Cybernet screwed his eyes shut as he felt the light began to dance over his face, despite the layers of blanket that covered his eyes. From the time he was born, the young cat had always slept with his blankets and comforters pulled over his head, effectively cocooning himself in them. At first it was to invoke a feeling of security, but as he had grown up the habit had stayed with him, and served now as more of a means to prolong the darkness during the morning and give him maximum sleeping time. Of course there always came a time when even the blankets couldn't fully keep the light out, and he just had to admit defeat and wake up. But he never did so willingly.

He groaned and threw the covers off his body, sitting up slowly and swinging his torso around to place his feet on the ground, stretching his arms upwards and arching his back a little before finally pushing himself to his feet, his eyes still firmly closed as the back of his mind clung desperately to the world of sleep. He groaned again, rubbing his temples lightly and slowly padding across his room to his door so he could reach the washroom, a path that had been engraved into the very back of his memory. His movements were all automatic, and his mind wandered aimlessly and slowly through his head, still not quite awake. Cybernet was, essentially, every single thing a morning person was not. On a bad day, he could easily wander around for an hour without actually waking up. He would be up and moving, but he wouldn't actually be up and thinking. It usually took a nice, warm shower or a good cup of coffee before his brain decided it might be a nice idea to catch up with his body and start functioning properly. Until said time though, Cybernet's body functioned on autopilot as his mind clung to whatever thoughts happened to be on the surface at that time, which at that time happened to be nightmares. Specifically, nightmares about a ship. And water. And fire. Lots of fire, but equally, lots of water. Which didn't make any sense. But on the other paw, nothing ever made sense to Cybernet in the morning.

He was about three steps away from his door though when something suddenly halted his progress: a wall. Letting out a disgruntled "Merf!", his eyes snapped open wide. He immediately regretted the decision, snapping them shut right away before any more bright light could overwhelm his senses. His mind suddenly began to wake up as he thought to himself, That's not possible… I've done this route day in and day out for at least five years with my eyes closed - I know it better than anything!

Slowly, ever so slowly, he opened his eyes and blinked against the invasion of sunlight. As they adjusted to the light, he found himself staring at a pale blue wall. But that couldn't be right, because the walls in his room were off-white. What did it mean? Different colour… different wall place… which meant that either his room had undergone some sort of bizarre transformation without him knowing it whilst he slept, or…

… Or he wasn't in his room.

Cybernet meeped loudly as he turned and looked around, realizing that he was indeed in someone else's room. Not only that, but it wasn't a room he recognized from his house at all, which meant he was in someone else's home altogether. He fell back a little against the wall and started to slide down in his confusion. As he did so, he felt the wall's cool, smooth surface press up against the bare fur of his shoulders and he jumped away quickly in surprise, looking down and realizing that on top of everything, he was completely naked. His mind now up and racing, he instinctively jumped back into the bed and pulled the blankets around him to cover himself up, even though he was the only one in the room.

"OK…" he said quietly to himself, something he always did when trying to work out something very complicated or confusing. "I'm… I'm in someone else's room… in someone else's bed… with no clothes on. This is… this is rather creepy."

He tried to search through his totally confused mind to figure out what had happened, but all he could find was his dream… the ship, covered in flames, the dizzying feeling in his stomach as the stars raced away from him, and the sudden, unforgiving pounding of the water that had sent a wave of blackness over him…

Oh gods! What if it wasn't a dream… what if?

Slowly, ever so slowly, he reached behind him to feel his back with his paw. At first there was nothing, but when he pushed a little, he immediately winced in pain and tore his paw away. His back felt slightly bruised and very sensitive… as though he had fallen on it recently. On top of that, he noticed too that his fur was filthy, all stuck together with small brown clumps clinging to it, clumps that looked suspiciously like they were made of sand. The sand had to have come from the beach… and the bruises could have easily have come from falling on the deck and hitting the railing like he had dreamt… which meant… it wasn't just a dream. Then it all started to come back to him. His parents. Running away. The ship, the otters, the wolf, the documents, the storm, the…

The fire.

He shivered. There was no way that fire had just sprung up, just like that. Something had triggered it. No, not just that, something had created it. Something had brought the flames into existence, and then fuelled them into the inferno they had become. But what? What had created them?

Had he done it?

