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The pathway through the Ile foothills was not a well beaten path. Almost nobody took it; that's why the humans thought they were safe when building Tempest. So as, Lycans as there were progress was remarkably slow but little by little they pushed through the snow and cold to win back their land. Luna kept holding her arms together to help brace against the cold, envious of the Lycans and their fur. The thick coat must be perfect to combat the conditions and while she shivered, they trudged along, moving ever closer to Tempest.

"Are you cold Luna?" Luna turned to find Leith trudging along behind her. She was about to say yes but she instead ignored her needs and turned her back to him. She did really want any sort of warmth, and she would take it from him but she didn't want any sort of communication with him. He moved up and placed his paw on her shoulder, his fur created one warm part on her skin causing her to pause for a second but she shrugged him off and walked a bit faster.

"Who does he think he is?" She said in Human so no one could understand her. "That's just too much." Suddenly five Lycans surrounded her, the warmth of their bodies transferred to her and they stayed huddled around. It was similar to having a big blanket of fur, or having fur itself. For a second she looked back and saw him smiling. Luna sighed, it wasn't his fault that he was Lycan, and it wasn't his fault that she loved him. Still, every time she looked at Kalah she felt rage. Kalah was busy with the strategist, an older Lycan she had heard came from Amita with some sort of checkered background. Her tail was wagging even as she talked of death and destruction. No doubt because of Leith.

Throughout the entire trail the group of Lycans stayed with her, giving her the warmth of a large fur coat, and by the time they were close to the end Leith was gone from his vantage point behind them. Luna hadn't seen where he had gone but she couldn't see Kalah anymore.

"He's probably with her."

Leith stood at the front of the force; he was the first through the deep fog that covered the foothills. The second he made it through he was suddenly hit with discomfort. The air stung his eyes. It was like he was looking through smoke but this was no smoke he had ever seen before. It was perpetual. His eyes watered trying to get the contagion out of them. He blinked several times and tried to penetrate the haze, but couldn't. It was hard even to breath. Each breath he took felt like poison and he could almost feel little shards scraping his throat each time he took in a breath.

He coughed a ravaged cough but the particles stayed firm inside him. Behind him the other Lycans who broke the barrior had the same experience. Their ears twitched with pain and their tails drooped low as some of them ducked to maybe get under the poisonous air.

"What could this be?"

Behind Leith, Kalah came up keeping low to avoid it. Leith coughed again and shook his head. His tail even drooped.

"I do not know. It is Human most likely but how could they poison the air, the very breath of the earth. How could they destroy their very own life?"

Kalah forced herself to look as far as she could, there was almost a red haze that stood stagnant in the air and through it she could see an outline.

She stopped in her tracks and took a step back. It was unlike anything she had seen before. Huge structures came out of the earth standing taller than any of the buildings she was used to. The ends spun in the wind.

"What are those?" She asked Leith in all his knowledge of the Humans.

"I believe they are named Woondmwlls." He said butchering the difficult human word. "I remember stories my mentor, Luyet, used to tell me about the Tempest valley. He said that his Father's Father was one of the last Lycans to leave the area before Humans came. Back then the wind was strong and healthy. The air was crisp and strong. The valley was filled with wild flowers and large animals to hunt. Oupurru roamed freely and they were plentiful." His eyes scanned the dark horizon once more to see the large structures too, at the base of them they glowed with a bright red, like the fires of hell.

"Those are Windmills." Luna broke through the legions of Lycans to the front with them. She seemed unaffected by the poison in the air. "They harness the power of the wind to power forges to make weapons, weapons of war." When she had seen the Lycans suffering at the bad air she felt that their triumph was more important than her little feud with Leith.

Leith had a hard time understanding, he thought that no one could harness any of the earth's power, it was too unpredictable and why would they need weapons for war? Did they know that the Lycans were coming?

"Humans are creatures of great cunning and we consider ourselves brilliant. But we like to be prepared to fight anyone and anything. Most of the time we search for a fight."

