Author Note: I do not own Predators. Welcome to the first chapter of Alliance of the Gods! I've really been looking forward to writing this, and feel I'm finally ready to start. Do keep in mind that I have several stories to keep updated, so I might only get to update about once a week. Hopefully, anyways. Thanks to everyone who has been so supportive of Predator: Apocalypse, and I hope you all like Alliance of the Gods. Without further adue, enjoy!

~Chapter One~

~Paya-sain'ja~

I said goodbye to Kwei and exited the small, round room where I had my priestess training with her. After spending what felt like hours kneeling in the dim room, my legs were stiff (especially my crippled leg), and the brighter lights of the rest of the ship stung my eyes. Despite that, I was in a good mood. I enjoyed my lessons with Kwei, and was happy to have a plan for my life-I was to become the next High Priestess.

Not even the glares of the other priests could dampen my mood. I was used to getting dirty looks and whispered insults from the yautja, even after ten years living with the Clan. By this time, many were indifferent to me, but some still couldn't accept that I had a place in the Clan. But it was better than before, when I was just an untrained human girl who had yet to prove herself.

Lost in memories, I wandered the ship, remembering how everything about the yautja used to intimidate me. Now, I was perfectly at ease with the big aliens. They were as familiar to me as my own race, perhaps even more so.

I headed over to the medical bay, just as I did after all my lessons. I had expanded my medical training over the years and was now working with the medics regularly. Besides, it gave me plenty of opportunity to talk to Luar-lce.

Said yautja saw me enter and gave me a yautja smile, shaking my shoulder in greeting. "How are you, Paya-sain'ja?" he asked.

"Just fine," I replied. "And yourself?"

I got to work checking on the injured and sick yautja. I liked to make sure they were comfortable and on the mend from their wounds and sicknesses. Not that there were many sick yautja. They were tough against diseases. The patients (and medics) seemed to appreciate my checking on them.

"I'm well," said Luar-lce. He frowned over the mixture of healing gel he was making, then snorted and disposed of it. Perhaps the mix was wrong. "I saw Bakuub earlier. He said Sain'ja has been wanting to see you."

I smiled at the mention of Bakuub's young daughter. She was a fiesty little pup, and seemed to love me as much as her brother did when he was a child. I adored Sain'ja (who made it clear when she wanted to see me even without being able to speak yet) but didn't always have time to see her or her parents.

"I'll go visit them soon," I said. "I haven't seen them lately."

"What about Yeyinde?" asked Luar-lce.

I shook my head a little sadly. "No. He's been gone for a while."

In fact, my old friend and teacher was gone most of the time. Because he'd proven himself by teaching me, he had earned his own ship and now led his own hunting pack. He spent most of his time away from the clan hunting. I was happy for him but missed seeing him.

"I'm sure he will return soon," Luar-lce assured me.

I nodded. I certainly hoped so. We chatted as we worked, and Yeyinde wasn't mentioned again. I couldn't help but feel as though we were growing apart, which I didn't want to happen. He was one of my closest friends. I couldn't bear to lose him.

I was able to keep my mind off of these dark thoughts for the most part, and my work and training helped a lot. Still, that wasn't the only thing nagging at my mind. The gods seemed...distracted, as though there was some disaster in the near future. I knew that they would tell me if it concerned me, but I hated feeling as though they were waiting for something bad to happen. I wanted to know why they seemed so distant and worried.

"Paya-sain'ja, is something bothering you?" asked Luar-lce.

I realized I'd been spacing out thinking about the gods. "I'm fine," I assured him. "Just...thinking."

He didn't seem convinced. "We have everything under control here," he said. "Why don't you take some time off to see Sain'ja?"

I brightened at the thought of visiting the pup. "Are you sure?"

He waved this away. "Go on. You need a break." He smiled at me.

I said goodbye to him and the other medics (whom I'd more or less befriended over the years) and headed out. I felt just a tad guilty about shirking my work but at the same time was actually glad to have a chance to relax and visit Bakuub, Dhi'ki-de, and Sain'ja, who had kind of adopted me into their little family. I remembered when I'd first met their son, Ikthala, and how cute and hyperactive he used to be. Now he was the yautja equivalent of a teenager, and was in training to be a hunter. He was less hyperactive now but still had some of his old curiosity and spirit.

I knocked on the door to Bakuub's quarters and waited for Dhi'ki-de to answer. I knew Bakuub himself wouldn't be there-he would be helping to train young hunters right now. After a long moment of waiting, she opened the door, yellow-green eyes brightening upon seeing me. But that reaction paled in comparison to Sain'ja's. The pup chirped with excitement and reached out for me.

"Hello, Paya-sain'ja," said Dhi'ki-de. "Come in."

I thanked her and went in, accepting Sain'ja from her. The pup happily chattered unintelligably (she was too young to actually talk) in my arms. I smiled down at her, struck again by how much she resembled her father.

"I'm glad you came to visit," Dhi'ki-de said. "Sain'ja missed you."

"I can tell," I said. "How are you?"

She inclined her head. "I'm well," she said calmly. She was a kind yautja, which was rather unusual for a female. Most were somewhat aggressive. "I hope you are as well."

I assured her that I was. And it was true, despite my missing Yeyinde and my worry about the gods' behavoir.

"The priests aren't still giving you a hard time, are they?" asked Dhi'ki-de with a bit of disdain. She felt strongly that the priests shouldn't let their desire for power hate their next High Priestess. Priests were supposed to be above that sort of thing.

"They mostly leave me alone," I said, holding Sain'ja tightly as she squirmed restlessly. "But they still aren't happy about it. I'm sure they'll get over it eventually."

Dhi'ki-de growled. "They'd better."

She was kind most of the time but when it came to her own family, she was protective, and that's when she got aggressive. Somehow, I loved her for it.

We chatted while I played with Sain'ja, who was more than happy to have my attention. She was hyper to the point of craziness, which is why I often affectionately called her "Hulij-bpe", a yautja word for crazy. Her parents were sure that she'd be a hunter someday. It wasn't common (but not unheard-of) for females to hunt, and they often did so solo rather than in a pack. I thought that she'd scare away any prey with her insanity but agreed that she would be a powerful warrior.

Then again, she was still just a pup. We would just have to wait and see.

Once Sain'ja had played to the point of nodding off, I left Dhi'ki-de to put her to sleep and decided I could use some rest myself. I said goodbye to Dhi'ki-de (asking her to say hello to Bakuub for me), then headed back to my own quarters. The room I'd had when I first came to the clan wasn't mine anymore-they'd decided to give me a room near Kwei and the other priests. Fitting my status as priest, the room was fairly larger than my previous quarters.

Tired as I was, it still took me a while to fall asleep once I laid down. And when I did, I dreamed of death and disease, waking in a cold sweat. Kwei had told me that when there was something about to go wrong, priests had premonitions, often in dreams. And I'd had the same nightmares ever since I'd noticed the gods' strange behavior. Strangely, I was the only one having the troubled dreams.

I hoped that meant I was wrong.

...

Please review! So, what do you think so far? Good? Bad? I wanna know! :D