The Cat with the Heart of Fire

 The Cat with A Heart of Fire

A Fighting Scene by Dreamstar

*PRONUNCIATIONS*

Ky-ra
Ky-ra-mu-ra
Ry
Ged-e-on

The world was dark, destroyed, dripping with tears of the dead… yet it was so tranquil.  The sky was stained the reddish-orange of a sunset. Birds sang drowsily from their homes in the trees, and Elves still slept peacefully in their beds. All of them believed that the life-sucking shadow known as Gedeon was gone. How mistaken they were.

At the peak of a mountain that touched the sky, a cat surveyed this calm scene with woe in her piercing green eyes. She was the color of and built like a lioness, yet the size of an ordinary cat, and covered in newly healed scars. Her name was Cyra, and she was about to do something she would regret for the rest of her life. She was about to fight her best friend to try to kill him.
But this world is so soft and silent, can I really disturb it so brutally? Maybe Rai and I can simply leave this quiet land and never return, never inflict our battle upon the Tribes. But Cyra knew in her deepest heart, she had to fight. No amount of optimism could erase that feeling of merged fear and bravery.
But why, why had the gods decreed that she had been given her firepower to fight Rai, her friend, almost her brother? Who cared about some stupid shadow? Why couldn’t the Blazefire Elves just combine their magic and drive out Gedeon using flames?
But the last words of the Heavenly King echoed in Cyra’s revolving ears. This is not a mere shadow that can be destroyed with light, Cyramura. This is a darkness that goes deeper into the heart of Elven beliefs. Every Tribe knows that the Core Animals are the noblest, wisest, and strongest creatures of this land, and that you are one of them. That is why your sacrifice must vanquish Gedeon. It is for the greater good.
Cyra closed her eyes and inhaled sharply, bracing herself for what she knew was coming. And yes, an unseen bolt of lightning suddenly struck the cloudless sky, shattering the last remnants of dusk. Cyra merely flicked her tail and her ears in acknowledgment. She slowly and deliberately opened her eyes.

There was Rai, standing directly in front of her. His wolfish silver-gray body was just as muscular as ever, and gleamed in the moonlight, though his white paws seemed bigger than the last time Cyra had seen them. Had he been training for this battle too? His large yellow eyes raked Cyra’s pelt, but she refused to cower under his stare. Friend or not, she would have to fight… right?

There she was. Cyra. His friend, his sister, her eyes reflecting the stars above them, a look of mixed defiance and misery on her face.
Rai thought he felt his heart crack. How could he kill her, when she was his only real friend in the world? He remembered when they were both so young, when they had both lost their families to Gedeon. They had decided to become honorary siblings to each other, as well as friends, but The rift between them now seemed to stretch beyond the horizon where the moon had just arisen. Rai forced himself to speak. “So… Cyra.” It wasn’t a question.
Cyra just stared at him. “You look… nice.” Rai’s insides seemed to shrivel up in embarrassment.

Cyra was covered in deep scars that looked like they might never fade, and he was complimenting her looks? He tried to cover up his mistake. “I--I mean, you look, er, nice even with-- um-- your scars and everything.”

Cyra cracked a small, painful smile. Rai felt heartened, but only for a moment. How in the name of the Heavenly King did you start off a battle against your best friend? But he was spared from talking again.

“I hate this.” Cyra wasn’t tearful. Her face was quite blank. Rai thought he saw her tense. “I hate that we have to fight to kill each other. I hate Gedeon. I even hate the King! But Rai— I’m sorry.”

Rai caught a glint of claws in the moonlight before Cyra had pounced on him, knocking the breath out of his lungs.

Letting out an uncharacteristic snarl, she slashed his underbelly, and Rai roared in pain and shock, sending her as well as his blood flying as he kicked out. 

He felt his claws rip her pelt, and felt regret and horror pierce him like the claws covered in his best friend's blood.

Cyra lunged forward again, but Rai kicked out again, though weaker this time. He wasn’t going to hurt her too bad if he could help it.

Cyra’s silhouette spread out above him, but she suddenly took advantage of the attack by diving. He managed to duck out of the way, causing Cyra to slam into the stone.

“You idiot!” Cyra hissed from the floor, blood streaming into her eyes. “Never go easy on me: I’ll just go harder on you!” All of a sudden, her eyes were two circles of orange fire, crackling menacingly. She lashed out, and a wall of fire erupted out of the ground, heading straight for Rai.

It missed him by inches, though it singed his whiskers. The wall vanished, Cyra’s eyes turned back to emerald green, and she was upon him, wrestling him with surprising strength to the ground. Her claws tore at Rai’s flesh, making his body scream in pain. Blood was running into his own eyes now, almost blinding him.

With an enormous heave, Rai rolled right over, Cyra still ripping every inch of him she could reach. Now Cyra had been caught, her throat being held down by Rai, her head already hanging over the edge of the mountain. Above them, lightning struck across the moon and stars, illuminating them. Cyra struggled beneath Rai’s paw. He felt nothing but power and sadness.

“It doesn’t have to be this way,” he said softly.

“Yes it does!” choked Cyra, still fighting to extricate herself from Rai’s grip. “You weren’t there when the King told me what I had to do. You didn’t see his look, my father’s look! My father, who betrayed me by abandoning me, who never bothered to watch over me from the Heavens, was happy that I was to fight my best friend!”

“That’s my point, Cyra! Why don’t you just disobey him? Then we can be friends again.”

Cyra’s eyes sparkled with tears. “And risk losing everyone to Gedeon? Rai, I’ve already said I’m sorry, I hate my father, I hate that I have to do this, but I have to do it regardless!” She broke off, coughing uncontrollably.

Rai realized that he was strangling her with his grip, and immediately slackened it. “Plus, what would the gods do if we disobeyed them?”

“Who cares what they’ll do?” Rai said fiercely.

Cyra gazed at him in shock. “We’ll find another way, a better way, a way that will let us stay friends! Cy, we can find the Flower of Eternal Hope.”

“‘The Flower of Eternal Hope’? The old fairy tail?”

“Yes.” Now Rai pulled Cyra to her paws, where her eyes locked with his, green and gold under a galaxy of twinkling stars.

“How do you know it’s real, Rai?”

Rai smiled slightly. “How do you think? Conroy told me where it is.” Cyra’s face broke into the first true smile since they had started their battle.

“Then lead on,” she meowed, purring.

Hey! Hope you liked this scene! Type "Lightning" in the comments if you like Rai better, or "Fire" if you choose Cyra!

--Dreamstar