Aurora

The Victory

~ I was born into a world of flashing claws and teeth and furious shouts of battle. A world of glimmering spouts of ice and rapid tongues of flame. A world of loyalty, battle, and fury. For the first part of my life, this bloodbath was all I knew. Welcome to my story. ~

I leap off my playmate with a yelp of anticipation and scamper off to the camp entrance as fast as my short legs can carry me. Brook hauls herself upright and chases after me. The warriors are back!

I run to my mother, and she wraps me in a warm embrace. "We did it," she whispers. "We beat them!"

    My father comes up behind her. "That'll teach them to try to take our territory."

"AquaClan!" Tide, our leader, calls from her perch on the rock that juts out over the waterfall. "BlitzClan is beaten! We have won!" A cheer answers from the Eons surrounding the gathering place. "We have regained the stolen territory..." as she continues on with a speech to the tribe, Brook pounces on me again, and we roll around all over the stones surrounding the river, locked in a playful wrestling match. Blue and white legs hastily step aside to clear space for two Eevees celebrating the victory of our tribe much the same way they celebrate just about everything else.

***

"Aurora! It's time for dinner!" My mother calls. Now Brook and I are chasing each other through the stream that runs through our camp. I look up to see that the sky is awash with streaks of red and pink as the sun dips below the horizon.

"'Bye, Brook!" I call and race back to our cave. My mother watches, amused, and wonders how I manage to speed about constantly, never running out of energy. I look back on it now and wonder the same thing.

In our cave, three cold, raw fish await me. I eagerly gobble them up. We rarely cook our food in AquaClan, partly because we just like them raw, but mostly because Ice and Water types can't use fire. "It's time for bed," my mother says softly, and guides me to my room. She tucks me into the messy nest of blue and white blankets and licks me once, and I slip into a deep sleep.