November 13, Year ####

They say you only live once. I don't know whether or not to believe in this or not. I surely hope there is something waiting for us after the end….. No, I know there is something, but I don't know what it is. The world has fallen into a range of chaos. Blazing summers, freezing winters, raging storms and violent winds, no one is sure exactly what is happening, someone issued they idea of gods fighting in the land overhead, and their war is dragging us in, to our end.

I can't complain much… I've had a simple life up until a great change, and I then found my true home. I just hate that it is coming to an end. Last summer, barley any heat, it was so cold I couldn't take a step outside, and now that winter has fallen, we are dying out. No one predicted it would end like this… surely they couldn't have. …

I can say with no doubt, that this will be my last entry. From my days to a welcoming world, to a cold end, I have lived through the chaos and order, and everything between. If someone manages to survive, know who we were… our mistakes, our secrets… don't fall like we did…. don't end up huddled for scraps of warmth that will never come… Don't die without a reason, look, feel, fight, live…

Words of warning to you all from,

…..

Sea blue eyes read over the paper once again. He had read over this journal a thousand times, always hearing names of friends and family, but never knowing who exactly wrote it. Did it matter? Not at the very least. But it bugged him greatly.

Since he was little, he had always liked the library of his clan. Unlike others history meant a great deal to him, always has and always will. He can thank his father, Reynard for that.

The being closed the book ever so carefully, watching dust flutter out of the old yellow torn pages. The front was in however worse condition than the pages. What he believed to be once a shining shade of purple had lined the cover. The book itself was black which gave a echoing… no fearful tone to itself and the secrets it held. But what makes it differ a bit from the other journals and recordings of that time was the symbol on the front.

A red hourglass. Such confused him when he was little. For that was the mark of the Venomcalus clan, ones who use the skills of poison and venom to protect and hunt. Marked after a deadly spider that was long ago gone extinct.

But after years of reading through these things, he found they had nothing to do with the Venomcalus clan, or any clans for that matter. It seemed they were at constant war, one group… a group of unification of several species he believed they were known to be? Anyway, were at a constant war for freedom against someone evil. Never really bothered to research it. Why would he? These creatures of the past may have had better technology, but none seemed to have an echo. They were…as his elders call them… stupid useless prey.

He carefully slid the book over into a basket, and a rope and pulley system hauled the book away, back into storage. With so much time spent wondering about the world of the past, he was well equipped to be a teacher of some sorts to this time. Or maybe, if he understood enough he could be the successor to the Wisdom Elder. Highest role in the clan, but so hard to gain. He had wanted this, while his brother in all his roughness and courage … wanted to be the next General.

His brother and him looked so much alike, yet thought and acted so different. His pelt was a dark red, matching the color of crimson. His eyes were a deep sea blue, and that's how they have always been. His brother was the exact opposite, a polar opposite. Deep blue fur and crimson eyes. Their mother had been cherry blossom pink with grey stormy eyes, and their dad was black as night, with golden eyes that could leave a lasting impression. So how did he, Lazureth managed to look so different from his parents, yet be on the flipped switch of a color scale with his brother Litzu?

Lazureth glanced at a wall clock, ticking away slowly. In the shiny glass he could see his reflection. Strong mussels and broad shoulders. Just like his father Reynard. Somehow he had gained that, while his brother had nimble paws and long legs. Good for weaving and running. Something just like his mother Sakura had.

Lazureth, stretched out, letting his tail arch above his back. His whiskers twitched with the small vibrations the wind carried. Perfect time for flying home.

"Lazureth."

Lazureth looked up on a bookshelf to see a brown speckled owl looking back at him. Once the two made eye contact the owl soared down, leaving a brown trail of light behind it. When it reached the ground its form had changed into a brownish black and grey raccoon. Damien.

"Hello Damien." Lazureth greeted with a bow of his head. Damien returned the bow and then said "I have some news that might concern you." Damien had always been an old friend of Lazureth. Allowed him to sneak into the storage room to read the old books when he was little. If Damien was troubled about something, it was about his library.

"Oh? Really, what is it?"

"Where making room for new shipments for books. We have to remove some of the old ones and as much as it kills me, it has been selected that a few of the old journals are being removed. So I am glad that I caught you. Do you want them? For they have no use here anymore sadly."

Lazureth was a bit surprised by the caretaker of books. "Why are they removing them? They hold so much history!"

"Yes but hardly anyone can read them. Be glad that your father taught you the old world language. To you it may be an exciting tale, but to the rest of Dieco it's chicken scratch." Lazureth let a sigh escape him and said "It's a shame they are not valued more. I'll take them."

"Good Good!" Damien said with a cheerful chuckle. He turned and scampered up a bookshelf onto the top and said "I'll have them shipped to your house soon." He headed for a hole in the wall, but paused and said "And please, send Sakura my regards." Lazureth nodded as his friend disappeared into the nooks and crannies of the library.

Lazureth stretched once again and headed for the doorway. There was no door, only for safety reasons of new shifters who had trouble landing. Lazureth did at first. Almost fell out of the sky once.

The world today is separated by clans. Venomcalus, Shakenken, Dieco, Acadia, and Luporadus were small clans out of the many around the world they share. There are four large ones. Felidopolise, Celestial-Central, Galatifa, and Elsewhere. Elsewhere was where the evil are banished. Those who are forsaken and forgotten. Send into a forest that seemed to stretch forever.

That's what most believed but Lazureth knew more. His mother Sakura and father Reynard had been the current 'elders' or leaders of Dieco. Because of this they were given special information, not much but some about other clans. And Lazureth knew from them, that there was a fifth clan. Or at least a legend of it. Even in books they talked about a Valley ruled under one leader of darkness.

What made this place dangerous was the creatures there did not have an echo, yet where trapped in their own mix of power. Changing them into horrible, dangerous creatures. An echo is the ability to shift. It's also known as your life force that you leave behind to take the form of a new echo. But then again, the information was classified as myth.

Lazureth took a running start and leaped out the doorway. Below him was a long drop, but as gravity took place pulling him down, a stream of red soft light melted off his pelt and a moment later, instead of a falling cat, a bird took to the sky. A cardinal.

Lazureth rode the currents of winds, leaving the library behind him. And now, over the clan of Dieco. The houses were small, for Dieco was not a major attraction like the great four. (Counting Elsewhere as an actual place, not banishment) Dieco shipped out goods such as cloth, silk and thread. They were well, not at all a danger of gaining too much money. Everyone got what they needed, nothing more or nothing less. Such is Dieco.

Something flickered at the edge of Lazureth vision. Hanging low in the trees was a bird; carefully fling through the branches heading in one direction. Following Lazureth. If a bird could smile with a beak and all, he would of. His brother, a simple blue jay gave himself away. Now he was good at hiding, only showing himself meant one thing…

A race.

"Last one home is echoless!" Litzu shouted and took off. Lazureth let a laugh escape him as he quickly tailed his brother. Dogs, cats, raccoons and others below looked up and waved in some form to the well liked brothers as they raced by, twirling around one another.

But no matter how cunning Litzu was, or how observant Lazureth could be, they both failed to notice the trouble coming, just over the horizon.