The Pain To Love

Chapter One

  The sun was slowly starting to set, the orange and pink colors glowing across the fields. The tribe's warriors came out and set into a line. It was the final hunt before the night. Few by few Shadow Neko warriors came out. Some alone, other packed in small or large groups. They lined up a few yards before the edge of the woods. They awaited the call from their tribe leader to signal the hunt.

  "You have grown older now, Raven. You are now thirteen and able to join the hunt. You must go and hunt for our family and bring us the fresh meat from within those woods." Sylvia, Raven's mother, ordered to her daughter.

  Raven looked around at her mother and father. "Mother, Father, I do not wish to join the hunt. I want to stay with my magic" She pleaded

  "You're magic is what will get us killed! Now go before our tribe leader, Makason, calls our hunt out. Go! Scurry along! You are no longer a kitten, you must do what you have to, to keep this family alive!" Keith, her father, demanded.

  Raven took one last look at her mother who nodded before reluctantly turning around and running out to the line of Shadow Nekos. She stayed at the end, not wanting to stand out. All the nekos looked into the woods hungrily but she looked at it with distaste.

  "Choose your weapon, man made, nature made, your own hands, or old ones used during past hunts." The tribe leader called to the ferocious nekos around him. Few by few the nekos took out there weapons or went to the pile. Raven had a diffrent weapon in mind, though. One that would surely bring some respect to her olden family.

  "Transform or go half. Make changes now!" Her demanded again. A few nekos changed into full cats, showing off their rankings. Some lions, some tigers, others just normal cats with outstanding fur. When Raven was born they said she was the prettiest of all with her shiny black fur coat that never seemed to lose its gleam. Even as they complimented her, when she found the ability to control the transformation, she never transformed to full cat ever again. No longer would her fur be seen.

 It was finally time. All cats and nekos lined together in a straight line made up of driving hunger. It was not ever "just a hunt" it was a competition. It was a battle to the death. The fight over ones prey would lose more lives than necassary. Hunting was dangerous and Raven never liked it. The tribe leader made his call and all the cats bolted into the woods.

  Raven was so clouded into her thoughts she had not heard the call and was the last to get into the woods. She headed in slowly, not really caring. The woods were abundant with prey and there would be enough for her to get some.

  She went into a clearing surrounded by trees in what seemed like the far end of the center of the woods. She checked her border and saw that there were no other cats around. She started drawing in the sand a symbol of her Shadow Magic. Little did she know how much trouble she would get herself into by her way of "hunting." She finished the sumbol and started to chant while prancing around the cirlce, feeling the words mix with her energy.

  Screams were heard in the woods, footsteps pounding on the ground around her. It was too late to close the circle now. The circle erupted into purple flames, sending out scents to the animals to come and die in the fire. When she turned around her parent were there, faces astomished. They knew she was into magic but never had seen her use it. It was forbidden in the tribe.

  Nekos who used Shadow Magic in her clan were part of a whole other breed of Nekos. The Moon of The Shadows clan. No, they were not a tribe, they were a clan. That made a whole diffrence. Those of the clan were to be burned at the stake.

  "Didn't we tell you to say away from magic?" Her mother yelled. That was when a line of men came around their little family, surrounding them. The purple calling flames died out and the men came closer.

  The last thing Raven saw before the darkness spread across her vision was her mother and father being held by large men by their necks.