Talons of Epsilon

Chapter 1 - In Ruins

 "We can fight. We can fight. We can fight!"

 The room was warm, unusually warm. It would have been freezing from the city's typical cold temperatures and snowed grounds, but a brand new aura lit the area with a nearly-burning sensation.

 "Nngh..." The girl groaned, rubbing her head and sitting up from the carpeted floor. Her dark vanilla hair fell before her nose, tickling her lips. She huffed a short breath to carry it away before straightening it to the best of her ability.

 "Cookie?" She called out quietly, softly, but no bare response came from her cat -- her best feline friend. "Cookie?" She said again. What she hadn't noticed was the cat was laid out below the head of the bed to her right, cold, and in the position one would be laid in after a quiet, calm death.

 After a few moments, after the girl had recollected her senses and was able to see clearly once more, her eyes met with the cat's body. A smile stretched across her face, lit up as light as the silver moon, however that 'moon' was soon cast out in darkness. The girl's smile broke down, leaving her face somber, warm tears welling in her eyes. Her little bit of happiness was ripped away.

 "No," she whispered, scooting over to her pet. "Cookie, no..." The cat was gone.

 Soon enough, Israel, the boy laid upon a small bed adorned with tears, awoke. His recovery was significantly shorter than the girls', but that was only because he felt sadness in his heart as he found his friend hugging the cat's body to her chest, sobbing.

 "Cookie," she whispered. "Ever since you were just a stray, ever since you walked up onto my doorstep and begged out your tiny heart for food, I saw you as my best friend. Somehow I knew we'd make it this far, and even if our friendship was kept in a dream of all things, it was real to me. You didn't deserve to die, we were gonna live life a little longer, the best way possible." She sniffed, almost choking on tears, hugging the cat tighter. Then she looked up at Israel and said, "tell me we're still in the dream. Tell me we haven't waken up yet!"

 The boy stood up, went for the window below the foot of the bed, opened the curtains and nodded. He saw nothing but chunky debris, flames, and dark gray clouds, illuminated by a blazing orange, swirling above a ruined city like a hurricane.

 "No," he said. "This is reality."