Althea looked out the window of the castle, watching the birds flying in the distance hills around her family's lands. She had been having strange dreams lately, dreams that kept her awake at night and left her drowsy the next day. She was starting to worry about them, because they were beginning to get darker and more violent each night. Still, she dare not talk to anyone about it, because if they knew she was dreaming of Animus, she would be ridiculed… or worse.
The Animus were a people that humans had created- as an experiment by the great sorcerers of the past to best each other in magic. Ever more exotic creatures were turned into sentient beings, human like with animal features. These beings became numerous as the generations passed, sorcerers even going so far as to put their own magic into a few races of the Animus… to disastrous results.
The Animus decided they no longer wanted to be a plaything of humans- they wanted their own lands, their own kingdoms. So the great war was started- a war which divided the lands of the world into the four kingdoms- Taria, the tiger kingdom, Kisa the Avian kingdom, Varso the wolf kingdom and finally the Parln kingdom of humans. The Animus had been so ruthless in their uprising, many had died in the battles that ensued. It had inspired an intense hatred among humans for the 'animals' they had created- and now should destroy.
Althea let out a deep sigh and leaned against the stone wall, watching the birds dive toward each other playfully before flying back toward their nests. The dreams she had been having since she was a small girl were confusing and scary, considering the animosity toward those in it. She dreamed of a young tiger Animus, learning to fight with a sword, being taught the ways of the world. He had been taught to hate humans, because humans had sought to once control them and so shouldn't be trusted.
What Althea couldn't understand is why that prejudice had to continue, even though the war was long over… or so she had thought. The dream she had the last few nights had terrified her, waking her yelling in fear as assassins crept into the tiger's castle and killed his parents. He had run with the help of a palace guard, fire erupting in great explosions around them as they ran through the huts that lined the streets of the kingdom. They had barely escaped, the guard badly burned in the mad dash through flames.
What was happening? Were these dreams real? She had little magic of her own- a fact that shamed her parents. The stronger the magic you have, the more powerful you are among humans. It was survival of the strongest, and because she was so weak, she was usually kept locked away in her stupid castle. She yearned to escape the walls that surrounded her and explore, to see the distant jungles and forests she saw in her dreams. Perhaps they were real… though she didn't know why she would have such a strong connection with someone so far away and so different from her.
She bit her lip nervously, not knowing what to do other than try to live her life as normally as possible. She yawned sleepily as she walked back to her room, deciding to try and get some sleep after her restless night.
Toran followed the palace guard through the countryside, looking up at the taller Animus who still remained in his armor.
"Do you know where we're going?" Toran asked, not daring to look back over her shoulder at the smoke behind him. Who had done this? Was it humans that had destroyed his family and his home?
"It's not too much further." The guard said, panting for breath. He reached up and took his helmet off, revealing a panther's dark fur and bright yellow eyes. "We're going to a library that's very far from any cities. They won't look for you there."
Toran nodded, not questioning the man's wisdom. He didn't have any other idea of where to go.
"Oh no." The panther gasped as smoke rose in the distance ahead of him. They had been walking for days toward the kingdom of the Avians, Kisa. Perhaps the Avians could help him with their great armies of flying warriors.
"What, what is it?" Toran looked at the man as the panther's eyes widened in fear.
"Kisa- it's… burning." The guard broke out into a run into the forest, Toran following close behind him. Claws dug through fallen leaves, jumping over trees and around stumps toward the smoke in the distance, the screams sounding from all around them as feathers few and people ran.
"What's happening?" The guard yelled at a raven Animus as he scrambled past him, his wing broken behind him so he couldn't fly.
"Turn around, it's not safe here!" The raven yelled to him. "The humans have come, they've come to destroy us! The peacocks are dead, all of them, dead!" He shouted hysterically before running past them.
