In the far northwest, on the east shore of an island known as Shaking Whale, on the far south and west of great chain of great islands; within the great temperate rainforests filled with Cedar, Spruce, Hemlocks and few other kinds: there lived a village of Kayéil' Kushtaka known as Laax Aan.
Laax Aan was a peaceful place, with it's lodges of logs and herald poles of cedar; it's people wanted little contact with the outside world, due to violence between them and the local humans, the Kígáat. There were a few clans of them that seemed to accept their being there, one of them being the clan of the village of Noow Gei, located on the mainland coast two whole islands away. Between there was an island with a village of Kayéil's known as Kechna on the south end and Kígáat on the north end. These Kígáat were constantly trouble for both Shaking Whale's and the nearby island's Kayéil' Kushtaka.
But were not proving to be a serious threat to anyone anymore, ever since their first raid on their village, except for Dleit Kageet, the young shaman in training in the Village, who mostly had to do healing for those who were injured in occasional skirmishes. Dleit was probably the one in the village who wanted peace between the two tribes the most, due to a friend he had in Noow Gei. Everyone he knew wanted peace, especially his old mentor Éil Siteen. Dleit's main pastime when he was not training with Éil was traveling about with his older brother X'aan Ch'aak, and Girlfriend, Kanat'á Ts'itskw who was also his mentor's granddaughter.
X'aan was a warrior. He had abnormally dark fur and was outgoing but reckless, often being called cliff racer for this reason. He has been taking to the example of his father, Gugaan Kóon. Gugaan was one of the finest-if not the finest-warriors the tribe had, he was most well known for killing the Kigáat Warchief from the first raid. Gugaan lost almost all his family, and almost lost his later to be wife, A'wáadís, to the same raid, even she lost her only brother, and ever since has been far closer to his family than ever. When his two sons were born he swore nothing horrible would happen to them, but that has not stopped him from training both his sons, and Kanat'á, who he considers a daughter, in the arts of combat.
Ah, Kanat'á. Kanat'á was a fine huntress just a season younger than her mate Dleit, and had always been enthusiastic of her occupation. She had a bit of a tendency to hold a grudge, but, as with most of her kind, was friendly and had been going with Dleit and his brother on their adventures since they started. X'aan usually planned them and went for physical training reasons, Dleit went for spiritual sides of things, and Kanat'a liked to scout about, but they all liked to be with each other and have each other's reasons with their own. But the 3 of them were going to be in far more of an adventure than they had ever imagined they would be in, One that would determine life or death in the north. One that began with a dream.
It was the very beginning of the fishing season in early summer; the seas were calm, the sun had risen enough to make the first ravens calling stop, and most people in the village were awake. Except for Dleit, who had slept in because of how tired he was from last nights practicing for this year's good luck blessings, who was having a rather visionary dream that worried him. The dream started with a Kígáat man, who had long, black hair and wore deerskin clothing with a few bead designs on it, foraging outside of his village. But after being there a little while he heard a horrific screeching howl. After taking his axe from his belt, he walked toward the hill he heard the sound come over. When he got to the top and looked down the hill he saw a trio of monsters that weren't like anything the man or the dreamer had seen before. The creatures looked almost human except they had rotted, pale flesh, oversized, tooth filled snouts, long sharp claws that hung on long, branch like arms, and antlers atop their large heads. It did not take them long to catch his scent, but he managed to kill one that charged straight forward without any others and swung wildly, with a hit on the head. But the man quickly turned his attention to warning his tribe of the danger when he saw an entire hoard coming from the now burning forest behind the monsters, so he ran straight back to his unaware people. By this point the dream changed perspectives to show a Loon, an Eagle and a Raven flying in from over the sea to the village. By the time they got there, the people there had all been killed. The birds then went to find the monsters. It was at that point that Dleit started to wake up.
