FP- Release the Pantaurs

Pantaurs.  They fascinated elven Arch Mage Fedirre Sagenev to no end as he stood looking through the electric fence into their exhibit from high above.  They were without doubt one of the most dangerous, if not the very most in his own eyes, predators known in all of Felarya, and here they were put on display for all the public to awe at their beauty.  The blonde haired elf shook his head in dismay of the very idea of the creation of this exhibit.  They were all so foolish, blinded by greed; how could they not see what incredible creatures they were dealing with?

The big wigs in charge of this grand project of course knew that such awe inspiring gigantic creatures such as giant nagas and dridders would draw great deals of attention, but yet at the same time desired something more to shake up the mix and keep their audience hungry for more.  The answer to this had been blunt in their eyes- get a group of pack hunting predators rather than a single giant one.

To this end they had hired countless hunters, may the Elven Pantheon find peace for their poor souls, to collect their next exhibit of the mythical Felarya predators.  The pay for them was beyond ludicrously good, as it had been for anyone else suicidal enough to take on the task of kidnapping infant predators.  It was the only way he imagined the company could even hope to coerce so many stupid souls into willingly trying to kidnap infants from intelligent pack hunting predators.  All loses considered though he was impressed.  They had caught a decent variety of beautiful specimens totaling up to four and they were very graceful creatures including two leopards, Sylea and Sylva, a tigress, Kina and a striking black panther, Nossa, in stark contrast to the rest of them.  No two pantaurs belonged to the same pack but he expected as much even though it interfered with his research- it would have been a death sentence to visit the same pantaur family twice for the poor hunters.  

The pantaurs were hoped to be a prime exhibit, although the specimens they had captured were smaller.  Fedirre and a few other promising investors, like himself, had very clearly voiced their complaints of the original plans to house a whole pack of the gigantic sized variety, although they were in the minority.  He considered it suicide as is to even have any pack of pantaurs as it was; the company had flatly rejected the compromise of just a single pantaur.  Mentioning the pluses lowering the cost by having it be a slightly smaller exhibit to accommodate them was the only thing that had won them over.  The company had insisted they still be a fair size though, the park wasn't attracting customers for any old zoo- they would be coming for their giant attractions.  For a human, Jerald Watson had made very impressive enclosures to pen up the giant predators and hold back their considerable strength.  Their large corral housed many trees for the pantaurs to roam in to be comfortable, along with a stream and other features as some boulders to sunbathe on.  Visitors were able to watch them in safety from high above a steep concrete wall with more of the electric fencing blocking them off just to be safe; the pantaurs were extremely nimble and could jump very high.

The pantaurs had been taken as infants like the other exhibits and had been left only in the company of each other; deprived of contact and the chance to learn from their parents so the company could keep them from learning how to speak or think on their own- to be left as 'wild' as they could be.  The pantaur exhibit was a success in that regard at least, much to his own concern.  The park was a once in a lifetime opportunity to watch and document the behavior of the pantaurs among other giant predators as they grew up from infants, even if most of the predators did have human interference from their handlers.  Real field research on Felarya was a laughable profession, considered just as much a madman's job as cartography.

The only interaction the staff ever had with the pantaurs involved either a lockdown using enough sedative gas to put them all to sleep for medical inspections and exhibit maintenance or operating the machinery to release their food into the pen.  Human contact was entirely forbidden with them beyond the patrons or security watching them from high above.  They were still disciplined when needed, at a distance, for the mischievous cat hybrids had made a few attempts at testing their enclosure's endurance.  No one was truly willing to be handlers of an entire pack of giant predators.  The make shift group of pantaurs were incredibly playful with each other and were easy crowd pleasers with the various games they would play with each other.  They saw no need to ruin a good thing and the pantaurs seemed occupied with themselves as they were; in the end there was also no need to spend money to teach them tricks if they played and put on shows all on their own in their little world.  

The clever creatures seemed to quickly bond with one another and instinctually have formed their own pack, and what fascinated Fedirre even more, their own ways of communicating to one another despite the lack of contact.  They still couldn't talk in the sense of actual speech, much to management's relief when he informed them of it, and instead growled, purred or hissed at each other in varying ways instead having seen their human visitors talk with one another without meaning to their words.  The week he noticed the panther emit the same growls every time the underground gates opened to deposit their food he knew it was no coincidence.  They were such naturally intelligent beings, and yet he knew still so dangerous; he could never tire of watching them as he was writing their activities today to study over.

A sudden shadow crossed over his notepad and a drop of rain fell down on him, drawing away his attention away from watching Sylea and Sylva chasing each other through their exhibit.  He looked up seeing the suddenly darkened sky littered with black clouds and frowned, there had been no reports of a storm at all for today and it was just beginning to pour.  He couldn't afford to have his notebook ruined!  "Never trust the weatherman," he grumbled to himself, closing his notebook.  

