“What the hell is wrong with you?!” Rain shouted at Neal. He sat be the rekindled fire sorrowfully. “OK, one: you let him fly off with a huge wolf?! Two: you didn’t even stop him!! What’s wrong with you?!” she screamed. “I-I... I thought it was a sign. It was supposed to happen, I thought.” “How the hell was a wolf coming and Morrow flying off with it a sign?! It’s crazy, that’s what it is!!” she said. “I-I’m sorry, Ok? I thought, I mean...I’m sorry.”he said. They had told him the whole story, the examination, the wave. They had even told him about Morrow’s change. And he wasn’t surprised. “You knew?!” she shouted. “Yeah. It’s kinda obvious. Look at your eyes.” “How the hell do you expect me to look a my eyes?!” Rain said. “I mean, look at each others. If you have silver eyes, you’re a Lupius in human form. It’s kinda common knowledge. I thought you knew that.” “But-but, I’m not a lupio, or whatever!! I’m normal! He’s the wolf thingie!!” she said, pointing to Morrow. He was sitting down, leaning against a rock. 

“Well,” he said. “How come you have silver eyes, too?” “I dunno, it’s a condition, Ok?! I’m normal!” and with that, they dropped the subject. It was unusually silent. The only sound was the crackling of the fire. Morrow had not said a word since they got back. His eyes seemed to glow more than usual, probably because of the change. Neal looked sorry, but Rain was furious. Not really at him. At herself. Because of how she had to be born. She silently fumed, and they were falling asleep. But Rain was awake. Neal had his hat over his eyes and was snoring, and Morrow’s eyes shut for a little while, longer each time, before he shook and stared at the fire groggily. But Rain wasn’t sleepy. She was wide awake. “Please don’t fall asleep...” she begged Morrow in her mind. “I don’t wanna be alone again.” she said it silently, knowing that no one heard her. Eventually, Morrow shut his eyes and didn’t open them. He slumped over slightly against the rock he leaned against. She crawled over to him, pushing him.

“C’mon, please?!” she whispered frantically. He didn’t move. She knew she would hate herself and mock herself and her weakness for it, but she cried. Not loudly, whining, but she silently cried. A tear fell to the sand below from her face. She knew Neal was right. She knew she was like Morrow. She just didn’t want to be. She huddled next to Morrow as a cold wind swept by. She got next to him and curled up, trying to stay warm by the fire. She stared at the fire, begging herself to get tired and sleep. But she couldn’t. She was wide awake. She didn’t realize it, but Morrow cracked open an eye while she wasn;t looking. He quietly listened to her. “Why did I have to be born like this?” she asked herself angrily. “Why am I such a monster? Why am I different? Why, why, why, why?!” she said. “Why...why...”  “It’s not so bad,” Morrow said quietly. She jumped, and Morrow laughed a little. “What did you hear?” she asked. “All of it.” “Well. Shut up!! Ok? Shut up!” she said childishly. “I haven’t said anything. I don’t talk much.” “Be quiet, you stupid... stupid...” “How am I stupid because I don’t like to talk? I prefer to listen.” “Well, uh... then...” “Why are you so angry at yourself?” he asked. “Because!! I’m like... this!!” she shouted. “You’re like what? Like me? How is that bad?” “Because!! I’m a monster!” “What do you define as monster?” Morrow asked. “A monster’s someone who’s different and ugly and vicious and someone who kills stuff for pleasure!! That’s what a monster is!”  