Claws clashed together in a sickening storm of growls.

Despite being thrown off center by the blow, Sabre continued to circle his opponent after regaining his balance. His wolf form was lean and graceful, able to carry his own. He depended mostly on his newfound teeth and claws; they were his built-in daggers. However, he wasn't allowed to use his prized weapons while training. Currently, it was all about physical strength.

The fur of the lion opposite him glistened in the red light; teeth bared and muscles rippling, he anticipated Sabre's every attack. Every slash would be met with a countering move; every vantage point could be in the lion's range of attack within seconds. This was Sabre's Trainer, Ash.

"You have to concentrate, Sabre," Ash encouraged, his voice deep and wise despite his young age. "Think of a different angle."

Sabre's eyes darted from Ash to the space around him. They were training in a small, circular arena that was roped off and solely for Fire Therians to train in. On the edges of the space were poles that suspended the ropes surrounding the fighting predators.

His eyes lingering on one of these poles, his mind raced. Quickly, Sabre launched himself at it with a burst of strength from his hind legs. In his ricochet, he caught Ash with one paw and pinned him to the floor, the lion having raised to his hind legs to fight back and therefore easily toppling over. He let out a low growl in his defeat. "Well done," he finally said, after Sabre had stood back on all fours to let him rise. "But we're just beginning. Don't think I'll go this easy on you in the future."

     "I know, sir," Sabre nodded. This was only his third session. Ash had promised they'd move to more advanced things once Sabre had learned the full extent of his new form's natural abilities.

     "Now," Ash said, dashing out of the arena to the locker rooms, Sabre following. "Your muscles need rest. I expect you here early tomorrow, alright? We'll work on those different attack angles, and this time I'll guide you some more." After a respectful bow, Sabre left the locker room.

The lithe wolf pawed silently against the cobblestone path. He had grown accustomed to walking around in his new form, highly encouraged by Althea. If it weren't for the machete-sharp teeth and silvery eyes, Sabre would've been mistaken for a curious puppy during his time in the Fire Realm. He observed his surroundings with intent and fascination, sometimes darting to the other side of the road to peek into a tavern window, or to interact with a friendly stag. But what he didn't see coming was a rolling flurry of prickly madness subsequently following the door to the nearest tavern flying open.

     "Wooaaah!" came an uproar from the fire-lit tavern. "Buddy, are you alright?" "Must have had one too many Potions." "That's something you don't see every day."

The wolf stood frozen and barely had time to duck before a brown shape hurtled in his direction. An "ooooof" was heard as a porcupine unfurled from its cannonball position, having crashed into the wall of the building on the other side of the street.

"Every time!" the rodent fussed as it wiggled its way back onto the cobblestone. "Professor Riah told me the recipe, I had the spellbook, I had the right measurements of powdered magma- what am I missing, what am I missing?" he shook his tiny, spiky head frustratedly. He barely noticed Sabre until he nearly bumped into him in his lumbering path.

When the brown eyes met gunmetal black, they went wide with fear. "Oh!" he yelped quietly before anxiously scuttling away and apologizing. "I'msorryI'msorryIdidn'tmeantobeintheway, Ijustwastryingtodoathinganditdidn't-"

"Are you alright?" Sabre asked gently. The question rendered the smaller mammal speechless.

     "You don't have to be afraid of me."

The porcupine finally opened its tiny mouth. "Y-yes. I'm okay," he said. "I should be getting back to the Earth Realm, I'm sorry for intruding-" he started to ramble.

     "You don't have to be so jumpy around me, you know," Sabre said. "I just got here. I'm nothing special." Well, for now he wasn't. "What's your name?"

A minute passed of stunned silence. This tiny Earth Therian must not have met a lot of kindhearted others. Then a quiet..."Rowan."

Sabre began to nod, then froze again. An image popped into his head. An image of sitting in the sandbox in the schoolyard, closely looking at a boy his age who had just discovered his repressed power. An image of quills darting across the school hallway, of a blinding green light that made all the bullies flee.

"Rowan? Rowan Kodiak?"