He had barely taken two steps after turning around when he heard an incredibly loud boom accompanied by a brilliant flash of light that made him jump and several other guests cry out.  Thunderstorms on what was supposed to be a nice sunny day!?  Weatherman or not, he had never seen such a violent storm at the park before.  He tucked his book underneath his robes and made his way back to the main road as another bolt tore through the sky and he could have swore he heard something akin to an explosion behind the booming echo of the thunder.  The alarmed crowd began shouting, running in front of him looking for cover from the raging storm.  Fedirre thought this a good idea too and began to run along the main road for the closest building, he was not planning to stay around for whatever this was.  A wailing siren sounded shortly after, piercing the air.

"Evacuation. Would all guests please get to the nearest portal immediately. Would all staff please get to the nearest safe house unless required elsewhere. Evacuation."

That sent the crowd into outright panic.  Evacuation, what in the world is going on?  

---

Nossa sprang to her feet as the crackling bolt of light struck down, illuminating the sky.  She had never before seen such a sight and it worried her.  She snapped out of it though watching as her sisters had stopped their game and both had froze staring up into the sky.  She yowled, catching their attention, calling her sisters back to her and back under the cover of the large trees to which they gladly obeyed.

"Sylea.  Sylva," she carefully and quietly voiced to the two of them.  The two leopard pantaurs nodded, letting their pack leader know they were ok to her relief.  Nossa had watched the little creatures above pointing at each of them making those noises many times.  The little creatures made many strange sounds, but those names came up often, along with 'pantaur'.  She had found it fun to not use their names openly in front of the little creatures, except the lone one late at night.  He acted weird whenever they used them.  Unknown to her though the late night guard did not find it so fun as they only ever seemed to say their names in front of him, making his supervisors think he was crazy when they came to investigate.  It was one of their favorite games.  "Kina?"

The two looked around for a second before shaking their heads.  The two of them had not seen the last member of their pack that was missing.  Kina liked to wander off on her own a lot.  She was much harder to keep track of than her other two sisters who always played within her sight.  Just then another bolt and loud boom tore through the sky, making the three pantaurs reflexively crouch down again at the sudden occurrence.  Nossa looked up in time to see the little creatures running away from the fence, apparently as frightened as they were from the storm.  She felt an urge within her to chase after them, but stayed near her two sisters who needed her care.

A painful sound filled the air and was followed by more of the strange noises the creatures made, but far louder.  "Evacuation. Would all guests please get to the nearest portal immediately. Would all staff please get to the nearest safe house unless required elsewhere. Evacuation."

"Kina!" Sylva called out as the tigress came bounding out of the cover of the trees towards the steep concrete wall.  Nossa turned and ran after her, preparing to pounce on her and bring her back under safety from the raging storm.  Bad things happened when they tried to climb the walls or when they tried opening the doors that released the food into their home.  It was useless as Kina had a greater head start and jumped up the concrete wall, landing just short of where the fence was unsuccessfully.  When she slid back down Nossa was waiting and batted at her with one of her feline paws before dragging her back with the rest of their sisters.  Now the strange clouds would come and put them all to sleep again; it was never a pleasant feeling.

The four of them waited but nothing came from the small holes in the wall as it usually did.  Normally it didn't take long at all for the clouds to come when they acted up like that.  Nossa growled at her sisters to remain where they were as she went out and approached one of the fences nearest the wall.  She picked up one of the branches which had snapped off in the wind from the storm and tossed it at the fence, to which nothing happened.  She looked at the fence, puzzled.  The first few times the fence had shocked them they had thrown things at it in vengeance, which usually just made the things they threw also get shocked or catch on fire, and sometimes even the gas would come from the wall again.

Cautiously she slowly reached out with her hand and quickly touched the fence as her pack mates called out to her in protest, and again nothing happened.
She took the next step and grabbed onto the steel cabled fence and began to climb, eager to explore what was beyond their little world despite the danger of the storm.  Seeing Nossa safely climbing, the other three pantaurs also gave chase and began climbing up the fence after her.  It was not long until Nossa had climbed above the concrete wall and climbed over to the fence above it.  The little creatures were only ever seen on this side of their pen and she had to see where they came from.

The sight that greeted her drove her instincts into a frenzy- there were dozens more of the little creatures everywhere running in panic from the storm!  She just had to catch some of them.  She yowled at her pack to hurry and follow her; they wouldn't believe what they would find up over the fence.  In her excitement she began to climb faster, paying less caution and making a great deal of noise climbing up the now dead electric fencing.

Some of the creatures heard this and turned around to the terrifying sight of the giant predator climbing up over the fence.  "The pantaurs are loose!  Get to the portals!"  She heard one of them yell as she got over the fence.  That word again, she still was not sure what it meant.  The she spotted him as he turned around briefly, the blonde haired creature that seemed to watch them a lot.  She bound after him; this one would be her prize.