1099.154 · June 3, 1222 BC
Release Into the Dark
Two years since Vikram's death. Andhakara is dying — no Earth connection, no trade leverage, no future. The remaining population prepares to scatter to other settlements. But what do you do with fifteen adult leopards and their cubs when there is no one left to feed them, no one left to guard them, and no way to take them where you're going?
The decision is not made lightly. For two years, the survivors of Andhakara have maintained the breeding programme through stubbornness and dwindling resources. The leopards are valuable — everyone knows this. But valuable to whom? No caravan can transport fifteen adult predators across the distances involved. No settlement will accept animals that killed Andhakara's last Guardian. And no one can afford to keep feeding creatures that consume more meat in a week than the remaining population can hunt in a month. The enclosures are opened at dusk. The leopards hesitate at first — generations of captivity have dulled but not erased their instincts. Then, one by one, they slip into the absolute darkness of a Clivilius night. They do not look back. They do not need to. Everything they require to survive is already inside them, waiting.
