ORIGIN

He'd kept to the shadows, this time. His pelt quivered with excitement as he crawled, hungry itching at his frame. He'd been prone to licking his lips a lot, lately, and he felt his mind rolling with ambition.

The faint creaking of a stream. The wind blowing across his ears. A faint clattering of bones. An echoing gunshot.

The latter was more some sort of mimicking boom- probably something to incite fear, and Purity only grinned at that. What was that? A noise, nothing like normal, and so, delectably sweet on his tongue. Something new. Something interesting.

He stalked forward with feline precision, his pupils drawn into thin slits as his teeth bared. A splattering of gray against the rocks. 'A meal and a half,' his mind provided, and he grinned. A step carried him forward, his whiskers twitching as he felt for the wind. It wasn't much in this dead room, but hopefully they wouldn't smell or hear him. He'd come from behind- they were huddled together, battered, perhaps the last of their pack. Drawing more together? Purity resisted a hiss, his teeth glinting in the dull light.

Fools.

Purity crept down and down, closer and closer, to the point that he could practically taste them. He leaned back on his haunches- calculating, staring, before leaping for the less wounded, teeth aimed right for the neck.

The other let out a disturbingly real screech at its companion's death, launching at Purity's neck. The cat reared back- he could feel flesh tearing, but he soon wrenched his claws under the thing's belly and ripped down.

It died, fast. Purity sighed out and felt at his neck, wincing at the trail of Oil staining his paw, and hissed out. He'd have to rest that off.

Leaning into the one he killed first, he ate his fill from it and watched as the other dissolved, processing slowly into Oil. It was a quick meal, then- he was more eager for the debris, and licked it up as though the caves offered it as the finest wine.

When he was done, he licked his lips. Head reared back, he pulled away, looking for a place to rest. he'd found it in a cavern of bones, curled up and staunching the bleeding from his wound, and letting himself drift into the darkness of night.

When he awoke, it was to cramped muscles and tired bones, his body twisted about in a way that had become uncomfortable. The vestiges of a nightmare lapped at his skull, but it was soon fading away, gone with the memory of sleep.

Stretching out his limbs, Purity extracted himself from his hovel, the bones falling where his back brushed them away. A new day, a new breakfast- even if he had eaten the rats, their bodies had mostly melted into entropy by the time he'd gotten his fill, so focused on Oil than his own health.

And so he passed on, in search of something to eat. There was life in death, he'd found- the skittering of red mice, the faint, somber calls of birds- it was all fascinating to him. He wanted to watch it burn. One ear flicked back at the errant thought, his lip curling up as he stalked among the bones.

A quiet eeking of rats drew his attention- flying pitch rats, by the sounds of it, and he soon caught a glimpse of them. It was a small group- no more than eight of them- searching... For what? Purity paused for a moment until they took notice, and they fluttered off, their cries rising in volume at their fear.

Purity huffed, and continued on.

Soon, he'd find what they were looking for. An individual, curled over another rat- it was barely moving, and the small creature was pacing around as if it didn't understand what had happened. Red blood stained the bones it rested on, and it barely seemed to breath, much less move in place. Perfect, for food, Purity imagined.

When Purity rose on the small hill to approach, the much healthier individual squeaked before flying away, too, abandoning its brethren. Ah, what a fool- Purity licked his lips as he approached the rat, all six of its wild eyes rolled back to him.

He grinned.

The kill was neat and clean, and Purity ate sparsely from the flesh of the bat, relishing in the taste. It had died swiftly- not chaos, no screams of terror, and perhaps Purity was saddened by that. But- when he stepped back, watched and waited, it only took few minutes for the being to begin to dissolve.

That was his favorite part. He'd lapped up as much of the foul-tasting stuff as he could before parting ways with the corpse, angled back to the altar to rest some more.

Life went on. Purity hadn't been one to get much rest- something always stirred him awake, be it lessers or nightmares plaguing his mind. He'd ate food (real food, as most things were small catches), wandered Canis, and carried himself onwards.

While he was one to hunt, and often, he wasn't expecting for the tide to turn on him. Determined steps drew him around a pool of water, its dirty substance lapping at the shores of bones. Purity's eyes locked with it as he passed, but he thought nothing of it, missing the crucial thing lurking underneath.

One wrong step, and a massive snake launched for him- while it may have been young enough to hide in the smaller pool, it still easily overwhelmed the much smaller cat, who bowled over as its mouth latched onto his own neck. Its body had curled closer, and Purity wheeled back, screeching as his claws came up to its neck.

It bit harder. The tail started curling about his body, and he wheezed as the pressure began. He would not go down like this. Wrenching his body away, Purity rolled and spasmed, biting at everything he could.

He didn't stop, not even as he felt his claws begin to tear away the snake's head from its body.

He'd barely made it out. His ribs hurt, and he tasted the snake's blood in his mouth- surrounding him was a bloody mess, and it stained his coat red. A shuddering breath, and he weaseled himself out from the loosening coil, shaking with adrenaline. Chaos had taken over, fueled his mind to kill long after it was dead, and Purity's form shook as he stared down at the gore he'd created.

Turning to the side, Purity spat out the snake's blood. He needed to wash up- he could feel the disgusting creature all over him, and his pelt rolled in discomfort as he sneered. Disgusting. The pool was nearby, and close enough for him to slip in, and far enough to wait for the snake to decay.

It took some time to clean himself up. The blood went in deep, and- maybe he bruised a rib here and there. It hurt to touch his paw over that, and he hissed under his breath once he was shaking himself out on the other shore, the cool air of Canis hitting his wet fur. The snake would have dissolved enough by now, and- yes, it had. Purity padded closer and took his fair share, eating both meat and Oil, and licking his lips once he was done.

He needed to rest. Gathering himself after the meal, Purity headed towards the tunnel of his home, a soft limp in one leg.