Shadow and Light Book 01

The floor was done was finished wood, polished to a glowing yellow colour but there were some rugs that covered it. Here at the top of the tower, there were windows that weren't covered in curtains. They looked out to the east over the town and onto the massive forest that barred the way of any curious passer-bys, to the west was a view onto the surrounding mountains and if they were to look around far enough they could see a portion of the lake.

"Everything in here is for you." Elise said, "Most of our students prefer to eat in the dinning room but there is a kitchen if you ever want to eat here. I assume that you've been told about mating cycles, well, there are condoms in the bathrooms. If you ever need to restock on anything, there is a supply room on the fourth floor of this building at the north side."

They all started to look around at their new surroundings and Liz walked over to the window. As she looked down she could see bird flying around two of the towers but there were none around this one. "Hey, why aren't there any birds around here?"

"Oh, the towers are usually reserved for Fliers. They prefer being high up, but this one has been held back for your Pride...you know, given who you..."

"Don't mention the prophecy." Liz said, "What about the others?"

"Well your people are in the north wing of the school. All the rooms are more or less the same as this one, as far as the layout is concerned. Wolfen live in the east wing and the bears live in the base of the towers, all three of your tribes like being near woodland. The Reptiles, and now the Snake Sect, they live in carved out caverns that connect with the west wing. You see they need heat and large amounts of it so we took advantage of the fact that this valley was once volcanic. There's enough heat coming through to do the job." Elise said

"What about the Oceanics?" Isabel asked, "Where do they stay?"

"The south wing. It's directly onto the largest part of the river before it feeds into the lake. Since part of the prophecy is that you will be part of all tribes, your rooms were decided to be placed in the centre of the school." Elise said as a beep sounded from the elevator

Everyone looked over as the doors opened and they say their bags on the floor of the metal box. Max was the first to move over to it and pulled out cases, soon everyone else was bringing them into the room and planting them in front of the sofas so that they could unpack later.

"Well, that's all you'll need for now. I'll let you unpack; oh there is a meeting later in the Assembly Hall. It's a meet and greet for all new students, as well as something else. Just a little something because of the...eh...prophecy." Elise said, knowing Liz didn't want to hear it. "It starts at 7pm, just before that there will be a gong."

"A gong?" Kyle asked

"Well we don't use bells like human schools. There's a small gong in the Assembly Hall, the good thing about buildings as old as that sound resonates. Especially through the stone vents." Elise said as she pointed to a small opening in the bottom corner of the room, "There's a map in your computer, you can print it out if you need to and I'll see you all then. Oh and robes would be best, I know you're used to human clothes and you can wear them at other times outside of school hours but this is traditional."

Elise said goodbye and left via the elevator. Everyone started to move around, getting to know everything and where it all was. None of them could believe their surroundings; it was all like a high- priced penthouse apartment. Soon they started sorting through their bags. They picked out their own belongings and put them to the side as they decided what rooms to take.

In the end, Max and Liz took the room at the eastern side on the north wall while Isabel and Alex took the western side. Isabel said that she and Max had spent their whole lives living next to each other, why stop now. For the rooms on the opposite wall, Michael and Maria took their eastern side leaving Kyle and Tess with the western side. They flipped a coin for it. They carried their bags into their new bedroom and quickly unpacked. After that they all settled down, made themselves a snack and turned on the television while they waited for the gong.

Assembly Hall, 19:00

At ten to seven the soft sound of the gong rang through the air vents and into the rooms where the students were staying. It was the signal to head to the hall so Max printed a copy of the school map out, just in case it was needed, and they all got dressed in the robes given to them by Liz's father and sandals that they found in their rooms. Then they got inside the elevator and rode it down to the bottom floor.

It didn't take them long to work out their path since they had already passed it on their way to their room. The large doors to the hall were already open and long before their approach they could here a lot of people taking away. As they entered it was like a cocktail party as people moved around and mingled, everyone talking and getting to know each other as they held drinks in their hands. Teachers were not present yet but one person walked with his group over to Liz's when they saw them enter.

