The Takeover

It took her two days to scale the mountains that surrounded the plain Rudy had built his home on. Then she was free. Free to travel wherever she wished. She began heading north, where she was destined to go. Or at least that’s what she had been taught.

It was said that in the old world, before the great world, the races remained separate completely separated. There were no half races or human and elven marriages, the only way they interacted was trading goods. The land of the elves, which was believed to be called Peltumbe held all the magik. The every elf had magik within them, and used it for everything. Until the bright light exploded in the middle of the royal city and took away everyone’s magik. At least, that’s what the normals believe.

In sire lore, a rare few were left with magik and escaped to a small town in the dense forest of Peltumbe, the sire civilization. A safe heaven for those cursed with magic. If Lana could make it to the lost city she would be safe… That’s assuming the lore is true.

Once over the mountains, Lana entered the forest of giants.

“What’s over the mountains?” A smaller Lana questioned one day during her history lesson.

“The forest of giants.” Rudy answered with a knowing smile. Lana hated history lessons and would do anything to get out of them.

“Why is it called that?” She tried to act innocent, tried not to give away how she was stalling and had no interest in the history of the ‘pure’ human race.

“Well, because everything there is twenty times it’s normal size. To put it in perspective, the birds alone are two Rudys high.” He stretched his arm as high as he could, and Lana giggled.

“You’re going to have to travel through the forest almost immediately after leaving here. So remember to watch out for the predators. Especially the flowers.”

She stared up at the trees that towered above her. The calls of the giant birds echoed through the forest and every time one flew out the to another tree it’s shadow seemed to block out the sun. Or at least the small amount of light that filtered through the leaves. Lana was completely in awe at the beauty of nature.

Leaves rustled to her left, at the base of the largest tree and her body kicked into overdrive, initiating fight or flight responses. She relaxed as a small, well small for this forest, black kitten walked out of the bushes. It looked up at her with large, terrified eyes. Its ears flattened against its skull in fear. It went to slink back into the bushes and hide from her when something larger came crashing through the underbrush. Thinking it was the cubs mother, and not really wanting to be eaten, Lana crouched down behind the base of the nearest tree. She peaked her head slightly above the bush that covered the base of the tree and watched.

A man cut through the dense underbrush with a machete, he lead two more men and a rather toned woman. The men all had dangerous and very sharp swords while the girl carried a bow. Lana's breath caught in he throat. They could be Guardians. They probably were. They had no marks so they weren't sires, so Lana had to assume they were not trustworthy.

"Here, kitty, kitty, kitty." The first man smirked and called. The tone of his voice gave Lana the extreme urge to punch him.

"You lost our meal again." The woman huffed. Then the cub darted from the bush next to the hunters and ran to Lana. She sighed and realized she had only one choice. It was time to see what happened to her clothes when she shifted.

It was time for her first shift. She knew she had to focus. To think of ever last detail of the animal. She also needed to try and control her flaw. Apparently nature or magic has something against shifters and will not allow them to be a perfect replica of a species. Not even the most powerful shifters can shift without a flaw. Lana had to choose her flaw carefully. The people standing but a few yards away were dangerous. She could feel it. And she felt an obligation to this small panther cub... She felt as though she had to protect it.

That need to protect saved her. First shifts can take hours, she would have been dead on the spot. Fortunately her sub-class granted her the ability to shift in a matter of seconds. And it wasn't nearly as painful as Rudy had explained all those years ago.

Lana's flaw was grey pads on the bottom of her large paws, instead of black. She let out a test growl, trying to figure out how her new form worked and something changed in the air. It smelled strange, the air smelled of vulnerability... Fear! She could smell the hunters' fear. Her tail twitched in excitement.

She gracefully padded around the bush to examine the group. Lana felt the power in all her muscles; they were tense and coiled, ready to release at moments notice, sending her flying at the enemy with more than enough force to kill them.

The group knew the tides had shifted and they were now the prey. Their heartbeats quickened and they tried to find a decent escape route. The cat growled at them again, louder this time. They jumped in fright. They heard a small mewl as the cub tried to mimic the mother's roar.

The large beast to a step in their direction, and it's muscles tensed, as if it were going to attack. The hunters bolted, each in a random direction. The cat could only chase one of them, so it was the best way for the group to survive.

Lana was smart, she chased after the girl with the bow. If she had chased one of the men, the woman would be able to attack her and stay hidden. But since she when after the woman the men would have to get close to attack. And her heightened senses would alert her of anything trying to sneak up on her.

The women was sent into hysterics. She knew she couldn't fend off this angry mother. No one goes after a mother's cub and survives. She ducked under shrubs and bushes trying to force the panther to slow down, or have to take a different path. She was doing well, she had put a reasonable amount of space between herself and the animal until her bow string got caught on numerous branches off a bush. She tried to pull the bow from the brush but it was too tangled. She knew she had to leave it if she wanted to survive. She when to unhook her harness that held the quiver and the bow in place as she ran, crawled, and tumbled through the dense forest, but it was stuck. The latch wouldn't give.

