Below is a piece I did a while ago, actually. Maybe a month or so? Can't quite remember. It was part of a weekly I had wanted to do for myself. The challenge was to go to a website that generates a random species and 'job' type thing, then I was to draw what it generated and write a story of no less than 1,000 words to go along with the image.
The piece below depicts a 'Lynx Elementalist'. I will also be posting the story.
It was a slow sunrise, the great circle’s fingertips gently brushing it’s yellow tipped nails across the valley, bringing oranges and pinks into a swirl of brilliant, dancing color. It reached over the mountain tops, peeking down onto the valley of tribal felines, its hands spreading further over the land, touching each crevice and hole to fill them with its great light and warmth. It smiles, the clouds dancing about in the new season’s breeze, the oranges and pinks reflecting off of the newly melted streams that trickled down the mountain faces. This day was the end of the time of cold and famine, and the beginning of the months of birth and renewal, and what better to great the rebirth of the land than the great sun itself? Would it be kind for it to have hid behind clouds, dampening the day with a heavy rain? Of course not. Its smile was fierce and warming to all who slowly awoke to its touch, bringing the first day of rebirth further to its feet, so that it may finally take the steps forward to clear the rest of the land of the frozen bitterness that had come with the dying season.
“Wake, mo pháiste. Beannú an lae nua.1” The voice was the first to touch the air with a gentle caress of even softer tones. The woman leaned closer to the young feline whose shoulder she had a paw on. “Suas suas, teacht anois. Tá sé am leat tosú.2” Once more the grown feline woman gently shook the shoulder of her child, this time, receiving the response that she had hoped for moments ago. A smile touched her lips, fangs gleaming as the sun peeked into the animal hide hut ever so discreetly to reflect off of the chunk of hematite that hung around her neck.
The younger feline rolled onto her back and slow rose to sit before her mother. She brought her fists to her face and slowly rubbed away the rest of the sleepiness from her eyes before opening the pools of light sea-foam to look at her mother with a smile great in many ways. It was great for she was eager, it was great for she was nervous as well, it was great for she knew that hopefully today she would finally learn how to call upon the spirits that had given the rest of her family and clan their powers on their fifteenth birthday as well.
Her mother’s smile grew as she saw the eagerness in her daughter’s eyes. “An raibh tú codladh go maith, Oillín?3” She was answered with a simple nod, which was all she had expected given that the young Lynx was mute. Her mother nodded and chuckled softly, before standing and reaching down to grasp her daughter’s hand to pull her to her feet as well. She held open the hide flap of the hut and waved her arm to the outside. “Tá a fhios agat cá háit le dul, ceann beag. Is féidir leis an bhiotáille tú a threorú.4”
With an excited nod, the young lynx bounced once, pecked her mother on the cheek and trotted out of the hut. She greeted the morning with a great yawn as she continued to trot downstream, heading toward where the ceremony would be held for the others who had their birthday today. There would likely be many, since the seasons before this day were the ones meant for breeding within the clan, and it was usually this day that many of the women ended up giving birth. But even the idea that the ceremony would be large did not discourage the young feline from laughing with joy as she felt the new and reborn sun touching down onto the soft valley grasses. It was a fantastic day! One that she knew she would remember for the rest of her life. Her happiness knew no bounds as her trot picked up into a practiced sprint, speed being one of the things this clan of lynx practices daily. She leaps over boulders, hops across the thickening stream with ease that only the obvious feline could possess. Her smile reaches from ear to ear, the chunk of hematite that hung around her chest, bouncing happily with each bound she makes.
Though, there is a sudden sinking feeling as finally her seafoam eyes catch the sight of the gathering and fear, coupled with diminishing confidence, clings to her heart, her pace slowing to a steady walk as she approaches the circle of the other birthday felines – twenty or so, all from different clans. She sits between a male bearing amethyst, and a female bearing onyx. She nods shyly to both, who only snicker at her late arrival and turn back to the great elder who stands in the middle of the circle, atop a large stump.
It was clear that she was embarrassed by the flush that touched her cheek and the way she pressed the pads of her feet together and wiggled her toes, her fingers interlaced with each other in her lap, fiddling with the grasses between her legs. Though she is not so ignorant as to not listen to the great elder, the old feline who stood with such grace and power that it was hard to feel intimidated, despite his age and his ghastly appearance. With ears perked and eyes wide, though still down and staring at the grass both due to the intimidation and her embarrassment, she listened to the ceremony begin.
The elder spoke of the ages past, when the clans were founded. How each founded feline was blessed with a different stone to wear about their neck, each signifying a different power to be held by the clan they would soon birth. The elder spoke of how the spirits had gifted them with such power as helpers of the lands, the skies, the seas and the even the spirits themselves. For they were busy upholding the heavens and hells, unable to tend to every one of their loyal children. These clans, so blessed by each stone – which held a power of its own – were now guardians of all, under the rule of the spirits. They upheld order when the great War Ram could not manifest. They upheld loyalty when the Truthful Badger could not take leave from the clouds. They upheld death when the Steed of Shadows could not leave his realm. Though it was not only in times of the spirits’ absence that these clans could wield these powers, for they learned and continued to learn over the centuries, bringing them to what they are now – Elementalists of all different colors and shades.