"Dead?" the guard ran closer toward the burning in the distance, only to see an army of humans using fire magic to torch the castle of the Avians. Screams were sounding from the stone walls as those who could struggled to fly from the windows into all directions, only to be shot down by bolts of flame from the human soldiers. A burst of golden magic flew the door of the castle open, the king of the Avians shouting angrily, his peacock tail unfurled but burned behind him. With practiced hands he let loose fire blasts of his own toward the human soldiers, blocking those that came toward him until one missed his block, singing his shoulder. The flinch he made from the pain would be his undoing, the split second pause in his attack letting the humans go in for the kill, fire consuming him as he yelled in anger and pain.
"We have to go, now!" The guard took Toran's wrist and dragged him back out of the forest, running as fast as they could away from the humans. Once they were out of the trees and a good distance away, Toran collapsed to his knees in exhaustion, the guard falling beside him.
"Where do we go now?" Toran looked up at the guard in panic.
"We just have to go around the forest." The guard panted, wiping sweat from his brow. "If we avoid the humans, we should be fine."
Toran nodded, catching his breath and shaking his head. "Why are they doing this?" He growled angrily. "First Taria, and now Kisa? What did we ever do to them?"
The guard chuckled sourly. "It's not what we did, but what our fathers did." The panther stood up, holding out a hand to help Toran up. "You're young still, so you probably don't understand that yet."
Toran glared at the man. "I'm 17, I'm not that young."
"Young enough." The guard chuckled. "My name's Xicro." The panther held out an armored hand to shake. "Nice to meet you, prince."
Toran nodded and shook the man's hand gratefully. "I owe you my life, Xicro."
"Just doing my duty." Xicro shrugged, but groaned in pain when the movement moved his armor over the burn on his shoulder.
"Let's get going so you can get that tended to." Toran started walking, before looking behind him over his shoulder. "And Xicro, do me a favor? Don't call me prince."
Xicro chuckled and jogged to catch up with him. "What would you rather I call you? Oh striped one?"
Toran grinned before knocking the man playfully in the good arm. "We're equals from now on, alright Xicro? You saved my life. I don't have anyone else now, so…" His ears flipped back sadly.
"Alright, Toran." Xicro put an arm around the tiger comfortingly. "Just remember, you're a tiger. You're the prince, and probably the last of the Taria kingdom royal family. We're going to fix this. We'll find a way to get your kingdom back."
Toran nodded, looking ahead in determination, his green eyes blazing with anger. "Yes, we will."
Althea woke up with a start, her hands clutching the blankets as she woke from another terrible dream. No… these couldn't be real. Her uncle wouldn't do something so terrible, would he? He wouldn't order an entire kingdom to be destroyed…
Althea decided to put it out of her mind. There was no way to even prove that had been real. She would have heard about it if it had been, right? It would be the beginning of war again, this time started by the humans. Why had everyone been so quiet about such an important event? She dressed quickly, opening her door to see her handmaiden about to open it.
"Oh, m'lady!" She curtsied. "Your father has called for you. You're go travel south to stay with your cousins."
"How long?" Althea gasped. No one had told her about this before!
"I'm not sure, m'lady." She handmaiden shook her head. "I was only told to help you pack your belongings for the journey.
Althea nodded as she helped the servants pack her belongings, hating to watch them do it for her. If she was staying with her cousins, then something must be happening. She packed her last bag and traveled down the stairs, her mind buzzing with questions.
6 years later…
"Althea, come back! You're going too far!" Her cousin shouted behind her, the horse beneath her breathing heavily at the full run she had let it into. She loved the feel of the wind rushing through her red hair, the steed beneath her flexing with each powerful stride. It was a heady feeling to travel so fast, and she loved it more any anything else.
"Althea!" The faint shout of her cousin came from behind her, but Althea couldn't care. Her cousin was spoiled and dainty, hating to run on the horse for fear her skirts would wrinkle. They were the same age, but so very different in personality. Sure Althea was of marrying age being in her early 20's, but she didn't much care for the company of the stuffy proper men her aunt always paraded in front of her. She wanted someone who would be willing to travel- to go on adventures and live life to the fullest.
She stopped the horse at a river, looking over her shoulder to see her cousin nowhere in sight. She couldn't help but laugh at the thought of the spoiled girl shouting crazily around the country side as she looked for her. She leaned down and cupped her hands for a drink of her own, the cold water refreshing on a hot summer day.
