Silkroad

Intro

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  A MASSIVE PANTHERA ALTAICA— TIGER SIBERIA. Q. KHAN MALE SIBERIAN TIGER— ABLE TO SHIFT BETWEEN BIPEDAL AND QUADRUPEDAL STANCE.

  
  

  AVESTAN LEGEND NAMED THEM ARROWS; THE CHINESE, GOD-EMPERORS MARKED BY NAME BETWEEN THEIR EYES— THEY ARE CLASSIC MEGAFAUNA OF A HISTORY SPANNING FROZEN MANCHURIA TO EUROPE'S GATES; HUNTERS, HUNTED, ENDANGERED, REBORN. KHAN COMES FROM A BLOODLINE DEFORMED AND LONG DISPERSED (SO HE SAYS.) THERE IS NOT MUCH TO DISTINGUISH HIM FROM ANY OTHER OF HIS SPECIES SAVE FOR A NOTABLE RED TINT TO HIS STRIPES — — AND THE FACT THAT HE IS COMPLETELY FIREPROOF.

  
  

  HE STANDS TALLER THAN THE AVERAGE HUMAN, AND ON ALL FOURS PAST THE LENGTH OF A CART OR CARRIAGE. THE NAKED SILHOUETTE OF A BEAST CREATURE SLINKING FAST THROUGH THE REEDS, THE JUNGLE BENDS TO HIS FEET AND OUT CRIES AN ULULATION HOWLING, RIPPED STRAIGHT FROM THE THROATS OF PRIMATES; AND THERE IS BLOOD ON HIS HANDS; AND HIS SILK CARAPACE IS STAINED BRIGHT RED; AND HIS PREDATOR FACE, WITH ITS VIOLENT AMBITIONS, AND SUNK, IRON FANGS, TONGUE PURPLED FRESH FROM CARCASS— HAS THE DARK, WET EYES OF A MAN.

  
  

  THE DAMASCUS JUNGLE EXPLODES RED WITH VIOLENT STEEL, SHAKES OUT THE WORLD OF HIS FOUNDATION IN WHITE LEAD, AND MOLTEN SHOUT, SPRAYING BLACK THE GREY STORM ON HEELS THAT CATCH FIRE, WHOSE IRON TOLL SOUNDS DESPERATE OF SPRINTING HORSES; PEALS BLACK THE DRY EARTH AND SEEDS IT THICK WITH THE END— HOW ELSE DOES LIFE BEGIN AGAIN ? In life, he is a tailor, wearing finely articulated vestments and all manner fitting civilization. The voice in his neck fits him, and is accented; his gait is smooth. He flirts, he politicks, he speaks calm, sveltely, with ease. He is a hot-blooded, anvil-jawed wreck of a man in a chili red three-piece housing enough fur to drown someone, made of ghosts and I promise and forever's, a ring on one hand, a corsage pinned near another. The ocelli of his ears are dotted red. His eyes gaze back with the steadiness of certainty, and they a c h e with the sound of graves. There is something very lawless about him, though he plays by all rules and his buttons are neatly fastened. Something wild, and estranged from the culture masking him. LAY BARE THE NAKED THROAT BENEATH AN ANVIL GAZE, HEAR THE SCRAPE OF NAILS BLACKENED BY FROST AND WEAR; HEAR THE SILENCE OF THE JUNGLES AND HER VERDANT, SCREAMING EDEN; WEAR THE THICK FORESTS AND HER BLUE, SHADOWED FERNS AS STRIPES OVER YOUR SKIN. I HAD A PENCHANT FOR DEVOURING THINGS LARGER THAN YOU AND I-- THESE CLOTHES WERE NOT MEANT FOR ME, OR MY AGARTHA; THIS IS YOUR REALM-- TAKE CARE WHEN YOU TREAD DEEP INTO MINE. I WILL DEVOUR YOU, AS YOURS DEVOURED MINE.

  — THE JUNGLE BOOK — LIFE OF PI