A New Chapter

The afternoon was quiet and pacific. A soft breeze made the thin trees dance with it as little leafs made their way to the ground, covering the ground with a thin light brown blanket. Most of them cracking as black boots stepped over them as they turned into small dry pieces. He liked this place, different, and at the same time similar, from many other places he had been in his many years of living. Taking a deep breath, Serac moved slowly through the tree, watching the sun as it started to hide in the horizon, the rays making his eyes shone light blue and his pupils to shrink into a tiny dot. The smell of other shifters were strong, telling him when and where they passed, all of then felines just like him, but any of them where lions. He truly doubted at this point that he would ever find his brothers. That’s why he was here after all. He had been a loner for more than 100 years, searching for them, never distracted with the pressure of a pack, running from territory to territory, from country to country, from continent to continent, with the slight luck.

He heard this place was the territory of various shifters, being their Rex a white tiger. That’s all he knew for now. He considered it was time to be in a pack again, being with others of his kind. He had been alone for too long and he was not just bored, but sad. Even when he didn’t want to recognize it, deep inside him, his heart was broken and desolated. After the first century passed, he didn’t find anything that made him want to continue living, want to keep going. The only goal he ever had was to protect the ones he cared for. After the war with the humans and vampires, his goal changed. He used every resource to look for the two brothers he had left, that managed to escape before they could be killed like the others, but he couldn’t found them after that. A part of him didn’t want to let them go, that part believed they were still alive, waiting for him to find them. The other, just kept repeating him to stop, that they were gone. He came here to find a purpose again, giving himself another chance to live for something and not just to survive each day like a normal animal. Doing anything else than to eat, sleep, and keep moving. He was sick of that. His heart hurt with each step he took. This was enough. This was his last change or he will simple kill himself.

Exhausted, of living more that walking, he let his body fall over the dead leafs, just like they felt from the tree that was once part of them. Leaning his back against a trunk, he looked up at the clear sky. Not a single cloud over his head, just that deep, immense, infinity of blue. He wanted to let go. He could right now. He haven’t ate for almost a week, drank only two days ago from the rain. It would be so easy for him to let go, disconnect his soul from his immortal body and end all that pain. He had lived enough, part of it, surviving enough. He whispered to the air, to the trees, to the ground, to the sky, and to his family and friends he couldn’t protect. "I’m sorry..." And with that he closed his eyes, even when he knew he was not going to rest, not until he leave this world.

"Hmm..hmmhmm...mmhmm..hmmhm.." The leader strolled back to her chambers from a long run through the neighboring village a mile out. Her feet were bare, but that never mattered to her unless she had to go into an actual building, of course it was still a part of privacy to others. Purples and pinks painted the skies, kissing the clouds to turn a lavender color, fluffed to appear like they were made of cotton. Their ruler, so orange and yellow and so round, sinking into the curve of the earth to continue his orbit around the globe. For this late of day it was usually the time she would shift and hunt for a dinner before heading in, but something about staying in this form for a while made her feel at ease with her surroundings. Like she wasn't afraid to be her other self instead of what she really was around others. The tigress was the only in her pack so far, more larger cats seemed to be coming in that she might have thought. Hopefully soon there would be a wider variety of the creatures to come and thrive within her lands, the imagines of them getting along and the opposite of what society believes to be true, to be false after all. How she looks at is is another way, something that could turn heads but never get someone's attention unless she hit them with a bat or claws at their flesh. No one rarely ever listened to her, well, humans that is. She had never had the choice to encounter vampires or such others she made not be specific about. There was once she met a werewolf, but that only lasted a few minutes in a bathroom for a quick chat. She seemed nice at least...though she could be acting... Nonetheless, Eden shook it off and decided to remind herself to expand her boundaries, learn to love her self and what the world had to offer or throw to block her way towards the goal of a brighter future for her. For all of them...

