**Disclaimer! Anything I write and any characters that are used are being used in my own plot line, so if any of this conflicts with any D-H books then sorry! Enjoy :)

Long before time was counted in years...

I hit the ground with a smack that made my butt hurt and I looked around me. Everything was green. Not in the literal sense. The grass was green in some parts, but far off in the distance I could see long, yellow grass like I saw in The Lion King. What I meant was that there were plants everywhere. There was not one house in sight, and since I seemed to be somewhere reasonably flat that was a long distance away.

Behind me was a reasonably large mountain, rising up high enough to block out the sun. I had never seen so much nature at one time. I couldn't see the tell tale gleam of windows, or hear the rumbling of a car. This place, wherever I'd been sent, it was quiet. There was very little white noise. The leaves weren't even rustling in the wind. It was eerie.

I stood up, brushing dirt off of my pants. I had no idea what I was supposed to do now. It wasn't as if I had chosen to come here, or been sent with a map. I was virtually powerless. I was just eight days away from my eighteenth birthday! What a lovely birthday present this was. Happy birthday, surprise! You've been sent somewhere ridiculous. Oh, and here's a letter but if you open it you will die.

I turned the letter over in my hands, then shoved it back in my pocket. I'd been given no instructions on who to give it to, or what it was for. All I'd been told was "You'll know who to give it to". Very helpful, thanks.

I wanted to cry. I felt a few drops of rain on my head and looked for shelter. Maybe there would be a cave or something. I was being overly hopeful, I thought, but really it was all I had left. My friends were back home, so was my family. There seemed to be no people around here anywhere.

It started to rain harder and so I started to run. The last thing that I needed was to be soaked as well as miserable. Wherever I was, it was getting colder outside and I had a feeling that it was going to be an even colder night.

What felt like years later but was only a few days later, I was still holed up in the same cave. It was freezing outside and I was beginning to get hungry, but there was a convenient little stream running the length of the cave and back into the depths of the mountain. It was two days to my birthday and I was beginning to think that maybe this was a hallucination. Like, really. Where were all the people? This is one of the worst things I could imagine. Being alone forever.

I decided to leave. I had to at least go find food or something. If I didn't I would starve. If not soon, then eventually and that would not be very fun. I looked around the cave. There was nothing even remotely close to a weapon.

When I got outside the cave I looked for a stick. I ended up finding a good sized branch and prayed that there would be something that I could eat. I wasn't a very good hunter. I kept letting my mind wander and making too much noise. I scared anything edible away and within an hour I was quite fed up with this hunting thing. Now I knew why humans were gatherers for so many years.

I heard a rustle in the bushes and I felt a little bit of hope. That is, until I saw the orange of it's hide and the black stripes. It growled and lowered its head. I could see the muscles in its legs tensing, getting ready to spring.

"Wait! Stop... please." I realized just as soon as I said that that I was talking to a cat, but I really just didn't care at this point. It cocked its head to the side, just like my dog used to when she was confused. It gave me the urge to laugh.

It advanced, but this time not viciously. It sniffed me, apparently deciding that I wasn't food and then moved on. It sat right in front of me and looked at me, as if waiting for something. I didn't want to push my luck with this thing. I was obviously lucky that it didn't want to eat me, but I wasn't going to wait and give the world a chance to screw me over again.

I turned and walked away and heard a soft rustling behind me. I could hear the tiger moving behind me and it gave me an uneasy feeling. It was then that I decided to stop hunting and go home. I almost laughed at that word. Home. I had only been here six days and already I was calling that sad little cave 'home'.

The tiger stopped outside the cave, which I was grateful for. I don't think i would have gotten any sleep if it had come into the cave with me. Those yellow eyes were very intense. It felt like they could look into your soul.

I curled up on the cold hard stone and shivered as it came in contact with my bare skin. Maybe tonight wouldn't be as cold. I woke up toastier than I had been in a week. I curled into the warm softness and smiled to myself. I then realized that there was nothing either warm or soft in this cave. I opened my eyes and all I could see was orange. The tiger had come during the night and curled around me. It was odd. I had never heard of tigers behaving this way around people. Strangely, I did not feel afraid.

