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Aross stumbled through the darkness, searching desperatly for the object. He couldn't live without it, this cold, was it always this cold? Yes, always, since the drink, his last in Life. Finally he stumbled, falling, falling into full awareness...

His eyes opened, it was over, he was back... Or was he? Looking around he realized this wasn't the land he grew up in, nor was it the inhospitable desert where he was banished when he came to adulthood. He was in a temple of ice and snow, compacted and apparently melted and solidified many times in the last decade. He looked down, at his paws, he didn't notice at first, exept the small nudge at the back of his mind that he wasn't always like this. Now awake, he stood, pulling at his wrapped leg. The chain pinched and broke his cracked skin, but it was conforting to feel pain, it reminded him he was in some sort of reality here, away from her. He looked around, sensing he was being watched. "Who's there?" He barked, his voice naturally more harsh than he meant it.

Ahh dreams. always so nice. It did his heart good to be back on Ishudoune VII. Walking among the snowy plains hunting Jiknins. Then suddenly he was awake the shipping screaming into his head "Alert!! Security level -5.0 Space pirate within fi..." He never heard the end. The ship imploded around him as a carbonized lead round from a 500mm Howitzer pierced the shield armor and hull.

He jolted awake. Where am i was his first thought. He crawled up onto all fours.. wait all FOURS!? No no this isnt right I must be asleep. He flinched as a voice sounded near him. Opening his mouth to reply he decided against it and looked around when he spotted a dog. He heard his old drill seargent in his head Never ever act without thinking or i'll come and kill you myself rather than let you endanger all with your stupidity!! Even though he knew the seargent couldn't kill him he remained silent.

Gina looked around at the battle field. Once again she was here, fighting a losing battle away from her friends, family, and him. She felt weak, her heart hurt, it was one of the many wounds she had got becuase of this war. As she looked around her eyes began to feel heavy, she was to weak to do anything about it so just let the darkness consume her....

Gina suddenly woke up jumping up onto her feet. Soemthing didnt feel right but she wasnt sure what. Looking around she felt alot more relaxed here, like a load had been taken of off her shoulders, but she remained alert. Hearing a voice she looked around and noticed a peculiar looking dog. Curious she slowly walked up to him and sat a few feet away.
who are you she said quite plainly to him looking at him with curious eyes.

Narcida hung out over the window. So this was it. With one drop she would be free. She held onto the ledge and let herself drop. The ground came rushing up to meet her and she died.

Narcida woke up. She was on some kind of plain that stretched for miles. There was something attatched to her back she tried moving her arms and looked at them. Wings. I must be dreaming she thought, looking around.

He turned suddenly, startled to hear a voice so close. A white fox stared back at him. "I don't know where I am. Do you?" He took a few steps back, keeping his distance. Aross could still feel the many pinprics of hair standing on end. Even more were watching from the shadows. The fox seemed simply curious, but he knew better. Tales always consisted of the cunning and untrustworthy animal. What tales?, He thought, but the answer eluded him.

Gina shook her head and looked around.
Dont know but its nicer than were i was before she said her tail swishing from side to side dusting against the floor.
So whats your name? she asked looking at him again.

"Aross, and yours?" He took the fill of their surroudings, keeping his distance. Columns of engraved stone filled the foreground, while ancient statues, seemingly Gods dominated the walls. Large chunks of the ceiling had caved in, the ice melting and solidifying into lumps on the floor. Only his newfound claws kept him from slipping. He clicked silently towards the door, amazed slightly at the size of it, and, unlike the rest of the room, wasn't worn half as bad.

oh my names Gina she replied watching him walk over to the large door. Watching aross for a second she stopped and scanned the area. She could tell others were here and stood up and circled around trying to figure out where they were.

Brighid inhaled smoke, trying to suffocate herself before the flames reached her legs and she knew she would cry out with the inevitable pain. It almost worked. She felt her feet be engulfed in flame and screamed once before she fell into blackness...falling until she opened her eyes and her feet were...cold? "Where am I?" she asked. then trotted over to a short-ish dog who looked like he knew something.

Narcida flapped her wings. She could make short hop/glides and she went over to an odd collection of animals. Hello I'm Narcida she said. Do you know where this is?[/i]

Kin stood up and two feet and looked down on all the curious.... What were they? Oh they were animals though he didnt know their names. He seemed to remember the words dog and fox but he decided it didnt matter and fell back on all fours Hello. Im Kin. Though most call me by my last name, Akmarr. He realized his voice was deep and booming resounding off the walls off the room. Walking over to the door where the...dog was and pushed it with one paw wherein it swung outwards.

Aross backed up, all of a sudden all these animals were coming out of the woodworks introducing themselves, but as the door swung open with a bear's help, a mocking voice drowned out the rest. "Ah, the Fox and the Hound have friends. What a reunion!" A golden monkey swung from the icicles hanging from the celling, smiling broadly. "Newcomers, no doubt, though oddly varied, yes. Not a bunch of cowards or dumb warriors that don't know when to quit. Yes, I am pleased." The monkey now slid down the opening door, landing on the bear, where he danced around, keeping always just out of reach, before jumping on the horse, which he treated as a podium.

"'Four temples through the land, five creatures of rock and sand. Six warriors shining bright, to fight and fight for a second light. You must beat them all to fufill your call to live and breath again. Your troubles be many, but one more chance you get, to be warm than clammy, rather than meet your doom.'" The monkey smiled broadly at the last note, obviously off key, and it drove most people crazy. "Do you comprend?"