Leith at first thought Lycans would never do such a thing but he realized that's exactly what they were doing, searching for a fight.

The outline grew more solid and the air grew stronger but the Lycans pushed through it. Before them lay Tempest, the first Human city any of them had ever seen. Some stopped in their tracks and gawked just as Kalah had done. Others questioned if they could fight someone who could harness the power of the very earth they were standing on.

"They must be some type of God!" one of the Lycans shouted.

The Elder pushed through and through the haze he saw scared Humans rushing to the safety of the walls, on the walls he saw guards scurry around trying to figure out what to do.

"Fight! They are scared of us! We must show we are the one chosen by Arita and Sumitar themselves! Claw! Bite! Tear! Shred! We must prevail!"

Several Lycans started charging to the city, with the intention of wiping it from the world. Others followed and soon the entire force was with them, running into battle.

Grisham sat on his normal stool in the tavern. His hand held a glass of mead, his usual drink. It was only another day before he had to go back to his position as guard of the Tempest bridge and he intended to get lucky with the ladies before he had to go. He called to them but they all rejected him, one by one. Until one.

"So you're a guard of the bridge?" This one asked him.

Grisham smiled and bragged. "Oh yeah. I'm the captain of the guard, without me there would be no guard."

She moved closer to him and rubbed his cheek. "What is a Captain of the Guard doing here?"

"You mean why am I not at the bridge?" He said drunkenly.

"No." She replied. "Why is he not in my bed?"

Grisham smiled and stumbled to his feet to go with the lady but Percival rushed through the door.

"Grisham! You need to get your armor and come right away!" His voice sounded frightened. He stood panting, out of breath.

"Why? I'm about to get some? Guard doesn't start until tomorrow!"

"You don't get it!" Percival shouted. "We're being attacked!"

Grisham scoffed and laughed. "Oh really by who?"

"Lycans!"

Suddenly a long howl echoed through the building and everybody froze. He was right, they were really being attacked. All the men got up and raced to their houses to grab their weapons. Grisham donned his armor and followed Percival to the east wall. Before him, a phalanx of giant furred animals rushed toward the wall.

"We're gonna die aren't we." Grisham said to his friend.

"Yes, Grisham, we are." Was all he said back.

The Lycans raced over the land. Their claws tore up the dirt and their fangs hung out like savages. Snarls and howls filled the air as the weak human guard force braced themselves for the onslaught. Their legs trembled and a couple dropped their weapons and ran toward the bridge. The only safety that the Humans had was the wall that wrapped around the main center of Tempest. It was a simple structure of wood, it stood no chance against the onslaught and fury of the Lycans.

"Hold!" The Human leader shouted as the furry mass smashed into the wall. Their claws dug deep into the wood and using that they started to climb, making some of the Humans step back.

"Don't let them over!" Shouted the same leader, but it was a futile request. The Humans tried kicking and slicing at the large creatures but it seemed as though it wasn't hurting them. The first Lycan made it over the wall and started raging against the defenders. His claws cut deep gashes and tore faces. He used those natural weapons expertly causing the Humans to cower. He made way for others to climb the wall and soon a dozen were on it, wreaking havoc and tearing limbs. Their growls and barks echoed in the ears of those trying to escape.

Leith told Luna to stay back, she didn't have much when it came to weaponry, other than that small dagger she bought at the start of her journey. He barked and followed the others up the wall, tearing at it with his claws. Once on top he was able to see all of tempest up close, a magnificent sight. Huge buildings, two to three stories high littered the area. He could see, even in this hell storm, the order they tried to make. The entire city was laid down on a grid making it easy for one to find what he or she was looking for. He saw women and children fleeing from the city and making their way to a huge stone bridge. All the men stayed behind to give them at least a little chance at escape. In their furless paws they carried sharpened sticks, of the type he had never seen before. To his left he saw a Human swing one of these with all his might and when the Lycan tried to block it with his arms it cut through the thick fur leaving a devastating gash in his right arm. The Lycan yelled in pain and the Human gave a grunt of success but he didn't realize how fast the Lycan could retaliate and soon the Lycans left arm tore his throat out killing him instantly. The Lycan then retreated to the edge of the wall and jumped off to go console his wound.

