Welcome to Gaia! ::

The day had started innocently enough. The buzzing of my alarm clock barely stirred me, and I reached out to swat it silent. I could hear my sister, Tera, mumbling something from her side of the room; her own alarm had not yet gone off, and it always irritated her to be awoken by mine, which usually went off an hour earlier.

I rolled over and sighed. School was the last thing I wanted to get ready for this morning, but I knew that it would be better if I went ahead and got it over with, rather than tallying in bed and risking the alarm going off again and really awakening Tera. Swinging my legs off the bed and reaching out to flip the "Off" switch on my clock, I rubbed at one eye with the heel of my palm and peered blearily around in the grey light of dawn, trying to pick out, somewhere in the chaotic tangle of clothes and belongings, my outfit for the day.

Finally finding it and digging it out, I quietly left the room, closing the door behind me and turning to make my way down the hall to the bathroom that we shared with our brother, Sabin. Blinking, I stood there, my sleep addled mind taking a moment to register that the odd darkness in the hall was the direct result of the light having burnt out. Strange shadows fell across the carpet, birthed from the meager light from downstairs, and I felt a chill run down my spine. I shivered, then shook my head, cursing Tera's choice in watching Resident Evil immediately before bed the previous night. Pushing thoughts of the living dead from my mind, I picked my way down the hall and entered the bathroom and turned on the light.

In the brief moment between my flicking the light switch and my subsequent turning towards the mirror, a flicker of shadow caught the corner of my eye, passing, it seemed, through the door behind me and into the bathroom. Startled, I whirled around, thinking that it might have been our dog, but there was nothing there, and I snorted at myself for, quite literally, jumping at shadows. As distracted as I was, I did not notice the large amount of water on the tiles beneath my feet as I began to ready myself for my shower.

I still don't know what possessed me, even as I felt my feet slipping out from under me on the cool tiles, to reach out for the counter and grab the plug to the hair dryer instead. A sudden, searing pain raced up my arm, clouding my vision red, then black, my heart swelling in my chest. The last thing to flit across my mind was one of those absurd warnings that usually came with the instruction manual: Keep away from water...

And then, I was standing again, in the bathroom, which had taken on this strange, almost pearl-like glow. The pain was gone, the coloured streaks across my vision vanished; the fuzz of sleep had faded away as well, leaving my mind as sharp as it ever had been. I remained motionless as I tried to figure out what had just happened, wondered at the lack of continued tingling from what had obviously been a nasty shock, when there was a slight tug at my hand.

It would only occur to me later that it was odd that I hadn't screamed at that moment, for standing beside me was a creature I had never seen before, with strange glowing eyes. Its mouth was firmly closed on my hand, and it seemed to be trying to urge me towards the bathroom door. My gaze slid from it to the crumpled form at my feet, my crumpled form. Confusion began to spin in my head, when I heard the voice, harsh and deep.

"Worry yourself not about the empty shell; it is time to be gone."

It tugged again at my hand, and I opened my mouth to speak; its lips lifted, curled, exposing sharp fangs and the fact that the muzzle was not merely closed over my hand, but rather through it, those teeth passing through the flesh of my fingers and trapping my bones between them. I began to panic, but the feeling was distant, as if I were feeling it not myself, but through another.

"We have not time to tally; let us go, and worry not."

Worry not? "But... Where are you taking me?"

"To that which comes after."

After? After what? The panic grew, feeling closer, as I began to realize what my mind refused to accept: I must have died, that electrical charge stopping my heart, my breath. Memories began to flood me, of my sisters, my brother, my parents even, my friends at the school I dreaded attending... Everything I had done so far, everything I had yet to do, so much seemed to swell forth, and it was almost unbearable. I tried to pull my hand away from the creature, and could feel its growl radiating up my arm.

"Do not fight; merely come."

"No! I'm not going! Not like this!" I wondered at who would be the one next to come into the bathroom, and shuddered, struggling again to pull my hand away. When the creature refused to let go, bracing its feet against the tiles and pulling in the opposite direction, instinct began to take over and I swung my other arm out, hand fisted, and connected with the side of its head.

Surprised, perhaps, the creature *did* let go, and I drew my hand back quickly. It swayed slightly, eyes rolling, before crumpling into a small pile at my feet. My body began to tingle, and I felt a rush of warmth come over me, a surge of air filling my nostrils...

