Red flames licked the sky as houses and livelihoods burned, all around men ran about trying to extinguish the flames whilst women grabbed crying children and ran towards the safety of the Grand Cathedral that loomed over the city. The air was filled with black smoke and the sound of battle, everywhere was the clang of sword against shield, the crunch of hammer against bone and the cries of soldiers against the roars of strange beast that now infested the city.
Áedán stared at the chaos around him as he walked down the emptying city streets. He had been awoken when a flaming boulder smashed into the warehouse below where he lived and he'd had to claw his way out of the building before it collapsed into a pile of smouldering ash. Since then he'd wondered about the city in a state of shock as he watched the life he knew vanish into flame and smoke.
As he drew nearer to the main square that lay before the city gates he vaguely noticed the sound of battle growing louder and if he were in the right mind he probably would've turned in the opposite direction and ran to safety, but his mind was currently on auto-pilot and all he could do was observe his surroundings with detached interest as it marched his body onwards.
The city's main square was composed of two tiers, a large lower tier before the main gate that was used as a market place for travelling merchants and had the main roads connected to it for the docks, business districts and other common place areas of the city. The second tier was more elegant than the one below and had the main roads that led into the Upper Gardens, the noble's district and the Cathedral. As it led to the more prestigious areas of the city there was a gate separating it from the lower tier and would have normally had a couple of guards stationed at either side to bar out the "undesirables". As Áedán entered the lower tier from the Docks he came upon the main battle between the cities guards and the invading soldiers.
The invaders had taken the main gate which now lay in ruins and the lower tier of the main square. They all wore the same black armour with crimson capes that had the crest of the Night Kingdom on them and moved with speed and strength that no human could've hoped to match. Fighting with them were beasts which Áedán had never seen before, they resembles panthers but each was the size of a horse and were winged. Mostly they were a midnight black but Áedán saw one or two which were a lighter colour and he noticed that each had a stinger at the end of their long tails much like that of a scorpion. Far beyond the ruined gate Áedán spotted the catapults and Ballista's that were firing upon the city 'it won't be long' he though solemnly before turning to face the square's upper tier.
At the gates to the upper tier the defenders of the city fought valiantly to keep back the dark knights and cat-beasts that assaulted them whilst on the tier above them bowers tried to give them as much support as possible. Many of the fighters Áedán noticed were in fact normal civilians that had taken up arms to try and defend their city and families.
From what he could tell as he walked along the edge of the square towards the upper tier the black knights and cat-beasts hopelessly out-matched the defending humans whose only strength against them seemed to be sheer number of civilians swelling their ranks. As he neared the steps to the upper tier a man wearing a scholars robe ran past him in a complete panic. Like many it seemed he tried to dash to the safety of the city guards before the invader had a chance to kill him, sadly his plan fell short as one of the cat-beasts pounced upon him and with a swipe of a giant claw ended his life. The feline then turned its murderous yellow eyes on Áedán who returned its gaze calmly. For a few seconds it stood crouched, staring at him as though it had yet to decide whether or not it considered the human before it prey, but before it could make up its mind it caught the flicker of other running humans and with a flick of its deadly stinger it chased after them. Once the cat had gone Áedán resumed his walk to the upper tier uninterrupted. He had a bit of trouble squeezing past the two fighting groups at the base of the steps but in the end managed to make it to the upper tier unharmed.
Men and women in home-made armour busied about the far end of the upper tier, some waiting for an opportunity to jump into the fray at the base of the steps whilst others were quickly fortifying the road to the cathedral should the steps fall. For a moment Áedán considered going to the cathedral like all the others but some part of him felt pulled towards the barricaded road the led to the cities upper gardens. Suddenly he found himself unsure of which road to take. Each road seemed to him like a fork in destiny of his life, a pivotal choice that would forever decide the course his life would follow.
His reverie was suddenly broken by the sound of the great cathedral bells ringing out and for a few brief seconds time seemed to come to a complete stand still and then the humans let out a great roar of triumph and all started to pull back from the main square. Momentarily Áedán thought the army had surrendered and were fleeing but then it hit him what else the bell could've meant and sure enough when he turned to the cathedrals entrance he saw a line of red armoured warriors descend from the buildings high steps and march toward the main square.
The warrior priests were upheld as the strongest force in the land; an army of justice and righteousness, so it was easy for Áedán to see why the city guards had so easily abandoned their positions. The Warrior Priests cut an impressive image as they marched on with revered father Phillip in the lead and high priestess Jan beside him. The guards probably thought the Black Knights would turn tail and run at the sight of the Warrior Priests but they had just reformed their ranks and waited patiently for priests to reach the square. Something in Áedán moved when he saw the Warrior priests, a sudden feeling of surety that turned him away from the Cathedral road towards the barricade to the Upper Gardens. One of the few remaining guards spotted him as he scaled the barricade and ran towards him yelling some sort of warning but Áedán ignored him and dropped over the barricade to the deserted street beyond and set off towards the Gardens.