Kin hated this thing he let in the door. Then he heard the part about being alive and it dawned on him that maybe he really was dead. He half snorted wondering why it had taken him so long to die. So many old war buddies that he could meet again. But something sidturbed him that the monkey said. Something about having to fight. Even in death he was going to need to be violent. So we gotta fight something and we are alive again? sounded easy enough

Gina watched the monkey curiously with her black eyes and replayed his words in her head.
im dead she thought quite shocked at the news.
She looked down at her black paws and realized for the first time that she was not herself and had been walking on all fours this whole time now.
so that blackness was death she thought looking around at everyone here and at the monkey which she thought especially wierd. Feeling something rub against her neck she tried to bat it of but only succeeded in cutting her paw on it. what is this damn thing around my neck

Smiling, the monkey lept again, this time landing on Aross. "Doggie knows how to fetch? Fetch you will, five weapons of power, from each walking statue, to reclaim your life."

Aross growled. "And what if we don't want to return to our world? What if our world we escaped from on purpose? What if it hurts to much to go on living? What then?" The hall grew silent, even the monkey seemed to whiten.

"No, you mustn't say that!" He whispered francticly in one flappy ear. "The master can't hear that talk! You will be ripped apart, there are things much worse than death! You will be tortured for an eternity! Nothing but pain, no life, no death, no reclimation!" The monkey must of thought he said to much and jumped away.

Suddenly he started singing again, landing squarly upon the bear's head. This time it was nothing but gibberish, gibberish to lighten the mood as if to please someone above. "So much for that. Crazy nut, though I guess we can take it up with the big man later when we do his chores for him." Growled Aross.

Solstice walked in on her boyfriend going through her files on the computer. "Hey! What do you think you're doing?!" she shouted at him. He jumped from the chair and crossed the room. The next thing Solstice knew, there was a cord wrapped around her neck. "Wha-?" she cried out. "Thanks for doing my job for me, love. Now I have all I need!" Her boyfriend tightened the cord around her neck. Her lungs burned as she tried to breathe. "I trusted you!" she gasped. "Too bad!" That was the last thing she remembered before everything went black.

Solstice rolled over and coughed herself awake. Her throat still hurt, but everything else seemed to be okay. She looked around.
"Where am I?" she asked herself. She, then, noticed a group of animals nearby. They all seemed abnormally large and oddly colored. Suddenly, one of them spoke. Solstice gasped. That wasn't normal! She tried to stand up. She needed to get away. This could not be real! She let out a yip as she fell in her attempt to stand. She found that all she could do was crawl. Solstice began to crawl away, but something was following her. She turned and saw a black blob behind her. It was a tail!
"Wha-?!" she exclaimed. "No, no, no! This is NOT happening!" She checked the rest of her. Paws, fur, weird ears, and a snout.
"I'm a skunk!" she cried.

"Okay, who wants to explain to Ms. Le'Pew what the crazy monkey said."
Brighid was feeling more comfortable in her new form than most of the others seemed to be.

Gina heard a voice and turned around forgetting the loopy mokey for the time to see a skunk who seemed to be having a hard time.
hey you ok she said walking over to the skunk.
you look like you could use some help

"Where am I?!" Solstice cried. "I'm not a skunk! I'm a person! A human!" She looked at the fox coming towards her.She back up a bit but soon found she was trapped against a wall.
"No, no! You stay back! You're not real! This is just a dream!" Solstice was gettig panicky now. She did not want to believe that she could actually be a skunk and a fox could actually talk.

um i know this is strange i dont think anyone here has much of an idea of what is going on but that monkey sort of said we are dead Gina explained having stopped walking towards the skunk and instead sat there in front of it.
maybe you should calm down, whats your name she asked her curiosity once again getting the better of her.

"Dead?! Dead?!" Solstice sat down as reality hit her. She remembered her boyfriend attacking her.
"He killed me?" she said to herself after a few minutes. "He killed me!" She broke down into tears. "Why, why, why?" Solstice looked back at the fox as she used her tail to wiped her tears.
"My name is Solstice," she sniffed. "Who are you? And what monkey said what?" She had regained some of her composure but was still unsure about whether or not this could be real.

"The monkey said we were dead, and the only way to reverse it is to kill 'creatures of stone and sand' and retrieve a weapon from each of them." The skunk was obviously distressed, and suddenly telling her she was dead wasn't exactly the smartest idea. "The monkey seems to know a lot more than he's really telling us." Aross shot the monkey creature a dark look, but he didn't notice, still spouting jibberish.

Gina felt really sorry for solstice and walked up to her. She felt like hugging her like she would usually do to comfort her friends but remebering she was no longer herself it would be difficult, plus she had only met the person, or skunk.
my names gina she said.
Listening to aross she glared at the monkey.

"You can't kill stone!" Solstice directed at the big dog. She tried to stand up and take a few steps forward. She stumbled and fell. Cursing, she got back up and tried again. This time she tripped over her own paws.
"Damn it! Why is this so hard?!" Solstice just stood there, giving up on walking for now.
"So, where is what we're suppose to kill? And how are we going to kill it?" she asked with a sigh.

The monkey answered crypticly: "They will fall only in tune with one another, as notes in a song." He then jumped and swung over the top of the door, out of sight.

Aross took a few experemental steps foreword. It was a bit difficult to get the timing completly right, but he could walk on all fours, even if a bit clumsily. Taking the leader's stance he spoke to the collection of organisms: "I don't know how any of us got here, or wheather any of us are truely dead, but one thing is for sure, we have to do something to return us to some familure domain, even if it isn't our own world." He hoped he sounded more sure than he felt, but then again, what did it matter. He didn't know these people. Why should they listen to him? What did he know that they didn't?[/i]