I went walking one day out of my own world and into the worlds beyond. There are laws in place to keep people in their own world and out of others, but it is permitted for writers to roam as they will. And a writer was what I was doomed to be.

Wandering takes its toll upon supplies and spirits, so when I found myself at the gate of a farm, and learned they were in need to laborers, I thought it was time to rest. The farm was a working one with fields and creatures, both in need of tending. For the kaus, there were gelerts to guard against the predators of the forest. Among them was a pup named Kafall. He and I took to each other and spent long hours roaming the forests and exploring the local lands. Kafall was destined to be a livestock guard and I was doomed to wander. When my term on the farm ended, we said their farewells. I put a dog tag around his neck in memory before I set off.

I didn't go far. I wanted a companion to travel with me. I was told of a place where abandon creatures were left for adoption. On the way there, something fell from the sky and landed in my arms. It was a scorchio baby, with wings too small to fly. I thought someone had been flying with the baby and dropped her, but no one ever came looking for little Ryzer, as I named her, so she stayed with me from then on.

We set up a camp near the river within miles of the farm, going out for long foraging missions that took them every which way and sometimes between to other places that we had not expected to visit. I was never concerned with which way I went and Ryzer had eyes only for the sky. She longed to fly and her tiny wings could never stop twitching. But a scorchio's body grows faster than its wings and Ryzer remained with paws on the ground.

Kafall would come to visit, boasting of the lupes he had driven from the farm and the fights he had won. The gelert was too young to believe there was anyone stronger than him out there.

I found odd jobs to pay for my survival, some of which were a little shady. Once, I was paid to slip into a complex and retrieve a plant that grew there. Though I stuffed my backpack as quick as I could, the guards caught my scent and came running. I would have been caught if Ryzer hadn't suddenly discovered she could spit fire. Even after the grarrls had backed off, we still might have been caught when Ryzer stopped to pick up an egg from the grass. I scooped her under my arm and fled into the forest.

The egg hatched into a screaming eyrie, one of the first born into Neopia. Ryzer insisted her name was Rhouse. I didn't want a new mouth to feed but what could I do?

Soon after, Kafall became a permanent addition. There were stronger creatures than the gelert in the forest. One night a lone lupe stalked the herd. Kafall came rushing and the lupe met him willingly in battle. It was the lupe that walked away victor and Kafall who dragged himself desperately to my campsite. I patched him up and but he never went back to the farm.

It was around this time that Ryzer discovered a hidden laboratory in which transformations could take place. Anxious to gain flying power, she took to the machine. Soon she was flashing through forms, trying life in a random display of colors and shapes.

Kafall too was changed a little. He gained butterfly wings, and the ability to glide, though he would never be a true flyer. This change attracted Ryzer's attention and she took a draught of a potion that would make her smaller. Now a zafara, she settled between Kafall's wings and took off toward the sky. Kafall had never had much tolerance for her, and even less tolerance when she began pestering him for rides. But over time, he learned to put up with her.

This was when Rhouse left the family. She had never fit into the group and she always seemed incomplete. She had never learned to speak, always communicating with shrieks and hisses. Ryzer was the only one she showed any kindness. When another family offered her a home, I didn't stand in the way. Ryzer was sorrowful but said her farewells. We later learned that Rhouse lost her grip on life soon after.

Kafall had taken to roaming and picking fights with lupes whenever he went. He joined a gelert pack filled with members of similar hostilities. The Nuka River Pack chose a territory and carved a life for themselves along the river banks. A feral gelert pack was something new, something that made the lupe packs uneasy. Twice they attacked. The ferals won both fights, but at heavy cost to their security and solidarity. Kafall walked away some time after the second battle.

It was during Kafall's time in the pack that a new gelert came into our lives. I found the pup and brought her to Kafall to raise. We called her Sya and the youngster took to her foster father from the first. She was a wild creature. Kafall just tried to keep her alive.

I continued to roam and juggle my lives in multiple worlds. Sometimes I was a student, sometimes a laborer. My home in Neopia continued to be a tent on the river banks, even during winter chill and spring flooding. My roaming brought me in contact with many strange characters and Kafall, my protector, was often on edge as he watched those I chatted with.

