It was Liono’s day off and he was determined to enjoy those free hours the best that he could. Lately he had not been himself and more than anything he needed to unwind. He packed sandwiches into a knapsack, he walked down the length of the extended bridge and headed to the surrounding forest.

He left Cat’s Lair and told no one, not even Snarf where he was going to or where he was staying at -- not that he knew anyway. Usually, when it was his turn of the week to rest, he would either stay in at home and work on his studies or he would hike out to the delta of the northern rivers -- a long, arduous journey that by the time he reached the turbulent waters he had no choice but to start the trip back home.

Not that time, no, not again, not ever.

Something had changed, something was different and it bothered him to wit’s end that only he had noticed. He was sad and depressed, painfully aware of how different the world had become, of how things had changed to suddenly yet so casually. He was afraid for he no longer saw through a child’s eye.

Large, white clouds floated and glided above in the sky, caught in the sharp currents of the air. A loud howl, a stirring alarm rang and echoed through the trees.

Before him without warning the forest came to a complete and total end. Confused and disoriented, he stood on a large, gray rock to catch his bearings. He had done more than stumble upon a large clearing, he had come to very edge of the continent. For countless miles left and right the tall, enshadowed evergreens and pines towered high into the heavens. To the west the ground loosened and acame from fertility of black soil to a wasteland of small rocks, smooth pebbled only to fade further into ocean-sprayed sand.

It had taken him two hours on foot but at last he had reached the tranquil shoreline of the beach.

The summer air was warm and still. The sky was overcast in white vapors that thought dense let ample sunlight fall onto the virgin earth below. The ocean, too, was calm and scarcely rippled and out beyond the water was flat and featureless. Foamy crests formed near the sand where the effect quickly vanished in a spreading haze.

Liono contemplated the situation. He stopped to listen and heard nothing but the distant drone of the vast ocean. The forest had not fully awoken from the slumber of the night and was unnaturally mute.

He began to walk along the length of the shell-covered beach. He was satisfied -- he was convinced that indeed he was alone, that no one else had been around the area at least in some time.

The sand was hot and stung his flesh -- it got into his boots and it was more than quite uncomfortable. On the indeterminate edge between the water and the dry land he sat and took off his shoes. He patted the sand out from within and with the salty foam that inched up to his body he wash the silicates that were on his toes.

Without reason he was struck by an overpowering sense of aroused excitement. It was a sensation that he had only recently begun to notice and that seemed to reoccur more and more frequently. His heart beat faster, his breath was equally paced. He did not want to be out, visible even though he had convinced himself that he was alone. He stood quickly and with his boots immediately in front of him he ran to a large group of rocks and hid there, there in the shadows.

Liono waited for a while for the sensation to pass.

He wanted to be normal again and thought that if he could revert to his earlier behavior that then he just might, yes, he just might be himself again. He took off his clothes. His shirt -- he could still do that with the least shame and yet he was conscious, overtly conscious of himself, of his bulging, developing muscles that had gradually acquired an definite and overt tone under his short, soft fur. He could feel the pressure of eyes upon him -- but there, but even there alone? His shorts -- that was something else and it was not that he was ashamed of his body, at least he did not believe he was ashamed of his body, but he could not deny that in the past he had never had reservations about being naked or exposed, even in front of women.

After all, back on Thundera no one ever wore clothes.

But it was the way the others looked at him. Cheetara, Tygra. Cheetara and her games, her strange games that she would play with him. Odd that he found himself drawn to her breasts, odd that she would let him fondle them. Tygra and his workouts, his medical exams, the monthly exams that turned weekly, the weekly exams that turned daily. It bothered him because he just did not understand why his friends would spend so much time and attention on those parts of him -- he cupped himself and petted himself slightly -- he had noticed that they had grown as abruptly as the rest of his body but that was that and no more.

Why did the others have to treat him different?

The discarded clothes he wrapped around the sword and the shield. He placed them safely under the cover of one of the gray rocks. Satisfied that those times were secure he ran fast to the water, stark naked.

It was terrible how it was cold but gradually he got used to the temperature. He treaded for a while in the shallower areas only several feet from the dry land. The sand under his feet was deceptively smooth for there were seashells and corals scattered everywhere.

Liono ventured further out. The ocean was blue and clear and for the longest time he could see down to the bottom without having to dunk his head in. Few fish swam near him -- not that he had expected to see many. He was shocked but not harmed when he spotted a single, brown-tinged jellyfish glide past by his legs.

