Edited: Aug, 24, 2020

==============

Pinti jolted awake. Confusion muddled and mixed in her head. She heaved herself up when a paw pushed her back down.

"Pinti, stay down, it's not safe."

Not safe? But the clan has always been safe. She squinted her eyes, trying to see Kirlan and another next to him. She tried to speak but it was hard to move her mouth. The scent of burnt wood filled her nose as orange flames consumed houses. Red Edgling eyes flickered in and out of the darkness. Blue Kathula were occasionally illuminated, their faces contorted in fear and anger. Their yowling and screaming slowly grew until they were clear.

Pinti blinked, widening her eyes at the scene before her. Amidst the pouring rain, clan grounds were in a frenzy of red-eyed Edglings, blue Kathula, and orange and red flames. Yowling, screaming, hissing Kathula mingled with the cackles of Edglings. On the ground lay some blue clumps which black shadow beasts hovered over. It was then she heard teeth crunching bones. Turning her head, she saw before her in the firelight, only a tail's length away, an Edgling devouring the body of two Kathula. Her paws began to tremble when she recognized those white pawtips and those stripe patterns along the tails.

"T-Tendri?" She trembled. "Mother?" Her voice was hoarse, barely a whisper. It couldn't be real! This was all a bad dream and she just wasn't awake.

Suddenly, Kirlan grabbed her arm and pulled her up.

"Get up! We have to go!" he yelled. "Run!" But she didn't understand what was going on and let him drag her out into the rain. It blurred her vision and she wiped the water away. She looked over her shoulder in time to see a male Kathula bristle and launch himself at a black, shadowy beast with thorns all over its body. The Edgling writhed and threw the Kathula on the ground, but he launched at it again.

"Pinti, let's go!" Kirlan tugged at her. She tore her gaze away from the fight as they made their way up the hill through the pouring rain. Mud made the terrain slippery and many times they fell, but Kirlan yelled at her to keep moving and she blindly clawed her way up the hill as heavy mud caked her fur.

A beast's growl echoed in her chest, startling her to a frenzy and she scampered up the hill toward the house. Kirlan was lagging behind, but he kept telling her to go, to run, and to hide.

Pinti pulled herself through the mud and rain. The scent of wet soil, Makiista Clan, and blood filled her nose. Rain, thunder, cackling Edglings, fearful Kathula, and a dreadful crunching sound filled her ears. What was going on?

Once she got to the top, an explosion sent waves of heat onto her back, flattening her to the ground. Every house of Makiista that sat for generations were burned and amidst the rain hungry flames devoured wood. All that was left standing was her home on the hill.

"Don't stop!" Kirlan was panting and frantically pulling her up. She smelled sour fear wafting off of him as they hurried to the house.

"Kill them, kill them all!" came the voice of her family's Saboteur. Kathula let out yowls of pain and fear. The sound gripped her heart. Pinti stopped running and turned back around. Wasn't it her duty to put her clan first? She couldn't just go and hide! She had to go back and fight. She had to protect Makiista.

"Pinti," Kirlan insisted, "we need to hide. We can't fight against them."

"B-But," She finally found her voice, "the clan needs me."

He let out low growl. "But what can we do? Kathula can't hurt with magick and Edglings are too strong. We will lose. To survive, we have to hide."

Dread sat in the pit of her stomach making her nauseous. He was right. Edglings were much larger and stronger. When she realized the reality, tears filled her eyes, pushing themselves out so much it hurt. She couldn't do anything. Kirlan stood beside her, holding her paw.

"But why are they attacking?" she wailed. "Edglings aren't supposed to—"

"Pinti!" Her father came staggering toward her. His wet fur embraced her, hugging her tightly while dragging her home. "Pinti, oh my Poocha, you're alive." He choked on his words.

"Father! Mother and Tendri," She spluttered, "M-Mother and Tendri!" Tears moistened her eyes and she found herself still wanting to believe it wasn't true. Kirlan scampered behind them when a dark cloud silently descended and long tentacles emerged.

"Kirlan!" She reached out, but a tentacle snatched him away as he screamed. The Edgling flew up into the sky with him dangling from his neck. They disappeared behind clouds.

"Kirlan!" She cried out and struggled against her father's arms, trying to get down and away to chase after that Edgling. But her father held her tightly and wouldn't let go.

"No, Pinti. No. We must hide and survive this, my Poocha." He whispered as he took her with him into the house and down to the basement. There, he sat her on the floor and covered her in blankets as she dripped water.

"You'll be safe, yes, and warm," he rasped. Then he rushed to the back. When he emerged, he had with him a wooden box and inside was a rusted sword.

"My great grandfather used to be a warrior." He said with a half-smile on his lips. "I've kept this." He took it out, awkwardly gripping it in his paws. "I won't let them harm you. I won't," he said over and over as he walked back and forth in front of her. Patches of blood were smeared on his bristled fur as he bared his fangs. There were scratches all over his body.

Kirlan was gone. Was it just today they played in the forest? Was he gone forever? Pinti couldn't comprehend what was going on or why it was happening. And Tendri and her mother, what happened to them? Deep down, Pinti knew, but she didn't want to believe it. And now here she was hiding like a coward as her clan suffered. She glanced at her father, but his vacant gaze fixed on the door made her afraid to say anything.

Have I failed Makiista? Have we? She wondered and shook her head. No, there has to be a way out of this. There has to!

Tremors shivered through the ground beneath, shaking the entire basement. The wall behind her crumbled. Dust and wood splinters fell before her. The ground cracked. She scampered away as a fissure appeared near her feet. She heard her father's yowl mixed with the cackle of an Edgling.