Kafall joined another pack, this one of multiple species. Kafall struggled at first, but gradually learned not to judge the species by the individual. For a long time, he ran with the Valhalans. They fought together against creatures of shadows, against natural and unnatural disasters. He made strong friendship ties, and strong enemies. There were some of the best years of his life.

During that time, Kafall shed his wings in favor of a coat of solid black. It was better for hunting, and the wings had never suited him. Ryzer briefly gained the wings she had always dreamed of, but found with sorrow that they wouldn't carry her the way she had hoped. It was then that I introduced her to a great love of my own; theatre. I spent long hours in the darkness behind the sets, aiding from the shadows the magic onstage_ Ryzer was enchanted. When her coat full of theatre dust and the laboratory ray combined, Ryzer found herself sporting fur of starry hue and thick with theatre magic. She was an illusionist now, able to create strange lightshows and bring the inanimate briefly to life. To complete her change into the stage world, she found a feline companion for herself; Summer, the meowclops. The hostile little kit was tolerant of Ryzer's habit of stuffing her into bags, but woe to any other family member that manhandled her.

Kafall too found himself a companion. When the Meridell War broke out Kafall went to the front lines. One of the drackonacks he fought simply wouldn't stop. When he threw her down, she crawled back to her paws and kept swinging. Kafall finally caught her up by the tail and carried her home. Ryzer named her Sycorax and the drackonack declared a territorial war with Summer. By then we had moved into cramped quarters and the pets were sharing a room. Kafall and Ryzer did their best to keep the pair in a state of demilitarization.

The drackonack proved her use, or maybe just added to the confusion of things one day when Kafall followed me to the library. I just wanted to find books for my research project. Sycorax was bent upon destruction. We didn't quite see what happened among the flying pages, but two books fell upon each other, one flew open, and the three of us were sucked through the book into another world.

It was Sycorax who had opened the way there, and Sycorax who opened the way out. Ultimately the world was nothing but paper and she shredded a way back into our own world. I could only carry home the strange book, store it high on a shelf and hope it would never come down again.

We did make use of it occasionally over the years. Sometimes just for amusement, sometimes as a gateway into other worlds. On one occasion Kafall used it to hide an amulet of great power. But enough uncertain instances happened with the book and so I thought it was better left alone.

Sya located Kafall among the Vahala Pack after nearly of year away from him. She had come of age, and with that come into the power that was hers by her birthright. Now no longer Sya, she called herself Alika she claimed to be of the sky, the rainbow queen in particular. And her father? She insisted it was Kafall both by blood and by raising.

The baffled gelert set out on a journey of his own to find the truth of what she said. It was a trip that led him through several worlds and he was forced to make a bargain with forces better left alone, but in the end, he learned what the Rainbow Queen had done. For her own amusement, she had taken a part of him and a part of herself and conformed it to create Alika, her herald.

While Kafall was away, Alika made herself comfortable in the Vahala lands and there encountered Plague, a lupe long ago consumed by the darkness. He came to her with cold intentions, but walked away with different sorts. Who could explain how, but love was kindled between them. Kafall was furious when he returned. There was no love between him and the dark lupe, but what could he do?

Soon after his return, Kafall was shocked when a half-breed pup bolted out of the forest one day and pounced upon him with wails of 'Grandpa!' Gaining an explanation from the hysterical youngster was a stretch but Kafall at last worked out who and what she was. She was Alika's daughter, a daughter not yet born. Meyel was a time dancer, and fear had sent her stumbling back in time and space to the grandfather she knew would protect her. Realizing the danger if her parents found out about her, Kafall dubbed her Val and set about raising the pup without their knowledge. He was hampered both by Meyel's anxiety to return to her parents, and by the forces of the sky and the darkness, both interested in harnessing the power of the time dancer.

