ORIGIN

Many, many cycles ago, there lived a family made of strange creatures. He had heard stories, as a boy, of the heroes of the caves. His father had never claimed them to be heroes, but it didn't matter much. They were heroes to him.

A tiny songbird, with feathers traced with poison, so full of love that it hurt to remember her. She was small but her voice carried for ages, and despite everything, she never stopped caring. No matter what happened, the red and black feathers would come, a sign of help on its way. No one was turned away, as long as they hurt, she would come and heal them.

There was his mother, the beautiful, golden lioness who weaved songs and flowers as easily as breathing. He knew her well; she was kind and careful, always sure to make sure that her babies had the best. She was a fierce fighter when it came down to it, but she do anything to keep the caves safe.

Next, the current leader of Maji Walezi. A dominating figure, towering above most gembounds-- a bold grizzly bear, his father. The man who laugh echoed through the caverns, who's massive paws were best at holding, at loving. He protected them all, always the first to meet the newest batch of babies. A dad, through and through.

And last, there was the man who had brought them all together in the first place. A shadow of the past, a feline his mother had once loved, someone once respected by all...

Baroque sat in that very cat's den, absorbed by the past creeping in all around him.

This time, Baroque had been expecting his magic to take over. It wasn't the first time, nor would it likely be the last. A violent tug on his tail as the blackness swelled up around him, and he inhaled sharply, eyes flinching closed as the world shifted, whirling back into time.

Water roared in his ears, louder than it had been before. He felt vaguely like he was floating, though the vision slowly formed a slipper cliff of stone under his paws. Under the waterfall, he heard the distant fluttering of wings until suddenly, it sounded like an avian had flown right into his ear. Wincing, he stumbled in the strange, foreign memory.

He hadn't noticed the gemstone under the waterfall at first, but as he recoiled from the vague shape of the stone's feathery memory, he noticed it: a little, bitty, baby gemstone a few feet away. It was red and gold, swelling as it grew. The usual thundering crack was muffled by the water, but a tiny black form came spilling out, tossed about by the crashing water a tail length away.

Baroque nearly lunged forward to help-- but his claws sunk into the vision's stone.

The vision held a bit longer-- he forced it to, clinging to it-- brilliant blue eyes staring down, detached, as the scrap of dark grey fur clawed its way on to the stone, hauling itself up on to the stone, passing through Baroque as though he was nothing more than a ghost. The hybrid's claws flexed more but he could not feel anything but the dampness and...

And the world broke into a chaotic abattoir, a screeching sound clacking into his head. Ć͟҉a͘͟͡r͝͝c̕įnờ K̕a͜͡r̢͘k̀ą̴t͢҉a͘͞, a tiny mewl gasped its first breath while hundreds of voices clamored around the stone. C̀̕̕͠҉A̷̸̵̡͜Ń̴C̵҉E̴̵̵͘͞Ŕ̶̀͢, the voices cried-- his mother's voice, his father's voice, the gentle songbird's voice, and many more he did not know. His head ached from the effort of the memory, as the rustle of feathers fought for his attention.

"Hello," a tiny, forgot peep wriggled into ears that didn't truly exist. Blinking, Baroque found himself looking at the scene from a slightly twisted angle-- a tiny black and red bird beside a tiny leopard cub. The start. The beginning.

"Hello, what are you?" The child cub asked the bird, sitting up with quite the flustered expression. ""Bird. My name is Bevy." The bird answered softly, simply, as Cancer rose to his tiny height and stumbled along the stone, each step shaking the memory of the stone and taking the breath away from Baroque.

The memory coalesced to a head, as suddenly water crashed over the surface of the stone. There was the muffled sound of panic from the bright red and black bird, a sensation of drowning soaking through the large hybrid for just a moment. He couldn't feel his claws touching anything now-- just endless water.

It was enough to shake the boy's nerves. He inhaled sharply, taking in nothing but water, but the back of his mind told him it was just the vision. A moment passed, and there was quiet. "Oh no! Are you okay?" Again, it was Bevy's voice. Familiar, though a much younger tone than he had ever known.

The dark, soaked patch of fur replied, "I am. Just wet again. I came from down there. My rock shell is down there. You can call me Cancer. I am... I am a Leopard." Through the floating sensation he could feel stone again, finally, and the scene came together before him more clearly, as though the water had finally receded.

The tiny, pudgy form of a kitten in black and darker black splotches, staring down at the tiny chicklet of red and black. They seemed almost insignificant to Baroque and the unending stone. "Really? Musta been scary. Glad to meet you, Cancer!" The baby bird peeped, ruffling tiny fledgling wings to shake away the water. Baroque could feel every pinprick of dew smacking into his surface-- the stone surface.

Bevy's voice started to become clearer-- and Cancer's, too. It was as though the final moments of the memory were more significant, and finally, they had begun to coalesce.

"I was going to see if I could find a good place to make home on the ledges there. Would you like to help me find a good spot?"

"There might be ledges up here too... but it's wet. The back wall seems dry, though." The kitten nodded out of frame, to a place that felt miles away. "I can help you find just the right one, if you help me do the same?"

Baroque could feel the memory finally slipping away, exhaustion hitting him like another crashing wave of water.

We can live here together- make the waterfall ours."

The world refocused around Baroque, and suddenly he could feel the cold stone under his claws once more. He gasped, panting into his own reflection in the rippling waters of the lagoon. Was that really it? Was that what had happened when Cancer was born, when he had met Bevy? They had looked so small, so insignificant. It reminded him of being a child, and it sent a chill up his spine.

The grizzly lion rose to his paws and sulked away from the waterfall. That was enough exploring of the past for him for one day-- he had to get back to tending his ever growing garden. After all, if he didn't, who would? Sure, he still had no idea what he was doing... But...

He would get better. He would make a garden and bring hope and life back to Pisces... Even if everything else had been lost to time. He wouldn't forget, and he'd plant each memory in the loamy soil, grow the past into a beautiful new future. He knew he could do it.

For the first time in a long time, Baroque felt confidence in every step.