicited whimpers of the larger prey. She kept screaming the same sounds over and over again. When he got  close he could hear it clearly now: “Iltralla!” It was gibberish and stupidity. Another straight branch came whistling from the wind. It came for him! He was not invulnerable like his rival was. He jumped aside but it had cost him his prey. For another of the bald monkey-things came charging at him. With a sharp, straight branch in hand the big monkey yelled as he passed the female thing with her youngling. The thing was coming straight for him. He got ready to pounce upon the thing and tear it to shreds. He even counter-charged at it to knock it down. One of his rivals seemed to have the same idea. The rival charged and managed to stay ahead of him. It jumped at the bald monkey and passed straight through it. Surprising everyone. Though he wouldn’t give up a chance. He jumped up. It was aided by the flapping of the wings. Allowing him nearly jump over the bald monkey but he reached down with his jaw. Biting down on its shoulder. The bald monkey was pulled down to the ground as he landed on all four of his paws. His jaw clenches down. Blood oozed from the deep wounds. The bald monkey dropped his straight branch and screamed in pain. It tried to fight. To no avail.

It grew weaker. He could feel it in his jaw. His rivals were not close so he would have this prey for himself. Finally, the bald monkey thing dropped down, unmoving. He started to tear off shreds of meat to still its hunger. Keeping an eye on the not so distant evil lights with all the other bald monkeys standing in it. There was a mixture of rage and fear in the air. He knew the smell well. His rivals sat down beside him. Making no attempt to take the bald monkey from him. When he had enough, he dropped the half-eaten thing on the ground and turned to look at the evil lights. He snarled at them, angry that he lost his first prey. They were threatening him now too. His two rivals joined the snarling. Moving each to another side of the caves-above-ground and the evil lights. Yet when they got too close to the lights, they seemed to be vanishing. Smoke rose from their backs. Though it did not seem to hurt them. They just snarled, as he did. The naked things shouted things but that one word kept returning: “Iltralla! Iltralla! Iltralla!”

Then something else caught his hearing. It was a soft thing. Like the wind that blew just right. Yet sustained instead of fleeting. He stepped back, getting further away from the stupid loud noises. Hoping he would hear the soft winds better. It came from in front of him though. From the yelling and the caves-above-ground. One of the things appeared before the straight branch holders. He had something in his hand. A white branch, with holes in it. No, not a branch. A bone. He was blowing into it and covered some of the holes with his fingers.

He let out a low grumble. His rivals turned around and head back to him. though before they could reach them, they suddenly vanished into nothingness. As if they had never existed in the first place. After a moment of surprise, he turned back to the wind speaking thing. He sat down, calmly. The soft sounds it made, it felt soothing. The loud noises stopped now. Letting him hear the thing-made winds better. It let out a low rumble of enjoyment. The sounds were good. The sounds were nice! From the darkness, he looked into the evil lights. The man was sitting down now.

He didn’t know why but he felt that the sounds would soon stop. They were coming faster now. Less like soft flowing water and more like waves crashing upon stone. Yet he did not mind it. The song was good. The thing that made the song…he was good.

The winds stopped as he had expected. Then silence raged. The song had been good. Good enough to live. It would seem that fear and hatred had subsided somewhat. Together with the loud noises. He let out a low grumble as if to say he did not desire to fight or eat anymore tonight and turned around. He walked back into the tall grass. Away from the things. 

Leaving them with a story of the Iltralla that liked a song.

[hider=Summary]
A panther was picked up by floating lights and knocked unconscious. When it wakes up the panther finds itself in an open grassland at night. Soon he finds humans to prey upon. He starts hunting a mother and her child when two identical panthers with wings form from his black fur and start hunting them as well. He sees them as his rivals that want to take his prey. He tries to get them but they manage to get away as he is distracted by spears being thrown and his rivals snarling at him as he snarls at them.

A warrior is foolish enough to charge him. He manages to jump over the man with his wings but bites down into his neck. Dragging him down to the ground and making him bleed out quickly. He then starts eating him while keeping his eyes on the lights that protect the human village and makes his rivals smoke. Then a musician with a bone flute decides to play a song to calm the situation. To his surprise, the panther likes the song and decides to not kill more people that night. He leaves, leaving the villagers with a story of the Iltralla that likes a song.
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[hider=MP/DP & Prestige]
[b]Qael'Naath Start:[/b] 4MP/3DP
-1 DP >> Consecrate Iltralla (the panther) with title: Umbral Hunter I
-1 MP >> Bless Iltralla with wings
-1 MP >> Bless Iltralla with enhanced cognitive functions
[b]Qael'Naath Start:[/b] 2MP/2DP

[b]Post length:[/b] 8.5K characters
+4 prestige >> Iltralla
[/hider]