Promotheus
Legacy Name: Promotheus

The story of the king and Varuna is one of many ancient tales about the Saraqua on Earth. Of course in different cultures the Saraqua are called different names such as the Onile, Zuvan, Shanira, Hilal, Thuraywa, Aizea, and many more. These creatures are said to have the body of a lion the head of an bird and wings to fly. They are said to have to different colored types of fur, one black and one white. The fur around their neck, belly, tail, eyebrows, and their wings fade from a bright red to orange then to yellow. Their eyes are always a bright blue and they have what seems like ink on the tips of their ears and tail with some of it floating in mid air around the source. The ink on their tails seems to cause some kind of smoke that confuses its enemy long enough for it to escape or confuses its prey just long enough for it to pounce. The Saraqua have many names that originate on Earths surface but they have a name for themselves as well, to each other they are called Serophix.
Beyond the legends is truth. There may be a little bit of truth to legends but they only seem to scratch the surface. The females of this species are the ones with black fur while the males are the ones with the white. The males are meant to stand out more against the mainly black mountains to distract predators from their mates and nests. While the females blend in for the most part so they are not as easily spotted by predators and make for extremely stealthy hunters. Both genders use their bright wigs to try and intimidate enemies when cornered. Their bear like claws are used to grip the sides of the mountains and to firmly grasp prey when flying them back to the nests. Their beaks are used for breaking open flesh and crunching bone easily as well as cutting enemies in fights. Bright blue eyes with the eyesight of hawks and thick fur to withstand the cool winds at such high altitudes.
The Serophix have a weakness for seafood, something they cannot obtain on their floating mountains and can only be found on Earth. That's what brings them down from the heavens onto wet sand to hunt for fish, crab, small sharks, dolphins, seals, and turtles. They also have the habit of soaring high in the sky with the Eagles and learning from bears how to catch Salmon during salmon season. When they touch land is when they become vulnerable to human encounter. Because of their natural craving for such rare foods it brings them to Earth often and not all of them make it back home. Though it is very rare a Serophix is caught by humans it still happens from time to time. Most of them have their wings cut off once captured, no longer able to return to any of the floating islands even if they did manage to escape.


Promotheus could feel the wet sand between his paws as he landed on the shore with a thump. Behind him there were two more thumps. The Three Serophix's had come to hunt for delectable sea food. They stood at the edge of the sand letting the sea water wash up onto the shore drenching their paws in salty cold water. Their bright blue eyes scanned the surface of the moving water and they chirped to each other. One extended its wings and took to the sky, claws scratching against rock as it tried to get a firm hold onto the side of a cliff overlooking the moving body of water, the lookout. Promotheus lead the other into the sky with open wings, his partner clinging onto a buoy floating in the ocean, tipping it over immediately. Bursting from the ocean shaking water off of its head as Promotheus chuckled to himself. They saw a glimmer under the water, the shine of fish scales reflecting the sun. Promotheus dove into the water like a gannet catching the fish in his mouth before coming back up. A loud howling like crow emanated from the third Serophix, congratulating Promotheus for the first catch of the day.
Promotheus and his partner made the same howling crow like noise back to the Serophix clinging onto the rock. The rest of the day was the three of them diving into the water and attempting to catch any larger prey from the sky. They did manage to catch one dolphin but other than that they ate mostly fish and a few crabs. They could see the sun starting to set over the horizon and instead of continuing to gorge themselves until immobility one of them, in this case Promotheus, stayed on the beach sitting and watching while the others collected crabs. They were the most transportable of the food that they could bring back with them. They were easy to grab with their hard shells and they weren't as slippery as fish were. They collected as many as they could of the sideways crawling little creatures the other two bringing them back for Promotheus to watch and make sure they didn't run away or escape. They were gifts, for their mates, back home and their offspring if they had any.
After thirty minutes Promotheus had about ten crabs snapping and desperately trying to escape under his paws. He watched the other two fluttering above the waves as the searched the beach for more. He could feel a sharp pinch from his shoulder, slightly confused looking down at his paws but all ten crabs were still there and they couldn't have possibly pinched him, on his shoulder no less. He glanced at his shoulder to see a dart sticking out of it with bright red, orange, and yellow fading feathers attached to the end of it. His pupils dilated and he jumped to his feet but his eye sight was already starting to waver and he was having a hard time putting one foot in front of the other, it was even harder to try and take flight. He sent out a warning call to the others who quickly made their way to him. They stopped a few feet from him letting out hissing and growling noises and he called to them in distress as he hit the ground unable to stand. His eyesight completely fuzzy now but he still knew where they were. He felt something go on top of him and shouting but he couldn't understand. Then the two other Serophix's took flight and disappeared into the sky, he called out to them one more time for help before things went black.