"Well, what do we have here?" She heard a male voice behind her and turned around to see a large Animus staring down at her, grizzly brown hair covering his face as he glared at her. "You look like a well to do." He grinned, revealing rows of teeth. "I bet they'll pay handsomely to get you back."
"Get away from me." Althea backed up closer to the horse, which pranced nervously at the sight of such a large intimidating person. The man must be a large carnivore of some sort- judging on the ears, probably a bear.
"Now now, be nice and I won't hurt ye." He grabbed her wrist, hoisting her up into the air. She kicked her feet helplessly as she dangled from the height, the bear looking at her face to face. "Ye shouldn't have gone so far, miss." He grinned. "I know someone who will want to ask you a few questions, eh?" He let out a rumbling laugh as he hoisted her over his shoulder and started walking away. Althea yelled and beat at the man's shoulder, but to no avail. She watched as the horse whickered and ran away back toward her cousin's castle, wondering what would become of her.
"'ey, I found someone for ye." The bear's growling voice jolted her alert as she struggled to look over the man's massive body to see who he was talking to. They had entered some sort of tavern, though she had no idea where it was. They had traveled for hours away from the forest and hills she knew.
"Oh?" A smooth voice asked. "It looks like a woman. You fool, did you nab a noble?" A hiss sounded after the sentence. "They'll come looking for her!"
"I thought she would know what plans they had more than anyone else." The bear shrugged, jostling her on his shoulder. "Besides, she was way out in the middle of nowhere. No one around."
"Hmmm. Alright, set her down." The smooth voice said again.
Althea was set down on the ground and she angrily kicked the bear in the shin, ignoring the large carnivore's angry growl at her. "Idiot- you could have just grabbed me, not hoist me over your shoulder like an old sack of potatoes!" She yelled.
"My, a fiery one, isn't she?" The voice behind her chuckled. She turned around to snap at him, only to freeze at the sight of him.
Black fur, yellow eyes, the same lean thin build from her dreams, only older than before. She had been having them more sporadically now than when she had been younger, only seeing bits and pieces of the daily life of the tiger prince. It was Xicro- it had to be… but how?
"Cat got your tongue?" The panther grinned at her shocked expression. "What, am I more scary than Brutus, here?" the cat motioned to the bear that had kidnapped her.
"You- I know you!" Althea gasped in shock, her eyes widening. "It was all real? No, it couldn't be…" She looked at the ground as she tried to come to terms with the fact that everything she had seen had been real.
"Um… you know me?" Xicro blinked in surprise. "I've never seen you before in my life, so who are you?"
"I'm Althea." She answered quickly, not thinking. "I… well, it'll sound pretty crazy." She hesitated, looking over her shoulder at the bear still standing behind her.
Xicro hesitated for a moment before telling Brutus to wait outside. "Alright, no go on. I'm good at dealing with crazy things, trust me."
"I know." Althea sighed, running a hand through her hair. "I've been having dreams that had you in them since I was a little girl."
Xicro stared at her in surprise for a moment. "Okay, you beat me, that's about the strangest thing I've heard in a long time."
"I know it sounds crazy, but it's true!" Althea insisted.
"Alright then, prove it. You could have heard my name from any number of Animus." Xicro crossed his arms in front of his chest skeptically.
Althea sighed, her shoulder sagging. "Fine. Your name is Xicro, you were a palace guard when Taria fell. You saved the prince, Toran, from the fires of the castle and brought him to Kisa, only to see that in flames as well. Then you brought him to a library where your childhood friend Radica was a librarian, and you stayed there for a long time while she tended to the burn you got on your shoulder from the flames." She paused, smiling at his shocked expression. "Should I go on?"
"There's no way you should know all this." Xicro shooked his head.
"Alright, I'll continue. You raised Toran to be the best warrior possible after he vowed vengeance on the people who burned his kingdom and killed his family. You admitted to him that you really miss your friend Benett, though you can't tell Toran where he is because he's spying in the human kingdom."