"Hey, your Liz Parker right?" he said

"Yeah. But by the looks of it, most people around here know that." Liz said, "And no offence but...eh...you smell familiar." She said as she picked up on his scent

He smiled, "Yeah. You've already met my dad. The name's Scott, Scott Gardener."

"Your Stephen's son?" Max asked

"You mean Liz's dad's werewolf friend?" Kyle asked

"The word is Wolfen." Scott said

"Sorry." Kyle said

"Na, it's okay. Hey, word has it you were a human up until a month ago?" Scott asked

"Yeah but I had some lycanthrope ancestors. Actually they were Wolfen." Kyle said

"Wait...you're a wolf? I thought you guys were all cats?" Scott's mate asked

"We are." Liz said

"Kyle's got both animan bodies but he can only become a cat, a panther. But becoming a wolf..." Max said

"That's kind of not happening for me just now." Kyle said

"Well, anyway I think introductions are needed. Everyone this is my mate Hope, also Eric and his mate Cathy, and Martin and Gillian." Scott said

"Pleased to meet you." Liz said, "This is Max, my mate. Alex and Isabel, Michael, Maria, Kyle and Tess."

Everyone did their howdy-dos and started talking. Scott and his pack walked them over to a nearby table where there were lots of plastic cups and several large bowls of fruit punch. Everybody took some and continued to walk around, Scott helped them make some introductions but then something caught their eye. Against one of the far walls was a couple having a really good time. All they could see was the guy, still with his robe on but it was obviously open at the front, with his butt moving rapidly back and forth with the girl's legs wrapped around him.

"Is...eh...that normal?" Tess asked

"What? Oh that." Scott said as he looked over in the direction of the pair, "Yeah, pretty much."

"You mean a couple could just...in public?" Kyle asked

"In public, in class...yeah. We're a lot less uptight that our parent's generation." Scott said, "Actually you will be meeting her soon."

"We will? Why?" Alex asked

"That's Kelly, she's the daughter of the Rakas tribal leader. But that's later. I take it dad told you that me and mine are going to be watching your backs?"

"Yeah. Not that we'll need it. I don't plan on ruffling any feathers." Liz said

"Well...you may not have a choice." Scott said as he quickly moved around and stood in front of Liz. With his eyes he indicated to the side, "Look slowly, don't make eye contact." He warned

Liz carefully raised her drink to her lips as she subtly looked over in the direction Scott wanted her to look. Despite the mass of people her eyes went straight to one group off by themselves, Liz got a chill when she saw their leader. "Who is that?"

"That is Patrick Flanagan's son, David. He arrived here around the time when his dad got to Roswell." Scott said as Hope moved to closer up and stood by Liz, she was making sure that David couldn't see the brunette.

"Word has it, he's been making the rounds. Making sure that he's got first dibs on you should Max...well, you know." Hope said

"Son of a..." Michael said as he looked over to David

"Easy big guy." Martin said

"He's gonna try to finish what his dad started." Max said as he looked over, "He's not going to get the chance."

"Guys, stop. You're right; he's not going to get a chance. None of us will let it happen but if you move against him you'll only cause problems for yourself. This school is supposed to be neutral ground. If he makes a move, you've got him. You make a move, he's got you." Scott said, "Play it cool."

Just then the gong rang out and everyone stopped talking, they all looked up at the stage. All of the schools teachers were lining up on it as students moved closer and then the headmaster of the school forward.

"Ladies and Gentlemen. I welcome you to Moon Peak." He said

All of the students started clapping, Max and the others joined in until it stopped.

"This year we are pleased to have so many new students join us in our home community in this nation and I've heard that our fellow schools around the world are also welcoming more. We are also honoured to be welcoming the first group from the Serpent tribe to our school this year; it is our hope that there will be many more in future years. Now, as many of you know several unique individuals have come this term and all of you know the significance of this. Ms Parker, please come forward."

