[Warning: this chapter deals with quite sensitive subjects...]
"Run! Hide in the caves " shouted the leader of the nomadic Neko tribe, his voice drowned out by fear.
Sakura, a little Neko barely six years old, had wandered off for a moment to catch a particularly shiny insect. She was caught off guard when the ground began to shake. The silence that followed was more terrifying than any scream.
Monsters emerged from the night. They were not ordinary beasts, but creatures that had come out of a nearby rift, their shifting forms defying all logic. The adults of the clan grabbed their weapons, but the attack was too sudden.
In the panic, Sakura ran, but not in the right direction. Blinded by fear, she tripped over a root and fell heavily. When she lifted her head, the camp was already an inferno and her family had vanished in a whirlwind of dust and fire.
