ORIGIN

The lion cub plodded into the monoceros, satchel slung over his shoulder. His bag did not contain his metal treasures today. It was empty – ready for him to store another knick knack he may find, or a pebble of sorts. Today, Usui was off to train himself. Since he’d started his pebble stories, the young scholar had received both admiration and scorn. The latter caused him to ponder over his intellect. Furthermore, he had messed up so badly with Leon and Bevy. Not only had he failed to protect them, he had just been the weak link among the trio. The boy scowled then as he remembered the incident and felt extremely unhappy with his inadequacies. He was determined to set things right from this point on and outgrow the child that he was. It wasn’t fair that Leon got to be so big and brave and heroic. For now, Usui had set his targets on someone. He wanted to surpass Leon. The bear seemed to have so much going for him in life, and the cub was not willing to lose out in this aspect.

He began to climb the ledges steadily. Hot air blew at him, but the predator was well-adapted to the searing heat, being an African lion. Also, he wanted to get his body used to all the different types of temperatures so that he could build up higher resistance. Thus, he ignored the heat (if any of it affected him at all) and plodded on till he reached higher ground. From where he stood high upon the ledge, the boy saw a ferocious whirlwind in the middle of the room. It would be perfect for him to practice his magic. Maybe even come up with combination moves! Setting down his satchel at a comfortable perch, the boy stared into the whirlwind and commanded the firepower from within him to emerge. He. Would. Not. Lose!

With great willpower came great magic, Usui felt. The more sincere the emotion poured into something, the stronger the flames grew. This time, the boy felt his innards flicker with heat. The boiling sensation extended from his stomach to the base of his throat. It gurgled with fiery heat and he felt immensely uncomfortable being the medium for the growing furnace in his belly. Added to that, Usui was not aware of the specific form of fire magic he could command. He was merely trying it out, as he wanted to break free of being just an earth manipulator. Excitement rolled in the boy’s mind and heart as he caught on to his impending success, and this somehow caused the burning feeling to quell. The pain was nothing in comparison to what he wanted to achieve!

Gripping his claws along the edge of the ledge, the boy just knew what he had to do. With a flick of his head, he roared as best as a cub could and let his feelings spew forth. A powerful fire jet erupted from deep within his belly and it burst straight on for 3 meters for but 2 seconds before the wind from whirlwind extinguished it. He had seen the brilliant flickers in front of his very eyes, and the hot white-red thing shoot out. The boy stumbled backwards a little, stunned at his own feat. He did it! Tossing his head once more in pride, Usui attempted to growl in victory. The moment his tongue touched the roof of his mouth though, the boy recoiled in pain. “Ow ow ow ow” he muttered to himself, keeping his jaws agape. The fire had taken its toll along the roof and base of his mouth. They were extremely sensitive to the touch right now. He figured that the same thing was happening to his stomach too. Exhausted from the attempt and reeling fro the pain, Usui lay down and, tongue lolling out, drifted off into a deep slumber.

The boy woke up 2 hours later. He shook his head groggily and heaved his lying body into a sitting position. Immediately, his success in casting fire power flooded his memory. A smile crept onto the boy’s features and he chuckled to himself. He had done it! Usui looked down at his paws. They were small. But he had done such an impressive feat. “Small but undefeated,” he commented. The boy needed to record this down somewhere. With a little stretch and shake of his fur, Usui got to his feet and plodded over to the bag, whereupon he grabbed a pebble and started to etch a memorabilia. He drew two fangs, and between them, a conal shape representing fire. Fire between teeth. Fire jaws. Yeah, he liked that. He would incinerate all evil enemies in his path! With a smirk, he chuffed the rock back into the bag. He could imagine what a great story it would make some time into the future.

Getting to his feet, the boy thought about what kind of magic he could attempt next. The first thing that entered his mind was his beloved earth magic. He looked at the ledges extending above head. Perhaps, he could control his earth magic such that a bit of it would chip off? He could see how this manoeuvre would be useful in attacking enemies while fighting on treacherous terrain. Once more, the boy called his magic from deep within to smite one particular ledge near the end that was rather useless.

It worked! The large piece of ledge broke and clattered to the bottom. The boy grinned and gave a purr of pleasure, feline tail whipping out and wrapping around his hindquarters in pleasure. The boy then thought to investigate the phenomenon. He ran down a couple of ledges to reach the floor. Pale green eyes fixed onto the whirlwind which had travelled to the other side of the room. He would safe for now. No time to lose. Picking up his pace, the boy moved to the broken piece and looked it over. The cleaved portion was rough and uneven, revealing a highly uneven pattern. It reminded Usui then, that he had the ability to shatter rocks and cliff edges, but he could not control the exact shape that he wanted them to cleave off in. As he was observing the rock, eyes boring into it, he felt the rock fall from his paws.

