Chapter II-
Fera ducked into the sitting room on the lower level of her house. The lights were all turned out and she hoped that the shadows would conceal her and her daughter for a few precious moments.
A bolt of lightning lit the cloud choked night sky for a few seconds and Fera crouched further behind the furniture. She feared that the thunder that followed might scare Krysalla, whom Fera had wrapped in blankets and was holding tightly in her arms. But little Krystal barely stirred.
She quickly turned her attention to the disturbance upstairs. There were two of them and she could sense them both. As an Apprentice, Fera had been taught extrasensory perception or ESP. This gave her the ability to sense activity outside of the realm of the "Empirical Senses" of sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell. In this case, while she couldn't see what was going on above her, she could certainly sense it. Though she had been taught to rely on her powers, Fera did not like the idea of not being able to actually see who was tormenting her and Krystal.
Fera had found that only her ESP and her thought stream speech seemed to work when the intruders were near. Everything else she knew seemed futile when they came. These included techniques for identifying the mysterious figures. All her efforts resulted in only a haze. When it seemed that both her abilities and her senses had failed her, Fera felt vulnerable.
She was not however completely defenseless. As she had grabbed Krystal from her crib, Fera had also managed to get her arc blade. The arc blade was Fera's personal weapon. It consisted of a curved handle with twin energy projectors that, when activated, formed an azure energy blade in the shape of an arc.
The intruders were ransacking the upper floor of the house. Fera didn't need any of her Avatar abilities to know that. She could hear them turning furniture over, opening doors before slamming them shut and the alien voices howled with anger and frustration as each attempt to find what they were seeking failed.
Fera had no idea who these intruders were, much less what they had come for. But she knew without question that they were the cause of every sleepless night since Kailan had left to find Urel five days ago.
These foes baffled her. Like her husband, Fera was also in the Guardian class of the Avatars. Her Mentor, the Avatar who had trained her as an Apprentice and Candidate, had taught her every trick and tactic of close quarters combat. She was certain that she could easily best the two intruders upstairs.
But Fera was a mother now and she had to take the safety of her kit into account. Her tactics now were to hide and hope that whoever was upstairs would give up and leave. In any case, she had to get out of the house and meet Kailan at the shrine.
Another bolt of lightening streaked across the sky and the thunder that followed it sounded off like a hundred cannon. This one awoke little Krystal and she began to cry softly.
Fera gently rocked her daughter, hoping that she would not get any louder. In desperation, she recalled an Avatar method for the situation. Fera remembered how her mother had shown her how to calm her infant baby brother when he was upset. It was a special delicate form of TSS. One that, if Fera remembered correctly, affected a certain part of the brain, feeding it feelings of comfort and safety.
As she tried to calm Krystal, Fera found that the technique required a great amount of energy. This was mainly to control her own thought stream as she attempted a one way mind-link. Thought stream speech worked by focusing energy from within an Avatar's body through the brain, linking two, or more, consciousnesses. Energy pulses along the link carried the communications. It was this energy that Fera had to carefully control. Too much energy through the thought stream might damage Krystal's small brain, which was neither developed nor trained to receive the same kind of energy older Avatars used.
To Fera's partial amazement, Krystal stopped crying as soon as she formed the mind-link. She carefully sent a personal message through the thought stream. Fera knew Krystal wouldn't understand it, she was far too young to understand thought stream speech. But Fera felt like she had to do it anyway.
We're going to be just fine Krystal…
As she closed the mind-link and Krystal began to sleep once again, Fera sensed the movement upstairs stop suddenly. For a brief moment she thought that the intruders had given up and left. But this notion was shattered abruptly when she sensed their movements again, suddenly running for the stairs…
No!
The vixen rose to her feet to find two figures dressed in what she assumed to be combat gear rushing down the stairs and thus blocking the door leading outside. They were clothed in armored suits as black as the night, their faces lost behind face concealing masks. One stopped at the foot of the staircase and jabbed a menacing furry finger at her. The alien voice, which Fera could not understand, gave him away as male. The other cloaked figure appeared and uttered a reply. The first called out, "Stop vixen!" in impeccable Cerinian, much to Fera's surprise and shock.
How had they found her, she wondered in horror. She suddenly heard the voice of the first intruder again. They were not words that came into her ears, but could this time be heard within her consciousness. He had forged a thought stream to her.
