It was a home away from home, far away in fact. The humans here had made a place for themselves, following one major step in the path that was the evolution and advancement of their species. It seemed like peace could be had here and that this road they were on could continue. But, sometimes there are forces that manage to intervene and create a seed of chaos and change that sprouts the unexpected. And on this day, that flower had grown and bloomed to its fullest potential.

The sudden crunch of sticks and leaves could be heard in the dim forest as each shoe impacted the earthly floor. Each step was erratic as the nervous panting and whimpering of this shambling figure hobbled its way past each tree and plant life that laid before it. The figure stopped for a moment to catch its breath against the large trunk of one of the nearby trees. It glanced back from where it came, barely making out the human encampment now. It was Arctic-Cat, and he had been running away from the horrible act of murder that happened just mere moments ago. He shook his head in disbelief as he had been all along since his departure, still trying to make out in his mind what just took place, and more importantly, why.

Arctic-Cat gasped for a moment, quickly turning his head back the other way, scanning the forest at the brief sound of leaves rustling not too far from him. As he looked about, there was nothing out of the ordinary that he could see. He then glanced back once more in the direction of the encampment as he slowly started walking the other way, his gaze shifted ahead of him again, albeit cautiously now, still weary of the recent sound.

Arctic-Cat continued to scan the area as his pacing was slow, but steady. He admitted, he wasn't sure where he was going or what he would do. He just couldn't face going back there, not like this, not as a murderer. The thought of him being out here to avoid any other possible conflict was of some comfort at least. He hoped maybe just finding some place to collect his thoughts would allow him to make more sense of all that's transpired. Suddenly, he felt an unsettling feeling as if being watched. He furrowed his brows at this and slowly began to look around yet again, his breath was growing rigid and deep. Even though he could see nothing around, he felt the need to address the issue more directly.

"Hello...?!", Arctic-Cat called out nervously. Had someone followed him here? Did they know of his awful deed? No, it couldn't have been that. He was sure nobody followed him out here. Everyone was still asleep at that point, or should have been. His thoughts kept toying with these dreadful 'What-if?' scenarios in his head and still not a single sign as to where these sounds were coming from. Maybe he was truly losing his mind more than he realized. Something then caught his eye; a strange glowing crystal of sorts laid there on the ground, pulsing idly with a amber-like color. The structure was reminiscent of quartz in a way with how it appeared. Arctic-Cat approached the crystal carefully. Feelings of curiosity and alarm filled his senses. He had no idea what he was getting himself into.

Arctic-Cat's feet continued to carry him ever so slightly closer, his eyes were glued to the object and could now actually make out a faint high-pitched hum coming from it. It actually sounded pleasant, but also alien to him at the same time. He now stopped just a few feet from it, not daring to get any closer. From here though, it was enough as he could actually feel radiant heat come from this strange crystal. He blinked his eyes and looked on curiously at this as he lifted his foot to try inching a bit closer to examine this phenomenon.

"Hold it!", a mildly masculine voice yelled out from behind. Arctic-Cat's eyes widened with fear as he froze in place. The sounds of panic came over him again as he searched in his mind whose voice that could be. But after a moment, he was convinced it was not one he had heard before. The voice called out once more, "Turn around slowly and don't try anything..." Arctic-Cat closed his eyes in odd relief. Whoever this was had a willingness to be reasonable for this moment. Hopefully, he could discover who it was and what they wanted. He then slowly opened his eyes and turned around as instructed, the figure coming into view now as he did. Arctic-Cat's gaze turned from the uneasy state it was in to that of sheer curiosity. Before him now was a leonine creature that actually stood on two legs, clothed, intelligent-for it seemed from the fact that he could talk, but threatening; he was holding something in one of his hands as if it were a weapon.

