Idon stories

It was a sweltry and dark night in the jungle. A few crickets were clittering in the distance, and two dark shapes were walking around a firepit on the top of a step pyramid temple. It was a lot smaller than most other temples around but in pretty good shape nonetheless and was not located in a swamp, but regular jungle area. As the two Saliko stepped into the light of the fire, their furs were lightened up by the flame and a bright red and a purple pelt could be visible. One was mumbling gibberish words, while the other began dancing around the firepit in trance. They were both Tatra jills, unusual to live in the jungle, but they have found their calling here, far away from home.
After a while, the red one, which had been chanting, threw some herbs and bones into the fire and the dancer stopped dead in her tracks, the eyes rolled up inside her skull so that only the white showed. She seemed to have completely blanked out, then she spoke and her voice sounded strangely distorted.
«Something is coming. A creature with one body, yet two faces. It's broken and cannot be mended, yet it will fix what has been destroyed.»

Lyssa woke at dusk, his usual time to get up. Back in his youth most other Salikos in his tribe were more active during the day, but he had tried to avoid them as much as possible, so he preferred to be awake at night and was still used to that now. He got up and stretched his long, slender limbs. He was still a rather lanky, young adult, but pretty serious for his age. The universe has already been rough to him and he had to grow up fast. The memories of his past haunted him the last couple days and while he sat there and watched the sun set on the horizon, his mind drifted off.
The others had never minded him waking up at dusk, as they didn't want to spend time with him and someone had to keep guard at night anyway. According to his tribemates, his mother had run away as soon as he was born and was found dead a quarter-moon later, her carcass had been entangled by a bunch of venomous snakes, which was a bad omen. His father couldn't deal with this, thought his son, who had looked abnormal and cursed since he was born, was the reason for it and left the tribe, never to be seen again. One other member of the tribe who had a litter as well decided to feed him for a while, but was too scared the pale whelp might infect his own babies, so Lyssa was weaned very fast and remained rather small since then. The first couple days of his life, hardly anyone believed he'd be able to survive anyway. They thought the white fur was an indication of sickness and, since no Tatra around his birthplace had ever seen a piebald before and his strangely colored eyes weirded them out, he was presumed to be two whelps merged into one body, a freak of nature and possibly a plaguebringer. For the longest time he didn't have a name at all. They just called him 'it', 'the thing', 'the creature' and other similarly nice nicknames. Sooner or later they talked about him as multiple beings and began calling him Lyssa, a name from legends of a Saliko with one body and two heads that could create illusions of itself. Everyone decided on their own pronouns for him, calling Lyssa a male, a female and neutral being, depending on what they felt like, but he leanrned to deal with it.

He left his cold den for the day and looked around. It smelled like rain and he knew he had to find food soon, as he hadn't eaten the past couple nights.
In his youth, Lyssa hadn't received any hunting training, but watched the other whelps of the tribe practice and then tried to hunt on his own, which was difficult but he managed for better or for worse. Someday he knew he could survive on his own and that he had done basically nothing else his whole life, so he had decided to leave the tribe and search for an area where he could be alone and not feel so unwelcome and burdonsome. He hadn't said goodbye to anyone, believing they wouldn't want him bothering them and that they were happy with him leaving them alone finally anyway.
The piebald hob had been walking through the forest on his own for many moons now. He hadn't been lucky enough to find himself a nice territory though and had drifted off farther and farther south towards the jungle, but he didn't mind. Lyssa loved rain and it was rather damp in the jungle, so one day he committed and actually decided to explore the jungle for a while and keep looking there, far away from home and the bad memories.

At the same time, the two Tatra jills were just returning from a successful hunt. They both were carrying a Feng-Face each and happily climbed the stairs to the temple. On the top they lay down, plumed their prey and ripped pieces out of the meat with relish, while casually talking to each other.
«I tell you, they didn't believe me!»
«Well I'm sure now they do now, Teca.»
«Of course, they had to. My prophecy was right after all.»
«What about the one you recently said, did you have any more epiphanies?»
«The 'one body, two faces' thing? No, I'm afraid not. How about you, Mela?»
«I asked a few of my lovers if they knew anything about that, but they were all useless. The only thing I heard is that sometimes snakes are born with two heads and can even survive like this. You think the prophecy was a metaphor?»
«Probably. But the truth will show sooner or later. It always does.»
When they were done, the two friends groomed each others fur and chatted a bit more. Even though they were usually living together, from time to time the red Tatra with the gap mane disappeared to wrap a new lover around her claw and play with them, so she was often gone for days on end. The one with the skull face and bone necklace on the other hand usually stayed at the temple and protected it from intruders. They often did rituals for the gods together, as they were both spiritually connected to the Otherworld, which was the reason they got together in the first place. They weren't related, but felt like sisters and treated each other that way.
Suddenly Tezcatlipoca frowned and facepalmed.
«Gods, I forgot to get the poppy seeds.»
«Do you need them today?»
«Yeah, since I need to dry them and that's gonna take a few quarter-moons at this rate.»
Melisandre got up and shook her pelt.
«I'll go get it for you, want to stretch my legs a bit more anyway.»
«Thanks, boo.»
«Don't call me that.»
Teca shrugged and showed her tongue cheekily. They were never that childish or careless with strangers, but when they were together, both jills were completely different. Melisandre rolled her eyes and, with a few graceful leaps, jumped down the temple and disappeared into the forest, that got darker with every step she took. Night was always falling fast around here, but she didn’t mind at all.