At that moment he heard a loud knock come from the closed door, which was in the opposite direction from where he had been walking when he had gotten up. Cybernet's head snapped around as he nervously called out, "H-hello?"

The door opened just a little bit and a head popped in, glancing at Cybernet. Cybernet blinked in surprise and shook his head a little to clear it. No way, there was no way this was happening. The face that was looking at him matched the one in the photograph on the ship perfectly, everything from the blue eyes to the black stripe up his forehead to the white, shoulder length hair. This was all too weird. Just what in the world was going on?

"Uhm… are you awake?" the feline asked as the rest of him stepped slowly into the room.

Cybernet blinked again, then frowned. "Uh… yeah."

The other cat immediately looked down at his feet, as if he was embarrassed about the obviously ridiculous question, then slowly looked back up again. "How do you feel?"

"Confused," Cybernet answered honestly. "Where… where am I?"

"You're in Phoenixbrook, Aredria. My sister and I found you floating in the ocean this morning… you were out cold."

"Phoenixbrook…" Cybernet repeated. Aredria. So, he had made it to his destination, albeit in a most unorthodox manner. Still, he had made it. So now came the rest of it. What did he do now? What about the stuff he had packed? And the rest of the ship and its crew, what had happened to them? And the wolf… what was going on with that wolf, why did he have a picture of this cat and why had he held a gun to Cybernet's head earlier? And, the detail he had overlooked when he had set out, what the heck did he do now that he was here?

Whoa, slow down, he told himself. One thing at a time… take everything slowly. First, deal with the important things…

"Where are my clothes?"

"Hmmm? Oh," the other feline answered. "They're in the wash. Well, most of them. I kind of had to… had to pull your shirt apart, I'm afraid." He was looking back down at his feet again, sounding very embarrassed. "We… I mean, I, had to get you out of your wet clothes before you froze, you see and… well, anyway they're in the wash and your wallet's over there on the bureau."

"Did you find anything else floating with me?"

The other cat shook his head, and Cybernet drooped his ears. Well, so much for the possessions he had painstakingly packed.

"Uhm, do… do you want to take a shower, or something?" the other feline suggested suddenly.

"Eh? Oh… shower…" Yes, he could use a good hot shower. He still had a lot of things to figure out, but a shower certainly did sound extremely appealing at that moment. "Yeah, yeah I would… I mean, yes… I mean… thanks."

The other cat smiled. "I'll go get you a towel." He turned to leave, then stopped and turned back. "Oh, by the way, it's Eliki."

Cybernet frowned. "No, it's Cybernet… er, oh. Oh. I see. Uh, sorry, I thought… yeah, I'm Cybernet."

Eliki smiled again, then turned and left the room, leaving Cybernet alone with his cluttered thoughts. Oh dear, this was a great start to everything.

Eliki slowly washed out a frying pan in the sink and muttered to himself, wishing Leana could be here instead of at the bookstore.

"That had to have been one of the most awkward moments of my life," he grumbled as he wiped the pan off with a dishtowel. He had no clue what to say, or how the cat would react, or anything. Leana would have handled the situation much smoother than he had. Oh well, the cat, what was his name again? Cybernet? Strange sort of name. He wondered if it was really his… after all, what sort of parent named their child "Cybernet"? Unless they were neck deep in IT work or something. Still, Cybernet seemed fine, if a bit confused. Which was to be expected, considering everything he had been through.

As Eliki reached for some more dishes, he heard the shower come to a stop. A few minutes later, he heard footsteps padding down the stairs and saw Cybernet enter the kitchen with his fur all cleaned off and dried, except for his headfur which still looked a little wet and all over the place. He was wearing one of the Snowkitten's older bright red and orange tie dyed T-Shirts and a pair of dark blue jeans.

"Uh, I found these clothes in the wardrobe of the room I was in, I uh… hope that's ok."

"No, no, that's fine, you can wear them, go ahead." Eliki replied. "It's not like you have any other clothes to wear."

Cybernet smiled and stood beneath the stairs, but didn't say anything. There was a short period of silence until Eliki decided he had to be the one to break it and invited Cybernet to sit down.

"Can I get you anything? Are you hungry? How about some tea?"

"Ugh, no tea, thank you… do you have any coffee?"

Eliki smiled. That could have been why he had been so incoherent earlier… lacking caffeine. "Sure, I think Leana left a little bit before she went out this morning."

"Leana?" Cybernet asked.

