Rain poured down from the sky, drenching everything within sight, though the night tended to hide much of it. The forest around her was filled with all sorts of sights, sounds, and smells conjured up by the storm. Alexis knew this, as she ran heedlessly through the brush, yet it helped her near-panic not a whit. She had already seen something that defied any specter or demon made real in the storm.

She arrived at Big George, the largest tree her people knew of. There she paused, stopping to catch her breath underneath the mighty oak's broad-leaved branches. Though she knew it was futile, she nevertheless tried to shake her fur out after catching her breath some. Alexis really did it more to give her a chance to clear her mind a bit, as well as a chance to linger near the comfortingly large trunk of the great tree. Being a Gatón, a tiger-like anthropomorph, the tree was as comforting to her as wet fur was not.

The Gatón were a simple people, caring only for quiet living and living close to nature. Alexis was typical of her species, 1.3 meters high and weighing in at about 55 kilograms, she was hardly what anyone would call an outsider... At first glance, anyway, for Alexis had a curiosity larger than most of her people, which caused some dark jokes about her really being a Lupar in disguise. The comparisons to the other sentient race on the planet weren't always meant in good humor, especially since the wolf-like Lupar were far more violent and technologically inclined than the Gatón. They lived in large cities, and made war against each other and the Gatón, whenever the latter got in the way.

Alexis, unlike what the ill wishers would have believed, actually didn't mind the comparison so much. True, the Lupar were violent, but they had created wonderful works of art and science that made Alexis long to be able to visit one of their cities.

Which is what she was doing out this night, in the rain. Leaving her village just after sunset, she had hoped to walk through the forest and take a look at the new Lupar encampment that had been built by one of their city-states.

Alexis had been careful to sneak quietly towards the camp, using all of her learned and in-born stalking skills to arrive unnoticed by the Lupar, who were not always hospitable. She had hoped that it would be a chance to observe the Lupar, to learn some of their customs and activities, if at a distance.

She was disappointed when she got her first clear view of the site; spears and swords and armor of all types piled in orderly stacks. So, a military post? She thought. A pity. Of course, it gave her the chance to see what the Lupar thought was so great about fighting. Seldom had her own people bothered to wage anything more than the occasional raid against each other or the Lupar, and the thing called 'war' was almost alien to them.

So Alexis has sat in a tree, lazily lying on a thick branch and watching the Lupar go through the silly practices of moving in formation. The Gatón were always a free spirited bunch, and the orderly packs of the Lupar confused them almost as much as the organized fighting that took place between the latter's city-states.

Hardly any of this went through her mind, however, while she was huddling underneath the old oak tree in a storm that seemed to not abate in the slightest for the last few hours. What did go through her mind was the self-chastising that she foisted upon herself. She hadn't meant to fall asleep in that tree, but the orderly marching and soothing rhythm of the Lupar camp had lulled her to sleep.

Alexis had been awakened, along with the Lupar, by a horrendous noise that had echoed across the plains that stretched between the border of the forest and the far horizon, where the Lupar city of Tanzano sat, tantalizing Alexis in earlier trips to this spot.

At first, she thought the noise was thunder coming from the clouds that hung low in the sky. The rumbling had certainly seemed to come from above, and at the time she could have thought of no other reason for the noise. She was, of course, dead wrong.

The Lupar noticed it first, their senses apparently giving them a reason to arm themselves. She had been too preoccupied with watching them that she hardly noticed the sound had changed. It was no longer coming from the entire sky, but rather, a small part of the sky that now glowed, a if with the strength of the sun, though the sun, she knew, was far below the horizon. The sound had also become lower in pitch, and its source was clearly moving, following the patch of sky that glowed through the clouds as it moved to hover near the Lupar encampment.

Nothing in her life, or the lives of her ancestors, could possibly have prepared her for what she saw. Alexis simply could do nothing but stare, slack-jawed and limp-tailed as a great silver fire came out upside down from a large ball-shaped object broke through the thick rain clouds. The noise was terrific, but she couldn't move from her spot. She did, however, look at the Lupar encampment to see them equally transfixed at the sight of this improbable object.

