chapter five, the alphas

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mira started the ceremony by announcing the names of the shamans (lower level alphas), like eagles and penguins. though she spoke admirably of them, i noticed that mira's energy was deteriorating as the day moved on. to be honest, i almost fell asleep myself. but finally, after what seemed like hours of waiting, she announced the name of the last shaman: "jade. you shall be our new snow leopard shaman."

i knew jade from school, and she was a pleasant feline. she was the kindest cat on the block, and it made sense that the bowl of redemption chose her to be a shaman. her dark green eyes sparkled as she received her badge from her predecessor, calla. an uproar of applause from the crowd approved the selection.

over a span of a few seconds, they grew silent, watching as mira stroked the glass bowl of redemption with a sharp talon. she gently traced its fancy engravings, smiling. "now it is the time we've all been waiting for," she informed the whole of jamaa. "we will now choose jamaa's next heroes, who shall lead us throughout the next eighty-three years. the qualities of alphas are very precise: courageous, intelligent, diligent, and empathetic. let us hope that these successors will be proven to be all of these things."

gradually, mira lowered her talon into the bowl and pulled out the first name. it was written in the finest ink on a fresh piece of papyrus. well at least that's what i heard.

i also heard something about the bowl choosing the alphas itself; no one observed anyone or made notes... the bowl was simply magical. and extremely wise if it's managed to successfully choose new alphas every single year. but of course, that was only a rumor. it made sense though, for jamaa was very occult indeed.

mira read the name, "liza. you shall be our new panda alpha." cheers shrieked throughout the front of the crowd, and i had to cover my ears to avoid my eardrums from morbidly imploding. i watched as a pretty, black and white panda climbed the stairs eagerly to the stage; i've never seen anyone so excited in my entire life. and as i looked closer, i realized that she was the panda that i had stolen from a couple days before.

"wow. didn't expect the bowl to pick her," i thought to myself in disgust. when i had eavesdropped on the panda - supposedly named liza - and her deer acquaintance that day, she had seemed superbly rude and a bit stuck up. but i guess that doesn't really matter now anyways. she received her badge from circeen, the original panda alpha, and stepped to the side.

the next name was called: "and our koala alpha shall be cosmo." another round of applause; this next alpha was different than the first. his clothing looked like leaves and grass entwined together, and he wore a cap that had a small daisy in its cloth. and though his appearance was different, he approached mira with the same giddiness as liza. i shrugged. "he must just like nature," my mind concluded.

the next alphas were called up, different and similar at the same time. there was graham the monkey alpha, gilbert the tiger alpha (that was the guy that arrested me), and peck the bunny alpha. this particular purple bunny was definitely ten times more ecstatic than the others, jumping up and down as she received her badge from kirk. something about her struck me as mundane, but i soon rubbed everything suspicious off.

mira greeted peck then waved her off kindly to the side to join the other alphas. she pulled the next name out of the bowl of redemption and read, "oh, well of course we have greely. you will be our next wolf alpha." this time, everybody cheered and clapped - especially a lot of females, i noticed. a gray, ashen wolf strode calmly to the stage; he didn't seem to have the same frenzy as the rest of the alphas. his amber eyes shone with solemnity as his badge was clipped on, and he took to the side with one easy step. and that was the end of the ceremony.

mira thanked everyone for coming to the redeeming with a humongous grin. everybody clapped like they had been doing for the past two hours, and i could hear the otter from before whisper, "i knew greely was going to be chosen! i told you, didn't i?" her companion rolled her eyes.

and though everyone seemed to be focused on the departing oration, i had my eyes fixed on the wolf known as greely. he was staring right back at me with those narrowed eyes... almost knowingly. they seemed to glint with intellect, and he studied me graciously and with slight puzzlement. confusion seethed from my brain as well, and i felt my eyes avert dumbly.

while this was going on, a sudden unease had passed over the crowd; many had started to whisper and point at the bowl of redemption. shouts of awareness were called to mira, and she was soon snapped out of her speech... and my focus was suddenly deterred from greely and was soon concentrating on the fact that there was one more paper in the bowl of redemption.

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