Feel Right

"Please, don't resist... there's nothing I can do..." Pandora said. 

"Really? You and your people couldn't retrieve your blades from our backs? Couldn't get out of my sight? Don't talk about options."

I trod back and forth, half-circling her. If she were so afraid, perhaps I could tip her over the edge. 

"It's not that simple-"

"Yes it is." I spat. "You leave. You get the hell away from us! Do you not have legs? Use them to walk away. Do you not have hands? Use them to close the door behind you."

The girl only grew more upset. I paid it no mind. 

"Guardian Angel of the earth, and yet you come to drag us all to hell. And why? What have we ever done to you?"

Her bottom lip shivered as she lied. 

"You Gimen are our enemies... we must capture as many of you as possible... so you do not rise up against us..." she recited. 

Seething and bewildered. I tilted my head. Drilling my gaze into her eyes. Anything to pierce her. 

"When have we ever tried?"

Her eyes fluttered for but a moment. We fell silent. The sound of her panicked breath interlaced with the distant screams and the squelching of flesh. Smoke and blood reeked through the air, entering only when I had opened the door. Yet another reason to regret it. 

Pandora's breath grew heavier, yet sharper. Focused. She had made up her mind. Or at least she wanted to. 

"No... the Gimen are evil... you are evil. The bane of humanity. The devil spawn. It is my duty to capture you!"

I relaxed, my eyes rolled. 

"Keep telling yourself that."

She grimaced. 

"You leave me no choice!"

A spark of gold shimmered from her hand. My confident ruse shattered in two. 

'She has powers?!'

Bending at the knees, Pandora drove her palm into the floor. The light dimmed for but a second. 

"Descend, Kulijari!"

The light exploded. Golden rays pulsing like a heartbeat and surging like a storm. The air shrieking. I shielded my eyes, but the light found me anyway, forcing itself into my skull, singing in a voice too ancient to name.

And then it vanished.

In its place stood death.

Black. Silent. Gleaming like oiled steel and breathing like thunder in a cage. A panther. Neither tamed or wild. Neither regal or primal. But a fearsome blend of it all. Kulijari.

It didn't pounce. Not yet. Instead it studied like a tactician. I returned the favour, fingers tightening around my rake. 

Thoughts raced against my heart. 

'How the hell do I kill that?'

No answer came. Not from the girl, not from the world. Not from me. Only that low growl, thick as blood.

'Move.'

I struck first—thrusting the rake into its snout. A growl burst out, but I was too slow. It twisted, jaws snapping past my throat by inches. The rake splintered against its shoulder. I ducked a claw. Leapt back. Another strike—miss. Dodge. Parry. Too fast. Too smart.

It didn't fight like an animal. It hunted like a mercenary.

'Survive.'

I circled, kicked a chair to trip it. Useless. Kulijari vaulted, swiping with precision. I threw myself under the dinner table and it shredded it like parchment. I barely rolled clear.

Then all hell broke loose. 

Its weight crashed atop me. The rake snapped between us. Teeth at my neck. Hot breath dripping venom down my collar. Its mouth opened as I stared into my demise.

I jammed my arms under its chin. It thrashed. I kicked the floor, sliding back. One fake-out feint, it took the bait. I weaved past it's wrath. Wrapping both arms around its throat, mounting it. My legs locked around its gut. Squeezing for dear life. I buried my head in it's fur. Even I didn't want to see how this ended. 

For a second I thought it was over. But the true nature of an animal is not to fight and win. It's to survive. And so it was far better at survival. 

Lashing out, the beast launched backward. Crashing it's back into the wall with me attached. My grip uncurled as I slumped to the ground. A yell of pain. 

The fear I had swallowed bubbled back to the surface like acid. Groaning, I tried to pull myself upright. At most I managed to sit. 

It stalked forward slowly now, savouring it. I pushed. Shuffling, scrambling. Anything to get up. Somewhere behind me, my brothers waited. Somewhere in front, Pandora watched, silent and eyes wide. She had summoned death upon me, so why did she care if I lived?

I saw it then. What she feared.