With the history lesson over, the elder had begun the rights of passage, giving each of age feline the ability to finally call upon the stone that rest about their neck. Once this was complete, the young lynx were split into groups, told to practice, to spar, to discuss and to teach. This was a time of mingling with clans they may not have met, it was a time to share their own wisdom, a time to meet and make friends. Though, there was one who was nervous and it was the girl who still sat on the ground, feet still pressed together and fingers still fiddling with the grass.
The elder approached young Oillín, his smile great and dashing. He lifted her chin with the staff he held as both a symbol of power and an easier means of walking I his old age. Gently, he tapped the end of the staff to her forehead, then to her nose, then to each shoulder, then to her heart. He spoke in a tongue even she did not understand and as the word grew more and more entwined with his tongue she could feel a great power swelling within her. She looked down, only to see the chunk of hematite giving off a soft, silvery glow, then a crack and it was back to normal. Slowly, she looked up to the old, old man and cocked her head to the side, her long brown hair falling across her shoulders and in front of her eyes for only a moment as she did so. The elder gave a simple motion, and she knew it meant for her to rise and go practice.
It was only as she stood then that she realized the day had gone so quickly. The sun, so bright before in the greeting of the new season, was now steadily sinking behind the greats mountains once more. She had just remembered just how long the ceremony took, and she also realized just how much of a space case she actually was. And again, the elder had to break her from her trance with a grunt and the soft nudge of his staff, sending her away from the main circle and towards a group of others who were practicing their newly awakened powers.
Oillín watched them practice, amazed by how much they had already accomplished in the day, and again her nervousness set in, causing her knees to shake and her ears to wilt to the side as she griped the chunk of hematite at her chest tightly. The girl tried to take a deep breath, but her lungs shuddered and convulsed as she did so, making it quite hard to stand still at all. She was nervous, she was scared, why she was just absolutely terrified. What if the spirits didn’t accept her? What if she failed and had to continue life as a lynx who could not harness her birth right? The thoughts scared her even more, but another grunt from the elder, who stood far off, though still keeping an eye on her, set her mind into gear.
With a great huff she narrowed her sea-foam eyes, staring into nothing as she fell into the meditation trance that she had been taught years ago by the elders of her own clan. She could feel something, a tingling in her feet, rising to meet her knees with a sudden shock of what felt like dulled lightning, though still she didn’t move. Slowly, she closed her eyes as the tingling continued to move up her body, giving her that same jolt each time it hit a different joint. Still as she was, her heart was beating as fast as it possibly could, about to explode from her very chest. She took a deep breath, and she exhaled she put her left hand out in front of her, turned it palm up and took another deep breath. As she exhaled this time she forced the tingling sensation from her body and into her palm, the hematite against her chest heating up slightly as she did so… And there! There it was! She could feel it! Even with her eyes closed she knew that she had done something, she knew that she had finally called upon the spirits and manifested her powers for the first time!
Eager to see her progress she opened her eyes, but what she saw caused tears to come to the brim of those beautiful seafoam pools. There was nothing in the palm of her hand. Nothing at all, and she could feel the shame of the entire clan, of her entire race, pushing down on her as the disappointment rushed through her body.
But… who was she to give up? Who was she to lay down and give herself to the earth that her clan founder had sworn to help?
A frustrated whine slipped from her lips as her ears perked to their fullest and her right hand balled into a fist. She shut her eyes tightly, bringing her left hand back down at her side, also balling it into a tight fist. Again, she began to meditate, calling out to the spirit to guide her on her path to the power she and her clan was blessed with, to the power that was hers by birth, to the power that lay hidden not only in the confines of the small bit of smooth and silvery rock that rest against her chest, but also deep within her terrified heart. She could feel the surge as the spirits tried to reach out, as they tried their hardest to grasp the girl by the heart itself and pull her into the mental realm that would allow her power to manifest. And it was then, with a sudden jolt, that she could feel the tingling sensation once more, and this time it rose much faster, this time the lightning at each joint was powerful and hot, almost crippling, but the girl did not give in, she would not! Her breathing was smooth, her body steady and her mind calm as still the tingling rose. With a push of effort, she whined and forced the tingle to her palm again, and this time when she opened her eyes she was greeted with a sight more beautiful than she could have ever imagined, her jaw hanging open in utter surprise of her own power.
Greens swirled about each other in a dance of pure healing energy, the smell of flowers of all kind emanating from the core of the green, swirling energy, dark green shadows of butterflies and moths rising in whipping and swirling smoke from the palm of her hand. It tingled, it burned, it felt amazing, it felt odd and foreign and yet… She did not shy away. She watched as the dance of nature and healing continued, utterly amazed by the sight of the power of clan manifested in the very palm of her hand.
1 – Wake my child, greet the new day.
2- Up up, come now. It is time you begin.
3- Did you sleep well, Oillín?
4- You know where to go little one. May the spirits guide you.