They were all she had left in this world to cherish, there was no family for her to know or care about, they were in a better place now. All of them. She found it difficult to push through with all the nightmares and dreams she imagines during the night to wake her, but it never cause her walls to cave in. Instead, the strong white tiger shook it off like it was nothing and put on a smile to hide the loneliness inside. Eden had begun to remember all of her memories of her childhood, her mother's similar smile to hide away the pain of her mate and father of her cub's death, Darren's shining light blue eyes looking down at her with that charming grin always on his face. She looked up to him as her hero, mentor and guide through their small world, he helped her push passed the emotions and work towards strengths. Without him, she wouldn't be here at this point, but its still not the same as when they were kids. At most two hundred years had gone by when she received the notice of his so-called death, but it proved nothing to her officially for it gave no evidence or a reason behind his death. Sometimes, on a rare occasion, the tigress would try to fathom an explanation, possibly drunk-driving, or worse. Humans.

As she hummed peacefully to herself down the path near her pack, the green grass and cement turned to a brown floor covered in debris of leaves. "Hmmm..hmmhmm...mmmhmmhm-- " Her words cut short as she saw the figure of a man, no, not a man precisely, a shifter sitting at the base of a tree close to her borders. She eyed him for a moment, fiddling with the ends of her long platinum blonde hair as she hid behind a nearby tree to take a better look. The male -seeing his inner self glow to reveal the one of a white lion- had his eyes shut like as if he were sleeping, or resting, to her there was a difference. Atop his head was a short-cut hairstyle, hairs of a dusty gold and orange shimmer to them at the position he laid in towards the horizon, framed by a charming angular jawline. He was beautiful... Oh who was she kidding, she wasn't supposed to act like this. She was a leader, not a flirt, or was she both? Eden shook her head and stepped away from her temporary haven to walk closer to the man's side, a blue button-down dress and round brown belt to hold at her side, her golden locket with the opal hanging from her slender neck to rest upon her hollow collarbones. "Hello..." She replied, placing her hands behind her back, showing no sign of threat or worry to the shifter. "I'm Regina Eden, Leader of this Shifters that live within these regions. May I ask what you are doing here?" A small, friendly smile rose at her pale cheeks and pink lips, a glint of pride sparkling in her crystal blue eyes.

He heard steps getting closer, the leafs under the company’s feet cracking with every step. He didn’t care. He maintained his eyes closed and his posture relaxed. He could be killed and he wouldn’t mind as well. Anything that was going to happen to him from now one, he will just accept it and moved along, not against. If destiny wanted to end his life, or keep him alive to breathe and walk as always without any destination planned, he didn’t cared anymore. He wasn’t one to like suicide, but he was growing tired and bored with every day that passed.

Just until he heard a feminine voice in front of him, his nose feeling her scent, the one of another shifter, a feline, he opened his eyes to look at her. Her words revealing she was the leader, and with that, the one he had been looking before just to make a twist in his nomad life. He actually expected the white tiger he heard of to be a male, but he didn’t care the slightest. She had white hair and blue eyes, accompanied with a smile. He tried to return her the smile but his body didn’t replied, he wasn’t in the mood to smile, not even a fake one. With tired eyes he looked at her for a moment, his body slowly lifting up to then gave her a bow with half of his body, lowering his head to her and staying there for a moment. Standing tall again, he lifted his look, his voice dry but respectful. “Evening miss. I’m Serac Kanrei. I am... actually looking for you, Regina Eden.”

As the man approached her and bowed in his respects, a light blush rose to her cheeks and she shook her head lightly, "Oh, that is not needed, Ser-ac is it?" Her words stammered at the attempt to pronounce his name, murmuring it under her breath till she got it and then peering back up to him with a slight jump of happiness. "Well, you found me, may I ask what for?" Eden smiled, adjusting the navy blue button down she wore that rode up around her chest, smoothing her hand over it to cause the small cricks and wrinkles to flatten back again. Finding a piece of leaf in her hair, her nimble fingers fiddled with the strands knotted around it as she waited patiently, forgetting to introduce her entire name. "Forgive me, Mr. Kanrei, but I didn't give you my entire name, just my title and first for I am Eden D. White. The 'D' stands for Delilah, but I rarely ever say my middle name anymore." She shrugged it off as if it were no big deal, and honestly, to her it really wasn't. Basically everyone had a middle name, some weren't, but most others that she would come across did. Saying their middle name was close to useless in her opinion, its not like someone was going to really call them by their middle name, right? Eden shook her head slowly, barely understanding herself as she thought to herself.