Liz looked around at her Pride and then to Scott as all the teenagers before her all parted, leaving a path before her. He nodded, indicating that it was okay and that the school had expected it. She couldn't help but thinking it would be nice to have been informed she was going to be called up in front of the entire school. Liz walked forward and felt all eyes on her, as she reached the stage Liz climbed the steps onto it where she stood before the teachers.

The principle of the school stepped closer to her and smiled at her as he nodded. Then he looked back out over the crowd of students, "Ms Harris." He called out

Kelly stepped forward and started walking through the students. Soon she was up on the stage opposite Liz and faced her. "Hi. Kelly." She said introducing herself with a little coldness in her voice; despite promising her father she'd give her a chance.

"Liz." She said, completely unsure of herself and picking up on the other girl's tone.

The principle stepped between the two, "Prophecy tells us that there will come a time of darkness and that a light will shine. The First Born Daughter shall arrive to lead the way to that light, to the Sanctuary. It also tells us that a first step in her journey will be made, the Gift of the Gods shall be given to her on the day her path takes her to the mountains of the night sun where she will learn about her kind. Kelly."

Kelly stepped closer to Liz and pulled out one of the metal triangles from under her robe. It was tied around her neck but Kelly undid the clasp and pulled it off. Normally this would have been with her father but now she had reached her own coming of age and reached the change. When that happened the Gift was passed onto his daughter for her time at the school prior to his retirement and her taking his place in a few years.

Now, according to their oldest teachings, the Gift was now to be passed to Liz for her destiny. "Well...here we go." Kelly said as she held out the triangle

Liz looked at it, she stared into the gem and her reflection caught her attention. It felt like she being pulled into it, that it was calling out to her and Liz reached out to pick it up. Almost immediately upon Liz's skin touching it, the gem glowed brightly causing Kelly to want to pull her hand away but she couldn't. She was held in place as light shot harmlessly though Liz's hand and impacted her forehead. That was when the device released the two girls. Both pulled their hands away leaving the triangle floating in midair with the beam of light still connected to Liz's head.

The beam faded but the triangle stayed in position, the gem pulsing brightly with light. The device repositioned itself in midair so that the top of the triangle was pointing down and then it started to spin around quickly. Everyone in the room stood in shock at it all and then watched as the image of a DNA double helix formed around Liz. The device scanned her body and confirmed the identity of Liz as the one that was intended on activating it.

The Gift then stopped spinning and shot out from the stage, it stopped dead above the mass of students and all looked up. There was a ripple of light in the air as an image formed. It was a woman dressed in luxurious silk and all her features were feline, even more so than the Rakas animan body but like the others of her kind her body was a creamy white with black lines forming tribal markings all over her. From the fur on her head, a trail of fur ran down the middle of her back. Many of the students who had studies mythology in their history classes thought she looked like the depictions of the Egyptian goddess Bastet.

"Greetings daughter. I am Elara Bas'tet, mother and creator of the feline tribes in the younger Lycanthrope races. I come to you today to tell give to you this glimpse into who and what you are before you continue with your destiny.

Through eons past our noble race travelled the darkness between the stars, long before many others journeyed beyond the confines of their own world. As time went on we discovered many peoples scattered among the heavens, many differences, many points of view, many cultures but however, we only found one conclusion. In all races, death came with the intelligence that sentience brought.

Look around your own world to understand. In all cases, on every world the peoples warred with each other and themselves constantly, they raped their worlds for an unending appetite for its resources, species were hunted to the point that survivors no longer represented a sufficient gene pool and became extinct. Atmospheres were polluted, they poisoned themselves and soon many of the races died off. Only one survived beyond the adolescence that we have calculated your birth to be in.

For a long time we searched for a reason, an answer to a question ¬ why did we survive? Why did all others die off yet we endured? We tried to answer, studied new races that emerged. Years became decades, decades became centuries and centuries became millennia until we were only left with one conclusion. On all other worlds, one species became the dominant sentient race where as we are many. Our primal instincts of finding an equilibrium, a balance, between ourselves and our world remained intact. This led to one of us proposing a plan; a great undertaking to ensure more species lived on.

