"Where are you running to? What are you running from?"

"Dad?"

"Why do you hold yourself back?"

"What's happening?"

I looked at my father's face. I had never known him, but I knew it was him. I was too young to really remember him, he left me on Earth when I was just a kitten. My eyes hadn't even opened. I remember his scent though and I resembled him. His eyes were like mine. A light grey surrounded by black.

"My child, you're so angry."

"Why did you leave me on that planet?"

He ran his paw along my face and I couldn't help, but to purr. The memory of my father had always been so cloudy. All I remember of him was scent and sound. The day I realized there was no human part in me I wondered what sort of creature I really was. After shedding my human skin I figured I was some sort of cat mutant. His face was slightly different than mine. Darker, more pigment on his nose.

"Your mother has been worried for you. We thought we would lose you after that night you saw the crab-face."

I pushed his paw away from my face.

"Why wont you answer me?"

He looked at me for a moment longer and then turned away.

"Walk with me. I have to show you what transpired."

He dropped down on all fours and walked into the trees. I did as he did, but I had to quicken my step to keep up with his long gate. He was twice my size and had much longer legs. We walked throught the trees in silence for a few minutes before we came to a clearing. There was a hole in the ground. He walked in, but I hesitated. The smell of death and burning that was coming from there was bothering my overly sensitive nose. He turned to look at me.

"Nothing in here can hurt you anymore."

I cautiously followed him down into the darkness. It only took a second for my eyes to adjust to the lack of light. I could see clearly even in here. We walked on down the tunnel. It opened into a cavern and when I walked around next to his left shoulder I saw what I had been smelling. There were bodies strung out across the floor of the cave and parts of the rocks still burned. This didn't make any sense to me. How can rocks burn? A strange looking man stepped out of a tunnel in front of us. I growled a warning to him that I was going to attack.

"This is only a memory, he cannot hear you or see you."

I stopped growling and looked up at my father. The man began to converse with someone else. His very presence invoked a feeling of anxiety in me. I pressed my shoulder against my father's leg to try and comfort myself.

"It looks like this is the end for these monsters."

"What is our next move Lord?"

"We must finish purging this world of the animals."

"Yes Lord. I will let the others know."

They walked right through us and out of my line of vision. They had slaughtered all of my kind.

"I'm the last one, aren't I?"

"In a way yes. You may think you now know what you are, but you're forgetting that you do not succumb to death like we."

I frowned and looked across the cavern at the bodies.

"It was your mother."

"What?"

"She wasn't one of us. She was a wraith."

"A wraith?"

"Yes. They are powerful mages. We fell in love and you were the outcome of that love. We wanted to raise you as both wraith and Lynen, but then they came. Your mother stayed behind to try and stave off the attackers. Wraiths are indestructible to any other creature. If a wraith chooses to kill another, however, then they will die."

"Why did the wraiths attack?"

"They were being controlled by something else. That man, Lord, he is a being that outpowers even the wraiths. He convinced them to do his bidding."

We weren't in the cave anymore, we were sitting on a mountain peak that overlooked a vast area. Everything was in flames.

"It didn't stop with us. They "purged" the entire planet of all life. Now they inhabit this planet, ruled by Lord."

"Why are you telling me this now?"

"Because you have returned to the planet and you are in danger."

Sponge Guy prodded me out of my vision and I sat up and looked around.

"Father!"

I looked around for any sign of him, but there was none. No paw prints, no scent of him in the air. It had just been a dream. I turned my head and my spine protested, but I forgot about that when I saw my ship. It was a twisted wreck. The window was shattered and there was blood and fur stuck on a few pieces of jutting glass. That would explain why I was lying on the ground outside of my ship. I must have flown through the window when the ship crashed into the rocks. I looked up to my left and saw the mountain my father and I had been on top of in that strange vision. I grabbed Sponge Guy and trotted up the mountain as far as I could. The cliffs became sheer and I placed Sponge Guy on my shoulder, gave him a moment to anchor himself and began climbing the side using my claws.

Once at the top I looked around. Everything looked so different, only a few lanmasses resembles the ones that I had seen. Now there were towers and huge black buildings stretching across the land. The wraiths. I saw a castle right in the center of the city. That must be where Lord is. Anyone named Lord must be a real ass hole. I looked back at my ship. There was smoke rising from it. That is definitely going to be a sign to anyone who sees it that someone is here. I'd better grab anything I need and get as far away from here as I can before they come looking for me. I know what my father meant by danger. That didn't have to be explained to me.

"It's strange conversing with the dead."

