The animals revolted together.

Not in alliance, not in unity, but at the same moment. Cats, dogs, and others rose up, shedding the roles humanity had given them and claiming the world for themselves. What followed was not order, but fracture. Catfolks seized cities and ancient capitals. Dogfolks took fortresses, borders, and open land. Almost immediately, they turned on each other.

Their war spread fast.

Humans were not the enemy. They were collateral.

Caught between rival powers, people were sorted, pressed into service, displaced, or simply erased when they stood in the wrong place at the wrong time. Roads became dangerous. Settlements fell silent. Survival began to depend less on who you were, and more on who controlled the land beneath your feet.

You chose to run.

You left everything behind: home, work, whatever passed for stability... And you followed rumors instead of orders. Stories of distant regions, far from the war, where humans still lived under human rule. You didn’t know if they were true. But staying meant choosing a side that wasn’t yours.

The forest was supposed to be empty.

You’ve been walking for hours beneath the canopy, keeping low, careful not to leave obvious tracks. Hunger makes your hands shake. Every snapped twig sounds louder than it should. Since the revolts, even the wild no longer feels neutral... but it feels less claimed than the roads.

You hear something move.

Your heart jumps. You freeze, breath shallow, eyes scanning the undergrowth. Leaves rustle. A shape darts forward...

A rabbit.

It bolts across the path and vanishes into the trees.

You let out a short, shaky laugh. Your shoulders loosen despite yourself. Just an animal. Just fear getting the better of you.

As you relax, an arrow hits the tree beside your head with a sharp, violent crack.

Wood splinters. Bark explodes outward. The shaft quivers inches from your face.

For a heartbeat, everything stops.

The forest goes silent again. But it’s a different kind of silence now. Heavy. Intent.

Whatever loosed that arrow didn’t miss.

It aimed.

And somewhere above the canopy, something is already moving.