He dashed out of the way and when he was far enough from the shoreline that the large rocks disappeared into obscurity and the tall trees just barely rose above the horizon there was no longer sand beneath him. The water had dropped twenty feet but to be sure there was no darkness yet. He could see the bottom quite well -- and for that more than for any other reason was why he dived down. An object had caught his eye but he was not sure what it was.

The water was warmer, not colder but Liono noticed that while he sank he passed a strong, side-winding current of cold water that veered him off course considerably. He landed in a much deeper spot but he had not panicked -- he had enough breath to last a while longer. He crawled to where he had seen the object and felt around. He realized that just below an inch or two of sand was a series of long, wooden planks. Other details slowly came into focus.

Liono went up to the surface and down to the bottom frequently in the space of what must have been an hour or more and still he had managed only to explore a small fraction of the wreckage. He had discovered the remains of an ancient ship, much of which was buried in the encroaching sand.

The object that had caught his eyes was a square, hinged door badly eroded and warped. He opened the hatch -- on the other side there was no sand but there was darkness. He wanted to go in but he did not have enough air left in his lungs.

He wasted more time getting to the surface but once there he made sure to fill his lungs with more than enough fresh air to last even longer than before. He had already made a mental not that for the next excursion he would bring the necessary gear for extended, underwater trips. He only hoped that the ocean would remain as calm and as agreeable as it was that day.

Liono dove and crawled into the submerged vessel -- that part of the vessel that the hatch opened to. Because of the pervasive darkness he was afraid that if the hatch fell and trapped him then he would be unable to find it again. He did not venture far from the entrance and with the light that poured from above he saw a bright and sparkling box on a worn and beaten table. He reached out to grab it but drew his hand back instantly.

He could have screamed and for the first time he panic.

But he had drawn back so fast that he was no longer under the hatch and he had to struggle with his fear to reach it again. His heart raced and he was dying for air. The large fish that he had aroused followed him on the way up and no sooner was he choking for breath on the surface of the water but he was struggling to swim back to the shore for it followed him effortlessly.

He could tell very little about the fish other than the fact that it was huge and dangerous. Its head was as large as his own chest, its mouth was wide and open in the most terrifying way. He did not see teeth, only two large barbs at the tip of its upper jaw.

He reached the sand and doubled over. He crawled on his hands and knees until he reached the safety of the gray rocks. Only then did he look back to see -- to see if that fish had followed him onto the land. That was when he panicked for the second time -- he looked down, his clothes were gone, the sword and the shield had also been taken.

Liono calmed himself enough to realize what he had to do. He called for the sword and waited. In a few moments he heard a familiar buzz in the air and then in his hands the sword placed itself.

"Sword of Omens, give me sight beyond sight, show me where the claw shield is, show me who’s taken my clothes --"

The sword reacted to his command and through the eye-holes that had formed in the hilt he saw what he needed to know. Without a further thought he ran through the trees of the wilderness -- the forest had come to life and the sounds of nature were everywhere, confounding and damping his oncoming approach. He knew by instinct where he had to go and he had to act fast.

When he was only feet from the scene he stopped. He wanted to be silent and stealth -- the sword was already fully extended and ready but he was afraid that the glimmer of the blade might give away his hidden position in the entangled mass of the undergrowth. Yet the trees obscured enough light to keep him safe in the shadows.

"Now! The bag, woman!" one of the thieves spoke sternly.

"Give us what we want and we might let you live," the accomplice said. He pointed a dull, metal piston at the woman’s face.

"You’ve had enough time --" the angrier robber darted across the leaf-covered earth.

Liono noticed that the strange man had his claw shield around his waist along with his clothes and his knapsack.

"That’s enough for you --" he jumped from the bushes and with the blade of the sword he swatted the weapon in two.

The woman, as if on cue, as if she knew what to do from the start, backed up soundlessly onto the brittle bark of a wide tree.

Liono elbowed the thief and knocked him to the ground. The man was not unconscious but in pain and he lumbered on all fours. The other thief was more of a challenge but he made a mistake by lunging at him -- he had been perfect otherwise, with quick, chaotic motion.

Meanwhile the man who Liono had knocked down was back on his feet and coming toward him from behind. At the last moment he dashed out of the way. The two thieves collided comically into each other. Liono ripped off the claw shield from the robber and the rest of what he had stolen fell to the ground. Satisfied he roared and the two men who where on their feet again scurried into the forest empty-handed.

He crouched to retrieve his items and then remembered the woman who then approached him.

"Hello," she said, "my name is Cressida."

"My name, my name is, Liono, I am the Lord of the, Thundercats."

"Yes, I know, I know about that. You saved my life," she said, she reached out and touched his tensed arm.

