User blog:Thrögma/Prison break: two years later

Prison break: two years later

Please read the prior story, as this is a continuation. It wouldn’t make sense otherwise.

“And then what happened?”

“When she woke up, we talked for a bit. After that we got dressed, and then there was a bit of back-and-forth”

“Back and forth? Like you talked some more?”

“No. Well, yes. We kinda went back-and-forth between talking and… uh…”

“Making love?”

“Yeah. After that we had breakfast. The tower was automatically run, with a regenerative food supply. I think we had pancakes, but I can’t quite remember. We also talked some more.”

“What were you talking about?”

“Ourselves. It turned out we had quite a bit in common, both in terms of interests, sense of humor, and other stuff. But she wasn’t surprised at all. She said she knew from the beginning.”

“Why wasn’t she surprised?”

“Apparently, monsters have a sort of sixth-sense, a ‘sexth-sense’, if you will. They can innately tell which man they would be compatible with just by seeing or being near them. They can gauge how good a match they would be. Most monsters don’t attack a man unless they sense a strong compatibility. It’s why you don’t see monsters getting divorced. Other monsters choose to ignore that sense, and attack first regardless of compatibility, and later use their charm to shape the man to be what they want. That was what Ghani tried to do, until the tiger mauled her.”

“Fascinating. So she could tell you were the man for her without seeing you?”

“I wouldn’t say that. Basilisks can get a pretty good read on what a person may “look” like by their scent, body heat, and mana profile alone. She later said she didn’t know I was a redhead until she took off her mask.”

“It must be strange for her to live her life without being able to “see” color.”

“The way she describes it, she does see color, but the color of a person's heat and aura. But she doesn't usually wear a mask anyway.”

“Why is that? I was told basilisk venom was incredibly potent and based on sight. Does she not go out in public?”

“It is, but she has remarkable control over her venom, and whether it is inflicted. She says it is by its nature hard to control, but her many centuries alone gave her ample time to hone that ability. She can safely look at man or monster with no effects. Although accidents have happened. She says it gets harder for each additional person nearby, so she tends to only wear a mask in crowds to prevent… incidents.”

“I see.”

“So does she.”

“Ha! So what happened after breakfast?”

“I gathered up my panthers, and returned to the Lilitm's castle. From there, I was granted my freedom, as well as given their blessing. So we left.”

“Did you return home?”

“Not really. I had always traveled from place to place, training big cats for zoos and circuses. It was always a bit hard to get my lion lodgings, but whomever my employer was at the time usually had a spare place for him. But now I have two more, so I doubted I could do that again.”

“So what did you do?”

“We found a nice spot on the base of a hill. I called in some old favors to help build a little cabin, and we stayed in a cave nearby while it was being built.”

“That sounds nice. Did your friends or family know anything about your situation?”

“Yes. Actually, my brother was one of the people helping with the cabin. My whole family came by to meet her.”

“Did they like her?”

“Yeah, they thought she was super nice and really sweet, though they were a little put-off about her being a monster. Something about a monsters… “needs” made them feel weird. I don’t blame them. But they respect my boundaries, and they haven’t raised any objections. Even if it makes them a little uncomfortable, they are happy that I’m happy.”

“That’s sweet. What do you do to pass the time? Do you have a job, or any hobbies?”

“We actually opened up a big cat sanctuary. We give homes to those big cats who can’t be released into the wild, be they injured, tamed, or a threat to livestock. Actually, two months after we opened, a guy came to us with a tiger. It turns out to have been the same tiger from the tower, and apparently he found it roaming around five miles from the tower.”

“How fortuitous. How many cats do you house?”

“We have 48 individuals of many different species, including lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars, snow leopards, palangs, mountain lions, cheetahs, lynxes, caracals, jaguarundis, and several other species. We do good work.”

“I understand.”

“Do you? With all due respect, what is this about? Why are you so interested in my escape from the tower? Who do you represent? The Order? Lilith? The Hrafna-Votnar? Because I have been very patient, and I wish to know what this is about.”

“First off, I do understand. I had— well, have friends who love animals. One of them takes care of mountain lions. Thealf, it is my job to scour the planet for anomalies of nature and mana. You and Ozari are registering as something we like to call “very strange”. You are both emitting signals that are normally only seen in a particular breed of gods long since extinct. It is my belief that something is hiding within you… within you both. There is an extremely high likelihood that everything you knew about yourself is a lie. Every action you take is guided by a very old, very powerful internal source, driving you two together, into something new and quite different from what you thought was possible.”

“And what, pray tell, is that?”

Kra’hael smiled. “I am so glad you asked.”