The wilderness is home to many creatures, some attempt to build cities and civilizations bound together by the ropes of ingenuity, some stick to their secluded natures in the wilds, and a rare few let their savage instincts run wild and free. A world divided by many classes of beings, different backgrounds, cultures, and perspectives. Disdain and conflicts run rampant between all of them.

The Settlers, woven into diverse communities and specific specializations attempt to create cooperation and organization in their world—the recent creation of Guilds as explorers, messengers, and mission-takers has led to a flock of members risking it all.

The Wilds, seclusive and rarely diverse communities, reflecting the diversity of nature's being. Cautious creatures who are mainly reserved, though some do not hold back as much with their land and their beliefs.

The Ferals, those who have let themselves fall into their predatory instincts, the harsh side of nature. Some work tightly together in packs, while others are fine on their own.

Throughout and within this world have been battles, scars, and mistrust that have led to this lasting divide on all sides. Some are caught up and swallowed by it unintentionally when it never really was their fault to begin with. But the world is an unforgiving one, and those who live in it don't have a choice in the matter.

And I am living proof of this.

It was many years ago, a foggy memory that she could never put down from her. It kept bubbling back up to the surface only to be re-lived, again and again. . .

There was a constant trickle of water in the creek as it traveled downstream, the hum of bird's song and the crinkling of fallen leaves as animals traversed across the forest. The foliage that emerged and danced gracefully in the midday sun only added to the beauty of it all.

This is where 'Lyra' was homed to, a young girl at the time who danced around in her brown fur coat, the fluff on her tried to blind her with the wind's help but only continued to fall short. She lived in a small village with her family and another out in this tranquil wilderness where no other life seemed to tread. Most of her fellow kind were as young as she was, the few adults that were around seemed to be moderately aged.

The village was full of the same group of creatures, all had yet to evolve into another form seemingly content with the way they lived. 'Eevee' is what their kind was called, she knew that they could transform into one of many different types of Eevee when she grew old if she chose.

Life here was as pleasant as it could get, when they settled here the 'Concord Guild' gave them all the information of what was around. There weren't any recent reports of Ferals or many hostile Wilds ever known to be around the area.

Lyra roamed the outskirts of the village, her ears blown back from the slow breeze passing by. Within the quiet forest, she found herself in a ditch looking at the nearby creek. She stood next to the running stream that made its charmful noise, she took it all in as she embraced the nature of the world around her.

But then she noticed something off about the small world she was raised in, the song of the birds had suddenly subsided, and the leaves that once crinkled under the weight of those animals stopped entirely. It was as if a threshold had torn itself open and started to creep into her life.

Under the silence that seemed to span eternities, a voice shot up, panicked and out of breath, "Mara!" Lyra's ears pricked up as she heard her Mother's name being called by her father, "Get the children inside! Ferals!" The fear in his voice was alarming to Lyra, she was almost out of earshot when she emerged from the ditch, and then she saw it.

An orange beast with lines of jet-black fur streaming across it with a peach mane that blew in the wind had leaped from the top of a gray stone rock planted thoroughly in the soil. Its claws were now halfway across her father's back as his skin was being torn from him.

Her eyes went wide as he let out a pained yelp, she had never heard her father wince in such a disturbing way. He was staring out towards her brother, Oliver, screaming while trying to get back on his legs, though his efforts were for nothing as the creature slammed down its right paw onto his back spine, a protruding and disturbing crack echoed out. Weakly her father spoke with jaws looming over the nape of his neck, "Oliver... Go to the Concord Guild, Qui-"

His now final words were cut off as the creature's jaws planted themselves deep within the hold of the father's neck. The first life was extinguished and the massacre had now truly begun. Several more creatures emerged from the foothold the first had previously come from, most of them held the same form though some looked smaller and younger. They had nothing to say in protest, only jumping forward like the others straight into the fray.

Lyra's eyes refused to remove from the violence. Oliver tried to run, his movements were fast— not fast enough. Claws made contact with him and he gave out a shriek, but what Lyra assumed was adrenaline allowed him to keep moving from that nasty wound. The creature didn't seem bothered to give chase, putting their attention towards the rest of the Village.

Her mother backed up to the door of their home, she could pick out the fear in her eyes as she hissed with her limbs trembling violently. The creatures, larger, more intimidating approached and she reared herself back to pounce. She launched off her feet but was backhanded, claws tearing blood across her face. Her body ragdolled across the ground as another one of them jumped onto and she screamed.

The door left exposed was breached and the horror of those screams rang violently across the forest.

