I've tried to do it for more than three years ago. I bravely battled with this idea for almost two weeks, but the resulting crawled to lick wounds. I was not able to realize this image.

This does not mean that I gave this drawing. Now, with a new experience, I was able to make a sketch of a sculpture and is now better see this image. Maybe I'll finish this sculpture. Or I'll do anew, but increased for the convenience of detail.

And I will definitely make this picture. Even if it will not happen soon.

About this plot:

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Battles with lionars
Once every 6-7 years priests must face a trial with fight. It's a one-on-one battle with a specially trained lionar. It's a very old tradition, that remained unchanged even during the period of blossom of civilization. The key idea is “if you're ready to kill, be ready to die as well”. With a rise of a priest institute, a necessity to somehow hold priests down appeared. Under normal circumstances a priest kills a helpless victim that is not capable of showing resistance. Even the most sensitive hayns with time start feeling permissiveness, impunity. A trained killer who is able to paralyse enemy's will soon can become a thread to society.

A legend says that once a priest, blinded by power and permissiveness, took control over his aros by force and was ruling it in a very cruel way. He was killing his tribesman for absolutely insignificant reasons, only so that he could see death again and again. Hayns weren't able to do anything to stop him- a priest was very powerful and could control dozens of enemies. In the end he was challenged by a lionar who had a unique ability to resist the mind-control. In a fair fight lionar managed to kill the hayn, but got heavily wounded and died a week later.

It's not a completely true story about the origin of the ritual fights, but the event actually took place in history. It was one example of fall of an aros.

All in all even lionars need this kind of fights. The reason is simple: they, almost like real predators, hunt not only weak and dying creatures, but also not careful ones. As they are empaths, they also had to find a way to overcome a killer instinct and compassion towards victim. Lionars found a solution quite different form hayns': during the hunt or violent outbursts their minds went blank, affect state took over (hormone release blocked their consciousness and critical perception of reality). Sometimes lionar wouldn't even remember what happened, he would just regain consciousness and find himself next to a killed victim or an enemy. This method was working well on the “pre-intelligent” stage. However, with an evolution of their intellect it became a problem. A lionar during his rage outbursts was even capable of killing his relatives.

During the stage of intellectual growth, lionars became more and more concerned with their special ability and inability to control it. Situation got even worse, because their companions -hayns were not able to help even with the method of personality correction, because during the “pre-intellectual” period lionars developed an immunity to hayns' ways of deep mental influence.

The only way a lionar can gain control over affective state is to fight someone so close, that affection towards him is even stronger that physiology. Lionar who managed to stay in a 'conscious' state while killing somebody will gain a self-control power for the rest of his life. More than that, self-control skills can be passed to lionar's pride, though with a death of a 'carrier' others will lose the ability, because it doesn't get imprinted in their minds, but is there merely like a shadow. Therefore prides need constant 'feeding'. A lionar that survives a battle with a hayn becomes almost like a priest in his pride. He becomes the guardian of a vital quality.

A fight with a lionar is an extremely dangerous test for a priest, because every 3rd battle ends with a victory of a lionar. Weapon wise, priest is only allowed to use his dagger and as a defense- light leather armour. The first minute of the battle is crucial- if a priest does not manage to gravely wound an enemy, his chances to win become extremely low. Usually a priest is able to stab his enemy 2-3 times, before a beast throws him off. The only weak spot lionar has is a neck (a throat or a vein), therefore priest's stab must be strong and precise. Lionar's sides are protected by an armour, wounds to the stomach rarely have any effect (during the period of very advanced medicine that type of wounds were not even vital). A stab to the chest has very little effect as well, because priest's dagger is not long enough to reach lionar's heart.

Usually a priest chooses a young lionar for the future battle himself. He then trains lionar for the battle and free, independent life in case of a victory. Their relationship is best described as a 'master and apprentice' type relationship, though both of them realize that sooner or later they will have to fight each other to death. 'Keeping distance' and remaining emotionally remote is impossible even for the most self-reserved hayns. Thought staying away from close companionship would be less painful for both sides, they still prefer to get to know each other. To get to know their death.

Lionar knows that there will be a battle since early childhood. A state of denial usually happens in the teenager period. A lionar has a choice to become close to his master or not to. Usually it's the two of them who decide that. Aros stays away from this relationship. Sometimes couples even fall apart for various reasons. In most of the cases, tough, a mutual interest in finding out who is going to be your death takes over. Your death has a face, a name, a personality and a soul. It has no hatred towards you. It has honesty and dignity. In a world where death can be a simple accident it's not the worst option.

A fight between a lionar and a priest is a great event for the aros. Feelings, emotions of warriors are felt by all members of the aros, it is a very strong emotional experience for them, a catharsis. In a perfect case, no matter who wins, a defeated warrior dies with a thought that his enemy deserves the victory, deserves to live. No desperation, no hatred or deadly feud. Sometimes dying ones also feel pity for their lives. As for the winner, he always has a feeling of a loss, grief (it is of a great importance to priests, as they have to kill often, almost on a daily basis and with time their emotions start to slowly disappear. The battle makes enormous emotional impact and helps them to become able to empathize with someone's death again). Strong affection is almost never an obstacle when it comes to the battle. It's also not very common to give up without a fight- that kind of victory is not publicly criticised, but is surely considered less honourable. Sometimes, though, one of the opponents yields in a non-obvious way. For a priest a death in a fight against a lionar is an honourable way of leaving his post, many like to use it. If a priest manages to survive 2 fights, he chooses a lionar for the 3rd one very carefully and trains him thoroughly, because a 3rd battle is usually the last battle for a priest.

Quite rarely happens that opponents are not able to begin a battle. Their affection towards each other is so strong that both of them become practically paralysed. If after 3 strikes of a gong the fight does not start then it's considered to be over. Opponents are no longer required to fight each other, however a trial is considered a failure for both of them. Lionar remains under priest's supervision and officially gains a status of a servant. For a priest, however, the fight is usually not over as he still has to face a trial0-usually a battle with another priest from the aros.

Despite the fact that hayns have almost non-developed religious feelings, during the period of blossom of civilization they considered lionars as gods. Even though hayns became more advanced than their 'gods' and learned to manipulate and control some lionars, instinctively they still feel dominance of lionars. That is the reason why a fight of a priest and a lionar has not very obvious sacral sense: lionar for a hayn seems like a god, a judge and jury, who decides whether a pries is worth his place or not.

It doesn't matter who wins the fight- he is equally a winner and a loser. Every victory is equally joyful and tragic. It is a denial of a personification of good and evil, destruction of a popular paradigm that “good always defeats evil”. As a matter of fact, in their societies this paradigm was never even formed. Their world is not divided into “black” and “white”. They don't have “good” and “bad”, “good” and “evil”... they only have two equally important lives, and that's how it always was.