Morrow looked confused and asked, “then how are you one? You’re nice, you’re pretty,” she blushed, “ and you like helping people. How does that make you a monster?” “Because... I’m like this...” “No. I think of this as a gift.” he said, straightforward. “ I think of it as something that I have to cherish. Other people can’t do this.” “And that’s why I’m a monster!! Because I’m different!” “Now you’re just complaining. Being different isn’t bad. And different from who? Us? Neal and me? Neal’s a gryphon who has guns and is from a human town and is kinda strange. He’s used to being different, cuz he grew up with humans who are different from him. Me? I’m a Sornawinde and a Lupius. We ARE different. And if you’re different with us, then, by definition, we’re normal.” he said wisely. “But... but..” “But what? You mean normal with other people? Who cares? What does their opinion mean to you?” “A lot! You don’t understand what it’s like to be different!” she shouted. Morrow looked at her sternly, he turned. “No. That’s not fair.” he said as he put a hand on her shoulder, like she did when they first met. “I do understand. I understand more than you do, even though, or maybe because, did you ever think of that? But they loved you even though you’re different. They still loved you. But I don’t care if I’m different. And do you know why? Because I’m used to this. Your parents loved you. My father came home drunk every night and tried to strangle me in my crib, because I was different. My mother never held me, touched me, hugged me, or even loved me. Why? Because I was different. People shielded their eyes from me on the street when they saw me, they never even let me out unless they needed my power, which is probably why you’ve never seen me, and even when I cried in pain when the other children beat me, they simply ignored me. Why?” he said, a tear falling down his face, his bottom lip quivering. “Because I was different.” his eyes shone more brightly than ever with tears in them. He sniffed, and silently cried, like she had. But he had a reason for it, better than just afraid to be alone at night. He knew his parents never loved him. Because he was different, as he had said. “Now, you saw what the Nullroth are using to hunt us. Imagine hundreds of those things. All searching for people, children especially, with lupius genes. And we are one of them. Whether you like it or not, we are lupius. You are a lupius. We have to accept that. I have. And we have to be strong through this, or we’re gonna die. Once we get to Mortha Daileth, the Elloque will help us, give us temporary protection. The we need to go to Dashona and stay with our kind, Lupius, and then we wait. Once we are there, I’m not sure what we do next. Neal hasn’t told me. But we need to be strong through this. Both of us.” he said.  Rain looked him in the face, and said, “I’m so sorry. Really, I’m so, so sorry....” she fell into Morrow’s arms and wept into his chest. He held her and said shakily,“It’s not your fault. It’s really not.” they were quiet for a moment they just sat their, for the first time in either of their lives feeling like they were not different. Like they weren’t outcastes. Like they had someone else like them. Like they weren’t alone. Rain fell asleep next to him, and so did he. Morrow usually talked in his sleep, had nightmares of how worthless his own mother said he was, of how much he should die and how happy his mother and father would be. But not tonight. Tonight he fell asleep and dreamed. Dreamed of good things, happy dreams. And he didn’t talk at all, didn’t wake up screaming in a cold sweat. For the first time in his life, he felt safe. For he first time in her life, Rain felt like she wasn’t different, and that she knew that no one would hate her because of what she was. She accepted what she was, knowing that nothing bad would come of it. Knowing that she wouldn’t be looked down upon, or hurt, and that she’d have someone to see her through it. For the first time in both of their lives, they felt safe. They felt secure. They felt loved.

