The Outlander Siblings ﴾TLG﴿

The two who seeks Death -Pt. II-

[Elephant Graveyard]

Venturing across the ground of bones and cobwebs, a sly and sleek figure of orange fur moves under the full moonlight, her crimson eyes dazzle with excitement at her surrounding, "A beauty like none other." She spoke to herself in a muse. Swaying herself in a dance, her eyes dart around at the mummified corpses with an excitement across her face.

An albino serval, her moment was abruptly cut short by a voice calling out, "Let me out!" turning to where it came from was an imprisoned adult jackal glaring dagger at the serval who's looking at him with a hungry look in her eyes, "You must be strong if you think you can command me." She said approaching the imprisoned jackal with a sly step in her feet.

Filled with confidence and standing tall down on the jackal, "Now tell me, what makes you think I'll obey you?" she asked him with a menacing yet charming tone approaching her face near the bones that are like bars just out of his reach. His eyes kept a stern glare on the serval in front of him not looking away from her for a moment, "I'll kill you once I get out of here!" he threatens her.

'Kill!' that word was like magic for her as she looks at him in a dreamy daze, "You mean it? You'll actually kill me?!" she said excitedly as her tail sways. Reaching her paw into the cage, "Now's your chance." She said inviting him to take the offer, glaring down hungry at the jackal for him to take her offer.

The jackal tried at the offer presented to him to quickly find himself banged against the wall behind him with her in the cage with him, her front paws placed gently on his throat keeping him at a distance from her. "Guess you're just talk like all the rest." She said starting to apply pressure against his throat, gasping for air.

He watched in horror as her sinister smile being the last he could see before his vision slowly darkens, she approaches near his ear and whisper silently in his ear, a tingling feeling, "You're not the one to free me of my pain, but I'll free you from yours." His final moment hit as his body gone limp.

Releasing from the jackal, she watched the body collapse onto the ground motionless and without sign of any life remaining. "Such a waste, and here I was offering myself to be eaten." She said looking down at the dead jackal before her with disappointment.

"Kama!" Another voice called out, she looks around out of the bone caged to see a pair of glowing yellow eyes following a figure lurking in the dark, "You killed another one." He said to her with an unamused at what she had just done, "I couldn't help myself; he was just so..." she started saying, "charming." She finished in a flirtatious tone. The figure looked down at her unfazed by her actions, "We'll be getting a new prisoner, get this place cleaned for our guest." He said to her annoyed.

"Whatever you say, Kulua."

[Outlands]

Tau was venturing pass a tower of pillar of stones, claw marks littered the surfaces from what seems like ages ago, "What should I do?" He asks himself to try and figure out what he needs to do. But nothing was helping him understand what he needed to do, forgive the Pridelanders after what they've done to him.

It felt impossible, sealing his eye away from the pillar hoping to cast away the nightmare that haunted him for ages...

AN: This moment will switch between the past and present. (Bold Italic is the Past from 6 Months ago)

Tau was doing his patrol of the Outlands against the border making sure everyone was safe, his attention came to a calf that was struggling to stand up, "Hey! Do you need help?" He asked the calf. Moving up to the injured animal with caution, "D-d-d-on't hurt me!" the calf stuttered in fear for the strange predator.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you. The name's Tau, do you need any help there?" he asks with concern for the trespasser.

Walking away from the pillar of markings, he starts heading back towards his den.

"I won't let anything bad happen to you, I promise." Tau said to the calf with assurance, and the calf had trouble understanding why an Outlander was kind. Were they not all greedy killers like he had heard of? Or at least Tau didn't seem to be bad as the two venture through the Outlands.

With the Calf's sprained ankle, he was not able to return to the Pridelands the way he originally came from. "What's the Pridelands like?" Tau asked him with curiosity for that place.

"It's great! The animals are all friendly and there's a place for everyone!" The calf said to him with glee for his new Outlander companion. And to the lion, that sounded like a paradise. A place for everyone? Maybe one day there could be a place for him and his brother.

"A place for everyone, how naïve I was." Tau repeated to himself with hatred. Those words were nothing but empty promises from a childish Pridelander who hasn't faced death before.

The two managed to make it to Flat Ridge Rock, "We're here! The Pridelands." Tau said to the calf with a cheerful smile. The calf looked around not aware of where he is exactly, "Is there something wrong?" he asked the calf.

"It's just, I've never been in this part of the Pridelands. I don't know how to get back home." The calf said nervously to Tau, he looked around to see if maybe there were other Pridelanders around who might be able to help. But the field was empty with just the two of them, "I don't know either but if you want, I could stay with you till you find your herd." Tau offered.

Tau started mumbling to himself, "Why do I care?" each getting louder than the last, until it came out screaming, tears rolling down, "...why do I care?" he asked again softly. "I shouldn't be feeling conflicted. But why? Why does it hurt?"

Darkness took hold of the cub as he was in pain, coughing up blood and a gouge in the side of his stomach. Breathing for air as he lays against the ground in the Outlands, when sand or dust would flow in, he would cough up blood faster.

"Am I finally going to die?" he thought to himself, trying to ignore the pain and waited for his final breath, "I'm sorry brother, I can't stay with you any longer." He finally thought as he starts to enter a sleep.

'...tau!' a voice echoed out. 'tau!' it starts to get louder, 'TAU!'

Tau snaps out of his thought, feeling like someone was just calling out for his name. But as he looks around, he didn't see a single soul out and about. "Who's there?!" he asks, and just as he thought, no response to his question.

Letting out a sigh, "Must be my imagination." He thought.

Author Note:

Hey everyone! We're on Pt. 2 of 4 Parts to the "Forgiveness" arc of the story, but now a more in depth of Tau's past has come to light. And we got another who seems quite dangerous, I wonder what's going to happen next. >=)

This was expected to be darker, but we agreed to hold off and cut half of the story to reveal it all later. But if you want to try and fill the gap, you're more than welcome to try.