On-Tei (for the cat group, aw yiss)

[sadniss everdeen]

Before you opened your eyes for the first time, you knew of the On-Tei.

Legends say they had existed before the earth was even born, and will remain even after it's gone. Your entire culture was built on their presence; books, paintings, and fables; prayers, curses, and funerals. All of them revolved some way around these majestic spirits with eyes like twin moons that glow in the dark. Some say they are the children of one being whose form they took, felines that bound across your world in streaks of colour, and that their voices are mountains crumbling apart.

And yet, no one has ever heard them speak.

Until you.

~.~.~.~.~

The ritual is familiar now. Every morning you sit on that single wooden stool, watching the sea as your mother passes her hand over your head, searching for stubble. When she finds it you feel the tweezers pinch your skin before the hair is yanked, stinging for a brief flash before dying out. You don't wince anymore – it won't stop her.

“Ling,” your father always says in the mornings as you sit, soft from sleep, his thumb running over the ridge where your eyebrows used to be. “You are our eldest daughter. One day, you will marry a great, rich man, and our family will no longer be poor. Because of this, you must never risk damaging your skin.”

You used to say things like “I liked my hair” and “I don't want to marry anyone”, but that made your mother sad and your father angry. Sometimes you look at your reflection in the small river that leads into the Kahi-Taleen, the great forest, and remember what you used to look like before your father decided that your hairlessness would grant you a husband. But that's done now; places of your scalp have stopped growing, and your eyebrows are gone entirely. Every day, it takes less and less time for your mother to go over your head. Father lets you keep your eyelashes for now, otherwise the sun glinting off the sea would make you go blind, but you won't need them when you marry.

Your whole village admires your baldness, running their hands over the skin as smooth as spun silk, but you watch the little children with their hair wild from salt and sand and wish in your heart for something greater than your eventual fate. You'd do anything to be just like them.

Anything.

~.~.~.~.~

This change comes in a cat.

The On-Tei are not true cats, but their spirits slink through your world as ghostly silhouettes, brilliant in all shades of colour. Though they are demons they are harmless, watching and waiting, and a shrine at the entrance of the Kahi-Taleen is devoted to them in hopes that your prayers to them bring luck. They are guardians, silent sentinels that guard this world from the threats of the next.

At least, that is what the priests say. No one knows; the On-Tei have never spoken in the thousands of years that your culture has worshipped them. The one that guards your village is a bright crimson that stains almost as dark as blood in the midday sun, and its presence is known as a wash of glowing red light in the night.

Your dreams have been strange recently – places you don't know, people you haven't met. The red On-Tei watches you whenever it can, shining eyes never leaving your face. Your father says it is in awe of your beauty, a sign of luck and fortune for the hours he has spent praying, but you aren't so sure. You go to sleep that night unsettled, your rough pillow coarse and irritating against your freshly plucked skin.

When you wake, your room is awash in light.

You sit upright in bed, scrambling back from the source. A great cat sits before you, its body akin to a stalking panther that watches its prey, and its eyes that remind you of the great pearls your brother dives for shimmer softly in the darkness. Its fur waves as if underwater, blue as the twilight sky, sprinkled with stardust that twirls from it to evaporate into your room. As you swallow, it seems to smile.

“W-who are you?” you stammer, clutching your sheets. It's huge, greater than any other On-Tei seen before, and as it stands you see three tails flicker behind it. You gasp. Could it be?

“I am Dah-On-Tei,” its voice rumbles through your head, a thunderstorm with no sound. “I have come a long way for you.”

“Me?”

The Dah-On-Tei was but a legend – the first of the On-Tei, powerful beyond all measure. Many had believed it to have died long ago.

“Yes, you. My kin look for a hero, and I see the wish in your heart. You are our hope.”

“B-but,” you sputter, desperately tearing at your bedding, “I'm just a girl.”

“But you are chosen,” it whispers, and its ethereal presence leaves a cold mist as it passes. “So shall fate come to pass.”

“How can I do anything?” you reply, your hand brushing through fur that washes over your mortal skin like the furious waves of the Saihno sea. “I'm nobody.”

“You are somebody to me.”

In its voice is the power of ancients, tongues from your culture before they had words to speak, and the weight of its age presses upon your shoulders. You gulp, but your wish for something more comes back to you. A hero is never just a rich man's wife.

“What do I have to do?”

~.~.~.~.~

The Kahi-Taleen is ominous at night, the ancient trees forming a thick, blinding barrier. You've never been so close before – women are expressly forbidden, only the strongest of men allowed in the forest that seethes with danger. Legend has it a monster waits in the deeps.

The red On-Tei finds you, and its light is a beacon in the darkness as you step into the woods.

The Dah-On-Tei had told you of a powerful amulet hidden in these forests that would mark you as Chosen to all On-Tei, and that they would aid you in your journey. It was lost many years ago as the beast in the forest attacked, and no one has dared to reclaim it since. Until you.

You'll do whatever it takes to leave that village behind.

You step gingerly over roots and bushes, side-stepping nasty thorns that seek to snag you. Cold air chills your exposed head and your ears tingle with the feeling of being watched. You brought a knife when you snuck out, and the handle grows sweaty in your palm the further you go. It's difficult to see further than a few steps in front of you and you wonder if you're walking in circles until you see the On-Tei disappear down a ledge and deeper into the darkness below. You only mean to peer over and check, but the dirt gives way and you find yourself tumbling down.

