"The object of our hate, the target of all our rage. They scatter wildly across this world, and they must be purged. We shall never become sated until they are wiped from existence. Oh, how our blood burns at the sight of them, at the thought of their creations, their perversions of nature. What one among us would not give their own life for the chance to disembowel every last one of these creatures, to dissect their bodies and tear down their works.

To think that we could have been so blinded. Our focus on these paltry few, how pathetic. If only we could have known that out there, somewhere beyond the stars we see, they infest another world so far beyond this one. We fought and bled and died to destroy a measly few million when elsewhere they thrive in the billions. What fools we have been.

No longer. All that remains is for us to leave this world. One final push on the rabble squabbling on the surface of this worthless remnant of a world, so they may know who they face. We have been preparing for years, and now the time has come. Once we have burned it to the ground, we then will return to the void between worlds and begin our journey to the home of this... pestilence. The Human race will end by our hand, tooth and claw, wing and sting, tusk and fang. All will tremble and perish before our might. For this fate so grim, that is what we are.

Across endless seas of stars, the universe stretches beyond my sight. One day, near or far, I will find my way home. I will lead my kind to our destiny, the destruction of these worthless being in our wake. We will rise above even the ancient gods and be known throughout all creation. Fear at the mention of our name will become our role in the lives expanding through the whole of eternity. Let us consume everything in our fire, and melt the ice that is our sworn enemy."


Two teenage girls sat side by side, their eyes glued to the video on the computer screen in front of them. The video was a security camera showing footage of a bank robbery that had been uploaded to the internet. Whoever had uploaded it, they had hidden the video in a hard-to-find part of the web. Finding it, if you were to ask the girls, was worth it.

One of the girls, wearing a yellow ribbon in her short brown hair, pointed excitedly at the screen. "You see that right there! That!" She paused the video. "Tell me those aren't cat ears! I dare you!"

The other girl, sporting long green hair, leaned back and laughed. "That is pretty good, Haru-nyan! I think we're on to something big, nyoro!"

'Haru-nyan', known to most as Haruhi Suzumiya, stood up and surveyed the clubroom before her. The five other members of her club, the SOS Brigade, sat around the clubroom. Two boys were playing a board game. Two girls were reading books. The final member, another girl, was serving tea.

Haruhi pointed out towards the table they were gathered around, her arm reaching over the computer desk she was sitting at. "Alright, seeing as tomorrow is the beginning of Summer break, I have a special assignment! Bonus points and even a promotion to whoever can catch a cat person!"

One of the boys looked up at her, groaning. "Haruhi, that was probably just somebody wearing a headband with cat ears on it. You put rabbit ears on your own head enough, I thought that would have occurred to you."

Haruhi glared at him. "Shut up, Kyon! If you get any points, I'm giving them to Yuki instead!"

The lavender-haired girl of whom Haruhi was referring, Yuki Nagato, just sat and continued to read her book. Across from her, a blue-haired girl looked up from her own book. She smiled. "Would you like it to be a girl, or does it matter?"

Haruhi hopped up and down with excitement. "See, that's the spirit, Ryoko! Technically it doesn't matter, but I guess there might be bonus points if it's a really cute girl! I mean, I'm talking Mikuru-level cuteness here!" She pointed at the girl who had been serving tea.

Mikuru Asahina clutched the tea tray to her body nervously. "What if... what if it's a cat that's a girl?"

Haruhi looked speechless for a moment. "A... cat that's a girl..." She thought for a few seconds before answering. "Well, I guess if Mikuru can find a cute cat, then she can have an extra point or two."

Kyon raised his hand. "I have a question. Where did these points come from? This is the first time I've heard of them."

Haruhi rolled her eyes like it should have been obvious. "The person with the lowest number of points buys us lunch whenever we go out on a mission."

Before Kyon could complain, the room was filled with the sound of a phone ringing. Haruhi looked annoyed at being interrupted, but stopped the moment she saw it was Yuki's phone. She had never seen the girl use her phone before, but had contacted her by it.

Yuki lifted the phone to her ear, setting her book down on the table. She seemed to be listening, not saying anything. Everyone just watched, wondering who could be calling Yuki. Eventually, the girl spoke into the phone, offering only a one word answer. "Yes."

As soon as Yuki closed her phone and put it away, Haruhi pressed her for answers. "Who was that? What did they want? Why would anyone who isn't here be calling you? Was it a pervert? What was- wait, where are you going?"

Yuki had stood up, placing her book in her bag. She looked to Haruhi and answered without really answering any of the questions she had been asked. "We have a mission."

Haruhi suddenly launched into excitement. "What? Really? Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" She nearly jumped over the computer, but managed to go around it at the last moment. She rushed for the door, grabbing Kyon on the way past and dragging him along.

Ryoko stood up and headed to follow, patting the other boy on the shoulder. "Come on, Koizumi. You weren't going to win anyway."

Koizumi shrugged and got up as well, leaving his game with Kyon waiting on the table for their return. Yuki waited for Mikuru to change out of the maid costume she wore while serving tea in the clubroom and back into her school uniform. When the green-haired girl tried to follow them out, Yuki turned and raised her hand to stop her.

"Brigade members only."

Mikuru looked shocked. "Why can't Tsuruya come with us?"

Tsuruya flicked some of her green hair over her shoulder, mumbling quietly. "Nyoro~"

Yuki just stared forward, not really looking at either of them. "She has something else to do."

