A Tale of Three

Chapter 6: Hate

"What?" Cyrene whispered. Her shoulders lowered as she felt her heart start to sink into the ground. Her voice trembled momentarily before rising. "I don't even know what Veilded is! I don't know who they are!"

"Please walk back down the hall and wait at the entrance of the tunnel with your siblings until your instructor has arrived. Congratulations on your new glaring," the tester said, its voice back to the monotone.

Cyrene growled at the cracked walls, and quickly brought her paw across the part she imagined the tester was behind. Dirt flaked off on her paw, but the wall in its entirety didn't move. She shook her head, before storming out of the room with her teeth gritted together.

As she emerged out of the cavern and into the light, she saw Otium and Ares laughing together against the root. Otium was shaking so hard from laughter that the feather kept falling off her back. They obviously got glarings they wanted.

"Cyrene!" Otium called, running over to Cyrene with a smile plastered on her face. Ares trailed behind her. "What glaring did you get?"

Cyrene cleared her throat. "She wasn't very clear, but I'm pretty sure she said something along the lines of Muses, Astute, or Vigilant."

"How unclear was she?" Ares growled quickly.

"She wasn't unclear," Otium murmured looking at her paws. The small panthress lifted her head and met Cyrene's eyes. "Cyrene, are you lying to us?"

"Why would I lie?" Cyrene smiled with a light voice. Her heart beat inside her chest as Otium and Ares stared silently at her in response.

Ares suddenly shrugged before turning around. "Otium, she is no longer part of our family. It ended when the test ended. She can keep her secrets."

"But Ares," Otium broke out. "She's our sister. She's our kin."

"Do you really believe that our blood is thicker than water?" Ares laughed harshly, whipping around to face both of them. "Do you really think that we will ever see each other again? Nothing exists anymore, Otium, except for our own ambitions. Cyrene's life doesn't matter to me. My tester told me something in there. He told me a message I can use to restore Anglo. I have no cares now, at least not with you-"

"Veilded," Cyrene growled as tears started to build up on the brim on her eyes. "The glaring they put me in was Veilded."

Otium quickly stopped talking while Ares's eyes widened to the size of sparrows.

"They said I belonged to Veilded," Cyrene said, her voice becoming hoarse.

Otium cracked a smile that was too forced to be believable. "That's great, Cyrene! I mean, you said none of the other glarings fit you well. Maybe you'll like it there."

"You're too nice," Ares muttered. "No one even knows who Veilded is. Maybe they just want to skin her for that pelt of hers."

"Ares!"

"What!" Ares roared. Cyrene watched with wide eyes as his hackles rose for the first time at Otium.

When they were little Ares once invited another cub from Abandoned Atra to come to their tree and play with him. It was an exciting experience. The other cub told stories, stories of the other glarings, of the battles between the nations, of the Sapien birds that flocked together in massive oak trees, and the Proleum canines that howled on the jagged mountains. Ares was captivated with him, and quickly left to present his siblings to him. Then it all went wrong. The cub was terrified of Cyrene's fur, and of Otium's blindness. He quickly raced home, and left Ares all by himself with Cyrene and Otium. Ares never saw the cub again.