My Werepanther System: Starting with Nine Lives

Rex ran like hell. It seemed stupid in hindsight. A teenage human trying to outrun a god? Where to? Safety didn't exist as far as his eyes could see-- as acutely as his ears could ear. Every inch of the Panther's Domain was an extension of Tezcatlipoca.

The night sky twisted and raged overhead, reaching down with black starry lightning bolts to smite him. Where they hit, pockets of foul smelling purple fire bloomed in the green maze, turning the quiet jungle into a god-like hellzone.

"How is no one noticing this!?" Rex questioned as the warrior-god flipped overhead. 

He ran along the canopy of the green walls above on all fours, speeding ahead of Rex before teleporting right in front of him on the slim path.

"I told you to continue showing me your fight, not to shrivel inside yourself like a frozen sac!" The god spat a tidal wave of screaming shadows.

Rex jumped forty feet into the air and latched onto the wall of greenery. 

"Faster!" Tezcatlipoca pounced. 

Rex jumped again, landing on top of the Green wall to find a one hundred mile long maze had grown over the circles of river ways. In each corridor, small worlds of jungles, deserts, icy mountains and oceans spread In a way that made his brain throb.

A bolt of midnight lighting fell from the sky, blasting the green ten feet in front of him. 

He flew backward, fresh heat scalding his gem infused and tattooed chest. 

He landed back on the ground so hard he bounced.

Tezcatlipoca was beside him, realizing from Rex's own shadow. The god spun on all fours, sidekicking Rex so hard he ripped through the maze wall and bounced off the invisible barrier into the next level of the Panther's Domain..

Rex rolled like a tumbleweed through the jungle. Only he hit every tree, thorn bush and boulder in some way. 

When he opened his eyes again, he was back where he started. He could smell the purple fire spreading, threatening to swallow everything and kill him.

Thoughts of the absent Drift-Soldiers and people as a whole faded to the wayside as he scrambled.

He checked himself once for injuries only to find all the cuts scabbed over.

"Cats are supposed to land on their feet. It's important. It's what makes us king. There's no other species on this war-blessed Earth that is designed to stay standing-- EVEN WHEN TOLD TO FALL. Only us. Except you. How? How are you going to stand in the heat of war if you cant stand a little tumble?" 

As soon as the mad-god said war, the shadows twisted and solidified into primal warriors in conflict. They fought like they'd always been there, hacking each other apart with jade axes and stone tipped spears. Some wore feathered helms and others wore Jaguar pelts the size of men.

As Rex flipped and shoved his way through the violence, they shifted shapes. Sometimes their skin went darker and their language changed. Other times their pelts fell and changed to modern suits. They fought with guns, swords and signed papers in those moments.

He couldn't understand. Couldn't focus. 

His System said survive. 

"How the fuck do I survive this!?" Rex thought. 

Tezcatlipoca laughed from the trees.

It really was like a game.

The second he thought it, he realized something.

"This is a game." He stopped right as he escaped the war and entered the thicker jungle.

Tezcatlipoca landed on the other side of the battlefield. He was so tall, Rex could still see him on all fours if he turned to look.

He didn't have to.

The god was on the hunt.

Tezcatlipoca took off, ripping his way through the warzone like they were made of wet mud. Entrails and bone fragments flew all around him. He cackled and hissed, seemingly growing excited and more violent with Rex's realization.

It was a hunt. 

A hunt.

"That's the problem..... you said we're the same. Somehow. In some weird ass way. You're me and I'm you. So this shouldn't be a hunt, because I'm nobody's prey. You act like prey, you get ate. I learned that way before ever finding this power, so why am I running when I should be fighting? This is a war god, and as far as I can tell, he only speaks one language. Blood and guts."

The System screen message changed suddenly as it hovered in front of him.

[Fight Tezcatlipoca, The Cat-god of War]

He looked down at himself, hyperfocused to a point. So dialied in that time seemed to slow, allowing him to see how the hairs on his arms, chest and shoulders thickened. Not yet into fur, but thicker than any human hair. His muscles expanded, bringing with them bulging veins that flowed with fiery purple blood. The blood of the jungle.

His palms darkened with the rise of tough paw-like skin. His claws extended. In their reflection he saw the war-god lunging for his spine.

The winds whistled. His hairs stood on end. He spun and lunged low. With his cat-like agility fueled by pure adrenaline and the fresh power of feline transformation, he glided right beneath the war-god. So close he could see how fake the skin was.

As they moved against eachother, he let his claws run across the celestial hunters stomach.

As the wounds ripped open, starry night sky essence poured where blood was supposed to, turning his world into pure night seamlessly.