Part V
As deities, the gods Life and Death lay claim to several symbols.
The sun and moon, respectively, are by far their most well known.
Perhaps one of the more obscure symbols to be associated with either deity, however, is that of the nightcat.
The famed beast, now considered extinct, carries with it its own legends.
Almost all of these are in some part related to the goddess of death.
Ancient depictions of the beast (a felid creature large enough for a grown man to ride) always take great pains to hide or obscure it rather than present it as a point of focus.
In the underground burial chambers of Saradier, paintings of familial gatherings and hunting patterns can be observed on three of the great walls.
On the fourth, just over the entrance to the mine, and thus unnoticed by any who first enter the tunnel, is the nightcat.
For generations the nightcat has thus been slipped into artwork: lurking amongst partygoers at a feast, crouching in the bushes during great warscapes or seen in the watery reflections of the moon on a lake near where two lovers make silent passion.
All are oblivious to the danger. All are oblivious to the quiet warning: death comes for us all whether we see it or not.
And the nightcat is always watching.
– Art History and Symbolism in the Modern Age,
by Faralhea d’Altas