The boy was startled. He dropped the rock then, and it clattered noisily onto the floor. He had felt his magic skip but he could not cause rocks to impart a feeling of falling, so who did? Apprehensively, the boy reached out one claw and nudged the rock. Nothing happened. Puzzled, the cub dares to pick up the rock again and that was when he received involuntary flashbacks. Once again, he received the distinct feeling of the rock falling from a great height and crashing to the floor here. Startled, Usui looked from the rock to his paws. He had once again sensed his magic flare up. Could it be that…he could read rocks now? That was new! Two new powers, one fire breathing and one rock reading. It overwhelmed him a bit so he sat down and took a moment to ecall exactly what actions he had done that had prompted such powerful magic.

When the boy was done pondering over his mighty exploits not too long ago, he left the debris on the floor and got up. He saw that the large whirlwind was heading in his direction. With a yelp, he scampered away from it, dodging its powerful gusts in time. Usui mounted the ledge then and headed back to his perch and bag. There, the boy sat down and contemplated using other magic. He could not risk using pebblequake here, he’d just shake himself off and kill himself if anything. Attracting metal ores here seemed rather useless too, for the area seemed to be made of sand and solid rock. Tunnel J worked best for his metal exploits. Maybe he could go on a hunt? There had to be some sort of creatures living in this cave. Usually, mice were found everywhere! With renewed enthusiasm and a growling stomach, the chubby cub got up and started to cast his gem sense to feel for any living, lesser creatures.

Immediately, a soft, golden gleam caught his attention. The boy realized that it was much higher up the ledge. He gulped then as memories of his previous ascent up the stairs ran through his mind. He could tolerate the heights but did not particularly like them. Unlike water, he always had to rationalize why he was climbing high surfaces before he could truly feel at ease. At least by now, Eeya had helped him overcome his fear of water and he was rather proficient and swimming underwater even. Usui now reminded himself now that he had come so far and it would be dumb to just give up. With that, he slowly moved up the ledges.

The cub camouflaged against the rocks as he climbed. Thick, stubby limbs and large oversized paws helped support him. His tail hung out behind him, twitching every now and then in response to a stray thought or as a reflex action. His body had adjusted to the random sprays of heat and wind, which made him hot then cool the next. As he ascended the ledges, he wondered what creature would reside here. Surely not a mouse, for it would not like this climate? He continued on and on and then stopped in his tracks.

In front of him was a giant spider.

It lay on the floor, unblinking. It had menacing pincers for a mouth and was covered in fuzzy, mottled fur. The boy started at it, while its eight beady eyes looked back at him. The insect hissed then, and raised its forelimbs menacingly. Immediately, the lion growled at it and crouched down. Head tucked in snugly to protect his vitals, and haunches steadying themselves, each shift allowing Usui to gain better balance as he calculated how to pounce and kill that thing. He did not care that the spider would probably be rather inedible to him. In that one moment, as a predator and as an inquisitive young cub who needed all the hunting practice he could get, he only knew one thing. Kill.

With a snarl, the boy sprang with paws and claws outstretched, gleaming white fangs revealed to the other, pale green eyes honed in onto his meal.

Success! The cub leapt onto the spider which hissed and attempted to jab at him with its sharp pincer and feet, but Usui was too agile for it. His feline muscles curled perfectly as he leapt onto the spider, then jumped off to the other side and swung around, paws finding perfect traction on the ground. His face contorted into a ferocious snarl as he opened his jaws and lunged in for the blow before the spider could swivel around and attack his face. It writhed and thrashed with ear-splitting noise but provide no match for Usui’s sharp teeth. He gripped it tightly between his fangs and shook the spider violently left and right. Every time he swung it to the right, the spider would find itself hitting the wall violently and when he swung it back out again, it would find itself disoriented. In five successive strokes, the boy had killed the spider.

Usui dropped the dead spider in front of him and started panting. His salmon pink tongue had bits of spider hairs that clung to it. Hastily, he brought his paws to his tongue and attempted to swipe them off. It was icky to him, and green bile had started to ooze out of it. Definitely not his kind of meal though a bird would have feasted on it. In triumph, Usui snarled, then kicked the spider off the ledge and into the path of the whirlwind. It would destroy it eventually, though perhaps not the gemstone. He had half a thought to keep the gem but this was a spider, a disgusting thing, and Usui did not wish to be associated with it.

The boy walked down the ledge and returned back to his bag. This had been an eventful day and he wanted to head off to his next destination. Slinging his satchel over him, the cub tossed one last look at the spider and then trotted off, leaving a pile of bile and blood in his wake.

-Exit Usui-