Not me. Not her pet. But the choice she made.

I stood. Shaking. Gritting my teeth. 

"That rake," I muttered, "how'd it taste?"

I dove left. Kulijari lunged right into the fireplace. My hand found the poker. Slammed the flint. Fire roared. I jammed the metal through the grate, straight into its side. Flames curled up its fur like tongues of revenge.

It screamed. I screamed louder. 

And still I didn't stop pushing. Ramming it deeper. Smoke choking me as it wailed for mercy. Then all movement stopped together. Still, I didn't stop pushing, making sure it was dead and buried. I rested on the floor, my back to the girl. Leaning on it's corpse. Deciding my next move.

As I was about to get up. Kulijari exploded in gold. Shattering into a thousand lights. Golden sparks. All of which hovered gracefully back to Pandora. As I turned I watched the light gather, sinking back into her hand. Fading away once again. 

I faced her. My gaze impenetrable. Not even by her shock. Not even by her sadness. Her eyes turned to golden glass as tears streamed once again. 

"You're upset? Afraid?" I murmured. "I've watched everyone I grew up with be butchered like lambs. My mother is surely dead. And you're the one who cries. The one who stood by as she was slain." I traipsed toward her. Dropping the poker. It clattered to the floor, cutting through the ear-splitting quiet.

"'Guardian Angel,' Give me one good reason not to send you back to heaven." 

Pandora made no move. Her despair more apparent as I approached. Staring into my eyes as if she had seen the world shatter within them. I stood close enough to feel her rattled breath on my neck. Staring down at her. Truly waiting for an answer. 

Instead, I was embraced. 

I flinched as Pandora wrapped her arms around me. Awkward and measured, yet warm, soft, gentle. As I was about to break free, she spoke. 

"I am so sorry. To you. To your people. To your mother. If I had known, I never would have even set foot on your land. Yet alone soaked it with your blood!" She cried at the last word. Not letting go of me. I couldn't move my arms. And I didn't try. 

She kept murmuring apologies. Tears staining my shirt as she buried herself in it. Part of me wanted to scream at her. How can you cry at your own sins as your victims comfort you? But another part of me saw truth. What had she actually done? Her knife remained spotless. Her armour unscathed. She hadn't fought. Hadn't killed. She had likely just watched in horror. 

"If you knew what?" I asked. 

"That you were people just as we were. We were told you were soulless monsters, hardly bearing consciousness. But you're just the same as humans, aren't you?"

The answer was obvious. But so was her plight. She had done wrong, but it was not her fault. And her vulnerability had pierced me. If I could move my arms I might have held her too. It seemed neither the right time, the right place, nor the right person. But in my heart I felt it was. Something had connected us. Something invisible. Far beyond my comprehension. 

Perhaps it was that her grief was not truly surrounding herself, but me. My people. Raw empathy. Perhaps I appreciated that. Or maybe it was simply nice to be held by her. 

Finally, she let go. I shook my arms. They now felt empty. Missing something. 

"Please." Pandora said, calming down. "If there is any way I can help you, I will oblige. I owe you the world over, and I will until I am dead."

Looking at her silenced all thoughts. So I turned away. I now had a human on my side. 'Royalty' at that. Could she rule over these soldiers? Send them away? What would be the point? The village was unliveable. And the soldiers would shortly be back without her to finish us off. We had no choice but to run. And yet there was one loose end that needed tying. 

"Okay. There's only one thing I need from you, human." I said. 

Pandora's eyes met mine again.

"Will you help me find my mother? There is a slim chance she's still alive."

She stood still for a moment, then turned, fingers over her lip. She walked over to the window, peering through. 

"Yeah. She is. All the women are." 

My heart skipped a beat. And then sank. 

"Why would they keep all the women alive?"

Pandora swallowed. Her hands shaking. 

"Because they round them up at the end. And execute them."

Hope granted and wrenched from me all at once. And yet I still held a sliver. 

"Then, you'll help me save her?"

Pandora turned to face me. Pity in her eyes. 

"Of course I will." she said. 

Trying to spare me the knowledge that it was futile.