The great sphere had come to rest on a ridge that gave some shelter to the Lupar encampment. The great fire died and the rumbling ceased along with the light from the bottom of the structure. Alexis didn't know how long it was, from the dying of the fire to the time the large door opened up on the side of the sphere and out walked a nightmare.

It was huge, like the giants of the oldest tales, and it strode with purpose towards the Lupar camp. The threatened storm had started in earnest by then, and the skin of the giant glinted in the flashes of lightning, almost like polished stone or metal. The giant frightened her, now that it appeared to not be made of flesh, but something else, which was made apparent by the fact that it had no hands, only large cylinders that seemed to make up its arms. Its legs were far too blocky as well, yet they seemed too thin to support the creature. Despite this, the giant walked easily and with a stride that bespoke power.

Power was, indeed, to be unleashed that night. In the downpour the Lupar charged the giant, though only at the orders of their officers. The ranks of soldiers rushed forward, seemingly invincible, even when faced with such a massive foe.

Alexis found out how wrong that assumption was. In the time it took her to change position to sitting-up on the branch, the Lupar had closed half the distance to the giant.

The giant didn't flinch, but instead unleashed its awesome power. From both of its arms came great gouts of flame that reached out to engulf the forward half of the Lupar force. Alexis stared in abject horror as she saw the bodies of the men burn, the unlucky ones still alive and writhing. The Lupar force, too, stood in shock, then promptly began to flee in every direction away from the monster, all semblances of discipline and civility lost in the face of overwhelming terror. Some even reverted to an all-fours position, to run faster in the short run, though their hands would hurt tomorrow. Somehow, that was all Alexis could think of for a minute, as the giant strode forward, spewing more flame not only from its arms, but also from its front and back as well.

Then the horror became worse, as the monster began to fling something else besides fire. Streams of light stitched from its torso to the fleeing Lupar, and wherever a stream of such lights touched, dirt and blood flew from the ground and the hapless wolf-men. Capping this was the emergence of another, different-looking giant from the sphere.

Alexis couldn't take it anymore; she bolted, flinging herself from branch to branch in a fashion typically reserved for people who had fell off of a branch by accident. Reaching the ground, she had run as fast and as far as her limbs, all four of them, could carry her.

One thing she couldn't outrun was the smell of burning meat that was carried on the wind, even in an air-cleansing rainstorm. It was a smell she had never known before, yet she knew instinctively that it was the smell of death for the Lupar soldiers.

That smell she could no longer sense in her nose, but it would forever be etched into her brain, she seemed sure, sitting underneath the great tree. She had been sitting there for a time, revisiting the moments of terror even as she caught her breath. Now, as fully rested as she would allow herself to be at a time like this, she pulled herself up, using a fallen branch to help prop herself up on legs made unsteady from fear and exertion. Get a hold of yourself, Alexis, she chided to herself. She couldn't know what the reason was for the events of the night, and she even began to wonder if she had possibly dreamed it up entirely.

She shook her head. No, she thought, the smell... it was too real, the images... oh Maker... All she knew was that she had to tell the village shaman what had happened, and as she set about to run the rest of the way home, she briefly wondered if she'd be believed at all. Her disheveled looks, with her clothes torn and her green and black-striped fur stained in mud, she knew what some of the worst gossips would say. Namely, that she had gotten too close to the Lupar, despite all the warnings, and had been raped, or perhaps not raped, but something else, something more, voluntary? And they would say that all her story was an attempt for her to keep some of her family's honor.

As she began her last leg towards home, she knew it didn't matter what others would think; it was right to let those in control to know what was happening. The shaman would know what to do, and he would be able to 't he?

Alexis limped into her village just before dawn, using a fallen branch for a crutch. She hadn't walked more than two dozen feet from Big George when she realized that her wobbly legs weren't just from nervousness, but from the fact that she had pulled her right calf when she had bolted from the tree in the night.

The going had been slow from then on, as she couldn't move very fast limping on a hurt leg, and moving on all fours hurt her hands too much to do it for very long. And so, while the night and the rainstorms passed, she had quietly but assuredly made her way home.

