“It’s a cruel and random world, but the chaos is all so beautiful.” ― Hiromu Arakawa
Nathan watched in disbelief as the ball sailed precisely to the far corner of the stone goal. He had kicked the ball in-stride as it reached his elevated foot, a perfect pass from Kyle who was over fifty away. The pass had reached Nathan’s kicking foot at a dead sprint. He instantly reacted booting the winning goal before the nearest pantar could maul him. His jubilation was short-lived. He instinctively extended his arms, clenching his fists in a celebratory reaction. He looked to Kyle just in time to see the brutal blow to his head delivered by Cato. Kyle collapsed to the cavern floor as if he had been struck by one of the boulders dragged by the laboring beasts across the spacious cavern.
Nathan raced to his cousin’s side screaming at Cato. The Dark Master grabbed Nathan before he reached Kyle and lifted the child by his neck in his sturdy hand intending to break his neck. At that moment Shadow ran and leaped using his tail as a springboard to propel himself forward. He sailed through the air somersaulting with the force of a discharged cannonball striking his father. Cato released the grip on Nathan from the unexpected blow as he fell to the cavern floor. Shadow sprang to his feet and glared at Cato who propped himself up on his elbows lifting his back from the ground. “I told you to rip him apart if he ever returned,” Cato bellowed at the gathering pantars. “Now carry out my order!”
Upon that command a thundering echo was heard in the great cavern. The laboring animals raced to clear out of the way of the stampeding steeds who stormed into the large enclosure. The herd of crazed steeds rushed through the cavern, their wild eyes inflamed. They circled around the great cavern causing the other beasts to gather in the center of the cavern where the game had concluded. The arrival of the galloping steeds punctuated the turmoil incited by the sudden death overtime goal. The malevolent Dark Master was in disbelief along with the other spectators as they witnessed Mana running in her long loping strides carrying a banner in the air. The robe affixed to the pole that she grasped in her hands was black with the same embossed dark circle that was designed on the pantar’s armor. The makeshift banner nonetheless appeared spectacular to the bewildered creatures as they watched Mana boldly display the flag that Kyle had assured would appear at the point of the winning goal of the game. No other beast was more stupefied than Cato. His emotions conflicted like a thunderstorm during a brilliant summer afternoon.
Before Cato could regain his senses, another commotion erupted in the great cavern. The released female pantars cautiously entered the cavern having been inspired by Whitney. Upon spotting each other the male and female pantars rushed to one another. Their display of affection having been kept apart for so long was moving and impervious even as Cato attempted to coerce them through his rage. He was the portrait of madness. Whitney appeared behind the pantars. Searching through the disorder of the great cavern she immediately saw Nathan crawl to Kyle’s side. Whitney rushed to her cousins. Cato, desperate to make sense of this mayhem was further challenged by the appearance of a third child. Like a continual turnstile he was unable to affix his wrath upon a single identity. His belligerent racing mind concluded that Kyle was the source of this chaos. Cato reasoned that the boy had outwitted him with his scheme. In modern terms Cato realized that he had been played. He was indeed a sore loser. He turned his attention to the unconscious child just as Hairy came darting across the cavern floor sinking his teeth into the ankle of Cato. Annoyed the Dark Master violently kicked the little creature who tumbled across the rock floor.
“Cato!” yelled Mana, “You have been revealed!”
“What is it that you say you ugly beast?”
“You are a fraud and now you are powerless,” Mana retorted. Shadow had positioned himself between Cato and the children during this confrontation. The herd of untamed stampeding steeds having demonstrated their regained freedom left the cavern as thunderously as they had entered it. The echoing clatter made by their hooves on the stone corridor grow fainter as they rushed for the cave’s entrance in the shadow of the Black Mountains. Although they had been held in captivity for as long as memory could serve, their instincts eventually guided them back to their natural domain in the wild lands where the ancient beasts roam.
Cato had lost his bearings like a buoy severed from its anchor adrift in a chaotic sea. He turned to assault the children only to find Shadow facing him. “Get out of my way Gurga,”
Shadow dramatically looked around the cavern in a grand theatrical display, “Who dat?”
“Who dat?” mimicked Cato, “You mean who is that? You imbecile.”
