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“I’m afraid that’s not possible at the moment. We have too many questions,” I said.
Something flashed in her eyes then. “So, if I answer all your questions then I can go? Fine, then I don’t know where this is. I don’t know how I got through to this place. I was running for my life because the Night Fangs were chasing me. They attacked my pride and I was trying to escape. I found old ruins and there was nowhere to go, then suddenly I felt something opening, and I stepped through because otherwise it meant certain death. Now I’m almost beginning to wish that I had taken my chances with the Night Fangs because, at least then, I would have been in my own world. I don’t know what this place is. I don’t know how I got here, and frankly, I don’t care. I just want to get home and be with my pride again. There, does that answer all your questions? Can I go now?”
I looked at her and I felt pity swell inside my heart. She was clearly troubled, and it was impossible to not hear the terror in her voice when she spoke of the Night Fangs. I had never heard of them before, but they were clearly things to be feared. I rose to my feet and picked up the tray.
“I think the Alpha is going to have more questions for you. I’m afraid it’s not as simple as you might think. Do you have legends where you are? Do you know where you came from?”
“I come from my home. That’s all. I don’t give a damn about this place. Just let me go! You can’t keep me prisoner here! You just can’t!” she said, raising her voice to the point where she was screaming. I knew that I had gotten all the sense I could muster from her here, so I left her. The closed door muffled her screams.
*
For days this continued. I would visit with her and take her food, hoping that she would become more comfortable in my company. We shared some information. She reached the point where she was not initially suspicious of the food and ate it as soon as I arrived, which I saw as progress, although she was reticent to open up to me. We exchanged some words, but our conversations followed the same structure and invariably she would fall into chaos again, her emotions reigning supreme within her mind. I did not understand how she could live like this, such a slave to her instincts, or how she could be so powerful when she showed no signs of it. I was even beginning to doubt it myself. Axanar told me of his conversation with Tania and the stories of a world walker being able to pass between different worlds, yet this girl did not seem to possess anything like that. She was angry, bitter, and from what I could tell, her pride had been attacked by these Night Fangs, whoever they were, but she had fled in battle. It was not the most impressive way to declare her strength, and I wondered whether perhaps the lions who had left us many generations ago had somehow lost their way in the new world.
I was sitting there quietly again, watching her eat, waiting for the moment when she would erupt with anger. On this day, she was somber though. Her head was cast down, her hair shrouding her features.
“You are quiet today,” I said.
“What am I supposed to say? There’s no use in talking when you’re not listening to me.”
“I have listened to everything you’ve said.”
“But you haven’t done anything about it. I’m just here, in this cell. What do you want with me? What are you going to do with me? I just want to go home,” she groaned, the words falling out of her mouth, weighed down with heavy emotion. I did feel sorry for her. I imagined how I would have felt, had I been stopped from returning to battle.
“We need more information.”
“I’ve told you all I know. I don’t know how I came to this place. I don’t know how that passage works. I was just trying to escape the Night Fangs. That’s all. I never wanted this. I never wanted to come here. I don’t even know what this place is!”
“Then tell me more about your home,” I said. She had only made vague references to her pride and the Night Fangs. Other than that, information had been scant. The days of being held in captivity had clearly taken a toll on her. She sighed and her shoulders slumped down. I wasn’t sure she even had the strength to fight any longer.
“Fine, I might as well tell you. I’m probably going to die here anyway. My planet is called Earth. It’s been that way for as long as I know. I live in a pride outside Colorado, in a country called America. We keep to ourselves. We were just a small pride, because in our world, we don’t have anything like this. We’re the ones who had to remain hidden.”
“You are hidden?” I asked, furrowing my brow. “But why? Are you not the strongest?”
“Yes, but it’s not that simple. From a certain point of view, we’re the strongest, but there aren’t as many of us. There is another race on Earth called humans. They’re the same as this,” she placed her hand upon her flesh, “but they do not change into lions.”
“Monoforms,” I spat, my face twisting into a scowl.
“Monoforms?” she asked.
“We had the same on this world for a time. They plagued the land. They were like a disease, mating prolifically. There was no order to what they did, no rituals. They just mated like dogs, and we knew that, if they were allowed to continue, then they would proliferate to a point where their numbers would be insurmountable. So, we culled them, but even then, they slipped away and found ways to expand their herd, and for a time, they were a constant threat to our wellbeing. In the end, we had to castrate them for the good of the land. If they had their way, they would have raped it all.”
“You castrated a whole race?” she asked, open mouthed.
“We are the dominant species here and it is our job to maintain balance. Tell me, is there balance on your world, on this… Earth? It does not seem so.”
“No, I suppose there isn’t. The humans run riot, taking anything they want, using up the planet’s resources.”
“And you have done nothing to stop them,” I said, shaking my head with disappointment. I had hoped that she might prove herself worthier than this, but Axanar’s initial judgment seemed correct.
“What were we supposed to do? Bring about a war?”
“War is our way. You were supposed to do anything you could to maintain the natural order of things, at least that’s what I assume your ancestors would have done. What could have gone wrong?”
“I don’t know. Maybe when they got there, they found that humans were already too far spread to make a difference. What I don’t understand is why they didn’t just come back here, why they left this place if it’s so wonderful?”
“Because we seek to explore, to conquer, to spread the wisdom of our pride to new lands. We are the strongest people in the world, and every land in the universe would benefit from our oversight.”
“Ah, I see, so you’re arrogant,” she said, narrowing her eyes at me. I smirked.
