he had thought that he was safe
there in his forest of ice
he’d left behind the world of warmth and light
choosing instead a life of dark and cold
where all was night
he had feared the heat of the other world
feared it with a passion most never know
feared it as most would love their mates
but fear it he did
for he was
the snow tiger
he’d painted his hard lean body
in stripes of shadows and light
the blackest of black the whitest of white
he’d painted it like the stripes on the trees
with their ribbons of frost
not to be seen by day or by night
and so he lived in the vast wasteland of steel and cold
that he’d worked feverishly to uphold
never allowing another in
guarding the glacier that was all him
never leaving the safety of his self-made lair
he was happy there
he was safe
only one as frigid as he could survive such a place
but there was no nourishment to be found in his arctic woods
he hunted here he hunted there he hunted everywhere
the gnawing hunger remained
it gnawed through his belly and into his cold dark heart
leaving a hole that could not be filled
there was nothing left in his forest
to be hunted
to be consumed
to ease the pain of his hunger as it grew
the hunger he had felt before
which now became a ravishing sword
then one day at the forest edge
as he crept closer and closer still
there stood a vision he ne’er had seen before
but one he feared nevertheless
feared to the bottom of his lonely soul
this vision meant danger
danger to him and to all that was his
the vision remained
there it stood
staring straight into the windows of his barren soul
something familiar
something once known
a dream
but no - it was a mortal creature this vision he feared
a creature with long dark hair
hair that swept the snow beneath her human feet
the sight of this mortal soul struck a chord of primal fear
fear of something close something near too near
her haunting black eyes never left his icy stare
her scent attacked the spirit he’d long forgot
was she but a gentle breeze
blown by the dusty figments of his empty imagination
the trees in his forest having long since lost their leaves
he could not strike
he could not flee
he was transfixed frozen in her light
and what of that light - it was not white, that must be it
this light - this impure light emitted something evil - something sinister
it had color - and that evil that he most feared
the one her light emitted
to the gods he implored
not this not this - this he could not survive
this would surely kill him - this - this was his most dreaded enemy
this was warmth it was heat!
it was
life!
and in that moment of time stood still
the she-creature fearing not his warrior stance
edged closer and closer again
moving toward him toward and all that was his
he roared at her from the icy lobes of his fractured heart
threatening threatening again
but she did not fear him did not retreat
closer still she edged into his sacred trees
her smell permeated deeper still
permeated to his core
leaving him wanting needing more
his mind abandoned him
he could not think as before
she had brought with her
weapons the likes of which he’d never seen
even in dreams
his great claws began to lose their grip
their grip no longer holding to the frozen ground now turned liquid
her eyes never left his soul's stare as she came toward him
bringing with her a strange never felt sensation
foreign to him it burned his eyes attacked his nostrils flared
it invaded that secret part of him long held captive by the cold
this light that surrounded her now surrounded him
what could it be
his worst fear brought to reality?
what could it be? who could she be? who was she?
this mortal who walked in light in heat
this light that once attacked his senses
somehow now seemed to ease the ravaging pit of his hunger
further and further she encroached
her odour ate at him
it
conquered
advancing
ever more
the light and the warmth that was her invaded him deeper
deeper into the darkest recesses
surging but never retreating
until it reached the stalwart chambers of his heart of stone
seeping down into the crevasse of cold that had been his life
it left him dizzy
it left him alive
but it did not leave him
then he realized that thing - the thing that she brought with her
that light and warmth thing - it was something he almost remembered
from the other world - something he need not fear
it
was a thing called
love
and this other thing
this she-creature
this mortal whom he had first feared
he remembered her now, too
from once before
in the land of light and warmth
yes
he remembered her now
she
was the
gypsywoman
she had traveled far suffered much to reach him
to save him from the ravages of his own frost
from the hunger that consumed him
in his sacred forest where all was lost
she had come from the other world
and she had come
for
him
.
.
.
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