He was aware that he was naked and tried desperately to cover with his hands while at the same time holding the sword -- the rest of his stuff he let fall to the ground with a slight thud.

The woman took notice and looked. He was prepared for her to scream or to react but -- she smiled and did not blush --- "Silly, you don’t have to be ashamed." She tried to draw his hands back and away. "It’s not in your nature to be, covered."

"What, what do you know about that?"

"Well, you’re not exactly, human, are you?" She ran some of her fingers down the side of his exposed nipple to his waist. "I didn’t mean anything by that. You are different in that way, you have no inhibitions. I can tell that, don’t hide behind pretended morality." She hugged him. "You saved my life, Liono, the least I could do is --"

"Where you injured?" He asked, trying to change the subject. He drew back and crouched down softly to regain his clothes and such. The sword would not retract, it would not return to the shield.

"Those two only tried to steal this handbag of mine." She showed him the article. "Fools, inside I had herbs only."

"Not money? Then why didn’t you give it to them?" He reattached the shield onto his leg then arose with the crumpled clothes in his hands over his crotch.

"The medicines are rare and potent and dangerous and besides, I knew you would come." She approached him once more and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Come with me, you are tired and you need your rest."

She had let her hands drop, wander onto his hips.

Once again Liono stepped back further into the shadows. "You don’t have to --"

"I must, it is the least that I can do -- to take care of you. Are you hungry?"

"A little --" he had forgotten about the sandwiches.

She could tell that he was nervous by the intense glare in his eyes. "I don’t want you to be nervous, you have nothing to be nervous about. You are strong," she ran her hands down his heaving chest onto his sword -- that he had managed to secure in the claw shield nonetheless even though fully extended. "You are very beautiful."

"Thank, thank you --"

"Do you know how beautiful your body is?" She took his hands into her own and spread them away from between his legs. She pressed her body up against his and kissed him.

"Cressida." Liono did not know what to do. He heard her ask if he wanted to come with her, he nodded, he may have spoken but memory was all a blur. It had all happened quickly.

She was so beautiful that she could affect even the trees, the rocks. Those deep eyes, those watery eyes. The way her long hair covered her cheek. The way her body was sculpted -- she was nothing like Cheetara, she was not even like Willa or Nayda. She was a goddess incarnate and she commanded his every intimate attention.

He stopped her while the two walked over a clear trail through the woods toward the sound of rushing water. He looked into her and gave her a kiss. "I should have done that earlier, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you feel --"

"No, you don’t have to apologize for anything. This is knew to you and I know that it must frighten you a little." She kissed him back and ran her fingers down his cheek to rub him under his chin.

He looked up and around though the very leaves of the trees, the blades of grass, the buds of bloomed flowers, though even the rocks had eyes pressed against his flesh, watching what he was doing everywhere forever in that surrounding wilderness.

"Will those two be back?"

She smiled once more: "No, they will not return."

Her cabin was built from aged, firm and sturdy hardwood in the edge of a peaceful and silent clearing in the heart of the forest. Everything everywhere in sight was dwarfed beyond the power of words by the immense stature of the surrounding trees whose branches did not begin until about twenty feet above the ground. Dense bushes and hedges lined the shadowy earth next to the house in neat rows -- brightly colored berries dotted the vines that grew within them. A stream flowed across the side of the small house and widened into a small pond around whose rim shrubs and plants from a well-organized garden grew over and into and spread thin, green leaves across the rippled, sparkled surface.

She led him to the pond of clear, cool water.

"Why don’t you take a dip and wash that salt water from your fur."

He nodded -- she had taken with her his clothes and knapsack. He put the sword and the shield on the ground and treaded into the water, into the deeper parts of the lake. The cool, misty pond was greatly invigorating.

"Wait," he said under his breath, "wait. I didn’t tell her I was in the ocean -- or how could she tell?"

He was confused a little then left the water. He shivered but she was there already with a warm towel to dry him. She wrapped him around her arms again.

"There, there, does it feel better?"

"I’m not ashamed to be around you but --"

She pressed her fingers upon his lips to silence him: "Kiss me."

After several hours it was well past noon and the sun was no longer visible through the impenetrable wall of the tops of the trees. The sky was still bright but the rest of the land had acome to the cold shadow of the early evening.

Liono was in the cabin -- the two had spent most of the time picking the ripened berries from the bushes and talking. Talking. She was a wealth of information and had done much to answer the looming questions he had tried alone to silence in his mind. Questions about what had happened to his body, about what he had been feeling. Why he was so alone, why the others treated him different. She had opened his eyes much to his relief and to his horror.

