From the shadows, emerged a phantom. Jaws parted, a breathless wisp escaping. Fresh air sucked into lungs. A heart beating anew, thudding just a pace too quick. Amber eyes squinted open, senses coming alive. Bristling. Straining. The world to which The Leopardess awoke was all wrong. Not the one she knew. It looked so similar, yet so different. Innately, she knew that this was not home.

That didn't matter.

She was alive.

She would stamp her presence on this new realm. Adapt, thrive and kill. Just as she always had. It was what she did best. It was all she knew.

Shivani; Life and Death.

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Water. Fresh water. She smelled it. Close by. Her mouth was parched, her stomach empty. The shadow borne tracked down the watering hole by scent. A ghost, rarely seen out in the open. A flash of golden, ebony dappled fur, settled at the waters edge. Quenching her desperate thirst, splayed whiskers dotted with droplets. Yet even now, those eyes remained upturned. Ever watchful for the slightest movement. Ears alert, receptive to any sound. Surely, she was not all alone in this big, bad new world.