Cats Rarely Do

Cat’s do not have a perception of time nor do they care about it and anything it touches, cat's rarely do. They go where they want, hunt where they want and sleep where they want, even if it happens to be an ancient temple of an old god. An acropolis from a land that was once covered in lush jungles, fields of fertile soil and swelling rivers which emptied into a sparkling sea. This land was called G’Usha and its capital was the seaside city of Orn’th. There were said to be many gods in G’Usha but the one worshiped in Orn’th was B’tha, the god of hunting and prosperity. Prayers to the god were often for bountiful fish, rain for the villages and the protection of the hunters as they went out to gather food. The temple of B’tha predated even the people of Orn’th which was built beneath it. No one knew what the god B’tha actually looked like, but there was always a cat in the temple. So when a statue was erected, it was of god adorned in jewels holding a cat. Everyone was amazed by the statue, all except for a lone cat which lay at the base. In fact the animal didn’t seem to care about anything at all, cat’s rarely do. 

The cats of Orn’th were revered as heralds to the gods with their grace and majestic qualities, while the rodents were seen as evil spirits. This seemed to be true as the rodents carried diseases but with the cats around their population stayed low. For centuries the cats roamed freely until one day when the crown prince was playing too roughly with a cat and the animal retaliated by scratching the boy. He cried to his mother the queen who then ordered the king to get rid of the animals. Against his better judgement he had the trappers lay siege to the once revered heralds and within a week most cats were either caught and killed or retreated to the temple. The city’s clergy didn’t have the power to stop the king but they feared that the act would bring about the fall of Orn’th. The king had secretly kept a cat in a chamber which went directly to the temple, as he had been saved by one as a boy. Though the cat never showed any desire to be tamed or pet after that and didn’t even care about the king’s existence at all. 

The king tried to rectify his mistake by declaring that no cat within the temple should be bothered, but the damage had been done. The god B’tha turned its back on the people of Orn’th just as they had turned their back on the cats, they simply no longer cared. First the fisherman were no longer able to catch any fish. Then the farmers lands dried up to the point where only weeds grew. Finally the hunters were driven out of the jungles by just the shadows of beasts. Like a disease of madness, the people of Orn’th began seeing the shadows of cats stalking them throughout the city. They blamed the king for their misfortune but before they could oust the royal family a tsunami destroyed everything but the temple. 

It was quiet within the temple for quite a long time, although it wasn’t empty because its main inhabitant rarely made a sound; cat’s rarely do. Its fur was a dark as a storm cloud, a silver streak running down its back and within its head were golden eyes which sparkled like the jewels that once adorned the statue of B’tha. Throughout the day the cat roamed the temple walls basking in sun through the windows of it’s broken frame. Once where a city had surrounded the temple there was only a few standing structures covered in sand which stretched out to where the sparkling sea had been. Nothing there now but desert, but that didn’t too much matter to the cat because there were always mice to hunt. The mice themselves knew not to venture too far into the ruins of the temple or become a meal for the beast within it’s walls. Still, the cat didn’t care most times. In fact if it wasn’t hungry it would barely notice the mice at all and just sleep while they scurried about. 

One day while basking in the light of the setting sun the cat heard a strange sound. The sound of heavy footsteps, much too big to be that of any rodent. The cat went to investigate and saw something quite strange indeed. Tall creatures on two legs wrapped in dark colored rags, bumpy bodies and large sticks strapped to their shoulders. One of the creatures without a stick was holding a glowing piece of material and pointing at parts of the temple. The cat grew even more curious when it heard the creatures talk. It was only used to hearing plea’s and cries from the mice but nothing like this. Softly it walked upon the stones studying the strangers in the temple until one of them pointed their stick in its direction with a miniature sun shining out. The cat stood there and tilted its head while the creature yelled something. The with the glowing rock motioned for the other to lower its stick and pointed to an image of another cat on the wall. Still the cat’s curiosity was peaked, something about these tall creatures felt familiar but also far away. 

It watched them go through the temple to make the towards the statue of B’tha. The area was not as forgiving to their larger frames and a few fell to the areas where the cat just followed gracefully. Finally they got to the statue of B’tha where they found it in shambles, save for the cat. The creatures with the sticks grew angry and pointed them at the one with the tablet but the cat walked across one of it’s resting spots and knocked over an amber gem. The other creatures came running over and shooed the cat away before pawning over the cat’s “toys.” The shinny jewels which had been scattered along the temple floor after the statue fell. The cat watched as the creatures then helped themselves to it’s toys but at this point the cat no longer cared. It heard a mouse nearby and as it went to go off to hunt there loud bangs and then a few crashes. The cat saw the creatures now fighting amongst themselves and while it was curious, this time the hunt was more important. 

It ignored the screams, the further bangs and pops; even when something whizzed by its ear and smashed into the wall it only looked over for a second before finishing its meal. When it was all said and down the cat went up to it’s favorite spot, a window where the moonlight almost gave the same warmth as the sun. It curled up and lay there and tried to go to sleep, but then the temple rumbled. More screams broke out as something deep within the temple ruins awoke; something old, something angry, something dark, something big. The cat didn’t even bother to untuck itself until the pops and bangs grew closer. It looked down and saw two of the creatures remaining, one of the stick wielders and the one with the tablet. The one with the tablet got down on it’s knees and forced the other down as well and they did something which peaked the cat’s curiosity yet again. They began to pray to large ancient shadow stretching from the darkness into the glow of the moonlight. As the cat jumped down and the light of the moon wained from its body, so did the shadow shrink in size. It receded into the paw of the cat’s as it’s golden eyes golden eyes locked with those of the tablet wielder. The creature lowered their head and began chanting a name over and over. A name which the cat couldn’t remember because cat’s don’t have a perception of time and neither do gods. Not even one who watched a civilization rise and fall and save a young king; the god of hunting and prosperity B’tha—cat’s rarely do.