In the cloudless night, of the moonless eve of the festival Terra the mother Earth, a village slumbered as it always did
Unaware if the six Red lions who snuck into it's log walls, the six were an order handpicked and groomed by the Lioness herself, they were her claws and fangs.
They were from the unworthy, those unable to become chief during the trials, their fathers failed to best the current chief and thus their families unanimously suppressed by the elders
Yeriv had ruled first two centuries and almost into his third as the next selection had been drawing closer and his reign almost ending.
The six were children born during his reign from the families he defeated and the elders suppressed, the Lioness gave them an olive branch, their allegiance in exchange for peace of mind.
The families accepted and gave their young makes to the Lioness who made her squad if exterminators from them
They killed for her as they lived for her, all in a day's job. Thus they were sent to a small human village, that was a common stop point for alot of mercenaries..In the dark if night they begun to slaughter from the guards at the gate, to the patrol of the streets
They entered homes and killed families, be it a father, a mother, a child, a son, a daughter, old or young, teen or middle aged none was spared
They acted silently as stealthily as they travelled through the village house after house, shop after shop.
They did not care if you knew the reason for their slaughter nor if you did not, wether you knew their target or did not, their orders were simple and clear with no holes to navigate through. Leave no one Alive!.
They massacred the village and left nothing more than pools of blood and corpses of the fallen, even the mercenaries that had stopped to relax were all killed as the red lions overwhelmed them.
In that night be it by luck or instinct or maybe even fate, Yeriv had taken Ursula and Berian to a town.
He had wanted to have them move for quite sometime but did not have enough time to make them move until that night or atleast evening.
At sunset he had departed with them to a town where he had a close friend, his frien was human and had unfortunately been fatally injured during one if his missions leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.
His friend hosted the pair and promised to look out for them as he was alone and by himself the company of a child and fellow adult was more than enough for him.
As Yeriv made way back to his clan he passed the massacre that was once the small village, his heart clenched as guilt took root followed by anger, fury and wrath
Yes they were the same emotion but different in their own way, he knew what happened, he could smell his clans men, he knew their weapon arts their style and so he made his way back with a heavy heart
During the night if the Festival of Terra, the lioness was killed, the elders were killed, the exterminators of the lioness killed along with their families.
The Chief had gone mad they said, the Chief became a demon they said but no one noticed the rivers of tears shed with each death.
That which remained if the Red lions was absorbed by the Orange Clan as they became one, despite being different Clans that were at the end Beasts if the Same kin.
Yeriv fled to the city where he tried to forget his old life, he trained his little cub all that he could and one day he heard a rumour
The Ember warlord was taking in disciples, but no more than four would be taught, he saw it as a way, his little cub as talented as she was could never be a Beastfolk never a lion kin.
Her mother's blood too thick and her father's too Prideful to be dominated, she became something new, a human that swallowed everything a beast had in it
Her power despite being from the original Ancestor diverged discarding it's mane, her bloodline was hers alone forged from a warrior and a human head over heels in love.
He had noticed her bloodline manifestation took the form of a lioness, it's pride equal to that of the Red lion but it's visage it's grandeur vastly different as even with it's haughtiness it still had a motherly doting like a lioness to its cub.
If her reserves if mana or the elements or even her spear pressure at the time were low the lioness would restore, she would leech upon the earth the moon the sun the stars and draw it's energy and siphon it to its cub who greedily devoured it and begged for more.
Yeriv took his daughter to the Ember Warlord a man both adored and feared, he who would end wars with mere words
Make ni mistake he never begged, he never even asked them to leave or stop all he did was simply make a decree like an emperor to his subjects he made only one Edict that no being could refuse in his presence.
DIE
And bodies would fall, blood would flow, mana would quiver, the elements would refuse to be called upon as if afraid to go against it's maker or lord.
And to such a man he brought his daughter and begged " My name is Yeriv Varia Jur'ga, the former Chief of the Red lions Clan, and it's ender. My daughter.... she's all that I have left of my blood, I beseech you Warlord could you please take her under your wing....and this old man in return shall make a pact with the heavens to be your slave until your soul fades from existence wether you reincarnate or not I shall be bound to you....I have nothing else to offer except this pitiful life and the little skill I have honed throughout the years."
Yeriv was a Prideful man but he knew were to bark and where to bite, but he also knew were to tuck tail and yield as this was one of the few cases in his life that he dropped to his knees and set his head on the cold floor and begged another man.
"How moving....I shall take your daughter, I shall train her as you wished but your life....I do not require the life of a dying soldier, go home and live the rest of your days....but I'd you still want to bind yourself to someone then let it be your daughter...then you might see her again through the circle of life," The Ember Warlord advised something he rarely did to a nobody.
Yeriv smiled however as he felt relieved knowing his daughter was in good hands and he could finally rest at ease as his heart died so long and his soul was slowly dying too.