Your clothing snags on brambles as you fall and when you reach the bottom your flawless skin is covered in dirt, scratched and bleeding, knife handle digging into your side. Your groan is deafening in the silence and your little moving lantern comes to check for you, rubbing its cheek against your face. Its fur is warm like sun-warmed rock and you gather yourself unsteadily, brushing the worst of the debris from your skin. The clearing is small and you can almost see all the way around it, but one corner is left in shadow. The On-Tei watches it vigilantly, and you take a step forward to investigate.

A cave yawns, and you remember how you've always been afraid of the dark. Even the On-Tei's light seems feeble in comparison and you stand rooted to the spot, trembling, staring into the deeps that slope ever downwards. A faded note is written across the top of the rock, chiseled there years upon years ago, and you wipe the dirt away with your thumb.

No man may enter and live.

“I am no man,” you say softly to the shadows and step inside.

Your steps echo, silent. You remember wanting to play adventures with your brothers and being kept inside in case the sun would damage your skin, pale as newfallen snow, unlike their olive complexions already stained by the sun. A flower, your father said, you are a fragile, precious flower, but you wanted nothing more to be a thistle bush if it meant you could grow freely. Now, with your own adventure unravelling before you, you're struck between excited and petrified.

You spiral downwards, the scent of damp moss strong in the air. The On-Tei's light beats at the darkness and your heart rushes in your ears, screaming, but you forge onwards. You are better than what your village thinks of you. A hero.

The floor levels out, and you come into a wider area. The floor here is dense and uneven, jagged knots of stone tripping you head over heels, and there is nowhere else to go. A dead end. Disappointment floods you, the scratches on your perfect skin stinging, but as you make to turn and return from where you came, a loud snarl fills the air and stops you in your tracks.

In the corner of the room sits a great furry mass, its bulk rising and falling as it breathes. The sound comes again, softer this time – whatever it is is snoring. You inch closer, barely daring to breathe, as the light from the On-Tei's body flickers over brown fur, rounded ears, and claws as big as your forearm. A bear... its musk is overwhelming, and in its sleep it sighs, tossing its head.

You get the barest glimpse of a necklace before it disappears again until the thick folds of its fur.

The amulet, you think, willing for the beast to roll over and show its prize once more. It remains curled into a tight ball, muzzle puffing with its deep breaths, and with a swallow you begin to inch forward.

The first time you touch its fur, you're so scared you think you'll die right there. The muscle under your touch ripples, sure and powerful, and your hand disappears almost completely as you search for the necklace. Every second your eyes dart to its face, praying to the Dah-On-Tei, willing it to stay sleeping.

It does.

Your hand curls carefully over the amulet and the piece hums with power. Heart hammering, you begin to carefully worm it off the bear's neck. It comes for a little while before stopping, and each time it gets harder to force it. Fingers shaking, you manage to snag it on a snarl of fur, and one tug is a bit too powerful. All of a sudden, you're staring into brown eyes that look strangely human.

Its teeth, however, aren't.

Your heel catches and you fall heavily to the ground as the bear – or what you thought was a bear – rears up. It must be the Makou-Taheen, the legendary beast that has stalked this forest for thousands of years, because it is much bigger than any bear ever wandered near your village. Its shaggy fur nearly touches the floor.

As it lands, it watches your shaking body. Those human eyes look you up and down, huffing through its stout muzzle, lumbering up to stare right into your face. Your eyes squeeze shut as you expect the bite to your throat that will kill you and leave you to bleed on the ground, but you refuse to run. You won't be a coward.

You did not flee.

The Dah-On-Tei whispers in your head, and you start, looking around for its presence.

This is good. You are brave. But are you strong?

The bear huffs, watching, waiting for your decision. There is no anger in its eyes, no rage. Its long tongue licks at your cheek, and you wonder how long its been that it's sat down here without any company. Too long.

Your knife presses into your side. You know what the Dah-On-Tei wants you to do to retrieve the talisman, but looking at the bear with its human eyes and patience that simply wants some attention, you can't do it. You knew you said you would do anything to become the hero that they wanted, but... this bear is just like you, misunderstood and lonely. You're no killer.

You cast the knife aside.

“I won't do it,” you declare, and the bear sits on its haunches. Its fur ripples for a moment, curling like the waves in the sea, before it takes on a blue tinge that eventually washes the entire space in a cerulean glow. Familiar eyes stare back at you, and your mouth gapes open as the Dah-On-Tei sits a mere foot from your sprawled feet.

“You listen only to your heart,” it murmurs. “This is what we seek.”

“How...”

“I have many forms.”

What could be considered a smile comes, mysterious, and it bows its head. “Take this amulet. You are worthy.”

Your shaking hands take the amulet from around its strong neck, and as soon as your fingers touch the glossy beads the red On-Tei jumps into your lap, worming itself against you. It is the sun under your fingertips, warm and comforting.

“What now?”

“Now, you are the Chosen. Your life is just beginning.”

“I have to leave my family behind?”

“The Chosen walks with no one, though they are never alone.”

Your hand passes over your head, and you remember what your father said. You are never going to be good for anything except being a wife. Remember this.

The amulet hums. “I'm ready.”