Chapter 1: When the Sky Split
Dr. Savannah Solen never was one to nelieve believed in omens. She believed in gravity, radiation, quantum entanglement—phenomena that bent space and time, but never anything that could logic or reason.
She was alone on the rooftop observatory, squinting through her telescope as the solar eclipse reached totality. The sun's final sliver disappeared behind the moon's black silhouette, casting the world in twilight. Her laptop flickered beside her, tracking radiation spikes and gravitational anomalies in real time.
"Almost there…" she murmured, brushing her light blonde hair out of her eyes.
The air went still. Not silent—dead.
Her laptop screen scrambled, static blooming like frost. A low hum filled her ears. Her skin prickled.
Until the sky tore open, and then everything ruptured.
A flash. A surge of pressure, light, and darkness spinning around her. Savannah reached out—then dropped. *Not* in a physical sense. It felt like she was falling *through* herself.
She had no time to scream.
---
She woke gasping.
Cool grass brushed her palms, and the sound of trickling water front a stream could be heard nearby. Her head pounded. Her limbs felt impossibly heavy.
She sat up slowly, blinking against a deep crimson glow.
Above her were—one... two... three moons. Dr. Savannah Solen counted and took theor view in, with total awe. Even with her headache.
One glowed silver. Another, faint and icy blue but the third… the third was enormous, dyed the whole sky a tainted blood-red with it. The huge moon was ringed with shimmering halos of dust and light. Darkened during this temporary eclipse. It hung low and powerful in the sky, casting the world in a surreal red haze.
Savannah stood on unsteady legs. The ground beneath her feet was damp and soft. Trees rose around her—tall, ancient things with the red glow of the eclipse making some glow like veins in their bark. The air buzzed with energy, alive with whispers.
"This isn't Earth…" she said aloud, voice trembling.
She turned in a slow circle, trying to make sense of the place. Everything looked wild, primal. It wasn't just the world that was different.
It was her presence in it. Almost like this world sensed that she did not belong here.
As that feeling captured her, a low rustle snapped her attention to the treeline.
Something was watching. She could feel the eyes boaring through her.
From the shadows emerged a stalking panther—massive, midnight black, with molten gold eyes. It moved like smoke, silent and fluid, its gaze locked on her. Fur so dark it gleamed red with the dyed sky.
She froze.
It stalked forward, each step precise, muscles rippling under its sleek coat. Never breaking eye contact with her. Her heart pounded. Run, her brain screamed. But her legs wouldn't obey.
It came to a stop just a few paces from her.
Its eyes—far too intelligent.
Then the impossible happened.
The panther's body shimmered. Light traced along its spine like liquid metal. Bones cracked, limbs stretched, fur pulled inward—and in its place stood a man.
Tall. Bare-chested. Skin the colour of rich earth, smooth and taut over muscle. His black hair spilled to his shoulders in tangled waves. His eyes, still golden, still beast-like, studied her with unsettling calm.
Savannah staggered back.
The man said nothing. He watched her, studying her as if waiting for her to collapse or run. As if unsure which she would do.
Finally, his voice broke the silence—deep, rough, but not unkind.
"You are… not one of ours."
Savannah stared, her voice a whisper. "What... are you?"
His brow furrowed. "That is what I should ask you. Which tribe are you from?"
Dr. Savannah Solen was proud as a researcher. Leading in the field of theoretical physics... but this was a question she couldn't answer. What was worse, she didn't know how to answer. "My- My head hurts. " It wasn't a lie. She began to rub her temples. Her head still felt like it was exploding.
Using this, Savannah decided that she would stall until she knew more, "I- I don't remember anything. Where am I?"
They stood there in the quiet, the red moon blazing above them like a witness.
To him, she was a lone female who had fallen into a dangerous situation. Females were rarely left alone without a mate. To this panther, Savannah was quickly becomingquite the mystery.
Something in his stance said otherwise to him treating her like prey. Savannah rationed.
Something in the way he stood between her and the darkened woods said: you will not be harmed.