It lifted its head and looked at me. It nudged a piece of raw meat that smelled rather awful in my direction. I tried not to frown in revulsion, but I was so hungry. I shrugged. If I was going to die of some kind of poison it was probably going to come from the water, not raw meat. I took a hesitant bite and gagged. I kept it down and swallowed, though, so that I wouldn't offend the tiger. I would rather not become its next meal.

"Why don't we go on a walk?" I stood and the tiger stood with me. It felt almost like a lapdog. It was comforting, in a way. Now, I wasn't totally alone. I mean, I was with a deadly tiger, but at this point I wasn't feeling too picky.

The day went by nicely. The tiger brought me food, we went for a nice long walk. The tiger never went farther than a foot or two from my side. I had no idea what I'd done to deserve this loyalty.

"I feel like I should give you a name." I patted her on the back, which she didn't seem to mind. I had kind of decided it was a she. She acted like a girl and from what I could tell she didn't have any defining features that made her very manly. "Perhaps I should call you Enala. That sounds vaguely feline and very feminine. Do you like that?"

She made a chuffing noise that I interpreted as a yes, and then nudged me forward. She was pushing me towards a stream that flowed from the mountain. When we got to the edge she pushed me once more, and then lay down at the edge of it.

"Do I smell that bad?" I laughed and sniffed myself. I cringed a little. A week of eating nothing, and then two days of eating raw meats, none of which included a bath and I guess I did smell a little awful. I started taking my clothes off and looked at Enala. She's a tiger, not a person. I told myself and then threw my clothes on the edge of the water. It was cold, a cold that took your breath away in the first instant. It was calming, floating in the water and feeling like I didn't need to work at all for just a few seconds. I scrubbed the dirt off as best as I could and when I got out I felt much better. There is nothing like the feeling of being clean to make a girl feel better.

Enala made a show of sniffing at my clothes and then pushed them into the stream. "Hey! Stop!" I jumped at them and grabbed them just in time. My bra was looking okay, if not a little smelly as was my underwear. My shirt and jeans were looking a little more torn up. The bottoms of the jeans were completely torn to the knees. That's what I got for trudging through this damn long grass in jeans that could have been better quality.

I sighed. I didn't need them for warmth- they weren't very useful for that anyways. I ripped the bottoms off completely to the knees, so I had some long jean shorts and then put my underwear and shorts back on. I looked to my shirt and shuddered. Even after being washed in the water it was still nasty from days of sweating, and all of the animal juices that had dripped from my mouth onto it. I threw it in the water and put on my bra.

"You better hope no humans are around to catch me dressed like this." I said threateningly to Enala. She chuffed at me and shook herself as she stood, stretching languidly. She seemed unaffected by my threat. Not that I was really surprised, considering the fact that she was a tiger and could probably understand little to no words that exited my mouth.

I hugged myself at the thought. I hadn't spoken to another person in almost a week. It doesn't seem like a lot when confronted with stories like Yann Martel's Life of Pi or Ernest Hemmingway's The Old Man and the Sea. Still, a week was a long time to go without seeing another human being and it was starting to take its toll on me. I had never in my life considered it acceptable to talk to oneself, even as a writer. It always felt wrong, as if someone out there was watching and laughing any time I did. Now, I was practically narrating my life, saying any and all things out loud I would have said to a friend if I had had one with me here.

With the sun setting, we walked back to the cave. My watch no longer worked, so all I had to tell me the time was the position of the sun in the sky. I was beginning to get irritated too, because every time I wanted to know the time I would look at my watch, remember it wasn't working, then I would look up at the sun and be blinded. I then would know where the sun was in the sky, but since I didn't know how to tell time that way all I knew was how close it was to dark. This past week made me re-evaluate both my sanity and my intelligence. I was definitely not meant for a solitary lifestyle.

Enala and I curled up on the cold stone of the cave floor together and I shivered at the feel of the rough rock on my skin. It made me think of my old bed. It was warm and queen sized with a large purple duvet and more purple blankets that were so soft they felt like they were made of angel tears. Stop thinking about this or you'll cry real tears. I closed my eyes tightly and tried to expel the image of my home out of my head, but the more I tried, the more I thought about my family and my friends. I couldn't stop thinking about my four little siblings, my brother and three sisters who were still there at home. Tears came to my eyes when their faces swam through my mind. My mother and father's faces both emerged too, making me cry even harder. I had promised both of them after my sister had tried to kill herself that I would never let any of them get hurt ever again. How could I keep my promise if I could barely feed myself?

