Prologue

It was the big day, and yet no one could muster up even something as small as a smile. I looked over to my left, and all I could see was the smoke from a fire that only got extinguished moments ago. Over to my right, I met the gaze of another who survived the attack. He seemed to be in shock, tears welled in his eyes as he held his now-deceased wife's hand...well, what was left of it. The limb was severed at the wrist, where it became a bloody stump, while the rest of the body remained on the ground, covered in blood and ash.

"How did it come to this?" I wondered, bewildered that everything happened to change overnight. I managed to snap out of it and looked down at myself, my normally white fur was a dark grey, my usually vibrant green stripes hardly visible under the ash that coated my body. I slowly took steps toward where my home used to stand and walked into the wreckage, making my way into what used to be my bedroom, and looking in the shattered mirror. My face didn't even resemble much of itself anymore. It was as though I'd aged ten years since I woke that morning.

"What in the hell happened..." My voice was rough, inconsistent with the garden-variety feline purr a tiger should have. "It must be from breathing in this ash." I mumbled as I grabbed a bandana from my pocket and wrapped it around my face.