Part VII: The Homecoming King

Tyr was completely and utterly speechless. To him, this was the equivalent of finding the Holy Grail or the lost city of Atlantis. For so long, he had searched for other Kodiak pride members only to have his efforts turn up nothing and now, with the discovery of this Kodiak child, his dream of reestablishing and rebuilding his lost pride was just in his arms' reach. His lips begin to tremble as he is trying to find the words to say to her astonishing revelation.

"I... thought that... I was the only one left." Tyr braces himself for Almira's answer to his next crucial question. His eyes begin to wander, trying not to make eye-contact just in case the answer is not the one he wants to hear. "Are there... anymore of our pride members here?"

At first, Almira stands and stares at him, stone-faced and silent, giving him the most tense and uneasy feeling. Then, her mouth softens into a reassuring smile. "Yes... there are more of us here."

Tyr softly but firmly places his hands on either side of her face. A stream of tears trickles down his face, but he is too busy laughing to acknowledge them. She laughs along with him, realizing that her pride's remaining numbers had grown by one member. This, indeed, was an especially joyful day for both of them.

Tyr, now realizing his loss of control in the presence of Dylan and Trance, wipes the tears off his face, regains his composure and stands to his feet. He tries to downplay the whole verbal exchange between him and Almira, but it was useless. Dylan and Trance already knew the importance of this information to Tyr, even though he has never actually told them his feelings about his pride's conquer or his efforts to find survivors like him. Still, they were extremely happy for him.

"This is such wonderful news!" Trance proclaimed. "You've finally found your lost pride."

"No." Almira stated. "We've finally found you and not a moment too soon, Tyr. We can use all the help we can get."

"That's an understatement." Dylan agreed. "Almira, tell us... what's the story on that machine? What did it want?"

"There will be time for all your questions to be answered, but first we must get back home before they send another one." she said, hurrying them along.

Before they could inquire any further into the matter, Almira embarks on her journey to her home. She motions them to follow her. They all headed toward the heart of the vastly overwhelming jungle. The farther they go, the more the vegetation seems to thicken. Then, all of a sudden, Almira stops dead in her tracks. Her eyes are peering all around, seemingly trying to search for something.

"Almira, what's wrong?" asked a slightly worried Trance. Almira keeps searching for whatever she is looking for. Then, her eyes focus on a strangely perfect circle of trees. She smiles and heads toward them.

"Come over here, I've found it." she announces. Puzzled by the excitement generated by a bunch of trees, the three follow her anyway, hoping to be enlightened.

"This is the village." she proclaims, excitedly. In an instant, Tyr's joy had turned into puzzlement and that puzzlement turned into anger. If this child's intention was to turn his personal anguish into some sort of childish prank, he was not amused in the least.

"Is this your idea of a joke, child?" hissed Tyr, in a most uncomfortable and intimidating tone of voice. "I see no village here...! "

"Maybe... she's trying to tell us that the village is hidden here." declared Dylan, before Tyr could get any angrier. Almira smiles and nods in agreement with Dylan. She then stands directly in the middle of the circle of trees, pulls a small digital device out of her pocket and holds it to her mouth.

"Almira Brabazon... Alpha 3625 Lambda Z R 7." After finishing the sequence, a few seconds pass. Then, suddenly the earth beneath their feet begins to tremble... starting off as a small vibration and then escalating into a larger tremor, putting them off balance.

"Get ready everyone!! Here it comes!!" Almira screamed, over the rumbling. Before they could ask her what was coming, the ground begins sinking inward with them on top of it. Their initial reaction is to jump off onto solid ground, but Almira motions them to stay put. The platform they are standing on continues to lower farther into the earth until it reaches what seems to be a massive underground corridor, made entirely out of steel. Almira jumps off the platform and the rest follow. She goes to her left and presses a large red button on the wall panel. At the same time, their platform elevator goes back up to the surface and the lights in the corridor turn on one right after the other, showing off more and more of it. It was an immense and impressive piece of engineering ingenuity, considering the pride's lack of resources.

"Tyr, this is the corridor leading to the village." states Almira. "Follow me." Tyr's anticipation of seeing his fellow Kodiak pride members was becoming unbearable. Slowly, he follow her to the end of the now heavily lit corridor until they reach an enormous steel door. Guarded by a eye scanner/voice recognition system, Almira presses her face against the eye scanner plate and as the laser passes through her corneas, she repeats her personal code into the voice recognition speaker. In an instant, she is approved for entrance and the massive steel door opens. Entering the door, Tyr is completely taken aback by what he now sees. He expect a small village with maybe a handful of pride members in it, but instead, he is in the mist of a vast, prospering metropolis with over two hundred Kodiak pride members inhabiting it! Not as big as the pride was in its past, but still it was much more that he expected. The emotions in his heart where overwhelming him. Almira sees the astonishment in his eyes, and grabs him by the hand.

"Tyr Anasazi... welcome home."