Home, she thought. A home she now knew to be threatened by something that she couldn't comprehend. She didn't even know for sure that there was danger, yet something told her that this was the case. Maybe it was the way that the Tanzano Lupar, renowned for their fighting prowess in a race of fighters, had been cowed so badly in a few seconds that they had broke and ran like frightened kits. Or maybe it was the sight of so many dead bodies, and the smell of-

No! She thought to herself. I cannot panic, I must tell the Shaman. Fortunately, she was an apprentice to the old holy man and could have an audience with him immediately for important things. And this IS important.

She was quite the sight to her fellow Gatón. Her clothes had been torn in her flight, and her fur was marred by mud and blood from a few gashes from prickly bushes. She got her share of looks from the early risers, mostly women heading into the forest to hunt or men heading out to tend the fields. The looks she got made her tail curl around her good leg in embarrassment. She didn't return any looks, however, but simply stared forward as she headed for the Shaman's house.

A fellow apprentice, Soru, was just outside to begin his chores for the old man. Soru was a young gatón, barely into his fourteenth year, and he had the typical features of the Gatón. Green fur with irregular black stripes, brown hair and yellow eyes were all common, though it was not unusual to see brown or green eyes.

Alexis, however, was unusual for a gatón in not only being curious, but in also having dirty-blonde hair and blue eyes, both aspects very unusual in a species adapted to life in forests. Thus, it was no surprise to her that Soru looked up and instantly recognized her as she approached the house.

"Alexis! By the gods, what happened?" Soru asked in surprise at her disheveled look. He didn't even put down the water bucket that he was carrying.

"I've, had a long night." Replied Alexis. "I need to see the Old Man, now."

"He won't be up fo-"

"NOW, Soru." Alexis said, letting some of her worry turn into fierce annoyance at Soru's stalling.

Soru, realizing Alexis' determination, nodded his head and went inside with the bucket, since he HAD drawn it for the shaman's bath.

Alexis would have liked to go in herself, but it was tradition that only the appointed housekeeper of the shaman could enter his house without first obtaining permission. And so Alexis sat down heavily on one of the sacred stones set outside the circular, yurt-like house. Normally, she wouldn't have even thought to do so, but at the moment, her strength was ebbing as the last of her fight-or-flight reflexes shut off from the long night of stimulation.

It was only a few minutes. Some may say he's loosing his faculties, she thought, but I've never seen a crazy person get out of bed so promptly. Soru came out of the front door and nodded to Alexis to come in. She leaned heavily on her branch-cane to pull herself up to her feet, for it was looked down on to approach the shaman on all fours, unless you had a medical condition. Technically Alexis did, but she had too much respect for Revalo Forbasa to greet him like that.

And so, she walked into the house, passing through the front audience room where supplicants came to have rituals performed, or for getting advice from the sage old man. It was empty now, this early in the morning. Alexis was honored that Forbasa had decided to receive her in his private rooms in the back. She walked carefully behind Soru, following him into that holy of holies, the library. Here were the books that held all the knowledge of the Gatón, held in trust by their respected elder and spiritual leader.

Who was, at the moment, sitting at the table in the cramped room, sipping his morning tea. Alexis nearly fell at the sight. Imagine, the Shaman honoring her with the show of familiarity! He looked up at her and almost smiled, until he saw her state and the way she leaned on her makeshift cane. His face, lined though it was and streaked with white that infiltrated his normal coloration, displayed very little, though concern clearly showed through.

"Alexis, you look horrible. Please, sit down." Forbasa said, indicating a small stool that was the only other seat in the cramped room.

"Shaman, I can-"

"You bloody will can!" He said, hardly raising his voice by a shade, yet all the more forceful because of its lack of decibels.

Shocked, Alexis sat down, again a bit too fast for politeness' sake. Forbasa didn't notice as he said, "My dear, it appears that I was indeed right for receiving you so soon. What happened? Are you all right?"

Alexis shook her head, and started. "I am fine, Shaman. I pulled a muscle coming too fast from out of a tree."

A slight grin appeared for a moment on Forbasa's face. "Yes, you ought to be more careful, even with the reflexes your youth grants you. However," his face turned serious again, and both of his ears cocked all the way forward - the equivalent of a human raising an eyebrow - "I doubt you came here this early because you pulled a muscle and fell in some mud." He gestured in her direction to indicate her muddy fur and clothes.

"No, I did not come because of that." Alexis took a deep breath, and recounted the events of the night.