Her attention flickered to a home that had just broken open from the roof under the weight of two of the creatures. She could only watch, her limbs to frozen to move and her voice in too much terror to make a sound.

Her body finally broke under the weight of the moment, collapsing muck from the ditch spewed up and covered her body. The cries of her sisters, brothers, friends, and family all kept on shrieking and assaulting her ears.

Tears streamed down her face as she tried to cover her ears from the cries and shrieks she heard. There was no mercy to be heard or to be seen, the newfound roar of fire crackled and filled the air. Flesh and wood burned and stunk up the Village, however wild the beasts were it was controlled, it hit its target; the surrounding forest was left untouched by the array of flames.

She curled up on the ground, whining quietly as time seemed to slow down, minutes to hours. The final scream of her sister echoed out as the Village now became eerily quiet, but it wasn't even the end of it all.

It was deafening, the only sound that interrupted it was the low growls and barks the creatures made, she could never forget what they sounded like. It was all so visceral and rough, she wished she could drown out the sounds, and make it all end, but the nightmare continued. The crackling of the fire finally died down and all that was left was the Village being stained with a pungent and disgusting smell.

Though she did dare to move or make a sound, for she could still hear them. Teeth were chewing and making loud ripping noises as flesh was torn from bodies. She forced herself to a quiet hush, she refused her immense desire to cry and shout even after she heard those plodding feet move away.

Her heart pounded fast and deep in her chest when she heard fast-paced footsteps that came towards the Village. She hunched her body as low as she could get, though she was already as low as her body would allow her to go. She heard voices penetrate the silence, voices that were not grunts, but ones that sounded concerned,

"Hello!? Anyone out here?"

"We're members of The Concord Guild, we're here to help!"

"Search for survivors, this doesn't look too good."

Lyra tried to speak but her voice carried no sound from her fear, she slowly crawled out of the ditch and was immediately spotted by one of them. A bipedal pink-colored lamb slowly approached her, the black stripes burst the image of the creatures that attacked her family but she knew that this wasn't one of them. The lamb's tail had a blue orb on it and its mane was white as the winter snow, and from them emanated what seemed to be an aura of warmth and security.

The lamb spoke in a soft calm town as they put one foot after the other and neared her, "It's okay, you're safe now." as she got closer she opened her arms and embraced Lyra, "Everything's gonna be alright."

The tension in her body softened as she spoke up to the lamb while coddled in her embrace, "Who… who are you?" her voice shook.

They replied with a gentle smile, "My species is Flaafy, you may call me Gomez."

Gomez turned back and let the embrace end as another one of the group started towards them, another creature covered in vibrant green scales and sleek appearance neared. They had leaf-like structures protruding from their long tail. Gomez spoke to them, "Any news, Sceptile?"

He spoke in a deeper voice than Gomez, "Nothing good." The third member of the team slowly started their approach, they were turtle-like in their appearance two spikes angled themselves out from their head as their mean green scales covered their brown underbody. Spikes came out of their shell to resemble mountains, and the sapling of an oak tree was starting to grow on the other side. Their voice carried the same deepness as the Sceptile, "No survivors, not even the kid that notified the Guild about the attack. Ferals fatally injured him, there was nothing anyone could do"

Lyra was left in shock at the words she heard, everything, everybody she knew was just taken away in the blank of an eye. The afternoon sun beat down strong upon them as Gomez spoke up once more, "Sceptile, Torterra, we won't have much time to make it back to the Concord Guild before night falls if we don't move now."

They turned and knelt to Lyra her form gentle but firm, "We are going to take you somewhere safe, alright, kid?"

Lyra nodded slowly as Gomez reached her arms toward Lyra, picking her up and slowly placing her onto Torterra's back. The Torterra's head turned up as he spoke to the child, "Get comfortable kid, we'll be traveling for a quick minute."

They started to move back through the town, Lyra looked towards her home too stunned for words. Now dried blood stained the green grass a dark red, corpses of her fellow kind left behind scattered across the ground were left. The grotesque gore that befell her eyes was too much as she gagged, yet she couldn't bear to take her eyes off of it. These were the homes and the bodies of her friends and family that she had known forever, and now they were reduced to ugly ashes that stained the earth. The bonds she had forged were ripped to shreds by those beasts from hell.

She tried to compose herself, but a surge of fear and disgust emerged from her, and a fiery anger ignited within her. With each step the group took her resentment towards the ferals and wilds grew brighter.

For her, there was no distinction between them, they all were responsible for the destruction and massacre of her home and family.

"Guildmaster?"