Great ships were created and sent to young worlds where their sentients are only just emerging. They took many and remade them, bound their blood to other animals found on their worlds in the hopes that they could teach the others on their world and aid them to come through and evolve to the point where they could join with us. However, our plan did not do as we had hoped.

Our children that we created were different, feared and hunted. The more the sentients grew the more they feared our children. By using our technology we were able to calculate mathematically the future of every world and found that we had merely prolonged the end. In any case we studied the race brought death though their own arrogance and stupidity. Just as it will happen on your world, it is unavoidable but only you can save anyone on your planet.

We were left to watch many die until it became utterly intolerable. As a way of protecting them against death we created Sanctuary and the Chosen. One singularly unique and as genetically perfect a person as we could create. A bloodline was created, one in which genes required for this would come together until a female is born. In the case of this world, you. Only you can unite the tribes through your blood from the heritage of the guardian tribe ¬ The Chimera.

This great plan worked on many worlds, while many races died our children found peace in Sanctuary and the races that lived, learned to live in peace. However, on this world we calculated a unique future for it and you. Never before had our children from other worlds mated and through this, through their blood joining with your own you will truly understand the other tribes by becoming those tribes. Also, it was one of the making of our own, of one of our own.

Be warned for we know the anger in him will become madness, his plan to..."

All of a sudden the image faded and the triangle flew into Liz's hand. Everyone stood silently and blinked at what they had just learned about the origins of their race, most barely registered the fact that the image of the ancient Egyptian god Bastet had vanished.

"That's it?" Kelly asked loudly, "Who's the psycho, what's the plan... what the hell is the unique future? It was just getting to the good part how could it quit like that?" she ranted on and on as she looked at Liz, "I hate cliff-hangers."

"It's fragmented. This part of the message is over, I guess when I figure out more and I touch the other triangles we'll get more." Liz said

"Here." Someone from the crowd called out. He moved forward and climbed the steps, everyone then saw his face and it was Diego of the snakes who was unclipping the Gift to his tribe that his father gave him before he left, "Try this."

He gave his to Liz but as she touched it there was no reaction, "I guess I'm not ready for this one yet." She said as she handed it back

Everyone, including the teachers, started mumbling among themselves. Max and Liz looked to each other; Liz got down off the stage and moved into Max's arms. He asked if Liz was okay and she nodded that she was. For a moment she was concerned that everyone around her would look on her as a freak or resent their origins but then she remembered who she was surrounded by. These people weren't your typical humans, they accepted who and what they and others were. Among these people differences weren't eradicated, instead it unified them.

Later...

Everyone had calmed down since one of their gods appeared before them, it wasn't like something like this happened everyday after all. However, the event did remain the topic of conversation among all the groups in the hall. They all had an opinion on what happened and any doubts of Liz's potential and in the prophecies were erased. It also left a cold chill in them at what it would soon happen thanks to their world.

Through the night everyone made it a point to introduce themselves to Liz and the others in their Pride. Every so often Kelly would look over to the petite brunette and ponder for a moment on the promise she made her father and how her introduction to Liz went. She realised she wasn't exactly the warmest she'd been.

"Yeah. Okay." Kelly said to herself as she walked away from her pride.

She went straight over to Liz's Pride who were currently talking with Scott about things. Kyle had more than a few questions about his wolf side, which was coming to be useful for the others as well.

"Hi. Liz." Kelly said

"Kelly." Liz said

"Could we talk?" Kelly asked

"Sure." Liz said as they walked off to the side

"Listen...uh...I just wanted to apologise for, well they way I introduced myself." Kelly said, "I'm definitely not usually like that."

"Yeah. I'm guessing it wasn't personal." Liz said

"No." Kelly said, "When you're the daughter of a tribal leader you grow up with certain expectations...that leads to having...well you feel kind of protective of your tribe. Is this making any sense?" Kelly asked