"My twin sister," Eliki explained as he fetched a mug from one of the cupboards and filling it with coffee from the large pot that had been sitting in the coffee maker on the counter. "Do you take cream or sugar?"

"Cream and half sugar, please. Twin sister… hmmm, this is going to sound like a crazy question, but does she look like you, at all?"

"Pardon me? Well, yeah I guess she does… see, that's us there," he nodded to a picture clipped to the refrigerator door with a magnet as he brought the coffee to the table. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, no real reason. Thanks."

"Hmmm." Eliki didn't need the magical abilities he and his sister had been born with to know that Cybernet wasn't telling everything that was on his mind. But maybe there wasn't all that much to tell. After all, Snowkittens, the magical race of felines native to Aredria, were exceptionally rare now, and twins were almost unheard of. While most of the citizens of Phoenixbrook had gotten used to him and his sister, there were always those from abroad who had never seen anything like them and were full of odd questions like that. He decided not to press the issue any further, however.

"Can I get you any breakfast?" he asked instead.

"Oh, uh, no thanks, I'm not hungry."

Eliki stared at the young kitten and nearly burst out, "What?!" but restrained himself. Still, he couldn't help but feel total disbelief. Cybernet had been floating in the ocean for who knew how long, in the cold waters, and probably hadn't eaten for a day, if not longer. And on top of that, he was as skinny as a paintbrush.

"Surely you must be at least a little hungry. I mean, who knows how long you were floating out there?"

"It's OK, I'm really not that hungry. I don't eat that much anyway."

No, Eliki could tell. "Well after floating around like that, I think it's important that you eat something, even if it's just a little bit of toast," Eliki continued, putting a couple of slices in the toaster anyway.

"Oh, all right then," Cybernet said with a slight hesitation in his voice. "Uh, butter and… do you have any jam?"

Eliki laughed. "Do I have jam? I have more flavours of jam than I knew existed!"

That at least brought a smile from the young cat. Or maybe that was the coffee. "Strawberry, please, if you've got it."

"No problem. How's the coffee?"

"Great, thanks. Uh, sorry I was so discombobulated earlier, I'm not much of a morning person at the best of times and waking up in a strange room, well…"

Eliki nodded as the toast popped and he went about preparing a small brunch for the young cat.

"So, tell me again where I am?"

"Phoenixbrook, in Aredria."

"Phoenixbrook…" Cybernet repeated as Eliki placed the toast on a small plate and put it on the table in front of the young cat. Despite his claims not to be hungry, he tore into the meal with an obvious appetite. "Hmmm… I don't think that's where the ship was headed…"

Eliki tilted his head, confused. "I'm sorry, what ship?"

Just at that moment, the small radio that had been playing in the background on the counter interrupted the two with its opening news theme.

"It's eleven o'clock, and I'm Barbara Whenning with the Phoenixbrook Radio Mid Morning News. The Coast Guard is still looking for the two missing passengers of the cargo tanker that went down in last night's deep ocean storm.

"The cargo liner, which was shipping numerous flammable substances, reported having caught fire in the middle of the night. Unfortunately, the liner had not been meeting its required safety checks, and the extinguishing systems had failed to come online. Although rescue shuttles were able to retrieve all members of the crew, they were not able to put out the flames before they reached the cargo and the ship was destroyed.

"However, the crew reports that two passengers were not among those who were rescued, and although they admit to having no official records and do not know the names of these passengers, they were able to provide some descriptions. One of the passengers was a young, teenage black and white cat with noticeably red head fur, and was believed by some to have been knocked overboard half an hour before the explosion. The other was a middle aged grey wolf, believed to have been killed in the blast. However, the condition of these two furs is, at this moment, uncertain."

"That ship," Cybernet murmured.

The sun shone brilliantly through the tall floor to ceiling arched windows into the large, semicircular room of the Tower of Eternal Height, so named because it extended much further than any of the other towers of the Castle of Tarn em Heire, reaching into the very clouds themselves that hung over La Vane, the capital city of the Grand Duchy of Vardenai. However, the clouds were few in the sky that day, and even though the room in particular wasn't anywhere near the top of the monstrous tower, it still gave the most amazing view over the city as it was bathed in the warmth and radiance of the mid morning sun. Despite the filters built into the glass that darkened the windows slightly to reduce the glare of the easterly sun, the observing chamber was as bright as it would ever be during the day. Within this chamber, Russet ti Nostor ei Vardenai stood leaning against the glass, the young skunk with shiny black fur, shoulder length black head fur and the traditional white stripe that extended up his face, through his headfur and then back down his back to run once again up his rather large and thick tail watching as the light sparkled and glimmered across the surface of the tranquil Imperial Canal. The reflections from the various buildings and the breaks here and there by the numerous bridges created a shimmering mosaic of patterns and colours, which softly shifted and changed as the sun slowly passed overhead.