"Vixen, you are trapped," said the voice menacingly, "I would not try to run. You would not be the only to suffer the consequences of acting foolishly."
The voice paused, as if to savor both the moment and the look of absolute terror on Fera's soft features.
"Yes," he seemed to hiss, "I can sense your daughter, vixen. Both of us can. And you know as well as I do that even thoughts can kill."
Fera scowled at the black figures. She looked directly at the first figure, who was doing all of the talking. She opened her mouth to speak, but a different thought stream voice, the one of the second intruder, interrupted her.
"Speaking is not recommended either, vixen. We're certainly not here to talk."
It was then that Fera realized that the two figures must have heard her calming Krystal through her thought stream. Fera never suspected that the intruders possessed Avatar abilities, so she failed to restrict her thought stream to Krystal alone. The end result was that anyone within range could 'hear' her every thought. Fera cursed herself for not taking the precaution of restricting her thought stream. It had led them straight to her and Krystal.
Feeling cornered and knowing she was trapped, Fera growled at the figures.
"It doesn't have to be hard, for you or your kit. In fact, sit down and make yourself comfortable," the second continued, feigning hospitality.
"We don't have to hurt you," the first said threateningly, "All we want is a little favor. Contact your husband and tell him to come here immediately. It's really better for everyone; you, me, your husband, your kit…" Fera could almost sense a sneer forming from behind the mask.
Fera found her voice. "You take me for an idiot?" she snapped back, "I will never bring him here for whatever your motives may be!"
The first figure stepped forward and a bolt of lightning brought the features of his mask into view. His hidden eyes glared at Fera. "You will do what we say, vixen," he hissed.
"I'm not so easily persuaded," Fera shot back.
Both figures seemed amused at the Avatar's defiance. "Oh, but we believe you are," said the second, "You are bold vixen, but you are far from wise."
Fera suddenly heard a faint buzzing in her head. It started quiet but it steadily grew louder. As it did, the vixen felt a severe stabbing pain within her head. It felt like a knife being driven straight down through her skull. A second burst followed, then a third. Finally a fourth blow, but this one remained. Fera closed her eyes tightly and groaned.
Her body began to tremble involuntarily and her knees gave way, forcing her to kneel on the floor. She knew exactly what was happening: psionic feedback. If communication through the thought stream was managed by energy, then psionic feedback was the use of that energy as a weapon. It was done by putting more energy through the thought stream then required. This was a common problem when a Discoverer or Apprentice was learning TSS. Damage could range from a small headache to complete paralysis of the brain, resulting in death.
In the latter, deadly form, psionic feedback was a cold and painful way to die, as Fera was now discovering.
But she also knew that 'successful' psionic feedback (that which killed the other Avatar) took a phenomenal amount of energy. Despite the incredible pain of the figure's attack, it became clear to Fera that he was not very skilled in using psionic feedback. She sensed him getting weaker with each attack. She was confident that she could overcome it.
"So," said the first figure, "what do you have to say vixen? Will you cooperate?"
"Here's what I have to say," Fera spoke loudly on the thought stream, "your technique needs a lot more work." The Avatar could only imagine the figure's horror when she said this.
Fera's next actions were quick and deceive. With a single deft movement of her free left arm, she pulled the arc blade from behind her. Activating it quickly, the vixen threw the blade with all her skill.
Swishing through the air like a glowing azure boomerang, the blade cut deep into both of the intruders. The first took a glancing slice through his neck and died a quick death. His companion was cut across his abdomen and right arm. With cries and screams of agony, the second figure slumped to the ground and collapsed on the first. A pool of warm blood began to flow across the polished wooden floor.
The arc blade hit the far wall, ricocheting off as it fail-safes disengaged the weapon. Fera remained in a kneeling posture for a few moments as her splitting headache subsided. The haze that had blocked almost all of her abilities dissipated like a fog breaking.
Krystal, unsurprisingly, was again disturbed. This time by the dying sounds of the second intruder. Restricting her thought stream this time, Fera again comforted her child. When Krystal had quieted down, Fera walked briskly to recover her arc blade.
After securing the weapon on her back, she moved towards the nearest door and walked into the storm, now more eager then ever to meet Kailan at the Krazoa Shrine.
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"Is there anything in the Avatar Protocol that says I can't ask what's happening?" Urel's calm voice broke Kailan's worried focus. The Avatar was hesitant to answer for a moment, but he spoke anyway.
