The Feline Creature
Small translation of one of my old works. This one has a looooong backstory and a rather peculiar origin. I am very fond of it and I think the translation came down well (native English speakers and users at C2 level will tell me if it did).
Anyways, hope you give me your opinions on it!
The feline creature was conceited and, one evening, while staring at his reflection on the still seas, he started to think about his magnificence.
He was the wind and the breeze which shook the foliage with its swift touch; he was the goshawk and the eagle which nested on the highest heights and attacked from the treetops; he was fish and lizard for he swam on the muddy rivers and killed from the underneath; he was sun and he was moon, as he could see even on the darkest of nights and hunt on the sunniest of days. The only bringers of death were hunger, disease, time and other felids, and he, the brightest and wisest of them all, had overcome three of those four foes.
He defeated hunger by following the very same instincts all animals have: by eating off the corpses of those he had hunted; disease, by following the conventional wisdom his mother had passed down onto him before weaning him: keeping his stomach full, his mind clear, his muscles stretched and his fur vibrant; his peers, simply by consequence of his supremacy, claw-wise and intelligence-wise: he buried his claws in necks, sparked rivalries which ended in bloodbaths, betrayed cats whom he had sworn to aid and bit necks treacherously. Now, he was the only one. Only time could put an end to him, and, for that to happen, many moons would have to pass.
For this monumental achievement, he had paid with blood, pain... and silence, that deafening silence. His roar was the sole one, now, and, even though that meant there was no force which could be compared to his, it also symbolized how empty the world was.
Most of the time, said absence of sound didn't keep him awake at night. He was already used to it. Felines often steered clear from each other, and only came close to one another either to fight over territorial disputes, to pierce each other with claws and fangs for the mere pleasure of it or to mate. Exceptions occurred, though. There were felines with more benign intentions who would approach others to forge alliances, or simply to enjoy another's company. The feline creature met a few of these oddities during his vanquish of death, and, although he thought they were strange and impaired, he did find them somewhat amiable. He almost felt bad for killing them.
The very little nostalgia he had for the cacophony of roars and the gentle conversation was nothing compared to the vainglory of having the entire land for himself. A new world. A world built by him. A world where the apex species, where the ruler of all things, was him.