NaZooverse - Book 1: The Risen Curtain

The Darkest Hour

The National Predator Pride Week was an important event. It was a way of celebrating differences by giving attention to all of the predators out there, big and small. To let them know that they were an important part of society and would always have a place in the world.

It was a time of the year when there were all kinds of events, most of it to generate inclusion and to raise the morale of the predators, as well as to encourage the acceptance by the much more numerous prey population.

Among the most popular events of this week, was the Pred-Pride Show. An initiative that reunited artists of all kinds, species, and orders to perform. An event that showed that somethings, like the taste for music, would transcend the barrier of species, and to encourage predator and prey to gather side by side so they could see their favorite artists, and realize that, deep down, they had a lot in common.

Of course, there were some among the population who did not agree with the idea of inclusion and acceptance. They saw it as something that should not happen, and they wanted to fight it with all that they had. Some examples were more known than others. In recent times, the most famous of them had become the one known as "The Night Howler Conspiracy", an attempt to shatter the relationships between predator and prey by using fear and striking in the city of Zootopia, the symbol of coexistence and peace between species.

Luckily, this nasty plot was brought down by two heroes, a prey and a predator, who worked together to put the responsible behind bars and return the peace to the city. Since then, the mammals were working hard to help continue the building of the acceptance and the understanding between the many mammals of the world, and that was why the following two Pred-Pride Shows were bigger than the previous ones.

This one, said to be the biggest yet, was made exactly in the city of Fangtropolis. A city that had a great population of predators within it, exactly to encourage others to give attention to this city, that showed, just like Zootopia, that it was possible for predator and prey to live together and in peace as friends.

That was why so much had been invest in this year's show.

Frank looked over as he could notice that the crowd was waiting anxiously for the show to begin. The wolf himself was quite anxious for it, as it was normal to be when something great is about to happen.

A buzzing on his ear broke him out of his daydream, and he could hear a familiar, feminine voice on his head.

"Frank? Do you copy?"

"Oh, Gilda!" Frank said, speaking on his mic as he held the earpiece in his ear, to better hear the voice of his supervisor.

Gilda Pelton was a female bear who was in charge of the news crew that had been assign for this show's coverage. She was the kind of mammal of who you would not wish to get on the bad side, as she could be quite ferocious and fearsome when things were hard. She knew when to speak up and when to raise her voice to impose respect and to let others know who was in charge, making her the perfect mammal to direct crews. Of course, she was not antisocial, by any means, she was actually the best person you could hope to meet, as long as she was not in a bad mood, and you did nothing to piss her off. Everyone of the crew respected her, and they had a decent (but healthy) amount of fear of her.

"Frank, this show is crazy! It hasn't even started yet and camera four has gotten two antelopes trying to climb on the stage!" Gilda spoke, and Frank could only smile at this.

"Yeah, this show is going to be huge." He admitted as he looked at the crowd. His own camera mammal, a zebra, was sitting next to him as she took a few sips of some mango juice. She looked quite bored as she looked around.