What a perfect time for her harness to break. She leaned against the base of a nearby tree in defeat. She couldn't outrun this monster. Especially when she was trapped in a thorn bush. She ran her hair through her tangled blonde hair and sighed. She only one option left. She only hoped the boys weren't around to see her.

Lana sniffed the air trying to locate where the girls scent was coming from. The smell seemed to lay out in the air creating a pink translucent trail behind a nearby bush. Lana slunk around the bush carefully, and quietly. Her eyes were met by a surprise. Small bursts of fire were being spit from her palms, and she was using them to cut the vines and branches that had attached themselves to her bow and quiver. She sucked in a growl-like gasp. The girl turned and recoiled, as much as the vines would allow.

Lana lowered her head in an awkward bow and started trying to shift back. She hoped she still had her clothes and pack. She didn't remember seeing cloth scraps on the ground where she had originally shifted. She felt herself shrinking back to her original form. As she began to acquire more human-like characteristics she felt her clothing separate from her skin and her bag fell heavily against her back. She panted and tried to catch her breath. It seems like all the energy she exerted as the cat waited to affect her until after she changed back.

"You... you're..?" The woman gasped. "M-me too!" She whispered and bushed up her bangs. Her mark was minuscule. It was two half swirls on either side of her widow's peak. Lana nodded and at her and pushed back her black hair to reveal her mark that went all the way around her hairline.

"Wow, it's so big, I never heard of marks being so large. They're supposed to represent your power level." She leaned in close with big, doe like eyes and traced Lana's mark with her finger.

"Does that mean, no offense, that you don't have a lot of power?" Lana tried to work it delicately, but didn't know how.

"Yeah, but hey, it's not all bad. Because I have so little the hunter's pegasilounds aren't able to detect it. So I can hide right under their noses. Which is what I'm doing." She shrugged. "I travel with the group of hunters you saw, and I let all the sires I'm able to contact know where they are. Or where other groups we've met up with are."

"Aren't you worried they will find you out?" Lana whispered quickly and worriedly. She placed her palm on the girls knee.

"Always, but I'm careful. Which is why you need to change back." The girl said urgently her brown eyes shining with distress. "They'll be coming back this way looking for my corpse. But I have an idea. I'll get my bow out and you'll corner me against this tree. And shifters are supposed to heal fast, right?"

"Supposedly, yes... However, I have yet to be injured to test that theory." Lana murmured

"Well it'm pretty sure it's been proven. So I'm going to shoot you in your shoulder. With one of my dull arrows, so it'll hurt like hell for a little while but it won't do any permanent damage. Then you need to run... Pick up that cub if you need to but run as far away from here as you can. They won't chase you, panther mothers are too dangerous to hunt. Quick, I hear them coming, shift back. No pressure but we'll both die if this doesn't work... Oh and I'm Annie, by the way."

Lana couldn't help but smile at how she talked in a rapid fire sort of way. "I'm Lana, and I'll try to protect our heads... That cat was my first shift... So here goes nothing I suppose." Annie smiled with approval but it didn't meet her eyes. Lana could tell she was worried. But Lana was confident she could shift again, just like before. She had to, she couldn't let two sires die in one day. They were already dwindling in numbers. She had to protect her race, she had to protect Annie. Once again her sub-classes gifted her with a swift shift and she was right back into her panther form. Just in time too, the three male hunters ran around the base of the tree not a moment later. Lana let out a roar, and the men recoiled.

"Stand back!" Annie yelled, sounding fearless. "I can scare it away."

"Annie, no." The smaller of the men, with light brown hair reached for her, and the other two stopped him. "We can help you." Lana roared at them, forcing them to back off. She felt powerful again, and she loved it.

"No, I've got this." She raised her bow, she had managed to get untangled from the brush while explaining the plan to Lana, and aimed. Lana began stalking forward. She walked slowly to the left, starting to circle her 'prey'. She tensed to spring and that's when Annie let the arrow fly, right into her shoulder like she promised. Lana roared in pained, the only part of the performance that was not faked. She then bolted back to where she left the cub, and lead it away from the hunters.

After running for roughly two hours she found a small cave entrance covered by shrubbery. She ducked inside and shifted back to her human form, then proceeded to pulling the arrow from her shoulder. The panther cub had stayed with her, despite her constant efforts to shoo her. How the cub new she was the cat and the human she had no clue.

She patted its head and laid on her non-injured side. She needed rest... Her eyes were heavy and she couldn't seem to stay awake. The cub nestled into her back and gently licked her wound. But it didn't bother her, it was actually comforting... And lulled her to sleep.