The Shattering: Tanaris

It had been a good day. Feralicious and I, we'd been working to curtail Southsea Pirate activity along the coast of Tanaris. The pirates are nasty, vicious folks who take the hard-earned profits earned by others, so fighting them is right and proper and moral. Plus, it pays good. ::greedy grin::

When we'd find some, caulking their boat hulls or burying treasure or whatever it is pirates do on land, Feral'd shift to either cat or bear form and hit'em hard and low. Then I'd drop my doomchicken space lazers on them from up high. Most of the time they never knew what hit'em. We were just that good a team.

So at the end of a hard day killing pirates and collecting their hats for the bounties, which was at the end of a hard week of killing and collecting, we were taking a well-deserved break. We'd built a fire on the beach and baked some crabs which we washed down with extremely volatile rum we'd liberated. After, we'd gone for a swim in the warm ocean water, and then after we'd, um, well, you know ::blush blush blush:: So, later, we're relaxing, Feral sitting with her back against a palm tree, me lying with my head in her lap looking up at the stars, when she said, "Pali? Where did the ocean go?"

"Huh?" I sat up and looked. It had been there, right there, lapping at the beach only a few yards away. But now it was gone, the wet sand stretching out as far as I could see into the night. And what was that white line stretching across the horizon? It sort of looked like .... moonlight reflecting off a breaking wave. And it was getting higher....

"'licious?"

"Yeah?"

"I think maybe we should..."

"Yeah."

We ran. We didn't stop to grab our armor or our weapons or our supplies. All that mattered was getting to higher ground, now, right now. Our nightsabers Fang and Shadowind were not at all pleased about being awoken from their post-dinner naps, and we lost precious minutes getting them up and moving. Once we finally were mounted and riding inland, I looked back. The crest of the wave was now high above us and still rising. The wave itself was a black wall, blocking out the stars behind it. I began to hear a low, deep rumble over the sounds of Shadowind's paws striking the sandy ground. And it grew louder.

I don't know how far we had gone when the leading edge of the wave reached us. No impact - just paws splashing in water instead of striking dry sand. It rose quickly; the big sabers tried to tried to stay out of it, shifting to great bounding leaps, but it was no use. Soon it was more than chest deep, and Shadowind stumbled and fell, unable to keep her balance as the water pulled at her legs. I tried to stand, but the water was moving so fast it was carrying me along. I heard Feral call my name, and try to turn back for me, but the water quickly overwhelmed Fang as well. We were all struggling, tumbling, trying to stay at the surface as the water continued to rise. I shifted to aquatic form, tried to swim towards her, tried to call to her, but the wave was so strong, so turbulent, so loud, it was pulling me away from her, I couldn't reach her, couldn't see her in the black murk, couldn't here her. It was pulling me, shaking me, overpowering me. Everything was going dark.

Feralicious!!!

I awoke the next morning, alone, in a world I didn't recognize.