As she walked through the jungle, she also took the time to check the borders and see if everything was in order, marking some trees and rocks with her scent. Suddenly, just shortly before she arrived at the place where Teca had stashed the poppy seeds away that they had found earlier, she noticed the smell of a stranger closeby. With an annoyed sigh she picked up the scent and followed it, ready to use her charm and good looks to persuade the stranger, no matter if male or female, to leave.
The scent though was strangely faint, even though it hadn’t been there yet a couple hours earlier. This could only mean something was wrong with the Saliko, as a weak smell usually stood for a weak body. Finally she saw something moving in front of her, a ghostly white shape that was trotting through her territory like a phantom, head and tail hanging low as to not attract too much attention, which didn’t save the Tatra hob from her gaze though. She put on a sweet, yet helpless mask to seem innocent and harmless to the stranger, then she stepped towards him.
«Tell me, son of the moon, do you know where we are? I think I’m lost.»
«…what?»
«I don’t know where we are, do you know the way out of this jungle?»
«…no.»
«Short-spoken, huh? There’s no need to be so dismissive towards me, I mean you no harm.»
She got even closer towards him and brushed his side with her tail, but compared to any other Saliko, this one did not shiver under her touch or move a muscle, he just stopped dead in his tracks. It was like he was completely void and for a minute the priestess had to wonder whether the hob was actually there or if she had a hallucination.
As she stepped around him to look him in the face, his head was still hanging low and she sat down in front of him.
«Why don’t you show me that pretty face of yours?»
Carefully she touched his chin with her paw and raised it up, looking him directly in the eyes and he, reluctantly, did so too.
When she noticed his strange eye color and the weird slit-like pupils, like those of a snake, her insides seemed to turn and she winced in shock, but it was so imperceptible that her fake mask didn’t let it show.
«Did you take a good look..?»
«Yes. And I see beauty within you that radiants to the outside, but from the way you move, you just don’t seem to notice it.»
He was completely taken aback by the compliment and didn’t know whether she was serious or not and just couldn’t say anything for a while, but the jill was patient.
«Do you…want to accompany me? I don’t feel very safe out here on my own. I’ve heard strange creatures call out that I don’t know…»
She looked around as if she was actually scared, but it was all part of her play. Still, her intentions shifted. She didn’t want to let this unusual Saliko get away without finding out more about him, so instead she tried to get him to follow her home.
«I doubt you’ll feel any safer with me around.»
«Why that? Such a handsome and strong hob like you would surely protect me well.»
«Don’t lie to me! I know I’m abhorrent!»
«…have others told you that?»
«…»
«They mustn’t have been able to admit it, being too proud of themselves and jealous of you. Come on, this way.»
She began walking back to the temple and, with another brush of her tail, urged him to follow her and, despite his strange behaviour, he actually did.

Lyssa wasn’t sure what to think of that female. She must be lying to him, since everyone else had cast him out from the beginning, why would she be any differen? Still, he wanted to find out what she was expecting of him, so he followed her. It didn’t take very long until they reached the bottom of a small, overgrown stone temple with large steps leading up.
«Interesting! Let’s check this out, maybe there’s someone here to help us find our way!»
«I don’t know, I don’t like this place.»
The white hob usually avoided places completely where other Salikos might live, but the charming and lonely jill just drew him in like he was enchanted, and so he followed her up to the top, where he saw another lone Tatra jill, sitting by a fireplace.
«Oh. Mela, I told you I need poppy seeds, not a hob. Where did you pick him up?»
The fiery red colored Saliko hissed at the other one and facepalmed in frustration. Lyssa realized the jill had not been lost at all and that she had lured him here.
«What’s going on, you know each other?!»
«Oops.»
Teca sat down and just looked at the two, now realizing she had blown her friends cover. Just like the kupfer colored one, she immediately noticed the powers the hob had inside and was fascinated by his prestine fur and the glowing, pink eyes and claws. She purred to herself in approval, but quiet enough that the stranger didn’t hear. She like what she saw and usually had no problem showing it, but the hob was clearly out of sorts and her friend found him first, so she kept back for now.
Melisandre turned to the hob that was clearly cautious and his whole body seemed to freeze.
«I didn’t mean to lie to you! You seemed scared and lonely, so I wanted you to join us. We do not mean you any harm, I swear by the gods!»
She bowed her head to show the seriousness of her solemn swear, but Lyssa was still uneasy. The gods had not helped him in the past, why would he trust them to keep him safe now?
«If you let me, I will explain to you who we are.»
She looked him in the eyes and he stared back, now noticing she had no fear of him. This was the first time he has ever met anyone who didn’t look at him like he was a monster.
Calmly he sat down next to the fireplace, not leaving the jills out of his sight.
«Well, go for it.»