Averting her pale gaze to meet his patching pair, she managed a half-smile, "If you were looking for me into being accepted, by all means, speak, please. I'd love to hear what we, as in my pack and I, would be able to benefit off you joining us. A little summary should do it, but I'm more worried about trust and loyalty around here." Her head tilted curiously at him as she lowered her hands from the end of her hair to lay at her sides, taking one of her arms behind her back to hold her opposite elbow. She sized him up slowly, not bothering to linger further into her gaze till she reached his boots, glancing to her bare, debris covered feet that stood on the earthy, dry ground. It was natural for her to be barefoot all the time, but the fact still stands that she had every reason to wear shoes, though she was too stubborn to admit it. This way, she felt free and barely payed attention to the ground as she was always in her other form unless going to work or out to town. Eden looked up at him, sighing at the realization of how tall he was, of course.

He smiled very slightly at her, actually forcing it as he was too tired and not in the mood for... being happy actually. He looked at the leaf he took off her almost white hair with more interest than normal, looking at her blue eyes as she spoke. Her voice was soft and welcoming, a tone of power wrapped around every word. Hearing her attentively, he repeated her name inside his mind, liking the sound of her middle name. Actually, if he could get some more confidence with her, and her trust, he could even call her that name. “Please Regina, call me Serac, no need for formalities towards me Miss. I’m glad toy said it to me then, it’s a beautiful name you have. I always use my middle name, Serac, I don’t like my first name due to some events in my past I would like to forget, but will never succeed. My full name is Raion Serac Kanrei. Because you told me yours, I could trust and tell you mine, Regina.” The pronunciation of his first name left a bitter taste in his tongue, not just he was starving but now he didn’t want to eat anything. He sighed knowing he will be condemned to remember and fell responsible for what happened to his pride.

Returning to look into her hypnotizing eyes, he nodded. “Yes, I came here to have your permission into being accepted. I heard about you being the Rex of these lands, and I had the hope I could find you and give it a try, but I must tell you Miss, I’m not good use for your pack, in fact, maybe you will be better without me around.” Wow... His self-steam was on the floor. For how long was the question. Knowing that was not going to help at all, he started to doubt if he really wanted to be in a pack again, being part of one, have another chance. He didn’t care much what happened to him now, after everything. If he was rejected now, that will say he could let go and finally rest. Looking at her serious, he continued. “Let me explain Regina. I’m a good fighter, I was the leader of my own pride a very long time ago, but that ended. I lost everything because I took bad decisions. I can’t tell you which ones right now because I don’t know what choices were those, I just know, that because of them, I had been a loner for half of my life now. I could be of use to you, maybe as a soldier, but I doubt my existence could be of equal or even less use than other shifters, Miss. I apologize if this reply disappoints you, but I rather be sincere from the beginning and not lift fake hopes to you, or anyone.”

He looked down to the dead leafs again, waiting for being rejected like he knew he was going to. Who will be accepted after telling that to the leader? Just for respect he stood motionless between the trunk he was laid against and her. He was going to leave her land to somewhere when his body will not be a load for anyone.