Forbasa listened almost casually at first, until she mentioned the sphere and the giant. Despite the feelings of panic that welled up inside her as she told her story, Alexis continued on. Even Soru, passing by on his chores, had stopped to listen.

A few minutes later, she finished. Alexis sat there quietly, hoping that her Shaman could tell her that things would be all right. But the look she saw in Forbasa's eyes gave her a chill she had never felt, even during the night's storms. It was a look of emptiness, as Forbasa seemingly retracted his mind into his body so far that even those windows to the soul, his eyes, were seemingly lifeless.

The look passed, however, and when he came back, Forbasa looked as alive as ever. Yet, Alexis thought she saw caution in those eyes and perhaps... was that Fear? No, it can't be, she chided herself mentally. This was the Shaman! The man who was her village's direct connection to the gods of creation, surely they could not be so angry as to forsake them against this strange threat.

Alexis had her doubts, however, as the silence grew. Finally, Forbasa broke the awkward pause. "Soru, is breakfast ready?"

"Yes sir." Replied the young gatón.

"Get it set up, and bring it in here."

Soru nodded and went into the kitchen. He reappeared a moment later, carrying a platter that held all the favored dishes; drekka eggs, fatback from a mogg, and bread.

Forbasa nodded to Alexis, and Soru placed the plate in front of her, to her surprise. She looked first at the plate, then to Forbasa, then at the plate, then to Forbasa again. "Elder! I can't eat this, it's for you!"

"My dear, you've been up all night running from an unmentionable vision, in the cold rain, and managed to hurt yourself on the way back." Forbasa said, ending that sentence with a slight smirk that stopped when he began another. "And besides, it's not like I eat consecrated food. I'm sure Soru can make some more for me." With that, he looked at Soru, who took the hint and disappeared into the kitchen.

Alexis and Forbasa sat there for a minute, looking at each other, until Alexis' stomach growled in protest. A sheepish grin spread on her face as her embarrassment lost to her hunger, and she began to eat rapidly.

Forbasa sat there, finishing his tea and waiting until Alexis had finished half the plate before speaking again. "Another thing, Alexis."

"Hmmm?" She mumbled through a full snout, while looking up at her mentor.

"I also want you to take care of yourself. You are an eyewitness to something terribly important to our people." Forbasa said. "This is something that will need to be consulted on by several of our people's greatest sages. They must be contacted so that they may travel here to hear from you."

At this, Alexis froze, a dribble of eggs sliding from her mouth and a look of pure panic on her face. She hastily swallowed the half-chewed food in her muzzle and nearly choked. She recovered soon enough, though, and thus spoke. "B-b-but, I am not worthy of-" Forbasa cut her off. "It is not honor, but duty that is necessary now." He said as Soru brought in another tray covered with his breakfast. He waited until Soru left and went outside before continuing.

"Alexis, there are stories not told by the campfire, things that are only told from one Shaman to the next, or from a shaman to his heir." Forbasa said as he leaned forward, for his words were meant for her alone. "I cannot reveal such things, even to you who have seen something so extraordinary, but I can tell you that what you saw IS of great import to this world, and I shall not have you killing yourself by pushing too hard to earn the so-called 'honor' of being questioned by officious old men and women." He paused to take a breath, and to let his words sink in a bit before going on. "To this end, I don't want you leaving the village. And most of all, I want you to not trifle yourself with anything for now, other than getting yourself cleaned up and remembering every detail you saw last night. Am I understood?" He finished.

Alexis had never heard Forbasa talk in such a manner. He had always been kind, but now he seemed as concerned for her as he would be for his own child. She simply nodded acquiescence to his order.

Forbasa grunted. "Good, then you'll stay in the guest room for now. And no objections!" He finished with that slightly raised voice again as Alexis looked ready to object. "Here is the only place I can make sure you're safe. I will have Soru go to your family when he gets back, and he will inform them that I need you here for a special ritual that requires concentration, so he will be able to bring some new clothes for you."

Again, all Alexis could do was nod her head in acceptance. To hide her embarrassment, she went back to her food, which the Shaman HAD ordered her to eat, after all.

For his own part, Forbasa sat quietly and ate his own breakfast, quietly going over some of the old legends in his head. By the Gods, has It begun?