Mar 19, 2023
To:Moon
Well, I never really thought about the target audience. Just as I stated in the Author's note, I adapted this story from my work on a writing contest for a roleplay forum. So besides the roleplayers, I never thought of an audience, I have to admit.
But for quite young readers? Well, I mean it's true that the protagonist is a five-year-old child and that the story takes the form of a child's tale in its structure, but with all this horrific atmosphere and all the corpses? Meh... Kinda too hardcore for them, no? 
So I guess it could rather be considered as an exercise since it's my first time trying a horror-themed story.
As for the predictable aspects... Well, I don't totally agree with that being a "flaw". Even if it's often said that short stories excel when their ending utterly surprise you, I don't think it is necessarily true all the time. I rather think (and maybe you can blame me for the fact that I didn't read *that* many stories and do not have as much hindsight as you have on that subject) that, long or short, a good story still is a good story as long it's well executed (not that I think mine is perfect on that regard, far from it), even if it doesn't totally surprise you. Sure, having a surprising ending for a short story is an excellent thing, and I admit I should have taken this decision since it's an original adaptation, not an OC's background story like it was in the contest I entered. And having a surprising story is an excellent thing to aim for. But I don't think it's an absolute necessity to craft an overall *good* story.
But well... Maybe I just (greatly) lack maturity on that matter 
As for your last remarks, well... I'm tempted to answer that Golden Star couldn't really do anything but try to run away. I mean, even with claws and tiger eyes, he's a five-year-old kid who can't even catch a civet. How well could he do against a full-grown, man-eating black panther who killed a quite big lot of humans? 
And as for Khamot, as she's a full-grown tigress and Rakshasa's a black panther... Even with its experience, Rakshasa couldn't really put up a fight. Leopards don't fare well against tigers, far from it, they get their ass completely whooped in no time 😆
That's what I was tempted to seriously say, but regarding some of my intentions and what I said earlier, I take that remark quite seriously for improving an eventual rewrite of that story, here or elsewhere. It worked well just as it was for telling a character's background, but it's true that as a pure standalone story, it deserved having more twists and giving Rakshasa some more "demonic" aspects to pose a threat even more terrifying than a simple man-eating leopard with a high killing count.
On that aspect, it's true that maybe I should have strayed away from real wildlife facts in order to get closer to the supernatural.
So yeah... Even if I don't agree with everything you said, I find your criticism quite relevant. I'll take it in account for an improvement of this story as well as for my other projects.
Anyway! With all that said (and sorry for the EXTREMELY long answer, but I had things to say!), thank you very much for your feedback throughout this story! 