Just as suddenly as before, I found myself laying on the floor, my head throbbing and my arm tingling painfully. I slowly sat up, wincing as technicolored sparks sprung up before my eyes, nauseatingly, and looked around cautiously, expecting... what, exactly?

Definitely not the sight of the creature, still unconscious and huddled at my feet. I cautiously reached out my hand to touch it, and felt cool fur beneath my fingertips, smooth as silk. It somehow seemed less fearful when its eyes weren't glowing up at me, small and unassuming on the bathroom floor.

Grabbing a towel off the hook behind me, I tossed it over the creature and quickly, or as quickly as I could with the beginnings of a massive headache, gathered it up and fastened it securely. Rising, shaking, I made my way out of the bathroom and back to my room, where I could hear Tera's alarm going off, the electronic noise piercing the quiet of the dawn. I pushed the bedroom door open and staggered inside, the bundle in my arms held tightly.

Tera sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes in an eerily similar way to how I had, so shortly before, and peered at me. "Done with your shower already?"

I mutely shook my head, dropping the bundle onto her bed and turning to fall onto my own. She said something else, something I didn't quite hear, as I pulled the pillow over my head. If anyone could figure out what that thing was, it was Tera; I groaned a bit, then pulled the pillow off again so that I could tell her, as best as I could, what had happened...

Sighing, I watched as EXM went back to sleep. I didn't doubt that she had gotten a nasty shock earlier, because I could see how red her hand was. But a strange creature? A near-death experience? It sounded more to me like she had been out for a few minutes, and experience some rather bizarre halucinations. Doubtfully, I began to unbundle the towel she had given me, half expecting to find one of Sabin's discarded articles of clothing.

My breath caught when I saw what was inside the towel; it definitely wasn't clothing. The creature within was something unlike anything I had ever seen, and it seemed to be dead. At least, it wasn't breathing, and it wasn't moving. Cautiously, remembering the portion about the creature's teeth, I smoothed a hand over its flank. It was cool to the touch, and the fur was smooth; I could feel the musclature and bones beneath its skin. Suddenly, its eyes opened. I gasped, yanking my hand back.

The creature looked up at me, eyes glowing faintly, slightly befuddled. I sensed confusion, and it looked around the room. Before I could stop it, it had lept from my lap, over to the bed that EXM now slept on. I immediately jumped up, moving in between it and my sister. "Stay!" I barked forcefully.

It blinked a moment, and then I heard clearly, although it did not open its mouth, "What have you done?"

"I have done nothing. Now, stay away from my sister!" I waved the towel threateningly in front of its face. To my surprise, it sat down.

"I'd prefer greatly if you would cease to think of me as an "it". I am male, thank you. And it would seem, for the time being, that I am yours."

"Mine? But what are you?"

He tilted his head slightly, peering at me. I got the sense that his eyesight might not be as clear as it could be... "I apologize; I thought you were the other, my Leib."

"You mean... her? You belong to her?" I pointed at EXM, and the creature nodded. "That still doesn't tell me what you are..."

With a short snort, his head flashed forward, catching my hand between his teeth. A sharp pain flared in my fingers, and then...

I was standing in a strange, shadowed land; creatures much like the one I had encountered in my room moved about me, each with a faint aura, in the form of a person, standing over them. Many were like the one I had seen, small of size, and their person-aura was small, as if that of a child or young adult. Larger ones moved between the small, with full grown person-auras. There was a tug at my hand again, and I glanced down.

EXM's creature was beside me, to my right, holding my hand in his mouth. Another creature, much larger, curled at my feet, peering up at me. I sensed that she was female, and shivered as her words echoed in my head.

"I be your Leichenesser... When it comes your time, I will guide you to what comes after..."

Standing there, looking around, slow realization crept over me. "Does everyone have a... Leichenesser?"

An affirmation in my mind, but no words. Then the male, younger, I realized, nudged the female at my feet with his paw. I could sense a conversation passing between them, lightening quick, a series of sensations rather than words. I felt dizzy.

Finally, the one at my feet rose. "We are to come with you, it would seem."

"Why?"

A pause, and a lift of her lip, exposing those wicked teeth. "It would seem that the other Leib forced out her Leichenesser. We must follow now."

"So, by catching him, he's her pet?" That didn't seem quite right, but the female nodded, and rose.

I suddenly found myself back in my room, EXM's Leichenesser curled up beside her, my own standing on the floor. I knew that I couldn't keep these creatures here; I had to find somewhere else to hide them...

Gaia. Of course. And perhaps there, with more observation, we would be able to obtain more answers...