Most of the dukes before Russet had frequented this room to gaze out with a sense of power over the city. From the room's height, an observer could just barely make out the forms of the citizens on the streets going about their own business. The Vardenai, like all people in power, knew the connection between height and authority, and the looming tower provided both. However the effect was wasted on the young skunk; he didn't need to tower over his subjects to be sure of his authority. He knew he held that well, whether he was up here, down in some council meeting, or anywhere else for that matter. No, instead Russet favoured this tower because it gave him a chance to get away from everything. Literally. Miles above the city, he could leave, if only for a few minutes, his title, his responsibilities and his stress all far below without actually having to leave the castle.

Stress. It didn't matter how well things were going in the Duchy, it didn't matter how smoothly everything was flowing, it didn't matter how perfect and utopian everything seemed to be, the title of Duke was still synonymous with stress. Every day it was a constant barrage, a never-ending assault of "Your Grace".

"Your Grace, what is your opinion on this?"

"Your Grace, could you take a minute for this?"

"Your Grace, I believe we should be focusing more on this…"

"Your Grace, Your Grace, Your Grace,"

He knew he had been raised to handle all of it, and had been doing so for a few years now, but still…

"Damn!"

Not the response expected of a duke, but at that particular moment, he really didn't care. It wasn't even noon, and already the pressures of day to day activities were starting to creep up on him maybe more than they should. It didn't usually happen, but for some reason today had just happened to be one of those days. Nothing was really going right, nothing at all, and he longed to just return to bed and perhaps start the day over again, hit the giant "reset" switch and try anew. Which was why he had retreated to the tower. Some distance from the source of all the stress, the cleaner air that was waved through by the ventilation system, and some grounding was precisely what he needed. And as he stood there, letting his mind and his muscles relax and calm themselves down, he began to wonder if he had been born with his amazing magical skills simply to keep him sane.

"I need to get away more," he muttered to the window, but the glass offered him little in the way of response. Still, it didn't matter, and soon he found himself feeling much better, though one thing still weighed on his mind, specifically a strange dream he had the night before. It was a rather obscure one, to be sure. All he could really remember was a surging heat coursing through the air, as if someone had pulled the lid off of a container overfilled with fire… a raw power suddenly unleashed. But why such a thing was affecting him, or what it all meant he had no idea, and it was irritating him because he couldn't figure it out. He had shoved it to the back of his mind all morning, intent on focusing on his duties, but now that he had calmed down it was all starting to resurface. He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples slowly.

As he did so, he felt more than saw a brief flash of darkness, the light on his closed eyelids vanishing for a fraction of a second. His eyes snapped open instantly, and he looked around but couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. Yet a strange feeling crept up his spin as the black fur on the back of his neck began to stand on end. Around him the room began to darken, despite the automatic window controls, as a cloud appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, to cover up the sun. Russet shivered. There was definitely a sense of malice permeating the room now, but he couldn't quite place where it was coming from, or why. He frowned, and took a step away from the window, his previously relaxed mind now back up and sharp as he reached out, probing the tower and trying to find the source of the strange and uncalled for feeling.

Suddenly the air before him shimmered, and before he could react he felt something slam into his chest, knocking the wind out of him and driving him backwards into the tall window. The glass gave way instantly under the force, exploding outwards with a loud smashing sound that filled the skunk's ears as he was suddenly surrounded by millions of tiny shards and rushing air, before gravity began to take effect and he felt his body plummet downwards, gaining speed at an alarming rate. Instinctively, he snatched out mentally, stopping his descent almost immediately only a few floors down. Questions began to race through his mind. He had been attacked. Why? How? Who was powerful enough to sneak up on him like that? Who was powerful enough to hit him with such force? He didn't really want to brag, but he was easily one of the most powerful mages on the planet, despite his young age. For someone to have been able to get the better of him like that would have required an enormous amount of magical power and skill, and quite frankly those who had such abilities were most likely not inclined to attacking a duke. So what the hell was going on? He intended to find out, but first he had to go back up there and deal with whatever it was that had hit him. He pulled himself through the air, ascending to the broken pane with a silver orb of invoked energy glowing around each paw.