I eventually fell asleep and dreamed of nothing. It was dull and black and when I woke up I felt even more tired than I was before I went to bed. The morning light looked lovely and I stretched and noticed that Enala wasn't with me anymore. I got up and walked to the front of the cave only to see her basking in the sun at the entrance. She bobbed her head to me in greeting and I couldn't help but laugh. She really was my Richard Parker. I frowned because I couldn't even share the reference with anyone and again I was reminded of how utterly alone I was.

"Let's go on a w-" Before I got the sentence out I felt a searing pain go through me. I felt my knees smack the ground but I was numb to it. The pain inside felt like I was being roasted alive. Then, as quickly as the pain came, it left and was replaced by a feeling of euphoria. Power rushed through my veins and I felt stronger than I had ever felt before. I was aware of everything; the trees, the flowers, they were all so alive. My blood was positively thrumming with the power and I laughed. That was one way to start my birthday.

There was a flash of light and I covered my eyes, blinking away the after image of it. In front of me were six people. More specificly, there were three women, and three men all of whom were absolutely gorgeous. I may have been straight as a telephone pole but I was still awed by how beautiful the women were. The men were just as gorgeous, but all six of them held this air of power to them that made me feel small and more than a little insignificant.

I looked more closely at one of the men and anger went through me. I pushed it back only out of self preservation, and I opened my mouth to speak, only to be beaten to the punch.

"It seems Order has finally arrived." One of the women said. She had hair the colour of snow that fell just past her shoulders and eyes that were as yellow as the sun. She stood nearly five inches taller than my 5'7'' and was wearing a robe that looked like it was made of water. They were all wearing robes like that, blue-toned and opaque- thank goodness, I thought. I didn't need to add to my awkwardness with see-through robes.

The woman who had spoken was standing closer to two of the men, and the remaining man was standing closer to the two other women. Each group was casting sneers and angry looks at the other. They obviously didn't like each other very much.

"What is she wearing?" said another woman who had the same snowy hair as the first, but also had white eyes to go with it. It was kind of creepy, honestly. The only contrast in her eyes were her pupils. She had a bluish colour to her skin tone as well, making me think she wasn't entirely human. She was standing at 6'1'', and made me feel even shorter than the first woman had.

"No one asked you, Azura." A man who dwarfed all the women by at least four inches sneered. He stood with the first woman, and had black hair to his shoulders that fell in silky waves. His eyes were the colour of the Caribbean sea and he had a body so toned that would have made me melt, had I not been slightly terrified.

"Ooo very scary Verlyn," Azura sneered back at him. Her snowy hair swished behind her at waist length and it made me jealous. I had always wanted hair like that. Well, maybe not that colour...

"Not to interrupt this sass-off, but I have a letter for you." I looked at the man who had sent me here and I couldn't keep the scowl off my face. I went back into my cave and retrieved it. When I came back out they were all staring at me as if I was insane.

"You have a what?" My kidnapper asked.

"I had no idea you were so obtuse. You were the one who sent me here, after all." I handed it to him and his face went all red. I kind of liked irritating him.

He was 6'10'' and was the tallest of the six. He was extremely muscular and I could feel the power radiating off him. He had black hair to his chin and bottomless black eyes. I looked into them and I swore I could see hell itself. He was definitely not a good man. He lifted a hand and sent a blast of power at me. I cringed and waited, but nothing happened.

I opened my eyes to a very pissed off kidnapper and a lot of incredulous gods. "Surprise?" I said, and prayed that this not being able to hurt me thing would last.

"It makes sense. You can't do anything fatal to Order. If Order dies, so does our world." The last guy said. He was 6'6'' tall and was just as muscular as the other two. I guess it must be a requirement for being whatever they were. He also had black hair, but it was long, past his shoulders. He also had piercing green eyes.

Thank god. I relaxed a little when I heard that. That was definitely good except for the fact that they were calling me Order, and I was definitely not. "I think you guys made a mistake. I'm not Order. I'm not organized at all. I can barely keep my room tolerable, let alone keep a world in order."