“I not know sssomeone name Gurga,” Shadow responded ignoring Cato’s jeering, “No, that jussst a name you made, that not my name. You pretend to be who you are. I am real. I am who I am.”
Cato raised his arm to strike Shadow, but Shadow caught his arm in mid-air. Shadow’s strength surprised Cato as he withdrew his arm, “Look who we have here,” Cato taunted.
“I usssed to be sssad for you. Every time you yell and hit me, I feel sssad for you.”
“That,” Cato interrupted, “Is why you were so disappointing to me.”
“I no longer sssad for you. You thought you ssso sssmart. You thought you know that I wasss careful, no carelessss, when I let dragon sssteedsss out of their plassse you keep em in.”
“You remember then how stupid you were, how pathetic you were?” Cato mused.
“I not let them go by asssident. I let them go to free them. Even though I know you hit me every time. I not ssstupid, you jussss bad.”
“Your days of hurting other creatures are over Cato,” Mana announced interrupting the conversation between the maniacal father and his liberated son.
Cato assessed Mana in disgust, “You should know your place. The weaker gender is best served by knowing her limits.” The gathered pantars’ having been reunited turned their attention to Cato at this moment. They lowered their shoulders, raised their ears as they crept closer to Cato appearing like a pride of stalking predators.
Mana addressed the approaching pantars, “You have reason to slay him. All of you animals kept against your will no doubt want to see Cato die,” Mana surveyed the gathered animals as Cato demonstrated his first indication of being alarmed by stepping back from the assembled troop of animals. “That is not our way. That is his way. We do not destroy for pleasure nor for want,” the pantars growled in defiance of Mana’s reasoning. “If you do that, you will show him that his plan to turn creatures into hateful beasts was successful. How will that affect the balance that has always been our way?”
“What would stop him from trying to do his work again?” the alpha pantar retorted. This was the very pantar who had been injured during the game. It was his mate’s hide that Whitney paid homage to when she led the felines from their imprisonment. Cato had slew the mate a very long time before in an act of intimidating the pantars.
“He will forever reside here. In the place he designed for himself,” Mana continued.
“And how is that just?” the pantar responded.
“He will forever be alone,” Mana offered.
“If he comes forth from this cavern he will be a threat to our kind, to your kind,” the pantar implored.
“Let it be known that if he ever comes forth it will be at the expense of his existence.”
“No!” the pantar roared, “he killed my mate!”
“There are two hides on display in the cavern where the female cats were imprisoned,” the female pantars acknowledged Mana’s announcement to the others.
“So?” the aggressive pantar offered.
“Yes, one of the hides belongs to your mate. The other one is the hide of my mate,” Mana revealed, “You and two other pantars ended his life,”
The pantar recalled the death, “Upon his order,” he expressed gesturing to Cato who was subdued witnessing his emerging trial.
“My mate would not want his death to be defined by Cato’s hatred, just as I have no hatred towards you,” the pantar looked away ashamedly.
“You can make your choice and I can make my own,” the pantar explained after further consideration.
“A tree uprooted in a dense forest will lean upon another. Over time that tree resting upon the living tree will cause the living tree to weaken. The living tree cannot bear the weight of the dead tree forever. In time, because nature is patient, the whole forest is weakened. Leave now with your pride. Return to your natural ways. In time you will forget Cato’s enforcement upon you. You will forget his language and his made-up image. And he will reside here like the fault-line on the ceiling of his precious cathedral. After many years of isolation his crack will grow until it can no longer bear the insurmountable weight of loneliness and one day it will crumble all around him. Nature is forever patient.”
“I will never forget my mate.”
“Nor will I, but time will allow us to remember them as they were before he came. We will not be consumed by heartache of their death, but by the joy that their life brought us.”
The pantar remained motionless for a time. He looked back at the other pantars before he forced his way in front of Cato. He threateningly bared his teeth at his former master who cowered before him. The pantar let out a ferocious roar that echoed throughout the chamber. He turned and headed out of the great cavern with the other pantars following. The female pantars hesitated looking back at Whitney who watched their exit. In the way that Mana had taught her she confirmed, “I will bury your sister’s remains in a field where the sun always shines.” The helmets and armor assigned to the male pantars by Cato made an unwavering echolalia as they were discarded like instruments by a defiant orchestra who had played their final tune. The pantars exited never to return.