༺𓆩༒︎𓆪༻
The night prior, beneath the waning full moon, Leander had engorged himself thoroughly on all manner of prey. As the moon waned, so too did the warmth. Creatures ran in droves to collect their season's harvest, storing food in logs and burrows to last through the coming cold. Leander thought himself at the pinnacle of this cycle, striking down the ones that seemed to crawl willingly between his teeth—or the ones he desired the most. So he gnawed down the bones of birds and lapped at the blood of mice, tore the muscle from rabbits and the flesh from the squirrels. And then he slept a dreamless sleep at such depth that it approached hibernation. He'd dug himself a shallow grave that night beneath a yew bush and scraped beside a helping of moss, intent on the finest rest of his feline life, a wish that was delivered in kind. Until the racket. The terrific bugle of an elk, a creature he'd seen once before on a long journey not worth mentioning, followed by what sounded like a tree splitting from the earth. He rose heavy-eyed from his luxurious bedding, tangles of golden fur falling into a flowing mane over his chest. Then a sweep of his feathered tail, a luxurious stretch, and the lapping of dried blood from his fangs. The past few seasons had given birth to a new, lonelier life. Long gone were his days of companionship, replaced only with an aching solitude that he both reveled in and despised. For the first time since he'd set paw in this wretched forest, something new had blessed its emptiness. And he made way to the racket, looked upon the theatre of the battle, and savored its sights and sounds. *Applications for COALESCE are now open.