His bright blue eyes fluttered open, still a bit hazy from whatever was in that dart but at least it wasn't as bad as before. He forced himself into a sitting position as his eyes adjusted to the low lit area only a few candles already melted over their holders, their flames just flickering slightly. He in what seemed to be a large metal box. In front of him was a large metal door with a small square cutout that was used as a window. At the bottom of the door was another cutout, this one was more rectangular. Behind him was just a plain metal wall and to his right and left were metal bars very close to each other. There was hay spread all around the floor with a large metal bowl of water in the corner. He had a large and thick circular metal collar around his neck and he was tied to the back wall with a large chain, plenty of room to move around. He looked up and there were more metal bars and a very long way up but at the very top seemed to be either a small window or opening, he could see the blue of the sky and a hint of white from a passing cloud.
He furrowed his eyebrows as he clasped the chain between his beak and tugged on it. It was not only bolted into the metal but melted to it as well, wherever he was they took precautions. He dropped the chain and looked up at his little window of light and hope and let out a small pathetic wine. He perked ups his ears as he heard a noise coming from the hallway but he could see nothing but the cell to his left and right which were both empty. He scooted back into a corner with his back up against the metal a low hissing noise emitting from his mouth. He could hear metal turning and grinding against itself as his ears flattened against his head he wanted to see exactly what had trapped him. When he saw two legged creatures walk in with armor protecting their bodies, masks over their face and spears in their hand he let out a loud growling shriek but they seemed unfazed. He whipped his tail back and forth a large cloud of black smoke filling the air but their masks protected them. Another dart hit him, in the neck this time, and soon he fell prey to the same deep sleep as before.
When he awoke he was laying on a bright red satin like carpet with gold and white embroidery. The end of his chain was tied to the floor to another hook like the one in his cell that's bolted to the floor as well as melted onto it. There were five guards on either side of him, lined up facing forward with their spears in their hand. Before him were two chairs both were bright gold with red cushions and white embroidery. On the smaller one was a woman with bright blue eyes and pitch black hair. She had on some black tight pants and what looked like an over sized white shirt that hung off her shoulder. She had something around her neck and then he realized it was a collar like his, but much smaller, Chained to the wall. She watched him with such intent her hands keeping her knees pulled to her chest. He couldn't understand why he was there but out of the corner of his eye he saw something. The shirt on the woman seemed to slip down her shoulder a bit more as she leaned to the side, he could see some of her chest and he could see it glow softly a redish orange color and then it disappeared. Then he understood, she was a Serophix.


Their eyes locked and he found himself trying to read them but all he could see was a small glimmer of what seemed like hope in her eyes. His ears perked up at the sound of a door booming closed not too far away and a man escorted by two guards made his way to the larger seat next to the woman. He took his seat and his eyes met Promotheus' and he let out a low grumbling growl. He looked into cruel dull brown eyes and scratched his claws against the fabric beneath him causing it to tear.
"Welcome Hilal. We are so fortunate to have caught ourselves a white one." He chuckled.
"I wan't your assistance. I know the Hilal are powerful fighters in their beast and human form. You fight for me. Help me gain power and once i have obtained it, I will set you free. If you do not help me or try to escape i will cut of your wings and feed them to the dogs and you will be a slave to this place until the day you die." He said scoffing.
His eyes wandered to the woman and he realized now why she was there. Why her collar was so small. If she transformed from human to Serophix the collar could crush her throat. Even if she did transform he was sure her wigs had been cut and seeing as she was still confined to a collar and chain she must have tried to escape.
With a flash of light he was kneeling on the floor completely naked. Bright blue eyes accompanied by snow white hair with a random streak of red, orange, and blonde. His chest was glowing red and orange for a moment and then it disappeared as he was there before them all as a human. All eyes were on him as he threw his metal collar off seeing as now it was too large to even fit around his neck. He had one fist on the floor and his other arm laid across his knee as he spoke.
"I will fight for you. You must give me the girl and let me take her." He said with a loud billowing voice.
He looked upon the man's face in front of him, there was a sinister grin that was displayed on his face and Promotheus was unsure what it meant. He frowned as the man began to laugh.
"Sure, you can have her. She's no use to me anymore." He said triumphantly.
With those words being said all of the guards surrounded him as he stood and they escorted him away. He glanced back at the woman who had never stopped watching him. It had probably been such a long time since she had seen one of her own. The poor girl, his goal was to save her, even if it cost him his own life. But until then he did as he was told. He still stayed in the same cell he had awoken in. He was fed there and he slept there. Besides that he trained until his hands bled. They all realized he was agile and fast with extreme strength behind his hands and he was good at any type of hand to hand combat. Another hidden talent that not even he knew of was archery.
They fed him well, he ate different kinds of sea food that he never had the Privilege of hunting. Creatures he couldn't reach at the depths of the ocean or were too large for him to capture. Sea horses, different species of shark, eel, lobster, along with beef and chicken. He trained every day and stared up through the bars every night at the stars in the sky wishing he could fly home. But he couldn't just leave the woman here. He assumed when that man spoke of fighting for him he must have meant some kind of war or battle. He could easily escape then but he just kept seeing her face in his head. Perhaps that was the reason she was there to begin with, that man had hoped Promotheus would have shown some sort of empathy towards her. His heart sunk in his chest as he let his arrow fly and it split a previous arrow in half. He lowered his bow and took a deep breath. Soon it would be time.

Credit: Profile and art by: mei

Story: Me