He glared into the room, looking for the attacker, but couldn't see anyone. More worrying, he couldn't sense anyone either. Whoever it was that had attacked him was blocking his powers, a feat not easily accomplished. As he scanned through the room, he felt a slight breeze pass through his fur, and turned into it just in time to see a large, black figure burst from the air and thrust its arm out, striking Russet in the chest and sending him reeling and tumbling backwards head over heels through the air a few feet. As he spun, he quickly threw both orbs towards the figure, but the creature easily moved out of their way, diving away and vanishing into the air with a strong current of wind, only to reappear a few feet away, turning to stare intently at Russet, who had pulled himself back up right. Russet stared back and saw that his opponent was some sort of black feline, judging from the shape most likely a panther, wrapped from head to toe in black robes that revealed only a small strip around the eyes, which were red as embers.

The panther extended its left arm again, palm open and pointed towards Russet, while its left arm tucked in against its torso and its legs bent, indicating it was ready to strike again. Russet responded by crouching low and raising both paws before him. Immediately the air around him began to pull into a small sphere that encompassed him with his energy. It was a challenge to the opposing panther, an invitation to meet his strike head on. Without muttering a sound, the panther sprang forward, flying towards Russet at full speed, its palm pushing the air before it into its own protective energy dome. Russet stood completely still until the panther was mere inches away from his face. For a fraction of a second, he gazed into the glowing eyes of his opponent, before lunging forward to meet the assault.

The two domes of energy crashed into each other with a deafening thunderclap that resonated across the entire city and a brilliant flash of white light that pierced through the clouds that had layered themselves during the battle. Russet felt the energy of the impact course through his body and dug his paws into the air below him as he felt himself being pushed backwards. He began to skid, his back paws scraping through sky and leaving small scratches in the air that vanished immediately as he was forced back by the panther's attack. He slid a few inches until, groaning against the force, he brought himself to a stop and pushed back with all his might. For a few seconds nothing happened as the two fiercely forced their powers upon the other. The panther was somehow matching everything Russet had, but slowly, ever so slowly, he felt the feline give way and gradually he shoved it to one side. The panther fell back slightly before bringing itself back up and then, almost immediately, leapt forward for another attack.

Russet responded by leaping forward as well, each creature shooting towards each other, wrapped in their orbs of protective energy, until they collided once again. The sky was lit up once more with the flash of white light as the atmosphere over the castle rumbled with the explosive clap from their impact. The two were immediately thrown apart from each other, sent flying backwards from the force of the collision. As they began to fly away through, Russet immediately called upon another ball of energy and whipped it as quickly and as hard as he could at the panther. It slammed into the side of the feline's energy shield, pushing it around and sending it spinning as it was thrown backwards. Without even bothering to try and stop himself flying though the air, Russet watched the panther spin, temporarily disoriented, and focused his mind on another attack. But instead of focusing his powers into his paws, he projected them outwards and into the clouds.

Almost immediately the clouds began to grow thick and grey overhead, sinking downwards a little with their weight. Russet kept projecting into them, encouraging them onwards as he sailed backwards over the castle, putting more and more distance between him and his assailant. Within a few minutes he could feel the air above him start to warm up and his fur could detect a charge surrounding him. Good. Then the air was once more filled with thunder, but it was a much deeper, rumbling sound that rolled high above the clouds and across the city. In the distance, Russet could still clearly see the panther, who had now stopped spinning and stood hovering, glancing up at the clouds nervously. Russet smiled. The panther knew what was going on, but now it was too late. The spin had distracted it just long enough to get himself completely trapped.

With a strong mental signal, the air around the feline suddenly came alive as the clouds let loose a barrage of white-hot lightning strikes. Dozens of bolts streaked through the air, many of them striking the protective shield around the panther, sending it flying through the storm only to be struck by another. The clouds continued to bombard it with strikes, much more than a cloud normally would, aided by Russet's magic, as the air around them continued to resound with more thunder cracks. Russet smiled again. He had the panther trapped now, the constant strikes forming a small circle around him, a flashing, dancing cage of surging electrical arcs. There was no way the panther could penetrate it, not at this intensity. It would have only one direction to go.