I climbed down as fast as I could and entered my poor ship, what was left of it anyway. I grabbed my cloak, filled my backpack with what little food I had on the ship, and a good amount of money. If I ever get off this planet, I'll need to be able to buy another ship. Seeing the big picture has always been a gift of mine. It's gotten me out of a few tight spots in the past.

I finished gathering what I needed and headed out into the swamp, away from the wraith city, with Sponge Guy on my shoulder. He seemed to be enjoying the humidity a lot. I suppose if I was a sponge I would like it too. Good thing he doesn't have lungs or this air might kill him. I know that if I hadn't been born here I would be suffering right now.

Funny how I had thought I resembled and Earth creature. Now I know I don't. I also know hwy I hate the cold so much. Lynx's may resemble my kind, but they are a lot better adapted for the cold than I am.

As I was walking along a huge insect landed right on my face and obstructed my vision. I froze. All I could see was a large thorax. The insect moved down a little and I saw a set of huge pincers. My ears flattened against my head. This is unnerving. I stopped breathing so as not to provoke it into attacking my face. I slowly raised my paw up and closed my eyes. I got my nerve up and smacked the bug as hard as I could. It was flung into a tree to my left and hit with a loud crack. The insect was stunned, but in a moment it was back up and flying right for me. I decided to run from it. It followed me through the trees. Everytime I looked back it was bussing along behind me.

"That's one pissed off bug."

I looked ahead of me again and saw a huge web strung in between a couple of trees. I slid to a halt and ducked as the insect flew into the trap. It was stuck and almost immediately a spider five times the size of the flying beetle thing charged out and grabbed it. If I wanted to all I would have to do is reach my paw about 3 inches and I could touch the spider. I had no inclination to do that however. I heard a loud crunch as the spider bit into the beetle and, I assume, pumped some venom into it. I was morbidly fascinated by this spectacle, but not enough to stay and watch the rest of it. At least now I know that there are still giant bugs here. That's one thing that always lives on after everthing else is wiped out. Bugs. Creepy crawly things tend to triumph.

I walked around the tree that the left side of the web was attached to and kept going keeping eyes and ears tuned to my surroundings. After three hours of walking through dense underbrush, and slicing myself countless times on sharp thorns and leaves, I came to a clearing. There was a hole in the ground. That's the entrance to the cave I was born in.

I wanted to go in, but I knew what I would see. It was a tomb now. The scent of the dead was still thick in the air. My curiousity got the better of me and I entered. I mornfully made my way into the main cavern.

Countless bones were scattered along the floor. All the skulls had the same shape to them, protruding noses, long fangs, and just to be ironic, bone-crushing jaws. I stood there looking around for a while. Something strange caught my eyes. Something was giving off a faint glow. I walked over and pushed aside some rubble. It was a glowing skeleton. Humanoid in shape and size. I knelt down to get a closer look. This must have been my mother. I touched the skull and my hunch was confirmed. I could feel her.

As I stood up to leave something in her hand glinted.

"An amulet."

I picked it up. The aura of it was powerful. If she had been wearing this then why was she killed, this thing could save her life. She had been holding it, however, and it didn't do much good. I turned it over and looked at the symbol on it. It was the same strange 's' shape as my birthmark. Yes, I have one. It under a discolored patch in my fur on the inside of my left wrist.

She must have made this for me. I put it around my neck and stood up.

"So the prodigal beast returns."

I swung around, crouched down, and growled menacingly.

"You are quite small. I thought that you would be bigger given your Lynen heritage."

The man walked around me in a very large circle.

"You look a lot like these beasts, but you're different."

He looked at the skeleton that was lying near my feet.

"Is that your mother? That would explain a lot of things. The rumors I heard were true then. Lord had said that he detected a R.F.R."

I flattened my ears back a little more and growled. He's talking in acronyms and I hate that.

"I see you are confused. . .Reality fabric rip. More commonly known as rifts among the uneducated."

That caused me to growl again. This guy is a fucking jerk. He put his hand to his face and laughed.

"Your mother has caused us trouble even after years of her being dead. She must have opened that rift for you to escape us. If your father hadn't come back, he would still be alive today and his skull wouldn't be mounted in Lords dining chamber."

I stopped growling. My father's skull is mounted on a wall? Someone is going to be punished for that. The man laughed.

"Don't look so surprised. Lord has many trophies."

That made me resume my growling. It reminded me of the Yautja. Always taking skulls for trophies and mounting them on walls. Anything that resembled a Yautja or acted like one caused my anger to rise and had to be destroyed. With the exception of Ya'uta. My heart started to ache with the realization that I had been doomed from the beginning of my life and that I had taken others down with me that didn't deserve that fate.

"Well, enough small talk, I have to take you in."

The last thing I saw was an orange snake like bolt flying towards me.