"Ssshhh, alright, I believe you!" Xicro blushed, putting a hand over her mouth to make her stop talking. "How is this possible, though? I've never heard of something like this happening before."
"I don't know. I never told anyone because they would either think I'm crazy or some sort of Animus spy. Either way I'd get locked away somewhere." Althea shrugged.
Xicro ran a hand over his face in exasperation. "Alright, well… is there anything you can tell me that the humans are planning, since you already know everything else about us?"
Althea shook her head. "They sent me away when I was younger to live with my cousin down here at the border. There's no way for me to find out anything down here."
Xicro sighed in frustration. "So this was all a waste. Great."
"Is… is Toran real too?" Althea asked, a bit sheepishly. "I don't know why I have these dreams, but I'd really like to meet him if possible."
Xicro looked down at her curiously before a wry smile came over his face. " Yeah, he's here. Follow me." Xicro stood, leading Althea through the empty tavern toward the back. "He's usually practicing out back."
Althea gripped her skirt in her hand nervously as she walked into the back, seeing a figure in the disance spinning a blade around him skillfully.
"Yo Toran, there's someone who wants to meet you!" Xicro said before pushing her forward until she was in front of the fence that divided the porth from the courtyard.
"I told you not to bother me when I'm practicing this move Xicro, I could-" He froze at the sight of Althea, his sword dropping to the ground as Xicro let out a gleeful cackle of amusement beside her. "Wait- what?" Toran blinked at her. "No. No way."
"What?" Althea looked at herself, wondering if something was showing that shouldn't be. No, her skirts were in order. Why was he so shocked?
"What the hell?" Toran put his hands through his hair, gripping locks between his fingers. "How?"
"WHAT?" Althea yelled angrily, not liking his reaction.
"I know you!" Toran yelled, pointing at her. "You're Althea!"
Althea blinked in surprise as Xicro's cackles only got louder. "How do you know my name?"
"Holy shit! How the hell?" Toran started pacing back and forth. "I don't have magic, there's no way! I thought it was all some sort of strange dream!"
"So did I!" Althea yelled back. "Do you know how crazy I'd sound if I told anyone I dreamed about the tiger price every night?"
"Hey, I'm the one dreaming about some human girl who's trapped in some stupid castle. How many damn embroidery projects did I have to sit through? I swear I could probably do it myself at this point if I ever wanted to!"
"Yeah well, watching you swing that stupid thing for yours isn't exactly exciting either!" Althea walked around the fence to walk toward Toran. "All I hear all night was 'Hiya, Ya Ya!" She motioned sword swinging. "You never do anything else!"
"I do to." Toran frowned down at her when she came to a stop in front of him.
"Oh, like study battle tactics? Sooo exciting." Althea rolled her eyes. "Everything you ever do is about fighting! Why don't you go out and live a little!"
"You're one to talk!" Toran growled. "Knitting, embroidery, dainty little laces." He waggled his fingers mockingly. "The only time you ever did anything exciting was when you rode that horse!"
"I know! Look where that got me! Kidnapped by Animus!" Althea yelled before realizing how upset she had gotten, and caught her breath, continuing to glare at him. "Not everything is about revenge, Toran. It's not good for you to be so obsessed."
Toran scoffed at her. "Yeah well, if your family gets killed and your kingdom burned, then you can tell me all about it. Until then, don't lecture me on something you don't know about." He growled.
"I'm just trying to help you!" Althea yelled again, her anger getting the best of her.
"Then help me get my kingdom back!" Toran yelled back.
"Fine, I will!" She jabbed him in the chest with a finger. "But you owe me an apology if I get killed!" She turned around and stomped back into the tavern, muttering under her breath.
Toran stared after her with wide eyes, her words ringing through the air. She would help him? A human? He looked over at Xicro to see the panther clapping an applause as if he had seen a great performance.
"Bravo Toran, you pissed off the one human that sees you as an ally. Good job, mr. tactics." Xicro laughed before he walked back inside as well.
"Crazy woman." Toran growled as he picked up his sword from the ground, brushing it off before continuing his practice.