Just as he had thought it would, the panther immediately began shooting upward, trying desperately to get above the clouds. It was knocked aside several times, but eventually it vanished into the dark swirls. Russet continued to smile, and released the clouds from his mental grip, flying upward into the cloud himself. He shot through the cold, damp air as quickly as he could and emerged above in the bright light of morning, his fur sopping wet as well as his clothes. As he hovered there, he spotted the panther waiting for him.

"That was a clever trick, I must admit," the feline called out in a deep but silky smooth voice. "Let us see if you can come up with another one as quickly."

"I don't have to," Russet replied coolly.

As soon as the words left his mouth, the cloud behind the panther burst upwards as a female otter shot through, clad in a thick padded silver suit accented in blue, bearing the insignia of the Imperium Guard on her left breast. Immediately afterwards she and the panther were surrounded by more furs of various species and age bursting through the clouds, all wearing the same silver uniform lined with sharp, jagged blue patterns and bearing the same insignia. Some of them stared intently at the panther, their paws glowing slightly in readiness to attack magically. Others trained sonic rifles on him, medium sized weapons with large battery-magazines inserted just before the trigger and just below the relatively flat barrels that would send out sonic sound waves that could easily and efficiently neutralize most targets. Some of the guards even carried two rifles, one in each paw, each one pointed straight at the panther, the lasers attached to the magazines projecting several red dots on the black feline's form.

"Right on cue, Marie," Russet commented.

The female otter grinned, but kept her eyes on the panther. "Wouldn't have it any other way," she replied.

"Whoever you are, you're surrounded," Russet announced. "I suggest you surrender immediately and return with us peacefully to the palace."

The panther glared at Russet, his red eyes glowing as brightly as the laser dots on his suit. "This is not the end, Vardenai."

As soon as he spat out the last word, the air around him filled with an intense white light, much brighter than the bolts of lightning or the flashes that were produced when the two had been battling earlier. It flared outwards, overcoming Russet's and the Guards' senses as they all cried out in surprise and pain, and searing at their eyes before suddenly beginning to pulse madly, changing colour rapidly as it flashed violently. Russet screwed his eyes shut instinctively as the bursts of colour overloaded his senses, feeling a small wave of disorientation flood through his mind. Realizing what the panther was doing, Russet pulled with his magic to wave away the effect, but when he opened his eyes, he was too late. The feline was gone. He shot back down through the clouds, emerging over his castle. Below he could see the grounds covered with Imperium Guards who hadn't mastered aerial battling yet, all looking back up at him blankly.

"Can you find him?" Marie asked quietly, descending behind him.

Russet shook his head. "I can't sense him at all… he's completely gone."

"So what do we do now?" she asked as large drops of rain began to spill out from the clouds, falling over them and further drenching their fur.

"Address the nation. Tell them there's no need to panic, but as a precaution we're raising the security alert, tripling patrols, that sort of thing. Whatever you think is necessary to keep them calm."

Marie crossed her arms over her chest and frowned at Russet. "Your Grace, my job is to keep you secure, not to keep the public calm."

Russet turned and fixed his bodyguard with a grave look. "Marie, I think we both know that nothing the Imperium Guard does will really make a difference where this is concerned."

Loganberry stretched long and hard before transferring the carrot from his right paw into his mouth as he watched his last customer make his exit from the store. It was just reaching noon and already it had been a very busy day, though notably lacking in the number of requested readings, one of his most sought after services in the city of Phoenixbrook. Loganberry, or Logan Ennion as he was sometimes known, was a rabbit blessed with a set of rare, mental, and psychic abilities, including the gift of foresight, which he hired out to the citizens of Phoenixbrook, along with many of his other abilities. But his real pride and joy was his shop, Pure Magick, the largest, most eclectic collection of magical and supernatural items in the city. More than half of his life was dedicated to the shop and improving its inventory, finding new items to add to his collection, and trying to figure out some of the stranger items he already had, and he loved every minute of it.