The Gardens were the oldest part of the city and were where only the wealthiest of its inhabitants could afford to live. Unlike the rest of the city that had many streets forming a vast and confusing network the Upper Gardens had only one long winding street which ended at Springflower Park. Áedán walked down the lavish street in silence. The large close pact houses on either side effectively cut out the distant sound of fighting; this with the multitude of flowers and plants gave the night pleasant sense unrealism, almost like this night had been a figment of Áedáns whimsy. However despite the dreamy quality of the Upper Gardens evidence of the reality was still about, whether it was an overturned cart or a smashed window or broken door. Just before the streets final bend that would lead to Springflower Park Áedán came upon a gristly scene which nearly broke his surreal state of mind altogether. One of the cat beasts lay dead on a low hanging veranda and a group of stinking corpses spread about underneath it. The smell was horrific and from the look of how the creature's corpse was it seemed it had been set alight after it had died. As Áedán passed the scene of death he noticed a pair of yellow eyes follow him from behind the cat-beast.
At first he thought it was another one of the felines which caused a twinge of tension to appear in his stomach, and he was right, though not as he expected. A cub stepped forward into the street light and with let out a high pitched growl that Áedán guessed was meant to warn him off. Pausing he couldn't help but notice how incredibly cute the thing was, it looked exactly like its parent with black fur and yellow eyes but its proportions were smaller. The cub was about the size of a puppy and was still covered in its baby fur which made it look very fluffy; this with its oversized eyes gave it a look that would've melted the heart of any young child, at the very least it melted the knot of tension in Áedáns stomach and made him smile a little. Again it growled at Áedán who only continued to smile as he approached it, much to the unhappiness of the small cat-beast it seemed for the closer he got the more agitated and aggressive it grew towards him. Pausing a few feet from the veranda Áedán suddenly had an idea of how he might calm the creature down so turning he jogged back down the street until he came upon a shop which had a hanging sign saying "Betties happy butcher!" and in smaller letters beneath that "Best Butchers in Cyna!".
The door to the shop had been smashed open so Áedán entered with no problem, nor did he have any difficulties finding some salted meat from the storage room. Selecting a large piece of uncut pork he hurried back to where he had left the cub. If the cub was unhappy to see Áedán again he did not show it but instead eyed him warily from behind the safety of its dead parent, even when Áedán had reached up and left a chunk of pork on the veranda the cub did not abandon its position but instead stared at the human before it. Áedán stared back patiently for about a minute before the cub, whether tired of staring or simply hungry, lowered its gaze and moved away from its parent so it could give the piece of pork one sniff before swallowing the whole chunk in one go. Afterwards it mewled hungrily at Áedán who couldn't help to chuckled at the creature's adorableness. Then after placing the meat on the ground he walked over to the veranda and opened his arms and tried to coax the cub down. The small feline seemed to regard Áedáns open armed invitation with reproach for a few second, but in the end it leaned forward tentatively and dropped onto his chest. Áedán caught the cub easily and noted how surprising light the creature was before he returned it to where he had left the pork and lowered it to the ground so it could finish the rest of the pork in peace. Up close he could see that the cub had been burnt along its tail, so while it was distracted with the pork he tore of a piece of sleeve from his white flannel shirt and used it to tie a bandage around the cubs tale, something the cub took great offence to and hissed and spat as it tried to wiggle out of his grasp while Áedán tied the bandage. Finally when he was done it turned to sniff his handiwork, then it began to nibble and pull at the cloth tied there "don't do that" he reprimanded it but it mewled again in displeasure so Áedán got the last piece of pork and waved it about trying to distract the cubs attention from its bandages, it worked and soon the pork was gone and the cub sat licking its paw clean.
Crouching down Áedán ran his finger across the soft fur of the cub which it seemed to enjoy and for a while he was lost in thought as to how it had come to be in the city. He doubted it had been brought for the purpose of fighting and if it has been brought along with its parent it wouldn't have been left to wonder about the battlefield, he sighed and gave up on trying to understand the cubs circumstances then he stood straight again and looked towards the end of the street to where Springflower park was, once again he felt the oddest sensation of destiny before him. Taking an unsure step forward he began to walk towards the Park but he had gotten no more than a few hesitant steps before the cub began to let out short sharp cries, turning he looked at it and it started back 'what is it?'... The cub gave no reply but continued to stare. Turning again he started once more for Springflower Park when the cub began to cry again, this time Áedán turned fully around and went back to pick the cub up 'if you wanted to come all you had to do was ask' he said jokingly as he scooped the cub up into his arms then without any more delay he walked into Springflower park.