{"sf1_id":694330,"sf2_id":"XekvrqM1","title":"The White Tiger","author":"Admiral Akio","words":1552,"posted_at":"2014-04-18T04:34:00.000Z","tags":["Anthropomorphic","Intro","Poetry","Series","Tiger","Tigress"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/694330-the-white-tiger","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/XekvrqM1","image_url":"https://cdn.sofurryfiles.com/submissions/thumbnails/21/7f/217f413a-45c4-46f7-a388-5424b7dc791e","description":"#1 of Akiko Against Many\n\nThis is how I write when I do kid's stuff. If you want me to write 1,000-2,000 words, this is the kind of thing I do. Leave me a comment, a like, or a vote! PM me or put up a shout-out if you want to do a collab or have me act or sing for you! If you happen to be able to run it past a kid, hey, I only have access to a couple, thanks! If you happen to know an english major, play 'find the sonnet'!\nMore of this story to come because I love Mary Sues and I don't care who knows it!","content":"As the great snowstorm subsided, I looked out from under my\u0026nbsp;\n\nshelter and strode into the wild again. The great stone\u0026nbsp;\n\nstructure, something like a tent, was left behind with the embers\u0026nbsp;\n\nof the fire still blazing bright orange. My paw brushed the first\u0026nbsp;\n\nfew flakes of snow from my shoulder before I decided to cover\u0026nbsp;\n\nmyself with my cloak.\n\nBack in those days, I was flaunting my invincible reputation by\u0026nbsp;\n\nwearing an outfit that exposed my heart, major thigh veins, and\u0026nbsp;\n\nupper arms. The cloak I wore was for fighting dragons, and\u0026nbsp;\n\nabsorbed their deadly fire. This enchanted cloak's fabric kept me\u0026nbsp;\n\nwarm in the winter, as well, because it kept some of the heat\u0026nbsp;\n\nfrom flames that tried to burn it. On my back, I carried an axe\u0026nbsp;\n\nwith a bright yellow-gold blade that once belonged to my father.\n\nMy father and mother were the end goal of this journey. Like my\u0026nbsp;\n\nKing, I had a gray eye, striped tiger fur, the strength of steel,\u0026nbsp;\n\na talent for losing my temper, and the face and claws of an\u0026nbsp;\n\nanimal. Like my mortal mother, I had a green eye, an impressively\u0026nbsp;\n\ncurved body, a talent with weapons, and a knowledge of the rite\u0026nbsp;\n\nof human mantras.\n\nThe flakes that just before fell on my shoulders now quickly\u0026nbsp;\n\ndiverted their path away from me, even falling straight up near\u0026nbsp;\n\nmy hooded head. I strode through the last of the rocky wasteland\u0026nbsp;\n\nnear the sea and into the cold hills, my paws off of the slick\u0026nbsp;\n\nrocks and onto the hard-packed volcanic land. The hills, shocked\u0026nbsp;\n\nat my presence, stood their hair of trees straight up and caught\u0026nbsp;\n\nthe warm air under their leafy canopies. The path that I strode\u0026nbsp;\n\nout on was still well-worn, and a sign posting less than a league\u0026nbsp;\n\nfrom the sea told me that I would reach the main hold of the Gods\u0026nbsp;\n\nof this land- like my own grandmother- soon.\n\nThe long road carried on through the woods until it broke into\u0026nbsp;\n\nthe spirit world. I sighed as the familiar smell of thistles and\u0026nbsp;\n\nclover blossoms wafted past my broad, tigerish nostrils. I gave a\u0026nbsp;\n\nsatisfied snort and picked up the pace, almost out of the cold.\u0026nbsp;\n\nTo an ordinary human, the path would have appeared to ended\u0026nbsp;\n\nsomewhere after the third fork, but ahead of me there was a human\u0026nbsp;\n\nthat seemed to be waiting for something. I grinned and rushed up\u0026nbsp;\n\nto them, calling out, \"Is that you, Mother?