Portal of the Tigress: Unicorn Odyssey, #1

By C.J. May

Trickster Luos, son of the all-goddess Tigressa, doesn't make the rules... but he knows how to twist them. In the palace of the gods, it's all fun and games--except when the mortals get hurt.

 

Because of the way his mother runs the universe, he longs for a different life. Under her iron claws, all creation is treated like livestock. His heart aches for change. Yet there hasn't been a way out until now...

Meanwhile, Alice and her wife-to-be are hunting for an escape on their dying planet. When a mysterious monster appears and whisks them away, they get more than they bargained for.

 

Portal of the Tigress is the opening short-story for the Unicorn Odyssey series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: C.J. May
• Release date: Dec 26, 2022
• ISBN: 9798215064191

C.J. May

C.J. May is a woman living in Arkansas with her cat, Butternubs. She loves dragons, unicorns, flying cats, and gryphons.

Book preview

Chapter 1

The Rainbow Knife

PALACE OF THE TIGER-GODS

Luos, Light-bearer of the world, knew one thing others did not—that shadow was faster than light. No matter how fast the rays of the light-candle went, no matter how proud and bright and hopeful they shined, the shadows would be there, ahead of them, infinitely quicker and mocking in their success. Then, when the light arrived, the shadows would displace themselves with grace and scatter to hide where they could. It was said light had always been at war with shadows, yet this was untrue. Shadows moved too quickly to even cross the light, so the two had hardly touched, let alone fought.

These thoughts, however, did not often run through his mind. He was not interested in hypothetical situations, in self-reflections, or in what-ifs. But today, he wondered. What if there were no more hypothetical situations? What if this is it really meant this was it?

Luos sat on his throne, twiddling his thumbs. The rich tapestry of his world whirled below him through the stars until he fell asleep. Eight hours later, right on cue, he snapped awake. He fumbled through the pockets of his robes, looking for the light-candle of the world. It was lost. Again.

He jumped up and dug around the edge of his throne, thinking he had dropped it. His claws poked and prodded the already-shredded remains of a cushion. When he turned around, a familiar blazing light greeted him, and he realized he had been sitting on it. Hopefully, everyone wouldn’t mind the late sunrise.

When the candle was lit, he lifted it high above him. The sun shone again, rising just over the horizon, as the stars blinked out for the day. Luos sighed and sagged back into his throne. Static from his multicolored robes sparked and tickled his fur.

Being a god surely was everything wonderful… except for the boredom. To whittle away what the mortals called ‘time,’ he became very active in his creation. For his amusement, Luos had helped the unicorns of his world gain freedom from the man-beasts. The unicorns had fought a terrifying war and had won. Luos had sent the man-beasts to another god’s realm. A million sunrises after that war, Luos was bored again and had incarnated himself in that realm for a little while. A thousand sunrises more, another war erupted. Then another. However, nothing could fill his bottomless boredom.

But the world was still a fantastic play to watch, however predictable. All his creatures woke and slept and woke and slept, and sometimes worked in between. They built bridges, stopped rivers, raised kingdoms, and, Luos’s favorite, prayed at temples. They sent him little gifts they called ‘sacrifices,’ which were really things that were already his to begin with, and they blessed babies, newlyweds and the dead in his name. In return, Luos fancied shocking them with the occasional eclipse or star-fall, a sign of his favor, and a couple times a year, no matter how good they had been, he would extinguish the light-candle for a couple days and laugh when they scurried around in panic. It was good sport and gave him something to watch on the boring days. If that wasn’t enough to entertain him, however, there were always wars to stop.

His mother, Tigressa, would scold him often, saying she had started the wars for a reason. He chewed over what his mother would say and what he could say or do back. Sadly though, each perfect scenario he planned never quite came out right when the time arrived. Today would be another one of those days, he was sure.

What could he say? Mother, I don’t want to be Light-bearer anymore; it’s terribly boring. What would she say?

He didn’t know, because he never had the gall to ask.

Luos slumped back into his throne and crossed