The creatures were made of darkness and nightmares; while Kali knew not what they really were, they were not something safe nor were they friendly. The chased her deep within the Caverns of Time before the youngest Keeper summoned up her powers and jumped deep into the Ether of the Timeline. With her, she pulled various artifacts that her powers deemed the most important to the timelines. If they were to be taken by those after her, time as the worlds knew it would be completely different.

As she jumped, everything went black. It was her first jump alone and she wasn't sure what to expect. Her consciousness faded from her and she felt herself slip away completely. It was like going into a deep sleep; it was painless, but there was still something missing. It was during this time that the Goddess left the form of the woman and reached out to those that could save her, Kali and that which her kind controlled.

Colors were spinning all around; not visually, but within the mind of the woman. She would feel hot one moment, cold the next; the temperature seemed to constantly change even to the extremes. This seemed to go on forever and yet end suddenly all at the same time. A firm, yet damp earth lay beneath the woman as she slowly came to.

Opening her eyes slowly, she closed them quickly, pulling her hands over them to keep the sun out. To say her head hurt was an understatement; it throbbed to the point where she didn't want to move. Her hands rotated to try and cover her ears from the ambient sounds around her; it was then she paused. It may have been the throbbing passed, or it could have been that she was distracted by something else, but Kali's head no longer hurt.

She scoot back so that she was sitting on her bare legs. Her eyes blinked slowly as she looked at the tanned flesh that covered her five-digited hands. She turned them around to look at their tops and backs; there was something about them that just seemed weird, not natural, but the woman couldn't figure it out. Looking past her hands, she took in the rest of her form; her slender body was covered in the furs of one spotted, tanned beast. The fabric on her legs ended at her mid-thighs as the material crept up the left side of her body, leaving a majority of her stomach exposed, before covering her chest before reaching the fabric that looped over her right shoulder as the strap of the cave-like outfit. Around her wrists and ankles were small curved bones, most likely teeth and claws of small creatures.

The sounds of breaking sticks and crushed leaves could be heard near the woman. Off in the distance, a loud roar that drew the woman's attention. The sound, it was familiar. A twig snapping near her, followed by a shrill coo drew the woman's attention back to her surrounding area. She didn't stand, but rather looked around the deep green foliage that seemed to surround her. Her ears worked to figure out where these creatures were; they were near, but that was all she could tell.

The world fell silent.

No twigs snapped, not beasts near her called to one another. Creatures at a distance continued their calls every so often, but the ones near her were quiet.

A hot, humid breath blanketed her exposed shoulders and back. Spinning around, Kali was greeted with a large, scaled head that had beautiful plumage on top of its head. There was a smile on the creature's face, it cocked its head very much like a bird, though never part its jaws to reveal the rows of sharp teeth. A coo-like rumble came from the creature, its long claw on one foot tapping on the ground before three others that had been hidden in the trees emerged.

The beasts did not seem like they were going to attack the woman, nor did they seem to radiate with fear. Rather, the one that had been at the woman's back lowered itself, her nose nudging her stomach to get her arms atop her head. Kali, catching on, gripped the beast's head and once she had, the creature slowly rose up until the woman was on her feet. The normally vicious pack creatures simply took their turns walking up to the woman, rubbing the length of their bodies against her as though they were cats.

After they did that, a few of them began walking past her, to disappear into the forest again before stopping to look back at her. The one the helped her up stayed near her as the others lowered their heads as though they were trying to look smaller and to draw her after them. Kali's brow furrowed as she asked, "What is it? Is something wrong?" The beast beside her planted the top of her head against the woman's back before giving her a slightly push. Looking back at the creature, there was a look in its eyes that seemed to plead with the woman.

When the three leading the way began moving again, Kali followed without question. The last raptor, evidently the matriarch of this group, actually stepped in front of Kali. She lowered herself to the ground, offering the woman a place on her back. Not being one to question the behaviors of raptors, she climbed on and as soon as she was settled, the beast stood once again. The raptor called to the other three and soon the small pack was running through the wilds of the forest.

Kali had to lay across the back of the beast to hold on and to keep herself from falling. The ride didn't seem to last very long though and soon the pack was slowing to a halt. The female that the Keeper rode lowered herself to the ground, allowing her to hop off her back before slowly walking forward.

At that point, Kali could hear a wheezing sound of wet, labored breathing. Moving away broken, blood soaked branches, she was greeted with the sight of the fifth member of their pack bleeding out from the massive wounds in its chest. Her brows knit together; based on the scene around the fallen creature, the pack had a run in with a larger predator. Likely the beast she had heard roaring not long ago; the smell of death was heavy in the air hinting that they were fighting over a kill. Trees were fallen, large foot prints everywhere and before her, a dying raptor.

The creature, though dying, began to get louder in its tormented cries. Kali's eyes widened at the shrieking sound before running over to it, placing her hand firmly on his rib cage. "Now, now," she cooed to the raptor. "You'll be fine, but you must hold still." Reaching to her hip, her hand bumped something wooden at first; glancing back she noted a staff she hadn't paid much attention to before.

Working around it, she pulled a pestle and mortar from her pouch, before retrieving a small bundle of herbs from the other. She began crushing them, using the blood of the beast to keep the mixture as a goop. As it began to thicken, she began to scoop it out with her hands and pressed it to the open wounds on the creature. Yet, the beast did not scream, in fact it seemed to cease its thrashing about and its breathing started to calm a bit. Kali went from one wound to the next, following the same pattern for each. She never removed the gunk as she worked, but let it sit to form a hardened shell over the wounds.

__________________