Chui Mwezi

Before the Beginning

????'s POV

Black and gold markings and freezing white were all I knew. Holding back a mew of protest from another strong freezing wind, my claws dug into the soft powder below. I tried to squint through the white wind as I held my ears back against my head and my body gave another shiver of an attempt to get me warm.
As another strong wind tried to knock me off my paws, I shivered, not from the cold, but from the still-fresh memories.
A strange creature approaching a little too close for comfort...
Her father rushing forward with a roar...
Her mother telling her and her brother to run...
The sound of a thunderous boom...
Her father landing a few tail-lengths away...
Another thunderous boom....
Her mother dropping to the ground...
Her running from the scene following her brother....
One last thunderous boom...
Powdery snow flying up, causing her to slip and roll down into a nearby ditch in the ground....
Sudden pain as her head smack against something...
Darkness...
When she came to, a storm had rolled in and she was partly covered in snow. She had shakily and slowly gotten up and limped out of the ditch, stumbling blindly into the storm. She had no idea where to go or what to do but she just had to keep moving forward.
Unfortunately, 'moving forward' was a bad idea when she was blinded by the snow.
As I placed my paw forward, I was shocked to feel nothing there. I wanted to bring my paw back but my weight had already pushed forward.
I spun around and dug my claws into the ground, trying to get a hold in the snowy rock but without warning, my claws slipped from the snow and the ground disappeared from beneath my paws. With a jolt of horror, Kamaria felt herself plummeting into empty air.
She closed her eyes but felt surprised when she splashed into the rushing water, the current immediately pulling her downriver.
When I hit the water, the impact knocked the breath out of me, causing my lungs to scream for air.
I began to panic when the current caused me to spin, disorienting me, causing me to forget which way was up. Suddenly, I breached the surface and gasped.
Where is the shore?!
It wasn't long when the current brought me under again. I spun and spun to the point I was dizzy and nauseous. Suddenly, my head contacted with the rocks at the bottom and my vision went foggy before fading to nothing.
Help me....please....anybody.........

???????'s POV

I traveled up the river bank with a mouthful of herbs, heading towards my den. There were more herbs I had wanted to collect but I was only one mouth.
If I had help...wait, what's that?
I froze as I noticed something on the shore. I softly laid down the herbs and cautiously approached the strange lump.
I was two tail-lengths away when I realized it was an animal. I quickly bounded forward, sniffing the small creature. It was a young female clouded leopard by the looks of her markings, but she looked strange. Her fur was as black as the night sky and her markings went from grey to a silvery-white that shone in the light of the rising moon. Her eyes were closed and her fur was soaked to the bone. There was also an injury to her head. I softly pulled her completely out of the river and then glanced upriver.
Clouded leopards never come this far downriver...what happened?
The young leopard began to cough as she came to. She tried to stand but I stopped her. "Don't get up, little one. You're injured..."
She's a determined one, that's for sure...
She coughed again to clear her lungs and opened one of her deep blue eyes at me but I could tell she wasn't focusing on anything. "Where.....w-who..." she choked the words more than spoke them but I understood what she was saying. I shook my head, "Shhh, little one, questions will be answered later, let's get your head out of the clouds."
As if to respond to that, the little one gave a sigh and lost consciousness again. I looked up at the night sky.
Are you telling me something, Afya?
A soft breeze blew across my shoulder and brushed over the little leopards drying fur as a response. I felt my racing heart calm and a certainty run over my body.
I softly picked up the small cub by her scruff, and continued to my original destination, leaving the forgotten herbs for later.
Thank you, Afya.....for a successor....