Leith's ear twitched as he heard a yelling in close proximity to him. He turned to find one of those sticks hurling at him from the side. Leith ducked to avoid it, hearing and feeling the rush of air as it skimmed his depressed ears. Grishem immediately replied with a thrust hoping to skewer Leith on the end, but Leith slipped to the left, the blade passing harmlessly as he closed the distance and brought down his claws on Grishem's leather armor. With the Human's hardened skin, Leith's claws found little purpose, but the impact was enough to push the human back to the ground. As he felt his stomach, Grishem found that Leith's claws had gotten through and given him several cuts, but nothing too serious.

"You devil!" He cried and jumped back into the fight holding his sword high ready to swing it down upon Leith. Leith's first instinct was to block it, but remembering how another Lycan had nearly lost his arm from the same mistake, he side stepped and let the metal swing down and lodge itself in the wooden top of the wall. Grishem desperately tried to free his weapon but Leith pulled in close and thrust his paw into the chest of his attacker. His claws ripped past the weakened armor and dug deep into his chest. Blood gushed from the wound and soaked Leith in crimson. Grishem coughed once. Blood filled his mouth and he slumped, dead.

Leith took his paw from the dead human. The blood on them was not from anything that was going to give him life and nourishment but from another creature who was defending himself. Leith felt a little sick to his stomach and stepped back as all the other Lycans pushed forward. He feigned a wound and scaled back down the wall to the rest of the Lycan force.

All the Human defenders, knowing they had lost, ran for their lives except for the brave who stayed, sacrificing their lives so their comrades could escape.

Kalah jumped down on the other end of the wall, she was the first one to do so. Her fur glistened a dull red from all the blood splatter. She saw all the fleeing humans and smiled. She took in a large breath and let out a bone chilling victory howl over the Humans causing the Lycans to reply with barks, yips, and even more howls.

The full force of the Lycans made short work of the wall and was able to push it down making an entry way for them to storm into the city to see what Humans were capable of. Most all of them who hadn't first seen it on the wall, stopped for a second gawking at the architecture. None of them had seen anything like it. There were huts that towered over them. Signs, shops, blacksmiths, it was all overwhelming to them.

Nonetheless they spread through the streets like a virus infecting blood killing what they could and destroying what they found, leaving a wake of destruction.

Fulien lead the Human force, behind him was the rest of the Elif and Elest, who by now had fulfilled his usefulness as someone they all could relate too. A peoples general, someone they could trust and follow. Now that he had everybody on his side Elest's death would only make it better! Of course he wasn't planning on murdering the boy himself but a death on the battlefield would be extremely easy. As they drew closer to the Crossing at Tempest everyone could see smoke billowing in the horizon. But everyone had heard about the constant smoke that came from Tempest so to them it wasn't foreign. But to one person it seemed off; Shurl, the representative from Tempest. He pushed through the others towards the front and stared to stare at the billowing smoke.

"What's the matter?" Fuilen asked as he was pushed aside.

"Something's wrong!" He said.

"What?" Fuilen laughed. "You're telling me you can tell that just by the smoke?" He joked.

Shurl turned to him and pointed to it. "I grew up within the walls of Tempest. I know what it's supposed to look like, smell like, feel like! And that's not right!"

Fuilen didn't exactly follow and around him the other representatives and Elest started to listen in.

"What are you talking about? That smoke looks like any other smoke."

Shurl pointed to it. "See how it's dark and you can't see through it?" Everyone took notice and nodded. "Usually it's lighter in color also, see that haze on the horizon."

Shurl outlined a dull orange color. "There is a major fire."