Like words of bittersweet honey, the slipped from his tongue into mastered sentences, lacing around her mind to stay clear and focused, affirmatively nodding here and there at the more important details he told. There was something familiar about him she could not target. Was it the hair? The eyes? The personality? What was it? Eden tilted her head curiously, admiring his works and toned frame from a close and comfortable distance as she stood at her strongest in dominance. A natural power flowed from her very aura, standing to be a fierce and wise tigress more than any, the blood of the originals weaving inside her own veins. His trust had more or less been gained, which relieved her to speak appropriately around him more, becoming comfortable and easily adapted to their state of relationship in close beings coming together to be something powerful. Like most lions, he had courage, a slight pinch of charm to hid behind his pale hues that caught her attention. It made her wonder if people stared into hers like she did to his, the hypnotizing feeling that came with it only to make it harder for her to take her gaze away. Eye contact; a wonderful ability to have between others, it was best to keep their attention on them, not only for them to listen, but to know they were in that matter. If they weren't, who knew what all could happen when push comes to shove and then next they'd have a horrible issue on her hands to deal with. She signed up for this, and feared not of if it were going to happen, for she was more than ready, able on her feet to take care of it at any given time. Looking now at the male, she could sympathize what he had gone through, and wondrously wandered into his eyes to know what all had happened. She too had encountered loss, but as she saw the rejected-feeling in his mind, she knew then, that she wasn't the only one. Putting on her best efforts from looking back on her past, she simply nodded and her gaze flew to the floor. She exhaled slowly, nodding again and then looking back up to meet his gaze with seriousness, "Both names that you were and are claimed as are important to me, and I am happy to hear that you trust me enough to hear such things at first welcome. We all go through strange histories, whether they be great or ones like ourselves where they end in only the bad. I believe now that there is only one thing to hope for in this world and that is peace. May it or not be brought to our home in this small world, we still stand at what we are and what we do best at, Serac. I've learned after so long of not having someone speak with or connect with that there are better things in the world to discover, and I have yet to learn more on my own, as well as the ones that surround me with peace. This pack you see here, call it what you like, is like a family, and we trust each other, love each other enough to stay that way. You're not alone here, Serac, and neither am I anymore..."

Eden looked over her shoulder slowly to peer into the evergreen darkness that slithered beyond her reach through the caverns of her lands, whispering soft words for her attention to come back home, but knew all to well it was her control to stay with him for the moment. There was no way now that she would loose him, and thought better than him just being a Bellator. Averting back her gaze, she smiled softly, "You could never disappoint me, dear, though the thought of you leaving a place so far from your kind would bring my feelings to descend far from what I feel seeing another in front of me. The trust you gave me and mine in return only proves to be something else, and like you had said, you were a leader too. Lions, both normal and white, are left of the blood of royals before them, bred out of purpose to expand the pride and take on the King's position once the time grew to death. It's the circle of life, and like all, it is natural to the world's presence. A pride carries at most ten or more lions, am I wrong? That being said, that would mean you were a leader of a great population and families to care for. I trust you, Serac, like the brother I had, and the person I sought to be someday in the life of a Regina upon this race. With your experience, together this could lead to something greater, and our species of Shifters will strive to be the strongest. If it is too much, I would like to keep you as my Auxiliary, the second in command just beneath my rank and head of all Bellators, Dux and Eprors to train when needed." She knew it was soon to give an entire stranger such a rank, but it was natural to her to be around big cats and trust them quickly. Stepping forwards, the tigress shifted into her cat-form, long black stripes staining her flesh until her hands phased to large paws upon the ground. A low growl roared from her mouth and her tail rose to press against her back the higher her song grew, rippling out into the sky with happiness. As she waited for him to shift and finally did, she walked up to him and bumped his right shoulder in a friendly manner, bowing her head slightly in her own respect. "If it is too much, then I understand, but I feel you would be an exceptional Auxiliary within my ranks. I fear not of what you will do and say to put my Bellators in line, and you have my permission to do as you please. However, I must warn you that if you take it on to your advantage, my trust will no longer be yours. Do you understand? Secretly, the leader was thrilling herself inside, twitching at the end of her tail at the joy she felt and glorious dismay of how much she had to tell him, and what all she could learn in return.