"What are you doing out here?", the creature demanded as his posture remained unchanged, his strange red eyes stared on, unwavering. Arctic-Cat could now see there was more to this creature. He noticed parts of it had technology integrated into its body. Was it some kind of cyborg, he wondered? But now was not the time to speculate. He nervously addressed the creature as best he could, "I...I'm sorry I...I really don't know what's been going on-it's..." Arctic-Cat started crying and breaking down emotionally, collapsing to his knees as he whimpered out, "It's just been so hard to deal with...all of this..."

The creature slowly lowered his weapon and put it away, realizing Arctic-Cat wasn't going to be any immediate threat to him. The leonine form then walked over to him and knelt down nearby, "You are Arctic-Cat, yes?"

Arctic-Cat settled for a moment and grew quiet. He then slowly lifted his gaze to meet the strange creature's, "Wait...how do you...?"

"I've been observing your kind for some time.", he replied. "I've been...curious about you."

Arctic-Cat shifted his seating to something more comfortable. For once, he felt a bit less worried about what was happening. "Really, now? I'm...I'm sorry, I can't exactly say that you're seeing of us at our best... I really am not sure what to make of this all... So much has happened within a short period of time."

"I understand." the creature replied. "But, you've woken me up just now, so I have no idea what has caused you to run from the others."

"Well...it's..." Arctic-Cat struggled for a moment, it was not an easy thing to admit to. "I...killed...someone-but I didn't even do it intentionally! I just...had this weird dream and...next thing I know, I woke up to my hand on a blade, stabbed into the body of another!"

The creature gazed on curiously, but also with his own uncertainty. "I see...that is rather bad."

Arctic-Cat scoffed in an odd amusement, "Heh...yeah...it /is/ bad..." After a moment, his eyes filled with tears and his voice cracked from the sudden surge of emotion. "Oh my god...what have I done?"

"Shh...relax, AC. Maybe there's a way I can help." The leonine form thought for a moment. "Wait...do you know how long ago it was that you killed this other human?"

Arctic-Cat wiped at his eyes, "I dunno...uhh...it wasn't that long ago, I don't think. Why do you-"

The strange lion suddenly got up, "Then I might be able to help them. Come on! We have to get back there quickly."

"W-wait, help how?! I can't just go back there!"

"I'm quite skilled in what I do and repairing things is one of them. But, the longer we wait, the less chance we'll have at bringing them back. Besides, it is still early dawn. Most of your kind are not up for another couple hours from what I've observed. If necessary, I am good at avoiding attention, as you've no doubt seen just a moment ago."

Arctic-Cat sighed for a moment, "Alright...alright, I...I guess I have no other choice. I mean...if you can really do this...I'd practically be indebted to you. But, repair? We're not like machines, exactly."

The lion creature reached over and helped Arctic-Cat up to his feet, "Trust me, organics are machines in their own way and I have learned much about your species to have confidence in this repair. Come, we are wasting time.", he said as he began to advance towards the encampment. He then stopped and glanced back for a moment, "Oh...and I'm called Kovux, by the way.", he smiled before continuing on once more.

Arctic-Cat looked on with curiosity even still. This Kovux fellow was intriguing to him. He had many questions, but they had to wait until this was over. "Kovux... interesting...", he said before he quickly began to follow after.

The two managed to make their way back to the encampment within mere minutes. Arctic-Cat lead Kovux to one of the side access doors for the building where Jeff Edmund's body should still be. Once inside, Arctic-Cat peeked around one of the corridors, then stepped out and slowly walked down the hall, signaling at Kovux to follow him. Suddenly, someone came around the corner with a yawn. Kovux quickly grabbed at Arctic-Cat from behind and muffled his surprised outburst as the two vanished from sight against the wall. The other person soon came walking past, looking rather tired and completely oblivious to anything that happened. After a moment, the person was gone and the two materialized back into sight. Kovux had his grasp around Arctic-Cat and a paw at his mouth. He then slowly let go of him and sighed out in relief. "That was close."

Arctic-Cat looked back at Kovux with confusion and shook his head. "I'm...not sure what just happened."

Kovux smiled a little and walked on slowly. "Another plane of existence. Perfect place to hide when you need to."