\"\n\nThe human was wearing the clothing of a servant, just as my\u0026nbsp;\n\nhumble mother did, but it was not her. She bowed low and then\u0026nbsp;\n\nsaid to me with an air of formality, \"King Akio waits for you in\u0026nbsp;\n\nhis violet palace,\" before taking my hand in the traditional\u0026nbsp;\n\nmanner and leading me down to the brick roads with eyes always on\u0026nbsp;\n\nher destination.\n\n\"My Servant, what is your name?\" I asked, as I always did when\u0026nbsp;\n\nfirst meeting a servant. My Father, and even his humble consort,\u0026nbsp;\n\nnever called them by there names. I found a happy medium in using\u0026nbsp;\n\nmy Mother's vocabulary to call them by their name first, and then\u0026nbsp;\n\nan honorific. They always thought I would grow out of it.\n\n\"Birra, my Lady.\"\n\n\"Birra-dorei, is my Mother coming to see me? She greeted me where\u0026nbsp;\n\nyou stood the past two times I arrived. You must know this, do\u0026nbsp;\n\nyou not?\"\n\n\"King Akio ordered me here, my Lady, to bring you to him.\"\n\nI didn't press the issue, as any servant wouldn't say anything\u0026nbsp;\n\nthat they weren't told to. But my mind settled on the worst even\u0026nbsp;\n\nbefore I learned that it was true. We arrived at the spirit\u0026nbsp;\n\nlocation that we were looking for, a ring of stacked stones with\u0026nbsp;\n\ngreat curtains hanging in each huge doorway-like opening.\n\nThe servant led me to the stones that housed the great purple\u0026nbsp;\n\ncurtain. I raised my hand slightly to her face, and she smiled\u0026nbsp;\n\nhugely and kissed it, thanking me and bowing backwards. I smiled\u0026nbsp;\n\ngraciously as I internally rolled my eyes at how happy she was to\u0026nbsp;\n\nserve me.\n\nNot wishing to make a grand entrance, I pushed the curtain aside\u0026nbsp;\n\nwith a paw and stepped through lightly. My bare padded feet fell\u0026nbsp;\n\nsoftly on the purple-specked grey floor until they made contact\u0026nbsp;\n\nwith the long violet carpet that led to my Father's High Seat.\n\nAs I walked to approach him, he stood and walked down the steps\u0026nbsp;\n\nto denote that we were equals. He called across the hall in a\u0026nbsp;\n\nbooming voice, \"My Daughter Love! How I did long to see that\u0026nbsp;\n\nsmile and hear your sweet and loving voice.\"\n\n\"My Father Love! You made your call to me, I traveler far\u0026nbsp;\n\nbecause it was my choice to leave behind adventures brave and\u0026nbsp;\n\ncome to see my Lord and Master, and his Wife.\"\n\n\"Such praise as that keeps me under your thumb. I have grave news\u0026nbsp;\n\nabout your Mother's life. Please follow me if you would help me\u0026nbsp;\n\nfind a way to bring her back and ease my mind.\"\n\nMy face turned as harsh as his as the magic of meeting with\u0026nbsp;\n\nanother Eclipse Heir wore off and his words sank into my heart.\n\n\"Mother? Gone? Were you not here to protect her?\" My face grew\u0026nbsp;\n\nenraged as my fealty was replaced with fear, almost running to\u0026nbsp;\n\nfollow my Fathers rushed steps.\n\nHe turned to me with his own anger boiling under the surface. \"I\u0026nbsp;\n\nwas not, because there are duties that keep us apart. While I\u0026nbsp;\n\ntold her to wait in a safe place, she was attacked. This is not\u0026nbsp;\n\nthe time for anger. Anger is the sign of one who is too weak to\u0026nbsp;\n\nact.\" His own paws were balled into fists, all the same.\n\n\"If you won't let me turn my rage on you, then at least tell me\u0026nbsp;\n\nwho I should be taking action against,\" I snarled at him, hefting\u0026nbsp;\n\nmy battleaxe onto my shoulder pointedly. He looked at it and gave\u0026nbsp;\n\na sad smile, briefly, before going on.