-The Tale of Merrunz; as told by the itinerant storyteller Daro Lye of the Ako’dhass clan, self described Priestess of Merrunz-

Daro Lye is sure you have heard of Merrunz before. This one knows well your mothers will have compared you to him at least once, yes? ‘’Little ja’khajiit, you must have crawled from the deserts of rust and wounds to be so destructive?’’ Sound famili-ar? Hrrr, this one is sure of it, but secret is safe with Daro Lye. Perhaps you have even been told of how Merrunz Demon-Cat, third born of Fa-do-mai’s Second Litter, strikes just-so against the Lunar Lattice as raging-beast beyond the moons? No? Perhaps too young for such scary stories, hrr? Well it is time, this one thinks, that Daro Lye told you the full story – of why Merrunz, Leaping Demon King, Daegon, and yes… the Ja’Khajiit… is the Spirit you should hold in your hearts, little ones!

In early days there were only two; the cruel and burning Ahnurr, yes? And the dark and loving Fa-do-mai. Day and night. The scorching desert and the shade of respite. You know this, of course. You have been told of the ill-fated love the two shared. Of their first litter… Alkosh, Khenarthi, Magrus, Mara and little S’rendarr the runt? Well, little ones, Daro Lye’s tale of Merrunz begins with the Dragon-Cat. Alkosh. The tale you have been told is the simple one. Easy to understand, but not all-true. Alkosh was and was-not first cat, Dragon Cat of time. Lie and truth both. Hrrr… perhaps this one should start anew. Tell from beginning. Earliest born of Ahnurr and Fa-do-mai’s first litter was Dragon Cat, yes, but his name was not Alkosh, no. It was Mighty Akha! First Cat, Pathfinder, Time Setter! As oldest of the first litter he was first to leave the den, yes? First to go into wider-world. He struck out from his sisters and brothers, blazed path into the sands with confi-dent stride!! Ha ha!! But… hrrr… Akha… Akha was clever as his mother, yes, but also cruel as his father. Akha new those to come after would follow his paths, yes? Walk the paths their brave brother had trod? The Many Paths he laid? And, oh, Akha was hungry… so soo hungry… so he struck a plan. Akha would blaze his Many Paths, many and myriad through the sands, leading this way and that like drunk-serpent, yes? As he went, he let the sun of his father shine bright onto him, and that sun cast two shadows like midday-light. The shadows, they walked alongside him ‘til they rose upright, to better walk beside. Alkosh, his shadow of kindness, the mask Akha hid his clever malice behind… and Alkhan, his terrible hunger made manifest, his cruelty and malice. Three-and-one they walked, carving paths until at paths’ end, where he laid his terrible trap devised thricefold. Here at Many Paths’ end he bid Alkhan stop and wait, that he sit like a hungry croco-dile waits with open jaws on the river’s bank until… untilll… SNAP! The jaws come crashing closed like hunter’s-trap! On foolish prey that does not see the danger at end of track. Alkhan could wait at Paths’ end, and when those who followed arrived, he would feast at end-of-time. Hrr… until his hunger would return again, and he would Pounce back to start again! Here, at Many Paths’ end, he bid Alkosh too, yes! He bid his cunning Dragon-Cat Shadow to walk back the Paths they had struck, to guide those that came after to his brother-self’s hungry jaws. And so did Akha sit back, a satisfied hunter waiting for his trap!