My kidnapper looked up from the letter. "You definitely are Order. I sent you from the past to be here. It seems the Source played a joke on us, and put Order in the future."

"You know, that's really not my name." I said, a little irritably. It sounded so boring. Like really, if I was going to have a new name, couldn't it be the least bit interesting.

"And I really don't care." My kidnapper smiled.

"Really nice Noir, that's how we gain allies." The shortest of the six finally spoke, and the first thing that came out was sarcasm. I guess sarcasm really was ageless. she was 5'10'', still three inches taller than me. I was really starting to feel like someone had forgotten to make me taller. The girl had black hair to her chin and white eyes like Azura, and as she turned her back to me I could see an angel tattoo on her back.

The woman with white hair and yellow eyes rolled her eyes at the short girl, "You know Order can't pick sides, Braith. That's kind of the point." she turned to me. "I'm Cam," she smiled.

"I'm..." I looked around and realized that I didn't know what to call myself anymore. My name when I was in the right time was Kamie. That didn't feel right anymore. "I don't really know what or who I am anymore..."

Noir rolled his eyes at me, "Call me when it's our turn," and he, Azura and Braith flashed out, leaving me with the other three.

"Turn?" I gulped. That group was obviously the bad one, but at this point there was very little for me to go on. They were all intimidating, they were all powerful and none of them had done anything non-threatening yet. Unless you counted Cam introducing herself.

"We'll get to that later." The man with green eyes said.

"Very helpful..." I gave him the opportunity to say his name.

"Rezar." he answered.

"So what have I gotten myself into?" I asked. I sat down beside Enala, who had been surprisingly calm through all of this. She curled herself protectively around my back and glared at the other three, who sat down across from me.

"Where do we start?" Cam asked herself. She looked at the two men for guidance and they both just shrugged at her.

"The easiest way to say it is: you were sent to very far into the past. So far that I can still remember when I came into existence, and it wasn't that many sunsets in the past. We seven are the only gods at this point, but the Source will not stop creating new ones. We are the Primary gods. We created creatures that we call animals, and spread them over this land. We waited for you." Rezar shrugged again. I was really beginning to hate that movement.

"So what you're saying is, is that I was sent to the beginning of time?" I balked at the thought. I really didn't like the idea of how long my existence was going to be.

"No, not at all. Time existed long before us and will exist long after. For many, many sunsets there was nothing on this land and now there is. Simple as that." Cam tried to do something that looked like a smile, but it looked more like she was in pain. I really hoped that the smile would evolve quickly.

"Wonderful. So no one but the seven of us exists right now?" I asked, terrified by that thought.

Even if I was alone here I had never considered the fact that I may have been completely alone in the entire world. What a terrifying thought. It was enough to make me respect even Noir's company, and I had a very distinct feeling that I was not going to like him at all.

"Right again!" Cam said a little too happily.

"Wonderful," I sighed. This day had suddenly turned into hell. "What does that make me?"

"The goddess Order, incarnate. Can you not sense it?" Verlyn asked.

I was beginning to wonder about their behavior but then I realized. They must not be very old at all. They were probably created as adults by the Source and they didn't have parents. All they had was each other and none of them really knew what emotions were and how things worked. None of them held bitterness or hostility in their hearts yet. They were good, but at this moment, they were also pure.

"How many days have you been alive?" I asked. "I mean, how many sunsets?"

Cam scrunched her face up as she tried to think, and I realized that this is exactly what a four year old looks like trying to read, even though they can't. It was ridiculous seeing these features in men and women who seemed at some times as intelligent as adults- and as sassy, I reminded myself- but they also had so few experiences.

"I think it was forty-five. Or maybe it was four hundred and five. I can never remember which is which." Cam finally responded. She then returned to the adult she appeared to be and leaned back on her elbows.

Either way, that was still insanely young. They were barely toddlers, and yet they looked older than me by a year or two. I didn't even want to wonder how they knew how to speak and how to count, and how I could understand them, because they weren't speaking English. I could feel my powers moving inside me and realized that was how. Even without thinking, I was using them. I closed my eyes and could feel it pulsing in my core. It held the secrets of the world, the secrets of Order and all of the abilities that I would eventually be able to control. For the first time in my life I felt powerful.

And it felt good.