He was seated on the wooden floor in the main room where the stone and water sink were visible in the background. She sat herself next to him, behind him, around him. She let her hand fall upon him and tried to him but he reluctantly took it away. She had not touched him so overtly before, no one ever had.

"Cassandra --"

She put her hand there once more.

"I have to --" he drew it away once more but he took a while longer that time.

She petted him and then cupped him and that time he did nothing and said nothing in protest. That was when he noticed that she was naked too. He turned to face her and she let him, guided him to return the favors.

She helped him fall back gently onto the floor and she got on top of him.

"You have to leave, it’s your way, it’s your nature to," she spoke into his ear.

"I’ll come back, I’ll come back again."

She ran her hand down his disheveled mane. She kissed him deeply on the lips and spoke softly, so softly under her breath that even Liono could not hear her though her lips were merely inches from his ears. She slipped from his embrace and receded into the cold darkness of the cabin interior.

He could not see her anymore -- the lights, the fires had extinguished and there was silence absolute. Not the slightest hint of motion was perceptible. He stood and walked to the open door in confusion. He found his clothes and his knapsack on the ground just outside the door along with his shield and his sword that had only then realized and shriveled.

He stepped through the bushes next to the pond and looked behind. The cabin door was shut but he had no recollection of closing or of hearing it close. Overall, too, he noticed that the clearing had also changed. The house, the gardens had the undeniable look of decrepit, unkept decay.

Liono trekked through the wilderness in the twilight of dusk. The sun was only moments away from sinking under the distant horizon for the night. The horizon -- it was completely and totally invisible and obscured by the massive, gigantic trees of the forest.

She was on his mind -- he was still admiring her, her supple figure, her soft, silk skin. The way his fur rubbed against her flesh, that more than anything he could not ever forget. She seemed so fragile and so vulnerable that he felt so guilty for having done that to her -- though it was at her insistence and at her direction -- he felt he had taken advantage of her and hoped he had not done anything to hurt her.

He was determined to go back to her, yes, he would see her again and be more gentle that next time. He was so enthralled in the spell of that mysterious woman that not once did it occur to him to stop and put on his clothes.

He reached Cat’s Lair after two hours. The bridge was extended and waited for him. The front doors he opened and entered into the lobby. He was oblivious to the time, oblivious to the fact that the rest of the Thundercats were in the room, too, eagerly awaiting his return so that dinner could begin.

It was Tygra who shook him out of the ethereal trance the moment he was entirely within the building. "Liono? Liono? You look spooked, what is it?"

The two men had stopped under the glow of hanging, swinging lamp. Liono, whose eyes were unfocused in the distance, turned to face Tygra with the most spaced-out, zoned-out countenance.

WileyKit began to giggle although she and her brother tried hard to stop it.

Once again he was brought back to reality and looked down upon his nakedness and gasped. He tried to hide it but in vain. He turned quickly and darted into a side passage without a word. He ran up to his room and slammed the door shut behind him in the torrent of a storm of rage.

Tygra knocked on the door once or twice. "Liono? Liono? What is it?" He stopped -- silence, no answer. He knocked once more. The door opened the instant his knuckles contacted the metal body. He was nervous and afraid and did not know what do to so he waited for a moment.

The tiger swung the door back and entered. Liono’s room was in darkness -- the only light came from the bathroom in the back. He could not see his lord at first until he was up next to one of the windows. He felt a warmth and looked to his right.

"Liono."

"Tygra."

Liono was in the shadows but clothed. He looked angry and Tygra backed away some. "What’s wrong?"

"There are going to be a few changes around here," he began.

"What sort of changes?"

He snarled: "You’ll know when it’s your business to know. I am the Lord of the Thundercats around here, don’t tread on me."

"I would never presume --"

"Oh, wouldn’t you."

Tygra paused -- he had sensed the tension growing in Liono for weeks but had never expected that his friend would act out the way he did just then.

"I don’t want to hear it, I don’t want to see you again today, tomorrow, not ever -- no workouts, no exams!"

"Something has happened to you." He stepped forward and tried to hold onto Liono’s shoulders.

"I said don’t touch me. You should be glad I don’t tell the others what you’ve done to me in those, exams."

Tygra could not believe what he was hearing. "What did I do to you? Measured your weight, your high. I took readings of your heart --

"You know perfectly well what you’ve done to me!"

"You’ve always loved that, you’ve always wanted to play with the stethoscope. You said you never wanted that to change." He looked down onto his outstretched hands, his empty hands. He knew sooner or later that that phase would come, but so soon, but so violently.

Liono shook his head. He tried to cover his eyes with his fists. "No, no, no! You know what you were doing."