A guttural shout rang out, followed by an explosion that deafened her ears and the house came crumbling down around her. Her eyes blindly followed familiar objects falling in front of her. The lid slid off a jar of potions as it almost floated to the ground, shattering slowly when it hit the floor. Pieces of glass flew everywhere, reflecting the scene in shards.

"Pinti!" came her father's muffled voice. "Where are you?"

"Father," she wailed, spotting him on the other side of the widening fissure. Heaving herself out of the debris, she gritted her teeth, reaching out to her father who was only a blue smudge behind a sheet of sawdust. The fear of losing him too overwhelmed her and she was about to jump the fissure when a paw gripped hers.

To her shock, it was her family's Saboteur and he flung her far away on the other side. She hit the opposite wall and fell to the floor. The rumbling continued all around her as her home collapsed. Wood splinters, sawdust, dirt, and smoke billowed up around her and rain infiltrated the basement.

"Father!" she wailed, but her call was erased as the roof caved in and wooden beams cracked. The upstairs floors crumbled downwards and the final deafening 'CRASH' left echoes in her ears.

A sudden quiet enveloped her, making her ears ring. Pinti heaved herself up, climbing out of wooden boards, books, and scrolls. A bed frame sat in front of her and she gingerly stepped around it as its metal hinges creaked. Water dripped from the bones of the house making the wood groan. She sniffed the air and found only a faint scent of Edgling among the musty scent of dust and debris.

Dread hollowed her heart. "Father? Where are you?" she whispered with her voice shaking and her heart pounding against her chest. Then, there it was, the slightest groan.

"Father!" Pinti scrambled over wood, stone, and shattered glass, cutting her pawpads and bruising her knees. She had to climb the rubble to avoid falling into the fissure and in a panic, she almost did and caught herself just in time.

There was a table on the other side, miraculously still standing among a pile of thick wooden beams. Her father was visible underneath—a deep blue among chunks of dark brown—and when he saw her, he gave her a small smile.

"Oh, Father!" She sobbed and put her paw on his cheek.

"Oh, my Poocha," her father rasped, "you're alive!"

That was when she realized both his arms were trapped under heavy beams. He lifted his head with a groan.

"I'm sorry," he said, and Pinti cupped his head in her paws. "I fail as a Shaman. Unable to protect my family and less so my clan." He gritted his teeth and winced in pain. When he coughed, blood splattered on her paws.

Fear gripped her heart. "Father, you must not talk, I'll get you out of here." She moved toward one of the large beams, but her father shook his head.

"Pinti," He took a deep shaky breath, "I don't have long."

"What are you saying?" She shook her head, blinking away tears. "I'll get you out, I-I'll go find someone in another clan, then—"

"I knew one thing that could help Kathula destroy Edglings. I knew, but I hadn't enough courage to go find it." He gave a sharp intake of breath. "Find the Scepter of Tamido. For revenge. Revenge on Edglings for the deaths of Kathula."

"No, Father, no, I won't leave you, I won't." She choked on her tears, caressing his head.

"Pinti," His eyes filled with such admiration it struck her heart, "my brave daughter." He nuzzled his cheek against her paws. His gasped. "You must leave to save Kathula," he rasped. "B-Before it's too late. You must search for the Scepter of Tamido."

She pressed her nose to his temple. "I can't, I need you," she mewled and purred and tried to will him to stay, but she could tell he was losing. He coughed and more blood came out making her heart sink.

"Please, Father, don't go," she whispered. "You're all I have." Her voice cracked.

"Be brave my Poocha," he whispered. Taking a deep breath, he gritted his teeth. His face contorted in pain as the light of his Lunar marking flickered and lit up. Pinti could only shake her head over and over, refusing what he was about to do.

"Please, Father, please," she whispered over and over as he said the ancient words while rubbing his cheek against her paws.

"Saffornalié elí Pinti Segnoshua," he rasped, "You are the rain, free and resilient. I pass my duty to you..." His eyes fluttered, and he wheezed. Gasping for air he continued. "For times to come. I call you, a Shamala."

"No!" Pinti whined desperately and dread weighed on her. "No, Father, please don't. You'll be okay." She sobbed. "Don't do this. You'll be okay."

Her father gave her a tired smile as his light dimmed. "I believe in you, my daughter. Find the scepter. Save Kathula." The light in his marking was gone. Pinti spluttered a mewl, coughing on her tears as she could feel the passing of duty—the powers to be a Shamala—coursing through her arms. The Lunar marking on her forehead glowed warm in response.

"By my name, Yon Segnoshua, I bring your power...to light. I...al-ways...in your heart." His voice faded, his eyelids fluttered closed, and his head weighed like a rock in her paws.

"No, no, no, please, please Father!" Pinti patted his cheek, trying to wake him, but in her heart she knew. He was gone.

Struck with dread, Pinti gently set his head down. Edglings had killed everything she loved. Slowly, she got to her feet and walked out into moonlit ruins, anger exploding in her chest. All of Makiista was flattened or burned to the ground. Nothing was left for her to mourn except her father's body and the bones of her house. The rain had stopped, and a cool breeze ruffled her fur, but it didn't calm her. Trembling, she tipped her head back and yowled up at the moons shining so brightly on the devastation below.

"Heizak, Lunar Goddess! You did nothing. What are you for anyway? Give me back my family and give me back my clan!" She yowled with all her might and screamed in anger and frustration until her throat was sore.

At last she stopped. Her heart was numb with pain and empty with loss, and her mind was muddled with confusion. Pinti didn't understand. None of this made sense. The day had been so normal and then all at once, it wasn't.

Why, why, why? She mewled and curled up into a ball on the cold muddy ground. A warmth still flowed through her body as her marking glowed, but it only made her feel lonelier. She was a Shamala with no clan. She was a daughter with no family. Pinti let her mind drift into nothingness. All but one thought remained—the Edglings should have killed her, too.