The Day of Thunder

[Shiba Kumori]

-The Dawn of a Troubling Tomorrow-

Great Mountain City- Year 10, Summer

The command tent of Ti'ake Chuk'tchick was filled with the commanders of his armies. A wooden statue in his hand, Ti’ake pointed out spots on the map.

“Our digging corps have opened up tunnels here and here. When we attack, we will overwhelm the gate guards from inside, open the gate and capture the city.”

A Nezumi commander with brown fur spoke up, “What of the Sky-child? How do we deal with him. Can we kill him?”

Ti’ake shook his head, “These Sky-children are particularly strong... and they seem to have a strong affinity for one another… If we were to kill him, or seriously harm him… I fear it would threaten the peace that we strive to build. My advisors have devised a plan which we believe will take him from the city… Once he is gone, we will attack.”

He paused before adding, “Once inside… kill all who fight. Tie up the weak or defenseless and those who surrender… and send them north.” He pointed to the map. “Along this road…”

One of the commanders, a toweringly tall Nezumi with white fur asked, “Are you sure your clever plan will work?”

He looked around, “Have I ever failed you before?”

The Nezumi all bowed to the one they knew would soon be Chief of Chiefs and left the tent…

----

Shinomen Forest: City of Magic- Year 25, Winter

He had been successful that day... and most days since...

He had helped rebuild their home. He created peace with the hairless ones.

Everyone thought him to be clever. The most clever Chief of Chiefs they called him...

But the cleverness was never fully his. He had T'tok to thank for so much of his life and successes.

What Ti'ake Chuk'tchick had was anger. Cool, level-headed, intense anger which he forged into focus daily.

That focus had brought him here to the woods of the snakemen. Traversing countless miles along the Twilight Mountains and through the murderous forest of ancient remembering where the slumbering slithering ones were said to have lived... The primordial home of the Brave-Warriors-Who-Remember.

It now belonged to the hairless ones. Though they did not populate it, or have the power to tame it; or even to exist within it for more than a day Ti'ake surmised. The forest was wild... a nightmare to some. But he had walked through the nightmare which had been his childhood home only five years ago and had seen what a truly hellish nightmare could be.

Three waterfalls crashed down from above him in the mists. The markers of the ancient City of Magic that the Rememberers had spoken of to him before setting out on his journey. He came today to fulfill a promise... a promise to one that should always be kept. Only fools ignored the wishes of the Wikki'thich-hie... and Tomorrow always comes for fools.

To those unacquainted with the workings of I'thich to find the city would have been an impossibility. To navigate through its streets, one couldn't even dream of such a thing. But with his shaman guide, and that fierce anger driving him through the mists... White Moonrise was not to be deterred.

He passed through halls, through corridors of ancient architecture far superior to anything the hairless ones could build. It reminded him of his own childhood home... the grandeur of it all.

He passed through chambers with large eggs, all dusted over and enormous. One of these could feed his pups for a week. Were the children of the slithering-ones also in this forever sleep... would these one day wake again and join the world of the living?

He felt the pull of something powerful before he saw anything... It was the same pull he felt that night when the Wikki'thich-hie with T'tok's eyes drew him into the dream world. This was it... he pushed open a door and there stood a massive pearl; one larger than he had ever seen. Behind it stood a statue of a Naga, replete in battle armor and wielding a spear and bow. It stood silent watch over the pearl...

The world bled between worlds... mists clouded the room. As he stepped forward and took the pearl into his paws he felt the gaze of the statue burn hot on his skull.

Suddenly... the eyes reddened with anger and the spear whirled once into ready position...

The Chief of Chiefs lugged the pearl into his keeping sack and stood defiantly glaring back at the beast. Whether a being of this world or that... nothing would stop him from returning home from his quest.

His anger would not be outmatched.

----

Nezumi Capital- Three Weeks Later

White Moonrise sat on the Chief's Seat with a giant pearl in his lap and a long staff with peculiar ornamentation laying in his hands.

His torso still bore the marks of his escape from the City of Magic... a spear wound above his hip and evenly spaced puncture wounds just below his left shoulder. The stick he held was the same one he held that night when he learned of the way forward for his people and the hairless ones. When he began taking his first steps to the Name he now held.

The shamans told him of foreboding omens within their divinations of late. A lurking unease within the Name magic... Their suggestions had led to his journey to finally complete his task for the Wikki'thich-hie with familiar eyes.

He had done as he had been asked... succeeded again. Everyone grew in confidence knowing that their Chief of Chiefs was so clever, brave, and strong. He had traveled to the land of myths and returned with a prize no Brave-Warrior-Who-Remember had ever seen before. A piece of their past before even the Rememberers could recollect.

Surely this was a great omen...

But the evil portents did not cease. The unease only grew. He would need to complete the quest. Hand the pearl to the Wikki'thich-hie and regain their watchful care.

His shamans and T'tok left the audience hall... his wife looking back once with a supportive and reassuring gaze. He could smell her resolve from across the room and it bolstered his spirits. One did not converse with the Wikki'thich-hie lightly...

He raised the stick to his nostrils, closed his eyes, and inhaled.

When he opened his eyes he stood on a vast plain stretching beyond what he could see or smell... He stood still, but figures in the distance slid as it were towards his frame of reference. A half circle of white-robed Ratlings stood in conference with one another facing away from White Moonrise.

As they slid close to him the circle turned only partially to witness him... One in the center of the circle, directly in front of him, turned his body to face Ti'ake. The others acknowledged the figure who left the circle... and then a moment later they all were gone. Only the one with his wife's eyes... reddened and glowing as they were... remained in front of him.

On his knees Ti'ake extended up the pearl he had reclaimed up to the Wikki'thich-hie.

"I made a promise. I have kept my promise. You have kept yours. Please remember us well now. Remove the pall that hangs over my people."

The being took the pearl in its paws... a moment later it was gone, but the being did not seem distressed. "Your shamans are wrong. The pall that hangs is not of my making White Moonrise."

Ti'ake looked up at the Transcendent with apprehension.

"All that exists within I'thich is visible to us... Pasts, presents, futures... But this... is not. Dark futures emerge... Dark dreams..."

The Transcendent continued, "It hides well. Belonging and not Belonging... Drawing those it wants to it, but repelling those it does not."

Anticipating another betrayal, Ti'ake's voice rumbled with anger, "Is it the hairless ones..."

The being shook its head in the negative.

Suddenly, the world shifted around him as they now appeared to fly over hill, mountain, river and plain.

"One of their Sky-Children recently found her way to touch I'thich... The Beautiful-Strong Sky-Child protects the Humans of strong Name. She is strong... but only one... and many of the Humans are weak in Name."

Ti'ake stood silent as he watched a Sky-child strain to extend her light to the hairless ones in the lands he could now see in dream-sight. He did not know what to make of any of what he saw.

"Do not hate them White Moonrise... You have made many Brave-Warriors-Who-Remember and Hairless Ones friends through the peace you have bartered... You do not trust them. I fear you will not have reason to trust them in the futures that await... But still... Be clever Angry-One. Our foe is more clever than you. It may be more clever than us. Do not fall into its trap of hating those who would help us."

Ti'ake paused and snorted once before nodding in agreement.

"We will guard your Names the best we can. Your fulfillment of your promise will help us do this. Make your Names strong and bright. Look for the Humans with strong Names who can help... Their day to fight Tomorrow has come. They will champion your world's defense. Help them be clever... Help them focus their anger to where it should go."

The world began to fade and the scents of the audience hall sifted into his mind....

A lingering voice in his mind echoed as he opened his eyes.

Help them... Brave-Warriors-Who-Remember.