Tygra was about to cry. "What happened to you, Liono?" His voice was weak, it was hardly above a whisper.

Liono was beginning to cry and, enraged, he shouted: "Enough! I must be strong now, I am an adult, now, no." He stopped, he tried to reach out to Tygra, who was then on his knees shaking, his head wrapped in his arms but he went no farther. "Go! Go."

Alone, he stormed around his room and took out his rage on anything and everything in his sight. He shouted and he screamed, not curses, not words any longer but the guttural expressions of anger and guilt. He regretted what he did to the noble tiger even though he knew, even though he was convinced that he was in the right -- but he did not want to hurt anyone.

With the aid of the sword he saw that Tygra was in his own room, huddled in bed, in pain. The rest of the Thundercats remained below. Dinner had not been memorable and they found that their stomachs were filled quite quickly. The adults tried to busy themselves in work, in silence, the children and Snarf tried to play games to divert attention.

Liono had calmed considerably. He had sat himself down on the corner and looked around -- his room had become just like her cabin. Dark and murky and above all mysterious.

He had cried his eyes out and now he was hungry. He was determined to grab even a small bite but before that he wanted to see Tygra. He had to see Tygra. Tygra.

He stood and walked to the door and was about to open it when he stopped -- he saw his arm, he saw the exposed skin of his arm and drew back his hands from the light.

In the large mirror of the bathroom he saw himself entirely. He was clothed but bare. His flesh showed even under the blue outfit. It was too tight, it was too formfitting. He needed something looser, something that would cover him completely, something so that not one muscle could be seen by those eyes, those horrible eyes.

He rummaged through his closets and through his drawers but he found nothing that would do what he wanted.

He remembered something, vaguely and ran down into the garage. Panthro was there -- he took notice of Liono’s presence immediately but said nothing except for a singular growl. The panther was not exactly pleased to see him and continued with his welding. The sounds of the metalwork drowned out the noises that had echoed from within Cat’s Lair.

Liono found an outfit in a utility closet, a smock that would do the job nicely. Back in his bathroom he changed into the full-body coverall, black and dense. His arms were covered to the wrists, his legs were covered to the ankles. Baggy and loose and no detail of his body could be seen through its numerous folds of plastic fabric.

He smiled his work to see -- and then he noticed something else, something new. Slight and imperceptible and yet he saw it. It had formed very recently but he dismissed it and went on.

Liono was on his way to see Tygra when he stumbled upon Cheetara. She was nude and he stopped cold. Awkward silence followed -- no, no, there was no silence. She was speaking but he did not hear her over his bulging rage. He uttered, having cut her off mid-sentence: "Put clothes on this instant. What? What? What do you think this place is? I’ll not have fully-formed adults run around, naked."

She was stunned silent, her mouth was gaped open.

"Get out of my face, now and put clothes on woman! No one, ever, no one is to ever go around naked in this place, in any place, near me, around me, away from me. I don’t care about Thundera, I don’t care about how things were done over there! It doesn’t exist anymore, can’t you see it? It doesn’t exist!"

He stumbled upon his knees and wrapped his arms around his head. She backed away, further away into the hall.

"What is wrong with you all? Why can’t you all be normal again?"

"I’m sorry, Liono, I thought it would make you feel better."

"I’ll decide what makes me feel better. Your games were never for me to feel better -- how you enjoyed teasing me. But you’ll never do that to me again, I don’t need your, your, --" he ran back to his room and barricaded himself within.

Though the climate cooled things continued to be tense in Cat’s Lair for the rest of the week before Liono returned to her cabin. Moody and irritable, he began the gradual and unstoppable process of distancing himself from the others. He no longer appeared at the dinner table, instead he ate alone in his room. He no longer talked, rather, he barked orders. Only Snarf could still approach him with impunity, he could go in to or out of his presence freely but he was afraid.

Snarf was assigned the task of creating new, full-bodied uniforms for himself and for the other Thundercats.

Liono’s official duties began to suffer. His relationships began to wane, except with her. He gave no notice to Cheetara who had retreated without struggle and spent most of her time with the kittens who had also been alienated. Panthro withdrew to his work that he had kick up in the ensuing weeks.

He tried to apologize to Tygra but no words could come out. In the course of time, though, there had formed a new, silent understanding between them that to the others seemed cold and antiseptic. The tiger was still very much saddened and depressed but of all of the Thundercats he continued to trust the young lord, he continued to believe that Liono would grow out of that strangely rebellious phase soon.

For a while he showed up for his regular exams but the interaction was different, impersonal. He saw sadness in his friend’s eye and tried to reach out to him but Tygra was withdrawn -- he, too, had distanced himself rather than be hurt so deeply once more. Then Liono missed one appointment and then another and when he did come on that third try his friend was not there and did not return there anymore afterwards.