As the door chimed shut, he turned and walked through a tall archway into his back room, grabbing a small pile of papers stapled together and pulling a pencil out of his pocket, grumbling to himself as he finished his carrot. There was one thing he disliked about the store though, and that was the paper work. Paper work all over the place, with every item needing to be checked and invoiced and then added to the inventory and the records and it was just an absolute pain in the ears sometimes. Still, at least it wasn't like in other stores where the shipment was always exactly the same. Here, he always knew that with every delivery there would be something unique and amazing. And then came the second part of the job he didn't like: deciding what to sell and what to keep. There were times when Loganberry wished that the objects that went through his paws could stay in his paws, and at times he had considered changing Pure Magick from a store to a museum, a place to show off his amazing collection. However he also viewed such a move as selfish, hoarding all the wondrous items for himself when in actuality he had little need for them, he just liked them. Oh well, he thought, that was the way it went sometimes.

As he went through the boxes, checking off each item on his printout to file away later on his computer, he suddenly felt a small force that seemed to tug at the back of his mind. He froze instantly, his ears standing on end, alert, as his lapine instincts kicked in. He stood there for a few seconds and was about to shrug it off when he felt it again, stronger this time. Frowning, he put his papers down and closed his eyes, waiting for the feeling again. It came, as he thought it would, and as it came, he focused his attention away from his work and onto the feeling itself. Immediately the room around him began to fade and dissolve, becoming replaced by a room filled with seats that were all crammed with furs. They all seemed to be standing and watching something, or someone. Logan craned his neck to look over everyone and saw that they were all watching some female otter in a sharp, black jacket and skirt with a soft blue blouse standing at a podium. Painted onto the front of the podium was the seal of Vardenai.

Logan gasped. He knew what he was seeing now, a vision from La Vane, and the Vardenai capital. This was the press conference room, where officials of the Duchy made announcements to the public, though Logan wasn't quite able to make out what sort of announcement the otter - probably Marie, head of the Imperium Guard - was trying to make. Frowning, he shook his head and mentally shook away the vision. As it began to dissolve, he opened his eyes to find himself once again in the back room of his shop. He quickly ran towards the stairs that led upstairs to his apartments on the third floor above his store. There, he flipped on his television. Just as he had feared, there on the screen was Marie, standing in front of the same podium, in the same room, dressed exactly as he seen her in his vision. He quickly turned up the volume and frowned at the screen. If he had gotten a vision telling him to watch the news, it was probably because it was important.

"No, at this current time we don't have any idea who committed this act, but our best sources are looking into it. In the meantime, we are going to be taking all the necessary precautions, increasing guard patrols, maximizing the computer security grid, and right now we ask all citizens in the Duchy and in surrounding areas to cooperate with our efforts to find and stop whoever attacked His Grace -"

Loganberry's eyes flew wide. An attack on the Duke of Vardenai? Russet?! Logan could hardly believe his ears. He knew the Duke, as a good friend; in fact Russet had helped him on a numerous occasions with his store, and had often retrieved for him many rare and amazing pieces. Who on Venuvia would want to attack him? As he thought about it, he realized that he had to call Eliki and tell him. Since they had met a year ago, the rabbit's good friend had gotten quite close to that skunk, and if he didn't know already, he needed to know as soon as possible. Turning, Logan quickly retrieved the receiver for his phone and was about to dial the number when he was struck with another tug at his mind, another vision. He lowered the paw holding the receiver and shifted his attention instead to seeing the message he was getting. Then he gasped in horror, his paw dropping the phone as it fell to the carpeted floor, its speaker emitting a loud, constant tone.

Cybernet was in awe, in total and complete awe as he walked over the cobblestone streets of Phoenixbrook, trying to follow Eliki but with his head in the clouds as he stared at everything around him. Since he had stepped out of Eliki's house, he felt as though he had stepped several hundred years back in time. All around him the streets were lined with stone and timber framed buildings as if he were in the medieval ages. Even the street lamps, which he knew had to be electrically powered, look like they belonged on the streets of a village thousands and thousands of years back. Yet everywhere he looked he could see little reminders that he was indeed in the present. Here and there the roads were lined with touch screens, furs of all sorts and species milled past him talking into their mobiles, and around him on the main streets cars and cyclists sped by. But rather than clash with the ancient atmosphere of the city, these modern pieces seemed to blend right in, as if this was the way everything had meant to be all along.

As they walked Eliki tried to explain to Cybernet about Phoenixbrook, its magical history, and about the rare and magical Snowkittens that had first come from Aredria; however his words fell on relatively closed ears as Cybernet was so engrossed with every sight and sound, every building they passed, every home, every store, and every signpost.

