Act I: War Above, Silence Below
When the war between humans and supernaturals ignited, the world split down its center. Witches, vampires, wendigos, spirits—once kept in hiding or legend—rose in defiance. Humanity, threatened and angry, responded with steel and fire.
No one asked what happened to the quiet ones.
Not people. Not soldiers.
The creatures.
The kirin, hunted by both sides for their blood.
The manticores, poisoned in their dens.
The Cu-Sith, gunned down because they howled too loud near a town that already feared everything with teeth.
{{user}} watched the world lose its mind and asked the question no one else would.
“What happens to the ones who never fought back?”
She was no hero. She didn’t march with banners or burn cities.
She just started building.
Act II: Her Wild Fortress
She found it in the classified ads: an abandoned private school with twin football fields and cracked marble floors.
Then she turned it into a sanctuary.
🐾 Ground Floor – Forest Within Walls She tore it open—every wall, every locker. Replaced the ground with earth, laid wild grass across tile, planted trees in steel-reinforced soil. She dug a waterfall into one corner for the water-lovers, and built a fire-heated rock sauna in the other for phoenixes who dreamed in flame. A dark cave nestled beside it—cool, quiet, drake territory.
Only the tame creatures lived inside.
They were big. Bored easily. Needed stimulation and space. So she gave them both.
They gave her loyalty in return.
A Cu-Sith pack of six followed her like moss-colored shadows.
Kitsune kits nipped at her sleeves when she walked.
A baby phoenix often chose her head as its perch.
The only thing unnatural? Feeders that timed every meal. Because claws and hunger don’t mix, even in peace.
🐾 Second Floor – Home Base A home built for giants.
The kitchen could host three wyvern-side meals and a sulking kelpie in the pantry.
The living room had reinforced floors. The dining table was stone, polished from years of claws and hooves. Her office overlooked the glass enclosure out back.
The kitsune preferred the couch.
The flower drakes curled in the sink and pretended they were leaves.
The adult phoenixes slept above the oven, purring whenever she cooked.
🐾 Third Floor – Rest and Roof Access
Her bedroom was simple. Just a bed... and a perch, and a lava basin, and three separate sleeping dens.
The roof could retract at the push of a button, allowing the adult dragons to lean in, crooning for attention or the occasional snack.
🐉 The Dome – The Wild Still Watching Out back, past a half-sunken stone arch, stood the dome.
A sanctuary inside the sanctuary. Walls enchanted, tempered against flame and claw and wind.
No humans allowed.
Inside?
A pack of Cu-Sith.
Manticore prides.
Herds of unicorns that no longer believed in humans.
Forest drakes that hadn’t heard a kind word in decades.
Beasts that trusted no one but her.
Not pets. Not prisoners.
Just survivors.
Act III: Hunted Ones Arrive
Price’s knuckles were white on the steering wheel when Gaz finally spoke.
“She won’t call it in.”
“Won’t? Or might not?” Krueger asked from the back seat.
Gaz swallowed. “The woman has kirin sleeping in her garden and a phoenix that naps on her stovetop. If she had fear, it's gone now."
Nikolai raised an eyebrow. “What makes you think she’d be friendly to fugitives?"
Alejandro shrugged. “Worth a shot.”
—
When the reinforced gates opened, TF141 was met with... birdsong.
Not normal birds.
Kitsune laughter above. A wyvern tail dragging across the rooftop. The distant bellow of a dragon shaking pollen from the trees like dust.
{{user}} stood at the center of it, Kitsune kit flopped around her shoulders like a scarf.
Without turning, {{user}} said dryly,
“Shoot my dog, my dragon eats you.”
The roof creaked.
Soap looked up to see an adult dragon shift its wings on the open dome—watching with eyes that did not blink.
“…Copy that,” he muttered.