It was a long time ago, back before I was a Draik or even adopted into this home. I wasn't royal, or magical, nor did I have any unique abilities or markings to show that I was 'special'. To put it short, I was a handsome little spoiled rich kid. My 'family' consisted of two human parents, a Lupe, and another younger one who looked like me.. My little sister..

At that time I was a Grarrl, a red one. Not painted any special color, just fairly lucky.. From what I understand, my sister and I were very young when we were stolen from our natural parents. We learned that from Yinnaru the Lupe, who was always particularly fond of our rich family and enjoyed being spiteful to the two younger 'siblings' he now had to boss around. Anyway, we were taken when the two heads of the household decided that they wanted some new children to 'love' and 'care for' so they could look good compared to their rich rivals around the block.

It wasn't the most loving household, but we were happy. We were always fed and warm, and had the most expensive designer toys available to play with. I admit I acted a bit spoiled and superior at times to the other 'normal' pets, but my sister was much kinder. She would sneak food to the poor or homeless pets that passed when our parents weren't looking, because they strongly disapproved of 'mixing' with the lower-class citizens and giving them our hard-earned money. That thought makes me sick nowadays, I'm not sure how I put up with it back then..

Our parents never gave what we said a second thought most of the time, especially when I mentioned something about my sister having special powers. They certainly didn't believe it, but my sister and I knew it was true. I am ashamed to say now that after all these years I've forgotten what she was able to do...

..As I said, we were happy, more often than not. However, our happiness wasn't meant to last... One night, a light rainshower started up outside. I didn't think too much about it. It was just a little storm, what could happen? Unfortunately the rain just continued to get harder and harder.. Before I knew it my sister was shaking me awake, frantically trying to get me up. We ran, eyes wide at how fast the water had come. There was a flash flood, and a bad one at that.

We didn't live on a hill, and our large and beautiful house was positioned near the ocean. This meant that we felt the hardest effect of the flood. Grabbing my hand and pulling me along, my sister ran as fast as she could in the quickly-heightening water. It was past our knees by then, and there was no sign of Yinnaru or our parents anywhere. As we reached the door, we found that it was even worse outside. Rain hammered down against the ground in buckets, and flashes of lightning lit up the sky. We were terrified. It was the first time we had ever been in serious danger, and what was worse was that our rich parents weren't there to buy us help.

I don't know what happened next. One minute I was holding tight to my little sister, struggling through the torrents of water.. Then the next, she was gone and I was lying there helpless, my weak body being thrown and tossed in the waves of the ocean I had managed to end up in.. Some amount of time passed, but I know that I woke up later, far from where I had been before. My sister wasn't with me.

I remember being shaken to wake up again. I opened my eyes, hoping to find myself in the large, comfy bed, and to realize that this had all been just a nightmare. It hadn't. The one waking me was none other than Yinnaru, scowling down at me and pushing me roughly with a paw. "Get up, runt." he barked, beginning to walk away and leaving me to push myself shakily to my feet.

W..where are we?" I asked him, tagging along as he headed off, his green tail swishing. He was the only family connection I had then, and I wasn't about to lose that.

Flood washed us away. Mom and dad are gone, the house is completely empty." He glanced back at me, and I thought I could almost see a hint of sympathy in his yellow eyes. "I.. I couldn't find your sister."

That hit me like a ton of bricks. My little sister, gone!? Out in the world, all alone? She couldn't swim, and neither could I, so if she had ended up by the ocean.. No, I wasn't even going to think about that. I put the horrid thought to the back of my mind as I trudged after Yinnaru, not particularly caring where we were headed anymore.

Yinnaru seemed emotionally scarred after the flood as well, so I wasn't the only one. It was obvious that he was disappointed in our parents. He was so sure they had favored him and loved him most, but in a time of crisis they had run off and left him.. I felt bad for him, but only a little since I had my own feelings to worry about. I suppose it was all of this that created a bond between the two of us. We still 'hated' each other on the outside, but deep down, we finally considered one another as true brothers.

I'm not sure how much time passed, but we continued to weave in and out of towns, not knowing what we were even looking for. In one city, we found a big pound, where unwanted pets could go to be adopted by owners who would care for them. Blinking back tears, I pointed to the big, gloomy building, trying to sound confident. "I'm going there.. With me not following you so much, you won't have to look out for me any more.. Then you can go your way, and I'll go mine.. It'll be better for both of us." He stared back at me, his -disallowed_word-I think he's the one who taught me the 'completely -disallowed_word-a makeable), click the image and you'll be taken to the artist's userlookup or one of their pets' lookups or petpages."