"Honestly Cybernet, if you run into another post again I'm going to have to call an ambulance!"

Cybernet rubbed his sore forehead and shook his head. "Sorry, but…"

"Try keeping your eyes in front of you, not above you," Eliki giggled.

"I know but… this place is just so amazing… where did you say we were going again?"

Eliki just smiled down at Cybernet. In reality, he had told the bouncing young kitten three times already, but each time Cybernet had forgotten it as they moved deeper and deeper into the city.

"We're going to 'The Bookshelf' so you can meet my sister, Leana. Then I thought I'd show you the market square, and then we could cross the suspension bridge…"

Cybernet's mind stopped wandering through Phoenixbrook at the mention of the Snowkitten's sister and returned to the tanker, now sitting at the bottom of the ocean. He had seen the photographs of Eliki and Leana in Eliki's living room before they had set out and on their refrigerator in the kitchen… and as he had thought, she matched the second photograph in the wolf's cabin exactly. He hadn't said anything to Eliki though, and to the Snowkitten's credit, Eliki had never pushed Cybernet for details on anything, instead suggesting that they go for a walk and for him to show Cybernet around a bit at first, something relaxing. But Cybernet still couldn't help but wonder just what was going on with that wolf earlier. He clearly had something to do with the Snowkitten twins… and from the way he had reacted when he found Cybernet, it probably wasn't very good. Cybernet sighed a little, making sure Eliki wouldn't notice. What would he say to Eliki? Should he say anything at all, even? After all, he had only known the Snowkitten for a few hours.

As they continued to walk along the cobblestones, Cybernet didn't notice as Eliki looked back over his shoulder and gave the kitten a concerned look.

They walked together for a few more minutes before Eliki steered them off the main street into a twisting back way that snaked behind one of the shops, explaining to Cybernet that it was a shortcut. Cybernet followed, but suddenly Eliki came to a stop, reaching behind him to put a paw on Cybernet's chest and halt him.

"Eliki? What's wrong?"

Eliki frowned as he looked around. "I don't know, I just suddenly got this feeling like-"

He was interrupted mid sentence as figure dropped from one of the rooftops above, landing behind the startled Snowkitten and grabbing Eliki from behind. Cybernet let out a startled meep, but his voice caught in his throat as the assailant turned with Eliki, holding the Snowkitten tightly. The attacker's face was a terrible mess; a series of violent burns covered his left cheek and ran up to his ear, which was also severely burnt and torn in some places, but there was no mistaking him: the wolf from the tanker. His left arm was around Eliki, his paw covering the Snowkitten's muzzle as he struggled and tried to cry out, his eyes wide in panic, and the wolf's right arm was extended, once again pointing his silenced handgun right at Cybernet.

"You!" he barked angrily. "You seem to have an uncanny talent for always popping up in the middle of my affairs."

Cybernet began to breathe heavily as his mind once again started to race. The wolf had let him go once, and it had been a disaster. He probably wasn't going to be so lucky this time. What was going on? What did the wolf want with Eliki? As he stood there, watching the wolf glare angrily and seeing the confusion mix with Eliki's panic, but mostly seeing the thick, round barrel of the suppressor pointing right at him, he started to feel his fur heat up again, the familiar tingling sensation returning to him. Oh no, he thought desperately. Not again!

"No matter," the wolf continued, though Cybernet barely heard him as he struggled to calm himself down, struggling to suppress the burning sensation that was running through him again but only making it accelerate.

"I won't let it happen again."

Cybernet was still struggling against the fire that was growing within when his ears picked up a high pitched cracking sound. At that instant, everything around him suddenly came to a stop as his mind realized what had just happened. The suppressor. The handgun. The wolf had fired at him! His eyes shot open in surprise and as everything around him began to blur, he thought he saw a tiny projectile piercing through the air towards him. Except it didn't look like a bullet, it looked more like a…

Suddenly he felt a sharp stinging feeling in his neck. He fell back from the force of the impact as he stepped back to steady himself, his legs suddenly went limp and he was aware of that dizzying feeling in his stomach again as the world rotated around him, his heart beat pounding in his head, punctuated only by a muffled scream in the distance. Blackness began to sweep over him, and he was out before he hit the pavement.