\n\n\"Lady Akiko, the one who took your mother was an old enemy of\u0026nbsp;\n\nmine. They trapped her in a relic that I did not even know I\u0026nbsp;\n\nowned.\" The long hall terminated in a small shrine, where there\u0026nbsp;\n\nwas a portrait of my mother, golden-skinned and black-haired.\u0026nbsp;\n\nBelow it, among candles and a vase holding a bright green\u0026nbsp;\n\narrangement, was a short scabbard that was inlaid with jade. The\u0026nbsp;\n\ndelicate glass vase held only a sprig of amaranth supported by a\u0026nbsp;\n\ncedar leaf, speaking in the old tiger tongue of the love that\u0026nbsp;\n\ngods feel for their mates. \"This scabbard was brought without my\u0026nbsp;\n\nknowledge to my domain, and I did not cleanse it of Kyrameha's\u0026nbsp;\n\nspiritual presence.\"\n\nHe did not look into my eyes as he said this. I did not need to\u0026nbsp;\n\nfeel the special spirit-world connection with him to know how\u0026nbsp;\n\nguilty he felt at that moment, but my anger still would not\u0026nbsp;\n\nsubside. Instead, I tried to turn it to good use. I had dealt\u0026nbsp;\n\nwith many of Kyrameha's lingering enchantments in my time.\n\n\"So one of Kyrameha's spells got through. Who brought it there,\u0026nbsp;\n\nso I may kill them? What did he do, so that I may rectify it?\"\n\n\"Your Mother is now held inside of this relic.\" His paw signaled\u0026nbsp;\n\nthe treasure on the shrine. \"There is no way I know how to\u0026nbsp;\n\nrelease her. She herself brought it to our lands, when Kyrameha\u0026nbsp;\n\nsent her to be sacrificed to me. She brought it for her own\u0026nbsp;\n\nprotection, I suppose.\"\n\n\"That leaves my rage mightily unsatisfied,\" I admitted as my\u0026nbsp;\n\nshoulders fell.\n\n\"Mine, as well, my Daughter.\" He lightly brushed the strange\u0026nbsp;\n\nweapon casing, and I winced as our weakness against gemstones\u0026nbsp;\n\ncaused his palm to sizzle and burn. He didn't seem to feel it at\u0026nbsp;\n\nall- or perhaps he did, as tears started to gather in his eyes.\u0026nbsp;\n\n\"Were she even captured by the First Dragon, I would seek him out\u0026nbsp;\n\nand slay him,\" he said through ground fangs. \"However, I have\u0026nbsp;\n\nmore pressing matters. There is a Dragon uprising in the lands\u0026nbsp;\n\nnear the Mountain, and the secret of how to break this spell may\u0026nbsp;\n\nlurk there.\"\n\n\"The Mountain! I thought that was the very seat of our power,\" I\u0026nbsp;\n\nsquinted at him. \"Now I understand. I shall seek out and slay\u0026nbsp;\n\nthese dragons, and find the answer to this riddle.\" I went to\u0026nbsp;\n\nplace my hand over my heart to seal it formally.\n\n\"NO!\" he roared at me, spinning his whole huge form and blocking\u0026nbsp;\n\nthe hand from reaching my chest (nearly as broad as his though I\u0026nbsp;\n\nwas much shorter) by grabbing it gently but forcefullly. \"That is\u0026nbsp;\n\nmy duty, Akiko-sama.\" He smiled as he said my name the way I\u0026nbsp;\n\npreffered. \"I need to do that on my own. There is a much greater\u0026nbsp;\n\nglory waiting for you.\"\n\n\"I do not desire glory, but duty, Akio-sama. Take me with you if\u0026nbsp;\n\nyou are to fight!\" I stamped my foot for emphasis, and he put a\u0026nbsp;\n\nheavy arm around my shoulders as he started to walk me away from\u0026nbsp;\n\nthe shrine. I felt like I was a child training with wooden swords again,\u0026nbsp;\n\nlost and wishing for my Mother.\n\n  \n  \n\n","series":{"name":"Akiko Against Many","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/694571-sweaty-foreheads.json"}}