Hrrr… already this one can see some of you bristle! No, no, do not hide, Daro Lye sees. She knows you have held Alkosh so high in your hearts, little ones. She knows what the other clans say of her. “Heretic! Liar!” Ha! Daro Lye may be the Cunning Lie, but all she says now is truth. Let this one tell another tale now, hrr? Perhaps it may sound a little familiar, but there is more truth in it for this one to share. When Second Litter was born – Hermorah of Tides, Hircine of Hunt, Merrunz of our Tale, Mafala of Clan Mothers, Sangiin of Blood and Sheggorath of Madness – all was not well in First-Clan. For Ahnurr, his cruelty began to show like sweltering midday sun seen too late once hunt’s begun. Fa-do-mai began to swelt and shift beneath it, to dream of Freedom and the Shadows. Fa-do-mai was clever though, yes? Knew that it must be just-so for some of her litter too… and she saw it was worst of all for Merrunz. Little Ja’Khajiit, playful and wild, he who so often earned the ire of his cruel father. But Fa-do-mai knew that Merrunz would never leave his mother’s side, so, clever as she was, a plan devised. Fa-do-mai hid her shadow away, let herself become mirror to Ahnurr’s cruel light, donned false mane and fat stomach just like-so, see? Ha ha! And clever Fa-do-mai went to her favorite son in guise of Ahnurr and commanded him LEAVE! That she-as-he had filled up on little Merrunz’s mischief and mayhem, and that he must leave first-clan by sun’s rise. Little Merrunz wept, and so did Fa-do-mai later, at how she had spoken to her son, but the clever trick worked. Merrunz left as she-as-he bid. Hrrr… yes… little Merrunz struck out into the sands beyond the den, first after Akha, but little Merrunz was clever as his mother. He kept his eyes on the Many Paths End rather than Path Beneath, and saw how all lead to Alkhan’s gaping Maw!! So Merrunz lept! Lept from the Path, named himself King of the Little Leaping Demons he found beyond the road and, with them, roared at those who came after to look out!! To see the gaping crocodile-maw of Alkhan and trickery of Akha!! But none listened… they knew only Merrunz mischief-maker of their youth! Thought he-to trick them and cause mayhem again! But… hrr… it was only a matter of time before the greater Demons beyond the Paths took notice of his roaring, yes? Merrunz was clever, he avoided Akha’s trap, but he missed another. Cruel Molagh, Loveless-Greed, Unjust Ruler Demon King! Cruel Molagh, he had seen and grown tired of Merrunz’s roars… he grabbed his largest sack, like this, yes? And he SNATCHED Ja’Khajiit right up!! Dragged little clever Merrunz back to his evil den-of-Lyg, tied away in his sack and kicked from day to night to relieve Molagh’s infinite cruelty. Hrrr… hrrr…. but be not sad, little ones. Merrunz was not alone. Another suffered under Molagh just as Fa-do-mai had suffered under Ahnurr. Merid-Nunda, Demon-Wife, Daughter-of-Magrus. She had grown to hate Molagh, to hate the Kingdom of Little-Crabs-of-Lyg he had built to torment as he tormented her, too. She wished it free! FREE!! So, in darkest night, as Molagh slept, Merid-Nunda came to little Merrunz who had grown quiet and afraid. She said to him: “Listen, little one. Is not just you that Molagh shows his cruelty to! He rules whole Kingdom-of-Lyg beneath him! This one heard how you cried to your littermates at roadside, she knows you have pure-heart and good spirit. So… Merid-Nunda will free you, little one, and give you three gifts… if you promise her to free all from Molagh, and all Tyrants!”

As Daro Lye said, Merrunz was kind and clever, so he agreed. And Merid-Nunda gifted him thrice; A cutting Razor, to know truth from lie, right from wrong, and answer from chaff! A small pocket, yes? Small on outside but large as world within! And… greatest gift of all; Hope, infinite and infectious, to spread to all those he met on path ahead! Merrunz burst forth from Molagh’s sack, cutting way free with sharpest Razor. Merrunz readied his Hope, to share with all those caught beneath Molagh… but he had pause. For long as he had been trapped away, much time had passed. Eras and eras, almost an entire Pounce! Molagh’s Kingdom-of-Lyg was all of world now, EMPIRE-of-Lyg, and Alkhan was close, whole world close to Paths’ End. Even if little Merrunz was to free People-of-Lyg from Molagh’s cruelty and tyranny, they would still fall to Akha’s trick! So… yes did Merrunz spread Hope like wildfire to People-of-Lyg! Yes, did he guide them up in rev-o-lution and smash the tyrant face of Lyg! Yes, did slay the masters and topple their thrones! But… now listen close, little ones… but it was not there that Merrunz stopped. He gathered up hopeful-swarm, those who cheered his name, as well as his friends, the Little Leaping Demons, and bid them hide within his small bag. Snuck away handfuls of Broken-Lyg and her people within so that Alkhan would not see them… and he LEAPT!! Merrunz bounded down the Many Paths of Time, leapt again and again!! Back and back!! And when Alkhan tried to snatch him up, clever Leaper Demon King leapt ‘cross his head and stomped on his back! Merrunz leapt ‘cross Time to start of story once more, when he had first been told to leave First-Clan’s den!! Ah, ah ah ah!! But Merrunz came back wiser. Smarter. STRONGERRR!! And with three gifts of Merid-Nunda! Again and again, he would try to convince littermates and little cats to stray from path, to hide with him less Alkhan STRIKE!! But always they never listened. Always they saw too late, jaws of hungry Akha!! But still, un-de-terred, hopeful Merrunz would LEAP and SNATCH!! Hide away those who could, parts of world from Pounce and Pounce and leap back ‘long Path to tale’s start. Eighty-hundred and eighty-eight-fold times did Merrunz, Leaper Demon King, LEAP! Wise and clever beyond years did Dro-Daegon grow ‘cross all these Pounces! Even as Akha turned his Wheel of Hunger, Merrunz Dro-Daegon grew stronger still! His world-pocket filling but never full! Hrrr… but, little ones, it is not Merrunz Leaper King you know. It is not Merrunz Rebel, Merrunz Hope-Bringer, Merrunz Alkhan-Trickster… no. In Merrunz’s Eight-hundred and eighty-eight plus-one-fold Pounce his scheme was found. While working ‘long side the Moon Prince, Lorkhaj ‘for his fall in this Pounce. Lorkhaj played the distraction as Alkhan gobbled up all those reaching the end of Many Paths, making sure his crocodile-cat eyes never saw as Merrunz lept here and there, hiding away more and more of that world. But three-fold Akha, he knew something was amiss. He had felt his hungry Alkhan-shadow grow hungrier and hungrier once more with each Pounce… as if each world was smaller than the last. So, he turned his clever-cruel eyes around, away from Lorkhaj distraction, and spotted Merrunz at last.