Orphriend and Oracle

Chapter 4

First if all a William Blake poem is in this. The 2nd, 4th, 6th, ad 8th lines below aare the first four lines of Tiger, Tiger by William Blake. Enjoy!

That haunting melody. 

Tiger, Tiger, burning bright. 

Soothing yet dangerous. 

In the forests of the night. 

It killed me once. 

What immortal hand or eye. 

It will kill you too. 

Could frame thy fearful symmetry? 

Goodbye.

"The pack. It's home. It's safety. We roam as we please, in human form or animal form. We all only shift into cats. Wildcats, specifically. All of us range from cheetahs to lions to leopards to tigers. Only the males are able to be lions. Other than that we are all different cats. But you and Oniyx are the only shifters that can be a lioness and a puma. No one else can shift into a lioness or a puma." Delta said, hiking easily up the steep mountain. Me, i was having the hardest time of my life. No freeking way she's only done this 4 times.

Oniyx seemed to be having the time of his life. Just bounding up the rocks. Easy- peasy for him. No problems at all.

Did i mention life sucks? Because it does. Majorly.

I mean, here's three people/cat things, an one can't even hike up a stupid mountain! Im a CAT for The Gods' sakes, and I cant even use my perfectly manicured (and sharp) nails to climb a rock?! Ive trained hard, & dirt and grime was once welcomed by my body. And then, poof! No rocks for me. Sorry to burst your bubble. Your all-American, pretty, cat-like bubble. So sorry to make your confidence in me wither and die right in front of you. I really didn't mean it.

Anyways, so as I'm climbing up this mountain, Delta's over here talking her ass off, easily climbing. I envy her... Stupid cat people. I know I'm talking about myself, but i honestly don't care.

"Well! Here we are," she said, pointing to a rock wall covered with fronds, and i could hear the faint sound of a waterfall. I looked at her confused. She rolled her eyes and said, "Honestly it's like you've never seen a magical barrier." She waved her hands and the fronds pushed back and the rock slid back and to the side.

I stared open-mouthed at the rock wall. She smirked and brushed herself off, then flounced through the rock door, her light red hair bouncing slightly.

I followed after her, still gaping, through the rock door. When i ducked through the tunnel, what i saw about took my breath away.

The faint sound of the waterfall i heard was now thundering, and the whole circle-gorge thing was teeming with beautiful scenery, wildcats, and people.

"Hello, I'm Terra, leader of The Fallen Pack. Who are you?" a person in a light blue and dark blue armor. She had long curly dark brown hair that reached to her waist. She had blue-gray eyes and her face was flawless. She was average height with long legs, and curves. She was absolutely beautiful.

"Im Alliynthroe Masen and this is Oniyx Halbon. We're the apprentices of Sahara Torres and Midnight Vega. We are the Orphriend and Oracle." I said.

Terra gasped. "We are honored to have you in our prescence, Orphriend and Oracle." she bowed low and all of the other cats an humans who had gathered around the little group collapsed in a praising bow.

God not again...

"Really. Please. We are just two ordinary cat people. We're just like you. Please treat us that way." Oniyx said beside me. I nodded in agreement.

"No, we will treat you like royalty while you're here, because you are royalty to us." Terra replied.

Translation: Deal with it. Greeaaattt...