"Someone's been scaring Fera for a few days now and she and Krystal are going to meet us at the shrine."
"Oh my," said Urel, sounding generally concerned, an odd personality departure for him, "For how long has this been going on?"
The idea that the two events, Urel's disappearance and this mysterious stalker, were connected crossed Kailan's mind once more. As an Avatar, Kailan had been taught to always seek connection. Everything in the Continuum was connected in some way. He recalled the lesson of how the death of stars ultimately leads to the formation of new worlds. Thus, a star's death billions of years ago was connected to the birth of Cerinia and her people. Everything in existence was a complex web of interconnected, if not always so obvious, links.
Kailan's connection of the kidnapping of a Krazoa Spirit and the dire threats to his wife and child seemed to form a definite link.
"Five days," he said, "Since…I…" he hesitated to answer, as if saying it would make his worst fears true.
"Since you…" Urel begged. Then he picked up on Kailan's thoughts, "left to come get me…Kailan…"
"It can't be," Kailan mumbled and stopped in another alley. He tried to establish a new mind-link with Fera. He had to warn her. The stalkers might be dangerous. It would be tough since she was running, but he'd contacted other Avatars on the move before. He started to focus.
But Kailan encountered resistance, but of a kind he'd never experienced before. It was like a broken holo-image, an ugly panorama of garbled black and white lines. The sounds in his mind sounded similar as all he could hear was white noise.
"Urel," he said, "was this the interference you mentioned when the Lylatian came?"
Urel's answer chilled Kailan to the bone: "Yes."
If that was true, there was now no way he would be able to reach her. Also, there was the very real possibility that whoever had taken Urel, or at least someone with a connection to the event, was nearby.
"You're being followed," Urel's warning confirmed Kailan's fears. "Behind you!" the spirit's voice said urgently.
Kailan stood his ground at first, but only long enough to catch a glimpse over his shoulder. At first he saw nothing as the lights in this part of the city where inexplicable down. It was only when another bolt of lightning flashed did Kailan see his pursuer.
He, assuming it was a he, was tall, easily larger than Kailan. The figure was dressed in a dark grey suit and brandished with chest and joint armor. His face was concealed behind a black mask, on which was branded a strange three-tiered crest. Kailan had never seen such a symbol before. It was colored orange and red. Kailan also saw what he recognized as the Lylatian letter 'V'.
But the Avatar had no time to further study this strange figure, which was now coming closer to him. The figure's size and the poor lighting conditions made Kailan conclude that his best option was to run. He took off in a sprint.
"Urel, how long has he been following us?"
"I just noticed him when we left the alley. He stood there, watching you. I think he could hear your TSS."
"What?! How?" Kailan's voice begged an explanation.
"While you were talking to your mate I sensed a strong power surge. It eventually linked up with yours."
Kailan was stupefied. But his shock turned to horror as he realized that his pursuer may have warned Fera's tormentors of their plan to rendezvous at the Krazoa shrine.
"Kailan! There's another one! To your right!" cried Urel. Kailan turned left to avoid this new enemy. What did it matter anyway? This is the way he was supposed to go.
Or is that what his pursuer wanted?
He ran for several minutes through downtown Starmerge with the rain still pouring from the heavens. Suddenly, the jamming haze, which had continued to plague his efforts to contact Fera, vanished. This could only mean the pursuers were gone, but Kailan was not entirely sure if he had lost the cloaked figure. Their jamming seemed to be a device rather then a technique, which meant they could turn it off and on at will.
"Kailan, these individuals must be connected with who took me from the shrine," said Urel, "the jamming, the harassment of your mate… even that is too much of a coincidence."
"I fear the same thing Urel," Kailan replied, "Whoever they may be, they seem to want you."
"May I suggest then that you release me as soon as you arrive at the shrine? From there I can go somewhere else and stay hidden."
Kailan agreed. He would release Urel if he arrived at the shrine before Fera. Even though he was now gravely concerned for Fera and Krystal, Kailan had to keep his duties in mind. Besides, he knew Fera was crafty. She would be okay.
It wasn't much longer before he had found the shrine. Immediately Kailan noticed the absence of an Honor Guard company. Though this was a further mystery and frustration, Kailan focused on searching for Fera with both his senses and abilities. Failing to find her, Kailan turned his attention to releasing Urel into the shrine.