He grabbed his chart from a cabinet and thumbed through the pages. The earliest entries dated back to when he was seven and was back on Thundera. The notes were elaborate and exquisitely detailed -- Tygra had paid attention to him, in a loving, paternal manner that persisted until that terrible day. From then on there were dates and numbers, there was nothing else, all previous care had been lost and in the final entry only the first two digits of his weight were written -- he had broken away completely by then.

He stopped going to the examination room or to the workout room but that thing he had noticed on himself was still there, still there and had even grown more visible and more acute.

"You are so tense," she said.

He was naked on her bed, she was behind him, massaging his back.

"There, there, that’s it. Doesn’t that feel better?"

Liono moaned softly. "Yes, you always know what to do." He turned around, her hair was longer than the list time he had seen her. He drew it back like a veil to reveal her face and her bare breasts. He kissed her exposed flesh and then looked into her vibrant eyes. He hugged her tightly. "You are so beautiful, Cressida."

Yes, she was very beautiful -- and young. Each week that he saw her she seemed to have become younger and younger. The clearing, too, had become trimmed and well kept and infused with a new life and respondent vigor. The flower’s zealous colors, the bushes strong and firm, the small pond with bright and pleasant fish -- the whole place had come to life magically.

He took her hand and pressed it against his flesh but that time it was she who drew back.

"No, not now, not now Liono."

"But I’ve come all this way --"

"I know. I knew you’d come back to me," he had once a week for nearly six months, "but is has to be tomorrow."

"Why?"

"Oh, because you know how special if feels, Liono," she petted him across the face, rubbed him under the chin, "it would not be the same anymore, it would not be as pure or as intense. Trust me that I know what’s right."

He kissed her on the lips. "You are very special to me."

"Any you to me. Come. We can kiss."

"Can we sleep in the same bed?"

"If you promise you won’t touch, or force yourself --"

"I would never do that to you, I would never hurt you."

The two remained on the bed in cuddled closeness while the night passed in the wilderness outside. He had come to her in the middle of the night, far, far earlier than ever before. He knew that the others were concerned about where he would go off to every week, especially since he told no one. Snarf had threatened to follow him if he did not say just where he was going so he left in the middle of the night while everyone else was still asleep.

Liono awoke first the morning and was deadly tired. He looked at his hands -- his skin was wrinkled, his fingers were gnarled and bent though in an attack of arthritis. His legs were sore and stiff and his body ached everywhere. She awoke second ever so vibrant, ever so full of life.

She pulled back the sheets and exposed them both. She had to help him out of bed. She had his hands in her own and he looked at them in wonder. It used to be that their hands were about the same size, that their fingers were about equal but in the clear daylight the broke through bare, open windows he saw that her hands had shrunk a little, that her fingers were not as long as they used to be. Her body, too, had become smaller, her breasts were especially less developed. It used to be that he could hardly cup one with both hands but now with one hand alone he could completely cover her.

She had moved away from him and was already at the door. He struggled on his lazy feet to try to come to her. "Hey, are you exhausted kitty-Kat? Oh, Liono, I want you well rested for tonight."

"Tonight?"

"Tonight will be extra-special."

He treaded past the small pile where he had left his unformed and when he had arrived hours before. She walked him to the cool, flowing waters. The two sat in the pond while fish swam close to them and tickled them.

He giggled, his strength had returned to him. He grabbed her and secured her between his legs gingerly while she, too, laughed in amusement. She liked to laugh like that -- always, but especially while he pleasured her, always but especially around the time that the sword would roar.

Of course he did not understand, why the sword was always extended in her presence, why it always growled in their most intimate moments. It must have been too much a distraction for her, he reasoned and that must have been why she was nervous around his weapon. In any case, he kept it wrapped tightly in his clothes away from her and the cabin -- he did not need those things around her.

"No, Liono, not yet, not yet."

"All right, but it’s so hard, to stay away."

"Oh, you men!" She giggled and kissed him on the lips then broke from his light hold.

Liono remembered something while being in the water. Yes, he had completely forgotten about the ship, about what he had seen in it. He recalled that he had told himself that he would go back but had in the meanwhile become so enthralled and captive to her that he had --

"Cressida, I’m sorry but there’s something I have to do."

"You are going so soon?"

"I have to do something that I’ve been putting off for too long. I will be back, I always come back."

The two were out of the pond by then when she said: "You don’t have to worry, I know you’ll keep your word, just don’t touch, don’t do anything --"

He smiled and held her in an embrace while he whispered into her ear: "I always do what you tell me."

