Soul of a WildCat

Chapter 1 (unfinished)

Two black paws pressed against the snow, leaving only a track of Roolyx's paw. His back legs thrush him down the hill. Dark tail trashed, trying to keep himself balanced. The rising sun beat down His yellow eyes were still flashed with fear and stress.

Tigris is going to attack. His head spun by just saying the message out loud in his head. The kingdom of tigers was going to attempt to kill Panthera. But why? Why Panthera? Panthera wasn't even the wealthiest kingdom. His stomach felt knotted as if the jaguar would throw up. Roolyx launched himself in the air. His tail threw him off balance, sending the black jaguar to fall over to his side. The cold snow didn't help his fall.

He quickly pushed himself up back to his feet and continued through the barren snowy lands of Uncia were only rocks and snow lay. He had never been a fan of the kingdom of snow leopards but he thought Mazala's Castle was very beautiful. It looked like one giant crystal made of marble that only smelt of humidifiers and mint. Even the citizen's houses were nice enough.

But this part of Uncia that Roolyx was passing through was not pretty at all. It was just snow, then more snow, then rocks. The view that overlooked Panthera and Tigris was nice but that was it. The sky was now a pale blue and the sun was hanging higher in the sky. It was almost noon. Noon! Already? Roo had to be back by noon.

Luckily, the sound of the Border River was nearby. Roo leaped through some deep snow that was kicked up everywhere by him. He hadn't realized the hill was there which sent him tumbling down the hill towards the river. The panther got up to his feet and bolted towards the river. The snow under his paws soon turned to grass as he grew closer to the border of his kingdom and Uncia. King Javio is going to kill me, Roolyx thought. Worry grew inside of him. But why do you care what he thinks? He'll only lecture me about it anyways. It's not my fault I was late because Queen Mazala of Uncia took to long.

Ever since Mazala gave him advice he tried to change. But it was hard. He wanted to be as confident and as witty as she was but he knew he could never be. She told him it took time. But Roo didn't have time. He needed these traits now with the war going on.

"Roo," he remembered her saying, "don't be so hard on yourself about all this. Not everything is your fault. So what if Javio yells at you because you're a minute or two late. You need to learn to stick up for yourself. I know you want to be confident and strong but it takes time to develop these traits. I know you have them inside of you, Rooylx."

Roo hadn't realized how deep in thought he was until he accidently plunged into the Border River. The water chilled the Pantherian to the bone. His legs kicked, pushing himself closer to the other side that was covered in tall green kapoks and mangroves. It was odd to see the landscape change from snow and rocks to lush green fig trees covering the land. Roo's head was barely above the water. He gasped for air as the water nearly choked him out like a flower struggling to survive in a large patch of weeds. The river's current luckily wasn't too strong. It could pull something small, like a bandicoot, down the river without a problem but a jaguar could easily go against the current. He was surprised how weak the river was for it was run off of lots of snow.

Finally, he made it to the other side. Shivering, Roo shook his smooth black pelt. He hesitated before taking off into the jungles of Panthera. The air was humid and sticky here unlike Uncia's cold clear air. The musk of dead plants and bird dung filled the air. A toucan swooped from a nearby branch and landed on a branch that was close to Roo.

The jaguar dodged trees as he made his way back to his kingdom.