With an uncertain glance back at her friend, Mikuru started down the hall with Yuki, leaving Tsuruya standing in the doorway of the clubroom. She looked around for a moment before turning and heading back into the room, where she tidied up a bit and turned off the computer. On her way out, she was surprised by a visitor.

Tsuruya closed the door behind her, then gave a slight bow to the girl. "Miss Kimidori. What are you doing here?" She swallowed any cat noises that could have escaped from her throat.

Emiri Kimidori, whose hair was a paler shade of green, glanced down at the bag she was carrying. "I was wondering if you'd like to walk home together. I have something I want you to have, so..."

Tsuruya had never talked much with Emiri, but she figured any chance to get to know someone better was a good opportunity that shouldn't be ignored. Plus, there seemed to be a promise of a gift of some kind. She grinned. "Okay! Let's go!"


Tsuruya sat on her bed, her back leaning against the wall. She had walked with Emiri until their paths home separated. Before they parted ways, Emiri had given her a package. Now home, Tsuruya was trying to make sense of the gift. Inside the package was a strange box. She recognized the feel of its surface, determining that it was made of ivory. It was about a foot long, and maybe four inches wide and tall. There was a carving of a tusk or a fang on the top.

Emiri had said it would be important. Her exact words were stranger than just that, but Tsuruya was good at figuring out what people meant. She also figured that Yuki had been talking about this when she claimed Tsuruya would have something else to do. Emiri and Yuki were synced like that.

According to Emiri, the box was a sort of beacon. She had explained that portals to other worlds occasionally appeared in scattered locations. The ivory box served to draw portals to it and hold them open. It could be used to hold a steady portal to another world in one place, useful as these portals normally lasted very brief periods of time and rarely came into being anywhere accessible by Humans. Statistically speaking, they did not frequent the troposphere.

Tsuruya understood how these portals worked. She just was not previously aware of the sort of beacon this ivory box supposedly was. She had no need to worry about being swallowed up by portal either, as Emiri had explained that the beacon only functioned when it was stood on its end with the fang's tip pointing down.

Being the girl she was, Tsuruya wanted to test it out. Emiri hadn't told her not to, and likely would not have given it to her if she didn't expect the excitable girl to try it out. Getting up from her bed, she placed the box on her shelf standing on its end with the fang pointing downwards. She stepped back and waited, not really knowing how long it would take. At least, according to Emiri, the box also made the portals more visible. Also a relief, it would only attract one at a time, and she could break off the connection by simply changing the box's position.

It struck her that caution was in order here, as she didn't know what might be on the other side of the portal. She left her room, with the beacon still searching for a nearby portal. In another room of the mansion, her family's private residence, she found exactly what she needed. Several decorative swords were hanging from the wall. The collection was actually quite large, a display of her family's wealth. She selected one, knowing full well that they were only decorative in that no one ever used them. They were definitely real, no doubt about it.

After checking the sword to make sure it was not dulled, she sheathed it and turned to head back to her room. Nearing the open door, she heard a loud crash come from her bedroom. She ran the rest of the way, then stopped just before her door. Something was moving around in her room, and she could hear its steps. She could also hear it sniffing the air and panting.

Turning the corner and drawing her sword, she came face to face with a black beast. It was twice her height, even though it was hunched over and standing on all fours, and was covered in black fur. White bony protrusions sprouted from its elbows, and what looked like a bone mask covered its face, red markings making a strange pattern across the white surface. It had very wolf-like features.

It saw her and lunged, swiping at her with a large clawed hand. Reacting in an instant, she lunged forward as well. She was inside the beast's range, and barreling into its chest. Not expecting her bold move, the beast was forced back. Attacking again, Tsuruya tackled it back into her room.

She hadn't taken the portal into consideration, and only realized her mistake once she was flying through empty blackness. The beast glared at her, its red eyes glowing in the darkness. Giving it no more opportunity, she raised her sword and stuck it through the beast's head. Releasing it, she watched it spiral away into the black, dark smoke coming off its body as it slowly dissolved.

Turning to look where she was going, she saw herself a few seconds from being flung through another portal, leading back into a world. Not her world, but a world. She understood where she was. It was the darkness between worlds. An empty place where one could travel from world to world. Unguided as she was, she couldn't stop the imminent collision.

Tsuruya crashed into the wall of a building, then fell several meters before splashing to a stop in a puddle of rainwater. She found herself staring up at a cloudy sky, rain pouring down and drenching her, her sword laying in the water beside her. She knew what had happened, but she had no idea where she was.

A man's voice spoke to her. "You're going to want to get up. There's an Ursa coming."

He was speaking English. Which was fine, because she understood the language and could speak it well, but she couldn't help but wonder how someone in another world knew English. And why was it English instead of, say, Arabic or Creole? Baffling as it was, she was thankful it was at least something she understood. She turned her head to look at the man. He was wearing all black, including a long coat. On his face was a white mask with red patterns just like she had seen on the beast's face. In his hand was a sword, fairly similar to her own, and along with his spiky red hair she could see two horns on the top of his head.

He sounded irritated when he spoke again. "Come on, get up. We don't have much time. It's bad enough being out here as it is, but we're as good as dead if we don't get back to Beacon before nightfall."


Author's notes: Okay, I know you probably have a few questions. I anticipate questions about Ryoko Asakura being a Brigade member. I anticipate questions about why Adam, at least I assume you'll recognize that that is Adam (and if not... tada!), is heading to Beacon. I anticipate that you'll feel like you've missed something very important once you find out what's going on through the next few chapters.

I also anticipate that you'll find out right about now that there are three other stories that take place before this one and are planned for release at a later date. Enjoy.