Alrighty then, let us begin at the beginning then. LOL

As the sun rose, it's rays crept into Nyara's room through her open window, painting her room a brilliant, warm red. It wasn't the light however that woke her from her deep, restful sleep. It was the calling of the many birds in the forest that surrounded her small village. The calls were as bright and colorful as the light of the sun, bouncing and playing among the trees. Nyara opened her eyes wide and stretched. The stupor of sleep left her body quickly, as it often does in the very young. She sprang from her bed to greet the sun with a smile. It was going to be another perfect day! "Good day for fishing", she said to no one in particular as she quickly dressed and gathered her rod.

Quietly, she let herself out of her bedroom, scooping up her backpack and school books. No sense in giving up the game. Let mama and papa think that she is in school. Just one more day. One more day of fishing and day-dreaming. Then she will go to school and do the boring, useless things that everyone makes such a fuss about. "Reading is over rated, writing cramps the wrist, and math is just so dumb", she thought, "what's the point? I can count on my fingers, and other people can read to me. I never have anything to write about. If it's worth reading, it's worth talking about!" With that she was out the door and down the road, moving quickly towards the river bank. Here was what really mattered. The birds, the bugs, catching your dinner, and imagining the greatest of great adventures.

As she arrived at the river bank, she called out to the birds, immitating their shrill voices, encouraging them to chatter louder. She set about spreading her thin blanket, setting a worm to her hook, casting her line to the slow moving river, and settling in to watch the sun paint the sky with all of its beautiful shades.

Some time later, suddenly, and with no warning, the sky grew dark, the wind shifted direction, and the leaves protested the wind's interruption with a loud SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHh. There was a thuderous boom that shook the very ground upon which Nyara lay, causing her to bolt upright and clutch to a sturdy tree. The tree felf strong and able, like papa. It reassured her to think of the tree as papa. A bright flash erupted in the direction of the village. Nyara ran up the slight embankment in time to see a wizard slowly revolving a few feet above the ground, arms stretched out towards the sky, his voice lost in the sounds of the swirling wind and dust around him. People were running. Things were happening. Strange things. Where mister Thompson stood moments before, now stood a bent and twisted creature, screeching and clasping at the others running around him. Miss Jones was struck down, and when she recovered, she wasn't Miss Jones anymore. She was a hulking, evil looking grey wolf-creature! "Oh no", called Nyara, as the wizard turned in the wind, aiming his staff at the fleeing villagers, her friends, her neighbors. As the staff aimed, it released a bright green glowing beam. As the beam touched her friends and neighbors, they were one by one, turned into the foulest of things, bent on doing the deeds of the horrible, utterly despicable, completely evil wizard. As the wizard turned, his staff pointed in Nyara's direction. She was frozen with fear, her legs shaking and elecrtic with panic. Her mind said run, Run, RUN, but she couldn't control her muscles. The glow. The beam. Coming, fast towards her. She was falling, her legs giving way, she slipped on the dewy grass of the embankment as the beam struck the ground at the top of the embankment where she had just been standing moments before. Falling, falling, falling. Nyara heard and felt the crunch of bone on rock, and watched a cloud spiralling in the sky before the blackness crept from the corners of her vision to cover eyes in its silvery black cloak.

Later, as Nyara opened her eyes, she thanked the heavens it was only a dream. She tried to sit up, but the pain in her head shot stars to her eyes. She winced, and gritted her teeth. She heard herself hiss, and reached a furry hand to her head. There was a bump there, and the stars returned again to her eyes as she gently touched it. "Mrr-ow", she said in a low voice that didn't sound like her own. She slowly pulled her hand away from her sore head and looked at the blood on her palm. Her eyes widened in surprise, not understanding what she saw before her. Not the blood, she expected a little blood from such a nasty bump. The fur. Her delicate, young hand had somehow grown a thin, shiny, reddish brown coating of fur on the back of it. The fur extended lightly, delicately, up her arm. Both arms, she realized as she examined the other. She was uncomfortable sitting in this position. She moved her legs out to their fully stretched length, and moved her tail out from under herself. HER WHAT? TAIL? She grabbed at it with her hairy hands, but it twitched and twisted in the air at every grab. Finally, she reached around and slid her hands down the small of her back, over her buttocks, to the base of her new tail. She definitely had a tail! After tugging and pulling on her tail for some time, Nyara placed one hand onto a large rock, and lifted herself to her feet. The sun had recently begun to set, and she took stock of her form in the still bright light. 2 arms, 2 legs, a little hairier than she was before she hit the rock, and of course, that tail, but all in all, she was still Nyara.

Nyara decided quickly that she was only slightly hurt, and there were others who may need her help. Mama and papa were in that village when the wizard had arrived. She must find them. Quickly, she gathered herself and leapt to the top of the embankment in one bound. There was the village, but all was dark. No lights burned in the small houses, no smoke rose from the cooking fires. She called out, "Hello! Is anyone here!" No voices returned her calls. Only silence. Her house was empty. No sign of mama, papa, or her baby brother. No neighbor boy, no shop clerk, all gone. She did the only thing she could think of. She sat with her tail in the dust of the dirt road, placed her hands in her lap, her head in her furry hands, and she cried.