Author Games: Dawn of Nameless Desires

Task Two Entries: Mirrimdyr

Saint Salvius Shiva

This fair traveler was lost on his way to this task and never seen from again.

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Korza Anorfir

Dark. It was so dark. Too dark. It was not friendly, did not grin back down on him with a starry smile, did not unfold before his curious eyes in a wondrous display of leaking colors. It was empty and barren and grim. It was as deep as pitch, staring at him with a blank, never changing face. It was terrifying and oh so hostile.

Korza knew darkness, but never like this.

It was cold, too, but wet and piercing and stale. The cold did not fill his lungs with crisp, clean air. It did not ruffle against his ears playfully nor breath new energy into his limbs. It bit into him, sinking into his very bones and freezing his marrow solid. It sat heavy on his fur, the dampness sharpening the chill's blades until they had wheedled under his skin. He shuddered from his very core, chest tight.

Korza knew cold, but never like this.

He swung his head from side to side, but all that greeted him was more darkness and cold. He was so confused. Was he lost?

"Mama," he tried. His voice sounded small, even to him, and he shrunk in on himself. "Mama, Paw? Where are you?"

Mama always said that if he ever got lost to wait and she'll come find him. So it'll be okay, he told himself. All he has to do is wait for Mama to find him and everything will be okay. He tucked his knees to his chest and hid his face, ignoring the fluttering in his stomach and the squeeze in his chest. It'll be okay. It'll be okay.

He'll wait, and it will be okay.

The bobcat cub wasn't sure how long he had waited when something rattled in the distance and the sound echoed eerily in the darkness surrounding him. He sat up, but didn't move or call out. He was scared and his tongue had stuck to the roof of his mouth. It was getting harder to breath and the tips of his paws were starting to feel weird. He hoped the sound was Mama trying to reach him. Then he could go home.

The something rattled again, closer now, and Korza fought back a flinch. It was just Mama, he thought fiercely. Just Mama, coming to get him.

A final rattle that sounded like the drying bones his Paw hung out after the meat had been stripped from them came from right in front of him, and Korza looked up even though he couldn't see anything in the darkness anyway. He opened his mouth and let out a small, hopeful, "Mama?"

A dry, raspy voice chuckled, completely unfamiliar. Korza's heart sank into his gut and he tried very hard to ignore how cold it was without his simmering spot of hope warming his core.

"Are you missing your Mama, little cub?"

Korza, inhaling sharply, answered with a whispered, "Yes, sir." It was rude to ignore an adult's question, even if it was a stranger.

"Aye," the voice replied, "Me too."

Before Korza could ask, a flame flickered to life in a lamp and revealed the stranger's face. He wore a cowl, a deep red like Korza's favorite color, but underneath it was bone. No fur, no skin, no scales. Just bone, washed white like the bones his father collected from elk and deer carcasses and illuminated orange and yellow in the fire's light. The skull—the very feline skull—fixed Korza in its black, hollow eyes.

Korza's breath stuttered.

"You better find your Mama soon, little cub," the skull continued, bare teeth clattering together and jaw crunching as it moved, "or fate will not be too kind to you."