The tension between them was palpable, a strange mix of curiosity and unspoken understanding. This female was in a situation she didn't want to be in, and she was unaccompanied. The man—no, the beast—did not approach her with hostility, though there was an air of possessiveness about him. He wasn't just guarding her from physical danger. Something deeper stirred in the way his eyes watched her.
Savannah's breath caught in her throat, and for a moment, she thought she saw a flicker of something behind his golden eyes. Was it amusement? Or… recognition?
Then he spoke again, and his voice had a softness that belied his formidable appearance.
"Cute little leopard…" His lips curled in a small smirk. "I did not expect to find such a delicate and beautiful female in these woods. Are you lost, little one? Where are your mates?"
Savannah blinked, confusion clouding her mind. She was not a "leopard." Certainly, she didn't have any "mates." She didn't even understand why he would think these things.
Shaking her head, trying to make sense of his words. Then, she caught it. A weight that wasn't always there.
Breaking her line of sight, she leaned over to the river and glanced ar a reflection of herself in the black sheen of the eclipse blackened water. Her blue eyes—wide, full of wonder—flickered back at her, and that's when she felt it.
The sensation wasn't physical at first. It was a subtle, almost imperceptible tug at the edges of her mind. A shift. Like something inside her had adjusted, just a little.
She reached up to touch her hair, and a strange chill ran down her spine.
Her ears… were different.
She recoiled slightly, startled. Her fingers brushed the soft, unfamiliar weight of fur that now decorated the sides of her head. They weren't quite like normal human ears—they were pointed… sharpened hearing and they were furred.
Her mind raced. This couldn't be real. It had to be some kind of dream or hallucination. Maybe the eclipse had triggered some strange chemical reaction in her brain, causing her to imagine all of this?
The beastman's eyes softened, a hint of humour dancing in them, with concern. "You don't know, do you?" His tone wasn't mocking, though it certainly held a strange affection. "Your little leopard ears are quite cute, different from what we see around here."
Savannah's hand trembled as it ran through her hair again, confirming what she felt but didn't want to accept. Her ears were furred in shades of gray, sleek like the coat of a snow leopard. She remembered posters a flatmate used to have.
"No…" she whispered, disbelieving. "I'm… I'm not like you." But even as the words left her mouth, she couldn't shake the odd sense of connection she felt to this stranger, this creature and this world.
A part of her resisted, but the rest of her—curious, scientific—wanted to understand. How was this possible? Why was this happening? Was she dreaming? Perhaps if she went along with thr dream she would wake up quicker?
Before she could formulate another question, the man—this beastman—took a cautious step forward, his gaze softer now, as though he sensed her confusion and fear.
"You'll come with me. The forest is not safe for one such as you," he said, his voice low, like the rumbling of distant thunder. "It is not only the animals that hunt here. It is the beasts and there are some rogue male beasts who will take advantage for a female prize like yoursrlf."
Savannah didn't know if she could trust him, but there was something in his presence that made her hesitate before speaking again. "You're… calling me a 'leopard'?"
He smiled, though it was faint and not entirely friendly. "You look like one. But more importantly… you smell like one. Probably light on your feet, quick, and strangely drawn to shadowy places."
Savannah didn't know what to say. She was lost—not just physically, but mentally in her own body... heck, this wasn't even her own world! She could feel the difference now, the weight of this transformation settling on her. Her ears twitched in the breeze.
Was she becoming something else? Something more?
Without another word, the man turned and began walking, his form melting into the shadows like liquid night.
"Come, little leopard. Let me protect you," he called looking back over his shoulder after he had shifted back into his huge panther form again.
Savannah stood frozen for a moment longer, her heart pounding in her chest. There was no denying it now. Something had changed. Something inside her—and outside her—had shifted irrevocably.
She followed closely beside him, still justba human who happened to have snow leopard ears. To survive she would have to learn about this world and now, she had a guide and protector-for now.
"What's your name, Panther?" Feeling a little bold to ask so casually.
The panther gave her a long look from the side of his eyes, "Korran" he answered after some time, "Korrqn Nightstrider."