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Chapter 1: An Omen

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The living room lights were turned on when Kale opened the door, which was unusual since Bella and Tyler weren't supposed to be home until later tonight. He walked out of the rainy October night behind him and shut the door. After tossing his keys on the endtable nearby, he looked in the living room and saw a orange-furred cat sitting on one of the chairs.

"Oh," said Kale, "Hi Mana."

The cat, feral in shape but surely not feral in mind, spoke, "Greetings, Kale. Would you please sit down?"

Kale groaned and thought, 'Goddammit. What does she want now?'

The front living room was large- large enough for three college goers and then some. The walls were mounted with unremarkable paintings and shelves of books nobody read. Except for a few pieces, most of the furniture was a décor nouveau type. Some plants, white wallpaper. It was a nice looking living room if lacking in personality.

"You can't come around here, Mana!" said Kale, "What if my roommates see you?"

"If they see me?" said Mana, "Nothing really. Now hearing me- that's a-whole-nother story. That'll certainly give them a shock!"

Kale frowned, "Why do you got to do this to me, Mana? You said I'm less than an insect compared to you. Why are you obsessed with making me miserable?"

Kale slowly turned his head to the door and could imagine one of his roommates coming through the door. They weren't supposed to be back until much later in the night. There weren't any noises coming down the hallways, so they couldn't have been in their bedroom.Yes, the house was empty and Kale was praying that it stay that way.

Mana gave a tilt of her head, "Making you miserable? Well here I thought I was doing you a favor warning you about a sinister scheme to invade your planet and shatter your perfect little human life, but if it's just misery to you-" she hopped off the chair, "I'll take my leave."

As Mana quietly walked to the front door with a swish of her tail, Kale sighed and spoke up, "Okay, Mana. I'll bite. What's going to happen to Earth this time?"

Mana turned around and walked back to her seat as quickly as she walked away and hopped back up on the cushion, "Very well, Kale. Here's the situation; you remember that enchanted ward that keeps most gods and monsters out of your world?"

In the three years that Kale knew Mana, he had learned many things about the supernatural world. There were many other worlds in the universe but what made Earth special was many years ago a god descended into the heart of the planet and put the planet under an enchantment that discouraged the development of magical creatures and disallowed entry to magical outsiders.

"Yeah," said Kale, "What about it?"

Mana smiled, "It's starting to fade and a group of invaders are trying to speed up the process."

"Wait a minute," said Kale, "What do you mean 'fade'? You mean it's... stopping? What's going to happen to the planet?"

"You know all those crazy types like gods, demons and whatever?" asked Mana, "Yeah, prepare for some new neighbors."

Kale frowned and brushed his hair back, "How do we fix it? The ward? How do we save it?"

"Fixing the ward is not an easy task," said Mana, "What I need you to do is stop those invaders before anything else."

Kale got up and paced around the couch. He looked around his house. All the small things he enjoyed- the spider plants he had on the end table, the viewing light he had above his old movie posters, the bar by the patio screen door- it was finally happening. He was losing it all. As soon as Kale first learned about the supernatural underworld, he had a feeling one day it would consume his life.

'What's going to happen to me?' thought Kale.

"Listen," said Mana, "Don't worry about it," she hopped off the chair and walked over to Kale, "I got everything under control. You trust me, don't you?"

"I wouldn't think you cared about mankind or what happens to it," said Kale.

Mana walked over to Kale's jean leg and began to rub up against it while purring softly, "You humans might just be a bunch of hairless apes pretending to be civilized by wearing clothing and pooping into toilets, but I care about you guys. You're interesting, you know? In a watching-a-trainwreck-in-slow-motion kind of way. But interesting."

'It's always about pee and poop with you, isn't it?' thought Kale.

Kale groaned, "So what do I have to do, Mana? Turn into a bird and spy on someone again?"

Mana stop rubbing up against him, "Nothing right now. Just... stay alert for the next little while. I'm going to need you eventually and I'll contact you again when that happens."

'I'm getting really tired of pissing my pants over the shit she puts me through,' thought Kale.

"Whatever," Kale murmured.

Mana gave a sagely nod and walked over to the patio door. Magically, it slid open to allow her out. She swished her tails before heading out the door. As the door closed behind her, she turned around to give Kale one final grin- not one of comfort, but of a more ambiguous flavor. Mana wouldn't be complete without her air of ambiguity and mystery.

Kale sighed and sat down on the couch. Another favor from Mana on his shoulders. Although he had fun with Mana's requests, there were very challenging and left a bad taste in Kale's mouth. Unlike before though, things were sounding dire and Kale didn't think Mana was joking (which she loved to do with Kale, especially if it caused him stress).

"So that's how it is, huh?" Kale said aloud, "What's going to happen now?"