Millions of miles away, in Oythangore, a Nullroth city, the Magistrate Ezilithouna, Acolyte of Nishramptu, sat back in his throne. His long, spindly fingers, adorned with dozens of tiny rings and jewels, toyed with a small metal orb that shone in the light from his several shining, life support engines. His crown, in actuality a roiling mass of black, snake-like tubes weaving intrivately in and around his limbs, was flowing back, and led into his throne, a huge, wide, silky throne with armrests and a large, luxurious seat and backrest that cradled his frail form and let him recline easily without disrupting his life-support. His crown was black at it’s core, on his long head, and had many obsidian gems imbedded in it, and weaved in and around his arms and served as ports that measured his lifesigns and vitals that he could view from his armrests. The armrests had three holographic projectors as well as motion detectors, so the holograms served as “buttons” which he would activate the motion sensors with. A heavy rounded machine curved around his elongated, humped back and neck and several tubed filled with red liquid, serving as his blood which he had precious little of,  pulsed and throbbed. He held the metal ball and spoke: “thressshkanume,” or, translated, <<search>>. and it floated up and out in front of him. The shiny metal orb split into four convoluted parts, and split open an inch. Immediately, dozens of holograms flickered to life around him, an enormous 3D map spreading out in front of him. On the upper right hand corner, hundreds of tiny blue-green holographic orbs with cross-hairs labeled with symbols hovered slightly. The magistrate thought, and lined four of his fingers with the tips of the holographic cross-hairs, and pulled one out. They slid, segmenting, and a enormous machine, nicknamed a Titan, flickered in front of him. He touched it, and immediately, tiny models shimmered and appeared over the course of the map, and the map suddenly had forms appear across it. He touched one of the models, and stats appeared over the model. He did so repeatedly with every model, until he came to one. A large red x appeared. He thought this strange. He did so again, and nothing happened except the mysterious appearance of the x. he pressed a holographic button, and a screen appeared. It had a tiny, flickering chart of numbers on the lower right hand corner. It was black at first, and then the screen split in four.  There were hallways, two of them, a control room and a lounge area, security monitors of the ship. There was no movement detected over the entirety of ship, only a slight spark occasionally. He screened the tapes from the hour before. Nothing. Before that. Nothing. He went back five hours, and nothing. No movement. The ship was empty. Either that, or... he began to grow troubled. This Titan had a special mission. It carried a Magistrate, Yazzethusiannar, acolyte of Niglemin. Ezilithouna knew him personally. He eventually found some record of movement, and he viewed. He was horrified at what he saw. Nullroth bodies fell down hallways, seemingly by gravity, dead, with burn-marks covering their limp corpses. The lounge area was decimated as sand inexplicably poured in, and the camera was destroyed, and that screen went dark. The control room had lightening fill it, explosions filling the room. A screaming Nullroth engineer yelled at the camera, but was soon silenced by a bolt of lightening in the upper spine. The Magistrate pressed a small red button next to the screen and it froze. He leaned back in his throne/life support, and stared in shock and horror. Whatever had caused this was indeed powerful. Shockingly so. It must have taken a team of those vile, disgusting primates to pilot the machine (as it almost certainly was one) that did this. This was obviously from the hunt that was taking place discreetly for the Son. They must have wanted retribution. But Ezilithouna would not have it. He turned a small dial-hologram, and the rewind of the screens was controlled manually. He turned it back, more and more. All he saw was lightening, and the uncalled for slaughter of his innocent people. He blessed them as he saw them die in fast motion backwards, silently sending them to the afterlife. The primates would be punished. Eventually, he flicked on the screens that showed what was happening outside pf the Titan. He expected to see a war machine, immense in size and cruelly outnumbering the Titan by hundreds, along with grounded troops with their primitive blades swinging. But all he saw was his friend, Yazzithusiannar, being thrown back by an unseen force. And as the camera turned, he saw. He saw what h thought they had been searching for. A lupius. But it was not alone. A primate female, with black growths the humans called hair, and she was holding her hand to the sky. And lightening struck the righteous juggernaut of truth with unbridled force. The girl was the hideously powerful machine massacring his people. He hissed and slammed his fist on his armrest. He was horridly angry. This was a mockery! A trivial mockery of the power of his people! This must be dealt with, he thought. Swiftly and suddenly. “Yiexankthine!”  He shouted. Translated:<<underling!! Come hither.>> and with that, a powerful, brutish nullroth stepped into the dark room. He knelt before the relatively weak figure and kissed his two-fingered feet. He replied, <<your desire is my hope, my lord.>> <<enough of your trivial worshipping!! We have important matters to attend. Send a team of investigative Seraphim to site 453-B immediately. This is a matter of the pride of our people.>> <<yes lord, immediately. I shall perform this honor on my physical body->> <<NOW!!!>> <<yes Lord!!>> he said as he fled out of the metal room. <<filthy, filthy underling...>> and with that, the Seraphim were sent to where the Titan had fallen, and to destroy any life that threatened the secrecy and security of the supposedly indestructable juggernaut of a ship’s inner workings. And that meant that any sentient life near it must be destroyed.

And thus, Neal, Rain and Morrow were targets.