Liono clothed himself and, reinvigorated, he ran to Cat’s Lair in only ninety minutes. He could have gotten there faster but he did not want to exhaust himself after that dreadful morning. He came upon his home and he found to his horror that the bridge was no extended. He shouted, he called, he yelled the Thundercats by name but there was silence, there was no response to his frantic call.

"Damn you all!" he said while he kicked up dirt in disgust. "I came back for this? I came back this!"

He stopped and sat and waited for almost a half hour alternating between anger and sadness. He broke into tears and then stomped back toward the wilderness. If he had not been as emotional, if he had not been as irrational he would have seen that -- no, no, he would have never noticed it anyway.

He reached the ocean and ripped off his clothes, he literally tore them to sunders. He had given up -- he did not need them, any of them anymore. Dare to rebel against him? -- he would teach them.

"I bet Tygra’s responsible."

He dove into the water and began to swim to where he remembered the wreckage had been. He did not have the apparatus that he had intended to bring on the trip from Cat’s Lair so he had to act fast, clear and concisely. He popped up onto the surface five times until he found the wood of the hatch -- it had broken and the pieces were scattered on the flat sea bottom. Inside the ship was still dark and before he entered he looked up -- the ocean was far more active and far more dangerous than it had been that fateful day.

With his lungs full of fresh air he stormed into the submerged chamber. He could not see the terrible fish but he could make out more details than before once he was calm and collected. He saw that in the back there were two doors, one that was shut, one that had broken off and lay in shards on the floor. That opening led to a hall that wound out into other, deeper parts of the ship that were perhaps still intact. At the moment he did not have the ability to explore any further so he concentrated his efforts on the room he was in.

The table was still there but it leaned to side -- apparently it had been slightly damaged from the scuffle ha had had with the fish. Upon it was a small, metal box. It shined in yellow although most of it was corroded and had amassed thick mineral deposits on its six faces.

He grabbed it and surfaced immediately. Upon the shore by the rocks he opened it to reveal jewels, pearls, rings, diamonds, coins of gold and silver. It was a treasure trove of wealth and he wondered how much more there was still in that ship just buried under mere inches of sand. He was very pleased with himself.

Naked and drenched, he kept the box under his arm and began to walk into the forest. The Sword of Omens and the scraps of his clothes he left on the rocks to rot -- yes, he would teach them a lessen they would not soon forget. He took one last look -- and he was perplexed for a moment because he saw that there were more imprints on the sand, more footprints that he knew he did not produce.

"Perhaps someone’s been here, perhaps Cressida been around. She doesn’t live so far, yes, she probably saw me dunk in the water. Won’t she be surprised."

Liono hiked to the clearing. It was already well past noon. He had wasted four hours going to and from Cat’s Lair and he was still upset at the matter but was satisfied because -- he would his way. No mater what he would have his way. If the rest of the Thundercats wanted to play like that he would show them.

She greeted him cheerfully while she picked the fresh berries from the bushes -- it was present for later. He put the box down where she could not see it and went to her side. He rubbed his body against hers -- he was dry once again and she did not mind.

"Where are you clothes, your sword?"

"I don’t need those things anymore. I want to be with you forever."

"Oh, Liono --"

The two pricked the ripened fruit from the vines until all the baskets were full to the rim. He helped her bring the foodstuff into the cabin. It was odd, he thought, for he had never seen her eat -- indeed, all the food he had ever seen her cook was for him only.

He remembered the box and before he showed it to her he removed one of the items and while she was in the kitchen preparing a meal for him he wrapped his arms around her and showed it to her --

"Where did you find this?" she said. She had the ring in her hands examining the diamond that sparkled in the dying light.

"That’s where I went today. There’s a ship wrecked in the sands offshore the beach. I found it by accident a few months back and I’ve been meaning to take another look all this time. Today I went back and I found a whole box of treasures."

He showed her the box -- by then the ring was firmly around her finger.

"It’s for you, it’s all for you," he said while he clothed her with his body.

"You are my greatest treasure."

Closely in contact, intimately in contact he felt weak again. His skin, his muscles had become loose and flimsy. His body was not as tight or as built as it had been even that morning. Wrinkles had formed on him everywhere, and was worse, far worse than what he had noticed so many weeks ago. He flexed his hands and his fingers -- the grinding of bones and joints made a sound that was incredibly audible. He looked down at her -- she was no longer at his eye level, her head barely rose above his shoulders and her lips were around his nipples.

The ring came off her finger and was sent down to the dark, wooden floor, spiraling to a stop, shimmering in the dimming glare of the sun from the open, cabin door.