"You know me? W-why, are they looking for me? I didn't do anything, I can't afford another X on my reco-"

"I'm Sabre, Rowan. Sabre Wilk. Remember when we were in school?"

"...Sabre? It's really you?"

The wolf nodded.

"Oh...oh my goodness! I thought we'd never see each other again, I got here and I didn't see you and I was like 'where's Sabre?' b-but now you're here, and this is excellent! We're gonna save the world together, you're the only one that was ever nice to me-" he rambled. "Ooh!" he stopped suddenly. "I know Nyc's here, too!"

"No way." The four of them? All in the same place at the same time?

     "Way," Rowan said, eyes blown wide with the excitement of a ten-year-old picking up a freshly-printed comic book.

~

The Air Realm was...different. Half of it was a sparse forest, dense with low-hanging fog. Twilight cast a path through the patches of brambles, while shadow bathed everything else in a dark blue. The other half - the top half - existed above the fog, in the higher branches. A world that was obscured by the thick mists. A world hidden from those without wings.

"So, how long have you, you know...known about this?" Sabre asked Rowan as they passed through the barrier of mist. Rowan practically had to skip to keep up with the graceful, easy stride of the wolf double his size.

"Like, a week," Rowan responded. "I was just at home, studying - I did grad school and stuff, you know - and then all of a sudden, everything went black, and I woke up in Dilla's Healer station. I hadn't forgotten about...everything that happened when we were kids," he added. "But I could never have guessed that our world would be like this!" Rowan still carried the innocence of that gangly little boy back in grade school.

"Dill actually lets me do an internship at her Healer station," Rowan continued. "She's teaching me how to make potions and stuff. It's fascinating. It's like chemistry, but, like...cooler." Then, he suddenly halted upon seeing one particular tree that stretched its way up through the clouds. "That's him," Rowan said simply, before darting in that direction.

The snowy owl chick Sabre had known before didn't hold a candle to the graceful bird that swooped down to the forest floor minutes later. Its wings practically sparkled in the delicate twilight, preening and proud, like royalty.

"Nyc?"

Flapping his wings to soften his landing, the owl turned to face the wolf.

"Nyc Curtis?"

He even had the scar on his temple, a barely-visible bare patch between the velvety feathers.

Back in their human lives, Sabre and Nyc hadn't crossed paths since eighth grade. While Sabre went to his town's public high school, Nyc had gone to a prestigious out-of-state boarding school.

"You what?" Sabre had hissed at his best friend when Nyc had told him the good news. Sabre hadn't taken it so well. Nyctea Curtis was his only friend. Well, his only real friend.

Nyc held the acceptance letter in his hands. "Yeah...my parents are psyched. This is all they ever wanted for me."

"What about us? We're the only two of the...whatever we are that have stuck together. What's gonna happen to that? What does that mean for the world, Nyc?"

The slightly younger faltered. "I-I'm sorry, Sabre, this is..." he glanced down at the paper. "This is a great opportunity. Didn't come easily. Besides, it's not like we can't hang out over the summer. And who knows? Maybe we'll actually succeed in saving the world together after all."

Sabre hesitated. Then sighed. "I'm not stopping you. I can't stop you."

Nyc smiled apologetically. "I'll text you. Promise."

He didn't text him.

They didn't see each other again, until now, here, in this magical world that Sabre was just growing accustomed to.

"Sabre?"

Nyc recognized him. Sabre couldn't believe it.

"I told you he'd come!" Rowan said, glancing between the two of them.

"Sabre? I-It's really you? It's so great to see you!" the owl said happily. "How long have you been here?"

"Not even a week," Sabre said. "Last thing I knew, I was just living life in New York, and then...I'm here."

"What did you do in New York?" Nyc asked. "You told me you always wanted to get out of the country."

"I'm...well, I was an actor," Sabre said proudly. "On Broadway."

"That's...that's amazing!" Nyc exclaimed. "And your parents were okay with that?"

The wolf laughed. "Yeah. They really didn't have a choice, I wasn't going to let them stop me."

Nyc shook his head, amused. "You're just like I remember you."

Maybe this world wouldn't be so strange now. Maybe Sabre could actually feel...like he belonged.