The Entrance Hall where Kailan soon found himself was in fact of Cerinian construction; essentially an add-on built next to the Krazoa-built shrine. It was a short journey from this room to the Central Chamber. It was here that a spirit could either be acquired or released. It was a massive and splendid room. Built of stone blocks and supported by a quintet of majestic pillars, the room glowed with a special light from torches. On the far wall was a circle of what appeared as liquid metal which rippled like the water of a disturbed pond.
In the center of the room was a special floor panel that was colored differently from the rest. Kailan approached this and stood on it. "Well Urel, this is where you get off," he joked. The spirit was strangely quiet.
Kailan took a deep breath, centering himself on the floor panel and closed his eyes. Almost immediately, his knees trembled and collapsed, sending him kneeling in the direction of the eerie rippling mirror. He let his arms hang loosely at his sides, but they suddenly rose as if an invisible force forced them to lift parallel to the floor. He closed his eyes and took a prolonged, deep breath, steeling himself for the next phase.
Then, it came; that disturbing force that felt to Kailan like a hand reaching into his chest. It was not a pleasant experience, as pain suddenly surged through every fiber of his body. It was intense even to Kailan, who like all Avatars was trained to be indifferent to pain and discomfort. It seemed to penetrate every muscle, bone, and cell of him as the spirit prepared to leave him. He grunted and breathed heavy long breaths, attempting to banish the pain from his mind. But then, just as suddenly as it had come on, the pain was alleviated and he let out a final cry -more of relief then pain- as the spirit left his body. Urel materialized as ghostly blue apparition and turned to face Kailan briefly before turning and then disappeared into the mirror.
Kailan opened his eyes as his arms fell back to his sides. For a few moments all of his senses were numb save for sight. But slowly his mind cleared and he exhaled a long sigh before rising to his feet. He felt weak, but he summoned enough strength to run back towards the Entrance Hall. He kept a wary eye out for his pursuers and Fera. There was no sign of any of them. Kailan became anxious and he darted back into the stormy night.
There was a flash of lightning from the north and Kailan suddenly saw Fera, Krystal wrapped in her arms, silhouetted against the light. But he also glimpsed another figure, identical to his own pursuers who seemed to be chasing Fera. The figure seemed to lurch forward rather than run. He seemed slumped and he was holding his right arm with his left hand.
Kailan withdrew his staff and extended it to its combat length. He charged a shot from the fire blaster, which shot forth bright red plasma bolts. He took aim at the figure and fired.
But his target noticed the red flash of Kailan's staff and managed to dodge the shot. Kailan cursed under his breath and surged forward, now resigned to do close quarter combat with the figure.
He reached him in a few heartbeats, much to the surprise of his target, whose shock and terrible surprise at seeing Kailan, staff drawn with burning eyes of anger charging right at him, could be seen even through his masked face. Kailan swung the staff down, hitting the assailant in the left side of his neck. The figure was knocked sideways but managed to stay his footing. He tried to draw the pistol in its holster clipped to a belt, but Kailan was much fasterand the staff swung from its first position to the cloaked figure's right arm with blinding speed.
This threw him to the ground where Kailan set upon him, hitting him in the chest and head as he spun the staff in a complete circle. A bright line of blue light followed the weapon's movement as Kailan hit the figure once more on his head. He heard a groan above the thunder as the cloaked assailant slipped into unconsciousness.
Kailan paused for a few moments to regain his breath. He was still feeling the effects of releasing Urel. Finally he kneeled beside the fallen enemy and removed the figure's mask. He was most definitely not a Cerinian. He had no fur but instead had a thick, cracked green skin and a pair of high set beady eyes and no visible ears. It was a lizard, one of the denizens of the Lylat System.
He kicked the lizard in his side and growled angrily. If it was up to Kailan, he would have killed the bastard who had chased his wife though Starmerge. But he had done his duty to protect and the lizard was no longer a threat. He rushed to join his wife.
Fera had retreated to the relative safety of the entrance to the shrine. Kailan rushed to embrace her. He gently wrapped his arms around her. Fera began to sob as the two finally saw each other. Krystal however was completely silent.
"Are you two okay?" he asked.
Fera nodded, "We're fine."
"Was anyone else following you?" Fera shook her head.
"I managed to wound him when he broke into our house. I would have finished him off on my own, but I had to carry Krystal of course," she tried to joke. Kailan looked at the bundle of blankets Fera had wrapped Krystal in. Only her tiny face showed; her bright cyan eyes hidden behind tiny eyelids. Kailan smiled at his daughter and gently stroked the top of her head. The infant kit stirred slightly in her slumber.