"We must do it now," she said, in a voice so keen and so young that for a moment he was reminded of WileyKit.

"Now?" his voice came out old and frail.

"Come to the bed --"

"I don’t think I can make it."

"Then here, then here on the floor."

She dragged him to clear part of the hardwood and lay him down on his back. He was aroused and his breathing was heavy -- unnaturally heavy. It was a labor that was too intense, too difficult.

She got on top of him: "I’ll do the work, you just stay there and enjoy," she whispered into his ear and kissed him.

From no where, from the thin air came a distinct and familiar growl. She looked to the open door -- he had not noticed, he was too enthralled in ecstasy, too weak to notice. She stopped and screamed. The Sword of Omens was in the cabin, extended, the eye was opened and roared. The weapon was in the air, hovering in the air -- it moved in determined strides to her.

Another growl came from the spectacle but it was not from the sword, it was from elsewhere, disembodied.

A sound of rushing came but it was drowned by Liono’s violent moaning and uncontrolled panting. The sword struck her in the chest and pushed her off of his frail, old body. The sword was firm in her body and blood squirted into the air.

Liono erupted in vehement pleasure, his seed wasted on the earth. His body quaked and shivered violently -- he was exhausted beyond bearing and contorted in dire pain, in the throws of death.

The sword was withdrawn from her and immediately she transformed -- she, too, was at that point of death. She no longer had the power to keep the falsity of the veneer of her image. A bright, blue light flashed and was followed by the revelation of her true from.

Tygra, no longer invisible, let the sword fall on the floor with a heavy thud -- it was not extended anymore and the eye was closed shut. He knelt down next to Liono, lifted up his upper body and tried to help him catch his breath.

The youth was stunned, he had no idea what had just happened.

"Tygra --"

"Don’t speak, don’t waste your energy." Though his voice was stern his face gave away the utter fear and sadness he felt.

Liono saw what was left of her. "Cressida?" She was not a ‘she’, not a ‘he’ either. It was a thing. Gray, wrinkled, the skin had the texture and consistency of an elephant’s. It had no head, it had no real head. The upper parts of the body was a featureless cone from which two arms budded out to the side. The face was down between the thick, gruesome legs. The eyes are almost invisible under the folds of blubbery skin. The nose was not there and the mouth was a vertical slit from which a thin, pointed tongue whipped snakelike in the air.

The rent Tygra had made had caused internal organs to spill out along with the squirting blood. It was still alive, if such was the word and steadily began to crawl to Liono. The tiger kicked it back once with his foot and hit the legs of chair and stopped moving though its arms and legs quivered. The force of the impact was so strong that it had collapsed into itself in a soundless implosion. In seconds it transformed once more -- into a mound of dust that the gentlest breeze swept away to reveal roaches and worms crawling through the putrefied remains.

"The pond," Liono said under his breath, "take me to the pond."

Tygra lifted him off the ground. Outside, the cold water had lost most of its healing powers but Liono managed to regain enough strength to speak.

"I am so sorry, Tygra, I never should have, snapped at you. You never did anything to me, I --"

"That’s all right, Liono, I understand, I forgive you."

"No, but I can’t. I have to make peace somehow. I had imagined and convinced myself that you had done things to me, that you and the others didn’t like me because, somehow, I had to explain why I felt the way I did."

Tygra was in the water with him and not invisible -- he was so worried and afraid that he had forgotten his own limitation. "One moment you were a child and then your body grew into an adult. All but your mind. You had no way to cope. The fault was ours for not knowing. You were just acting out in that foolish way that teenagers do. We were selfish to think you would not go through that but, we were wrong, we should have seen that."

"Does Cheetara hate me?"

"No one hates you."

"I never wanted to hurt anybody."

"I know." He kissed him on the cheek. "I know. You were my little boy for a time --"

"How did you know?" Liono looked up at him.

"We all saw how you were aging and I knew that there was something wrong. That thing --"

"Cressida. She was getting younger."

"She? You mean you saw a woman?"

"Didn’t you?"

"No, I saw that thing -- it must have been fooling you."

Liono nodded, weakly.

"It fed off your youth and vigor and now I must find a way to restore you." He looked down on his dear friend. His eyes were shut. "I’m going to make it better, I’m going to save you, Liono." But Liono had stopped breathing. "No! No! Survive, by Jagga, don’t die on me! Liono!"

Liono was cold and his body shriveled before him into a sack of bones that themselves withered into dust that was swept in the currents of the stream, into the winding, spreading foam of the pond until at length Tygra held nothing in his arms but water.

"Liono!"