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The Lord had been beset upon. At first there had only been his quiet wanderings. His eyes fixed on all curious things while his nose sniffed the air and his ears folded and spun at every sound. Nothing bothered him of course, for he was the Lord of All Cats and couldn’t be intimidated. But then, then there came a new sound, a new smell. The Lord jumped, reorienting himself to brave this new foe but what he found only left him confused. A strange creature floated before him, its features odd. Like a pale giant but not quite. Most terrifying were the eyes, for the Lord knew it was looking at him but the golden orbs were uncanny. He could hear the resonance of its voice and this too, was alarming. But the Lord could not run in the face of such a thing, despite it all, he was curious.

The world seemed to tilt towards this stranger, as the foliage danced on unseen winds. The Lord’s eyes narrowed as the plants of the undergrowth stretched to be closer to the stranger and the trees above leaned in. There was a thrill in the air he could not explain but his muscles felt loose, almost relaxed. Without a doubt, the Lord knew instinctually, this was something akin to the very land itself in its assuredness underfoot. Then the not-pale giant flicked its fingers and something came forth like a falling leaf. It curled in the air and so mesmerized was the Lord, that he did not move as it fell upon him. A strange feeling overcame the Lord then. He could not quite describe it but once again, he knew something had changed and this time it had been him.

He blinked and then crept back into the underbrush. He did not run nor even jog away, as he felt the stranger would not harm him when his back was turned to it but the Lord was quite done with all that. Indeed, after a short time, the odd presence was gone and the plants returned to their rigid stances. The thrill in the air was gone and now he knew, a certain vibrancy with it. The Lord stretched and felt his hunger gnaw. It was time to hunt, to expel this energy while he had it. He heard a faint trickle from a nearby tree and investigated the sound. What he found was a liquid trickling into a basin. It did not smell like water so he avoided it and kept on his way. But it was curious all the same.

As the Lord walked under root and leaf, he began to search for prey. He knew not what he would find but one could not be stopped by uncertainty. His instincts were primed and it did not take long to find what he sought. A mouse nibbled upon a fallen nut, stopping to scan its surroundings every few seconds as it stuffed its face. The Lord’s eyes focused, his body flexed as the stalk began. Carefully he moved like the silent wind, stepping in the most advantageous spots where his paws would not make noise. He shrank in on himself, getting low, almost on his belly as he advanced. He stopped when the mouse stopped eating, he moved only when it wasn’t searching for predators. 

When he was nearly there, so tantalizingly close, a distant crash echoed throughout the forest and the Lord of All Cats, chiefest among his kind, startled. He jumped out of reflex and the mouse bolted into a small nook. But the Lord had only eyes for escape. More booming echoes followed and he ran. So panicked had he become it took a great will of effort to cease his flight, to gather his racing mind. What on earth had that been? It had ruined his hunt! More appalling, he had run. He who had claimed the night, he who had seen the pale giants and had survived the floating stranger. Aghast, the Lord let out a low roar (It was really just an angry meow) and went on his way. More loud echoes followed and he decided to pick up his pace. Sometimes one didn’t need to be curious. 

Eventually the Lord settled down as night began to fall. He found a nice crook inside a low tree, spacious and out of the wind. Though his belly was hungry and he felt more at home in the dark, he could not help but feel tired after the day's events. So he shut his eyes and fell asleep. 

He was awoken in the pitch of night by a terrible smell. It clogged his nose and clung to his fur as it drifted through the forest. He found it hard to breathe and the once quiet forest alive with sound. Prey and foes alike were running but from what? He had his answer a moment later when a terrible roar, louder than anything he had heard, ripped through the night. The Lord, for once in his life, was terrified. It was time to go. He scampered down his tree and once on the forest floor, he was able to breathe again to his relief. But that relief was shattered when the lumbering giants of the forest, those with crowns, those with large paws and those whose girth obscured the trees, thundered past. He was almost crushed underfoot but by some chance he managed to evade them as he joined in the flight. Another roar sounded behind them with such brief intensity it made all quicken their pace. If it was a foe, it was something he had no desire to witness.

The smaller prey were also running, in some cases as thick as the forest floor. Many were crushed in the stampede but a few times did mice and lizards come right before him or beside him, and the Lord was tempted but he knew it could be his demise if he stopped. A red glow was beginning to illuminate his surroundings. Larger creatures ran past him still but now a few were coated with orange and red wisps that blackened their fur and sent them into pain. Where those creatures ran the red wisps spread upon the ground and the wood. It was horrifying. He had to escape!

A crowned beast, its hooven legs bounded by as it screeched from the hot wisps upon its fur. So frantic was the beast, that The Lord had to pause as it cut him off. Only then did he see that the creature had run itself into a low hanging branch and in its struggle to free itself from the tree’s grip, fell to his side, right into the wet tree. Why was it- The tree caught fire and a great woosh bellowed forth before a roar so loud it shook the earth followed, erupting the tree into an effigy of the hot wisps. But the Lord did not see this. Instead, the blast had catapulted him into the most unlikely of places; a hole in the ground. And there in the darkness, the Lord lost consciousness. 

[hider=Summary]
The Lord meets a stranger, tries to hunt but fails and then his entire world is caught ablaze. It’s rough being a cat.
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