Bearclaw Valley those lions are coming, oh they're coming.

mama. a network of synapses sparked, awoken memories swirling like the receding face of unknowable galaxies. caiaphas' eyes flickered, registering that double syllable with the scarcest of movements.

for all of her holding these thoughts close, they faded -- like the vivid imagery of a dream, or water rushing between her clutched paws. merrick stood alongside her, but he was soon among the faceless many -- his tears gone to waste along the arctic snow.

caiaphas said no more. her energies had been spent in entirety. now came the total eclipsing of the soul -- the surrendering transcendence of herself to death.

when caiaphas rose again, it would not be her that walked this earth, but a shell. a planeswalker, here in body -- but the spirit had fled long ago.