"...stranger and stranger..." Arctic-Cat said as he followed after.

A moment later, a door opened followed by Arctic-Cat peeking into Jeff's bedroom. Sure enough, the body was untouched and still with the knife embedded into his back. A fair bit of blood was stained around the wound, though the blade itself was likely keeping it from being any worse than already was. Kovux immediately followed in and came up close, then began to tap his fingers at some device that was snug around his left lower arm. A small holographic display glowed to life above it as he then turned his attention and the device near Jeff's body. He seemed to be examining Jeff for a moment before he spoke. "Hmm...looks like there's a good chance I can get him patched back up."

Arctic-Cat glanced over at him with a glint of hope, "You really think you can do this?"

Kovux lowered his arm as he gazed out in thought for a moment, then turned to Arctic-Cat and smiled as he nodded. The strange feline came up right to Jeff's bed, raising his arm once more to interactive with the device. A series of holographic projections show up around Jeff as he began to work. Kovux removed a slender looking pen device from his side with his right hand. It began to shift about and form into an appropriate tool for him to use. Then, he took the tool and touched it near the wound entry , holding it there as he slowly took his left hand and went for the handle of the knife. A glowing mesh showed up around the wound. With a swift force, Kovux removed the blade and the excess blood that surged from it was contained within the mesh. He set the knife aside and continued to interact with some of the nearby projections. The wound itself began to repair and close up before Arctic-Cat's eyes, looking on with intrigue as he saw the damage suddenly disappear, leaving perfectly unaltered skin.

"That's...amazing..." Arctic-Cat said with astonishment as his eyes were practically glued to Kovux's work.

Kovux smiled a little as he finished up with this stage of the recovery. "Now we just need to restore his vitals and get his body operational again. He will have suffered some brain damage for sure at this point, but... I think I can help with that, too."

Arctic-Cat looked on with disbelief, "How can you do that? What on earth are you?"

Kovux removed the tool from Jeff's body and attached it to his side for a moment. He leaned over and carefully rolled Jeff onto his back. The pale looking body was hard to gaze upon. "My species is called the Ralkai." He glanced to the floor for a moment, "Well...I'm actually a hybrid. I was an experiment of merging Ralkai tech with a living creature.", he said before lifting his gaze and kneeling down near the bed to continue. He grabbed his tool from earlier again into his hand, the shape of it changing once more into something else. He placed it onto Jeff's forehead which immediately conformed to the shape of it. Various lights on the device began to blink.

"I see..." Arctic-Cat replied, his attention was unwavering still. "So...what brought you out here? I know you said you were curious about us. Where are the other Ralkai?"

Kovux interacted with the projections again, various holographic elements showed up on and around Jeff's body. Vital monitors came up and began to register data of his condition as well. "It's...a bit of a story... I promise I will tell you more afterwards.", he stated. Kovux then laid his paws on Jeff's chest. His arms began to glow white at intricate points as he gave Jeff a jolt, perhaps similar to a defibrillator. After a moment, Kovux did another jolt. This time, one of the monitors indicated a steadying beep. Jeff's heart was started again. His chest also heaved a bit as a gasp of air came from his mouth. The breathing grew steady as well.

"He's...he's alive?!" Arctic-Cat asked in hopeful excitement.

"Yes." Kovux replied as he smiled a bit. "He should be fine now. It'll take just a few moments for him to recover. The last bit I am doing is restoring some lost blood and repair the brain damage. If we had waited too much longer, the damage would have...taken a bit longer to undo."

Arctic-Cat finally slumped back against the wall in relief as a heavy sigh came from his lips. His head rested up against the wall as well, closing his eyes. It was the first time things were seeming to be right again. "I...don't know how I can ever repay you for this..."

Kovux shook his head a little as he continued to monitor Jeff. "Let's not worry about that right now. You no doubt have many questions for me."

Arctic-Cat smiled softly with a nod. "Oh, do I ever..."