"I'm glad to see that both of you are safe," he said, kissing Fera and gently embracing her again, "come on, let's get inside before this guy's friends arrive."
"There's more than one?" said Fera in a distressed voice.
"Yes, I was followed by one and attacked by another. They can't be far behind. But don't worry, I'll seal the doors, now get inside quickly!"
Fera nodded and dashed inside with Krystal. Kailan stayed behind to close the massive stone door. Using the key on his staff he sealed and locked the doors so that only another Avatar could open them. The sheer mass of the two meter thick doors would stop anything else from getting in. With this done, Kailan dashed to the Central Chamber.
When he arrived there, he found Fera sitting on the floor still holding Krystal. She looked up at Kailan with a strange look in her eyes. She was genuinely terrified and, though he didn't want to admit it, so was Kailan. He had never encountered something that disrupted mind-links before. Telepathy was supposed to be unbreakable so long as both Avatars stayed focused. He sat next to Fera.
"We're safe in here," he said with a gentle, reassuring voice, "only an Avatar with his weapon can open that door." Fera nodded and glanced up at Kailan.
But no sooner had he said this when there was a tremendous crashing sound from the Entrance Hall. Kailan and Fera starred wide-eyed in the direction of the doors as another crash sounded. Krystal stirred and finally awoke. The kit had that expression of infant ignorance and innocence, completely unaware her life was threatened.
Kailan rose to his feet and checked his staff. He knew what he had to do. Fera's startled expression begged an explanation.
"Fera," said Kailan as calmly as he could manage, "there's a passage that leads to the right before you enter the Central Chamber. You should find an exit if you follow it. Do you understand?"
Fera nodded reluctantly as she realized where her husband was getting at.
"You and Krystal need to get out of here, I'll hold them here as long as I can."
Fera was sobbing now as she stood up. "Kailin-," she started.
"There's no time Fera, you must get moving!" interrupted Kailan. Fera started towards down the hall as Kailan slowly walked towards the breaking doors. Centuries of structural fortitude were somehow crumbling to the unknown pursuers. Suddenly Kailan turned around.
"Fera!" he called out and the vixen spun to face him. They looked at each other for a moment before Kailan answered, "I'll see you on the other side."
What did he mean by that, wondered Fera. Was he going to meet her outside the shrine? Or was he stating his willingness to die for her and their kit? Before she could ask, he cried out "Go! Now!" and she instinctively ran down the path.
Then there was final loud thud on the hardened stone doors. There was a rush of cold air that reached Fera in force. She stopped and ducked into a side alcove, stealing a glance towards the Entrance Hall.
The overhead lights fluctuated; first dimming, and then brightening to a malicious glare, before fading back down and remaining. All of this occurred as three cloaked figures emerged from the rain. Fera noticed that one was taller then the other two and was wearing a black cloak emblazoned with additional insignia. This figure bellowed something that Fera couldn't understand and then raised his arms. Fera watched in horrified fascination as the lights dimmed even more.
She ran. She desperately wanted to help Kailan, but she knew that to turn back now would be to dishonor his noble sacrifice. He would get out, Fera thought to herself, he was stronger than them – in body and in mind. He would win, he always did.
But now Fera had to focus on the treacherous path in the heart of the shrine. This passage was the actual entry into the shrine, the one which the Krazoa had intended an Avatar to enter in ancient times. Fera grimly remembered the shrine paths she had gone through as an Apprentice and Candidate to prepare her should she ever need to recover a Krazoa spirit from the shrines. Unfortunately, the shrine had detected the intruders and had activated the security systems along the path. Flames shot from the walls and ceilings in bursts, which Fera had to dodge. She then had to cross a narrow walkway which traversed a deep pit filled with water, where whirlpools churned ominously. All this while carrying Krystal was hardly an easy task. It demanded so much of her concentration that she found she needed to dock into an alcove to rest.
When she did, she tried to 'see' Kailan and make contact with him. Was he okay? She found him, but there was no color in his thought pattern; he was dead.
The grief that overcame Fera was short, as suddenly all three black cloaked figures entered the far end of the hallway. The tallest of them, who wore some kind of angular, V-shaped crest on his chest, shouted in a strange tongue and pointed at her and the other two raced to catch her.
