King of the Willows

Kotori had asked Hikaru to come with him as they went a bit farther out past the border.  Having had a bear already charge the borders it seemed a good idea to stop any predators before they got so far.  All the sickness was creating madness for one reason or another.  It didn’t seem to matter if it was a fox, coyote, bear, or anything else.  Sure, not every individual was sick but too many were and they were all unpredictable.

Kotori paused, ears pricked as he had heard something abnormal.  He was careful to note where mushrooms and crystals were as to avoid stepping on any one of them or brushing up against any in trees.  Even as he stepped around a crystal protruding from a rock the unknown sound turned into a challenging roar.

Stepping into sight between some of the leaves of the willow was a lion.  Kotori was a bit surprised and concerned when there was no sign of gem or mushroom on it.  That meant it either wasn’t sick or it could have some madness as some of the wolves had.  “Never fought a lion before.” Kotori had spent a lot more time traveling than training to fight.  Hopefully, the lion wasn’t in as good of shape mentally as it appeared to be physical.

The big cat was moving towards them with a steady but not hurried pace.  “Well, this should be, fun.”  They could try and just get away with it but even if they weren’t on the pack land they were close enough that a lion hanging out seemed a bit overly close for comfort.  All the more dangerous with the ‘what if it got sick.’  Then again, Kotori also just hated to turn down a challenge.  He was a Fatalis and his pride said there was no backing down.

"Kotori Fatalis"