Everyone started squinting their eyes trying to see what he was pointing at. It looked like a dull sunset, or sunrise that was restricted to one area. Suddenly as they were looking, people started to show up in the distance. They looked revenged and tired. Their clothes looked tattered even from a distance and they ran to the army as if it were the gates of heaven. Each one was screaming non-coherently about an attack or a destroyed city. The moved through the army begging to be saved from the monsters.

Fulien smirked, "It looks like they attacked first." He said quietly and urged the force to move.

Soon, as they got closer to the bridge, they could smell the fires and see a red haze over the top, once they moved over the bridge they would be able to see the carnage. On the bridge though, one guard using his sword as a cane limped toward them. A look of relief swept over his face as he hurried toward them.

"You're here!" He shouted as loud as he could, which wasn't that loud due to his injury. Elest ran towards the man and helped him stand proper. He offered his thanks and sighed. Along his chest ran three large gashes which would not heal. This guard will die, and soon.

"You're welcome." Elest offered back. "What's your name?"

"Percival." He said stuttering through it. "I was a guard of the bridge but I was taking my time off when they attacked so I helped guard the city."

Fulien and the rest of the Elif now approached him. "When who attacked the city?" Elest asked.

"The monsters, the savages, the Lycans!"

Murmers drifted through the crowed and several shouts expressing why they should retreat echoed.

"They climbed the wall with their claws and overwhelmed the small force that we had amassed. Damn, those things are hard bitches to kill. I don't think we got one."

More murmurs of discontent swept through the army and the Elif but Fulien disregarded it.

Percival continued. "Three guards stayed behind including one of my friends so that we could escape, but just as I was about to leave I was hit, lucky for me though other guards carried me. But as we went along through the city each one was killed trying to protect me. Eventually me and one other made it out of the city he told me to go and went back to grab more survivors. He never came back. I got to my feet and limped as far as I could. I thought one of those devils would come down on me at any moment. But somehow I made it and here you guys are."

Elest let Percival lay down on the stone. "Don't worry you're safe now." Although both of them knew that he would die.

"There is one more thing though." He added, his breathing getting heavier.

Elest cocked his head. "What is that?"

"I could have sworn I saw a young Human in the midst of all the Lycans. She was just standing there, she even talked to one! I...I...I was probably...j...just seeing things....b...but i..it seemed so real a...and I..I thought I saw h...her once b..before."

Elest leaned back from Percival and stole a look at Fulien, he didn't look back.

"T...take back Tempest......." Percival's breathing grew labored and sparse. His mouth opened as he took in his final breaths. He smiled looking at Elest and then his head bent back and he died, his blood flowing across the white stone.

Elest stood up and looked at Fulien with an evil eye. Something didn't add up here and he would have to do a lot of explaining because he knew that Percival didn't just imagine it. She was actually there.

Fulien didn't address it, instead he just stepped over Percivals body without any respect. He reached the end of the bridge and before his eyes he saw the great Human city with all its forges and technical marvels burning to the ground. His jaw dropped for the first time as the Lycans ravaged it. Behind him Shurl dropped to his knees as he saw his great city burn.

Fulien regained his composure and turned to him. "Where are the weapons storages, would the still be safe?"

Shurl observed his city and saw the large building, it was in the western most part of the city, still untouched by the fire. "Yes, it looks untouched. It's over there" He pointed and Fulien nodded.

"Good....good."

With the rest of the army approaching behind him Fulien whispered to Elest, who didn't trust the man anymore. But there were more pressing things at hand. He sighed and nodded. Elest turned around and uttered a short speech to the army.

"This is the day! Plans have changed! Our weapons are untouched, those who already have weapons and armor move to the front, the others head for the westernmost building! We will conquer these creatures! The world belongs to us! We are the race that will take this world! They attacked us first! They're nothing but savages. We take back our city! We take the world!"

He held his breath and turned to face Tempest. His sword high above his head. He swung if forward.

"CHARGE!"