Fera's first reaction was to hold her ground and use her arc blade. But she had to protect Krystal and she had no choice but to dash down the hall. Still hoping to find the exit Kailan had told her about, she listened as the sounds of the alien language grew steadily louder.
The vixen descended an elegant staircase and turned left into a new room. There was nothing. No exit, no door, no escape from the cloaked pursuers. There was one thing that she noticed, the sole purpose of this room; the warp panel.
The panel was large circular stone decorated with the Krazoa Shield, a flower-like symbol with six interconnection petals, which rose roughly fifteen centimeters from the floor. A few specks of light rose from the center, indicating the panel was active.
While salvation seemed to so openly present itself in the warp panel, Fera knew that the only safe way to use the panel was to go one at a time. And with the pursuers coming closer and closer by the second, Fera knew there would not be enough to send Krystal through and then go through herself.
She looked at Krystal and then the warp panel and realized what she had to do. Yes, there were a lot of factors and variables to consider. Would the panel work with little Krystal? And if it did, where did it lead? And would someone find her there?
Under normal circumstances Fera would never even consider what she was thinking, but these were far from normal circumstances and the alien voices were still coming ever closer. She concluded finally, it was the only way to save her kit.
With the sounds of heavy footsteps and angry alien voices coming closer, Fera moved towards the warp panel. She stopped for a moment and brought Krystal to her body one last time and embraced her for a few seconds. And then, tears pouring from her eyes and repressed wails still coming out as sobs, she placed her infant kit on the warp panel. Krystal, who had up to this point been virtually silent, suddenly began wailing when she was released from her mother's arms. Fera activated the platform.
Light engulfed Krystal's tiny body still wrapped in blankets and her crying grew fainter. Finally, she disappeared.
Fera repressed all doubts and worries of Krystal's safety and took to destroying as much of the warp panel as she could. There was no way she was going to let her pursuers get to Krystal, even if she had to die to protect her. The sabotage was hardly an easy task, partly from the complexity of Krazoa teleportation technology, but also from the knowledge that she was committing sacrilege. Destroying Krazoa technology was a crime equated to murder on Cerinia. This did not stop Fera for a second. She would do anything to save her child.
Eventually, she pried a hidden access panel open with her arc blade and then destroyed the complex circuitry with the weapon. The warp panel's light died out. Fera breathed a sigh of relief even as the three cloaked figures, the tallest leading the pursuit suddenly burst into the room.
The overhead lights sputtered and finally went dark.
Fera drew her arc blade and clasped it tightly in her right hand. She slowly rose to her feet, turned to face the enemy, and prepared to go down fighting.
It was late in the city of Ascension and the four Gatekeepers, the guardians of the SpellStones of Cerinia, stumbled ungracefully out of the meeting hall of the Council Chamber into one of the many passage ways of Krazoa Palace. All were bone tired and anxious to retire to their beds.
Three of them shuffled out quickly and then immediately turned right towards the exit. The fourth, the youngest, known as Randorn, lagged behind. Even as he tried to catch up with the other three Gatekeepers, they did their best to keep their distance from him.
Bastards, Randorn thought to himself.
He stopped where he was, one of the six entrances to the Great Hall of Krazoa Palace. The room was brightly lit as always, giving the towering Krazoa statues an eerie air. Their shadows seemed to dance in the torchlight, making them seem alive. Aside from the quiet crackling of the torches and the footsteps of the others slowly growing quieter down the hall, everything was still and quiet.
It was rather surprising then when something caught Randorn's eye. It was the warp panel. Light erupted from its center like a volcano. Someone was coming through from one of the shrines. But why so late, wondered Randorn.
There was something else odd about this transmission. The light was normally the height of the person coming through, but the light here wasn't even a meter tall.
The light converged on the center of the pad and the outline of a small object appeared. As the object materialized, it appeared as a bundle of blankets. Randorn approached it cautiously and was met with a wailing sound. Though he had not heard it for years know, Randorn recognized it as a kit crying.
He noticed her face and he picked her up. Her eyes opened just enough to see him before she continued crying. Randorn looked absolutely dumbstruck at the kit. Where had she come from? The warp pad at Krazoa Palace was connected to every other pad across Cerinia. Who had sent her through the warp and how had she survived?
Randorn then noticed the white markings on her little arms. She was an Avatar. These new discoveries in mind, he rushed down the hall to seek help.