I'm Silver. They call me that because I'm the color of silver, so of course you can guess what I look like. My eyes are oddly purple. I never have figured out why. And if you want to know, I'm a tiger. Like my mother and my grandfather all were.
I'm an ArcticCat. We are the most hunted family in all of Vortesia. It used to be called Jamaa, but the phantoms invaded and brought forth the most frightening future we have all ever seen. So, they call it Vortesia and we're usually either slaves, resistors, or on-the-run. That last one is me.
I'm the most hunted because we're the most peaceful. My mother used to stop wrong in Jamaa. Her name was Snowflake ArcticCat. So the phantoms want us down so we can't stop them, because the truth is, we have the power to do so.
Call me a liar, but that's how it is with the ArcticCats.
I'm so terrified right now. You may think that phantoms as you know them are only as big as a jammer's head. You're wrong. They broke into Brady Barr's lab and supersized themselves to be as big as Mira. They stole her spirit from Sarepia's Fire and shattered her imprisoned, crystallized self in the Township. And right now, there's one eating my house.
Now you can see why I'm scared.
So yeah, my family sought refuge in the Flag Shop, which is the most unused place in the whole of Vortesia (and this is actually true). We were using it as a home, but those monster-sized phantoms found us, and now they're eating our 'house.'
There are bricks falling everywhere right now and-- did I just get hit on the head with the American flag? Wow. That flag is racist.
Did you know that phantoms could parry? Did you know they had swords?
They do. And right now, one of them has grabbed the Phantom flag, is using it as a sword, and is irritating me a LOT. He is trying to drive it down my throat.
I've got to run, run, run. My paws are hitting the ground hard, stinging with every painful step as I trip over bricks, splinter through wood, and get nails embedded in my pads. My parents... woah! Where are they?
I turn around to see mom and dad trapped under a heavyweighted-to-the-floor table with bricks and broken wood spattered on top. A hungry phantom was looming over them, hissing as its electric tentacles and toothy jaws snapped tightly around the top of the table.
"Mom! Dad!" I shouted. I sped over to them frantically. "Mommy! Daddy! No!!!!!"
"Save yourself, honey," my father crooned, his gray pelt glimmering harmonically with his blue eyes.
I think I forgot to tell you before now that he's not a tiger.
He's even better. He's a snow leopard.
Anyways, back to the story.
"Go while you can. Your truth seeker fury will come to you," agreed my mother. Then they both closed their eyes tight and I watched in horror as the table smashed in two and the phantom seized my parents. It tossed them up into the air, swallowed them, and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
I started to screech in fury and kick stuff and yowl at random birds and punch bricks (which really hurt), and I said, "Why didn't you let it be me?! Oh great Mira, why couldn't you let me die?!"
"Mira isn't here anymore, young one," rasped an old yet mysterious voice. "Neither are your parents, the great jewels of Jamaa."
"Wha--Jamaa? You believe in The Hope?"
"I am the leader of The Hope. I am a resistor, and I was one of Mira's top shamans... until the phantoms came." The mist parted to reveal a scarred, yet elegantly dressed tiger.
"You're going to have to be brave, little one," he continued.
"Wait, who are you?"
"Your mother and father knew me. I am Sir Gilbert."
Something felt strange about 'Sir' Gilbert. He had this odd, familiar look to him.
Anyways, I followed his lead... whereever he was going. He was headed for Shiveer, or at least in the opposite direction of Zios.
I knew why, of course.
He said we were safe here. When we reached the icy summit, he pulled me away from the cocoa hut and down to the Hot Springs. He said that he had always been prepared for what was about to happen.
Sir Gilbert walked up to the dinosaur trapped in the ice and carved a password into a rock with his claws.
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