Undead city-Altraud
Inside the dungeon of shadows
The large panther pounced to attack Arya while they were regrouping but stopped midjump when it saw a wounded metallic Crow landing next to it.
The Crow had a claw-shaped wound on its chest and black smoke was leaking out of it. Horrified at the size of the wound it rushed back towards the crow and licked the wound, hoping that it would reduce the leaking of the smoke but it was of no help.
Remembering an event in its past the Panther glanced at Arya for a second and with a grunt ran back into the forest.
“Wait, where are you going? I need to kill you” Arya screamed and tried to rush after him but she was far too tired for that, her legs stumbled and fell face-first onto the ground.
“Learn to walk first, you can kill him later” Ervin mocked but still helped her to get up.
With the Panther gone, Arya and the others used the time to rest and restore their stamina. While they were doing so the pack leader Wolf approached the metallic Crow and licked its wounds to reduce the leakage of the black smoke.
2 hours later
The Panther returned while holding a bunch of black rose-shaped flowers in its mouth and fed its petals to the crow.
The Crow swallowed them and just a few seconds later the wound on its chest stopped leaking any smoke. The Crow tried to get up and thank its boss but it stumbled and fell.
“Careful!” the Panther exclaimed and helped it to sit. It then tasked the wolf to protect the crow and walked towards Arya while recalling its past…
32 years ago
The dark forest was a large forest that separated the Vampire territory from the Ancient Human City-Altraud.
At the centre of the forest, a tiny black panther hopped up and down to catch its mother's tail and with each try it neared the tail until it succeeded in catching it.
“I did it! Meow” the baby Panther exclaimed in joy and did a happy little dance while nibbling its mother's tail causing the mother to sigh at her child's never-ending enthusiasm.
“Alright, that's enough messing with my tail for today. I need to go to hunt so be a good Panther and play with the wolves” she ordered the baby Panther and went to secure some food. The baby nodded and after she left rushed towards its left to reach a small cliff.
At the top of the cliff, a small pack of 5 wolves rested along with their pups and when the baby Panther reached the cliff a small wolf pup spotted it. The pup jumped in joy and after receiving its mother's permission rushed towards the Panther with a small group of 3 pups following behind it. They howled in joy and played all kinds of games while enjoying each other's company.
The pups didn't know how to speak but with all the time they spent with each other, it was not difficult for the Panther to understand what they were saying so when a wolf pup discovered a group of humans in the forest, they followed it and found the humans fighting a 2m tall Crow.
The Crow fought with its full might but the humans quickly overpowered it.
One of the humans muttered
Curious the baby Panther and the puppies sniffed the area and found a baby Crow in the bushes behind the area where the big crow fought the humans.
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The baby had covered its eyes with its wings and was shivering uncontrollably in fright. When the group approached the baby crow, it peeked through its wings and lost its consciousness out of fear.
Feeling a little sorry for the crow, the Panther took it to its mother and explained the situation to her.
“Why did the humans fight with the crow, Meow?” the baby Panther asked and the mother informed him that they fought to weaken and enslave the crow, to use it as a war asset.
“There is a war going on between the humans and the vampires called the ‘War of Giants’. The humans are enslaving the beasts in the forest to use them in war. If you ever see any human or a vampire in the forest you must run away from them” the mother informed him with a serious look and received a nod from him.
A month quickly passed by and during that time the baby Crow got better and became attached to the Panther and the wolves.
One day the mother Panther left to hunt but didn't return for a long time. Worried the baby Panther and its friends along with the crow searched for her and found her stuck in a landslide with terrible wounds all over her body.
They tried to help her by lifting the rocks but they didn't budge. Not knowing what to do the baby crow rushed out to find some help and found a vampire camp nearby.
At the edge of the camp, a single Vampire girl sneaked out of a tent and entered the forest. The vampire had dark red eyes and deep blue hair, she was Victoria.
The Crow observed her for a bit longer and returned to inform the others about what she found.
When the baby Panther heard about the vampire it hesitated to approach her but in the end, it chose to ask for her help.
With the crow directing it, the Panther found Victoria and sneaked behind her. Victoria was holding a map and scrutinizing it when the baby Panther pounced on her. It snatched the map and ran towards the landslide area, Victoria following behind it.
Once they reached the landslide area it dropped the map from its mouth and bowed its head.
“Please help my mother, meow” it pleaded and its friends did the same confusing Victoria to no end. She looked around in confusion and spotted the mother Panther stuck under the landslide.
Understanding what was happening she agreed to help.
“I will help but in exchange, you have to let me pet you” she demanded the baby Panther and received a reluctant nod.
Smiling she placed her hand on a rock in the landslide and muttered
A silvery hue exited her hand and entered the rock, immediately after which the size of the large rock shrunk to the size of a pebble. She did the same with all the other rocks until the mother was finally free.
With the rocks no longer crushing her the mother Panther got up and to the shock of everyone around her there was an unharmed baby deer under her belly. The baby deer flinched at all the unwanted attention and hid behind the mother panther's hind legs.
“What happened? Mother, Is this my new sibling!?” the baby Panther asked while examining its newfound sibling and found it to be absolutely adorable.
The baby Wolf howled in joy at the new family member and furiously wagged its tail.
The baby crow feigned indifference and approached the deer one step at a time. when they were close enough, it awkwardly extended its wings towards the deer. The deer hesitated for a second but then sniffed the wings and rubbed its head against them causing a smug smile to appear on the crow's face.
“Hey, it's my siblings. I should be the first one to touch it!” the baby big cat said furiously but then the little pup licked its forehead and showed its belly as if saying that it would always be by the baby panther's side.
Victoria watched all this from a distance and burst out laughing. “Well, aren't you cute! Now I really want to pet you all” she said and approached them but the mother Panther stopped her.
“Alright kids, Mom wants to talk with this nice girl so you guys go ahead and play with your new friend” she suggested and pushed the baby deer forward. They nodded at her suggestion and walked away while dragging the reluctant deer with them.
At the same time
In the largest tent of the vampire camp
An old vampire with blood-red eyes, a wrinkled face and white hair sat on a lavish throne- he was the king of all vampires, the vampire known as ‘the nightmare vampire King Louis’.
A young vampire clad in all-black and wearing a black mask on his face kneeled in front of him and greeted him.
“Greetings your Majesty. We have found out that the humans are enslaving the beasts in the dark forest to strengthen their army” the masked vampire informed and waited for its orders.
The king clicked his tongue in displeasure, “Kill all the beasts in the forest” he ordered and received a nod from the masked vampire as it walked away to prepare for the hunt.
Back in the forest
With the baby beasts gone the mother Panther turned towards Victoria and growled
“Why did you help me? What is your plan?” she asked with a wary look, refusing to believe that the vampire helped her out of goodwill causing Victoria to let out a tired sigh
“I know vampires are bad but I am not like them. You don't need to believe me but I helped you because I wanted to” she said and turned around to walk away but stopped midway and threw a black rose towards her.
“That will help you recover, eat it and run away. I don't think this forest is safe anymore” she suggested and walked away.