And then came summer. Kafall vanished, much to everyone's confusion. Without him to guard her, Meyel was snatched up by one of the sky queen's minions. Instead of killing, the servant dropped her into another world and hoped she would stay. But Meyel was a youngster desperate to return to her mother so she used her powers as best she was able and found her way across space and time to her mother's side. The strain pushed back her age, leaving her a pup once more. Her dancing powers also seemed to have vanished. Alika hoped they were gone forever. She took Meyel to a pack in the desert where the pup could grow again. Safe there, Alika traveled between the sky kingdom and the desert whenever she could, leaving Meyel in capable paws the rest of the time.

Kafall returned from his own travels, convinced he had been seized with madness. He couldn't remember most of what had happened, and what he did remember were just twisted visions of sorrow. Maybe that was what changed his coat color. It had faded to silver-gray, a far softer tone that his harsh black of before.

Valhala was changing and reaching its end. Kafall failed to see it happen. Ryzer had been prodding him to travel and he had gone off with her. When he returned to his pack, there was no pack left to find. He mourned long for those that had been his companions, then followed Ryzer on the road. She had a habit of leading him into danger. One they came upon an abandoned home deep in the mountains. Inside Ryzer found an amulet which she tried on Kafall. Instantly, he was transformed into a uni. He didn't appreciate the change and Ryzer had to pry it off his neck while dodging his hooves. She tried it herself and delighted in turning to other species, Kafall refused to travel with her again and returned to me.

My life continued to be juggled between loves and labors. I liked to have Kafall along, but he was alarmed by the some of the places we visited. Especially the Shift. We entered on the whim of 'The Lady' who controlled the realm. She asked for stories and I gave her what I had heard.

One night, I had a dream that was interrupted. The dream rambled along in the nonsense ways dreams normally do until it was halted by a voice that asked, 'Would you like to roam the dream worlds freely?'

When I turned to the owner of the voice, I found myself on a hillside looking down at a herd of creatures that might have been horses. 'Dream Runners', I was told. 'They go as they please in the dreamlands and nothing can restrain them. To ride them is to travel through the realm of possibilities. They can't be captured, or broken, or befriended.'

Then how can you ride one?" I woke up immediately after that.

When I told the story to the Lady of Shift, she knew what I spoke of and had more information. 'Dream runners are rare creatures. There are only a handful across the worlds. Spotting them in the waking world is nearly impossible. They don't bear any semblance to their dream forms.' As she spoke, the picture outside her window changed and I saw the runners racing again. But then they changed into the creatures they were in waking. One fell behind the others. It was a dappled grey colt whose ears lay flat against his skull.

Later, I found the colt among a herd belonging to the royalty of a kingdom where I sometimes worked. The creature was a thin and terrified wreck of a horse who fled at the slightest provocation. I bought him, named him Attano, then spent weeks calming him enough to approach him and ultimately lead him home. He fled the moment they reached the door. We watched him gallop into the woods. I hoped he'd come back when he stops running from whatever was chasing him.

Meyel was coming of age and growing uneasy. The powers that controlled her parents had set their sights upon the hybrid. There seemed only two choices and neither looked good. At the last instant she was offered a third choice. She took it without asking questions and was swept away from her desert home. The one who had rescued her from choosing was a man known as The Hunter. He was a hunter of anything else he was paid to track. He had quested in place of heroes, captured fugitives and battled monsters. Every hunter needs a hound and he offered Meyel a chance to try a new life. She accepted and used the last of her time dancing powers to take herself back to pup hood once more.

She lived out her third and final childhood with him between the worlds. Now in a changed shape and with newly heightened senses, Meyel proved a natural at her new life and delighted in the thrill of the hunt.

The family member she encountered the most was Attano, the dappled colt. The uni's flight had taken him into the desert where he found sanctuary within the oasis that also housed Meyel's pack. The colt was still a terrified mess and that seemed unlikely to change. Nightmares haunted the colt every time he slept. Something was chasing him, trying to harm him, and if he didn't keep running, it would be upon him. He fled it in dreams and fled it just as desperately in waking. Everything reminded him of those dreams, from the flickering shadows to the snarl of a lupe. And whenever frightened, he responded with flight.

Kafall's life was going downhill rapidly. Sometimes he couldn't tell if he was awake or asleep. Sometimes he came to himself with no idea of where he had been or what he had done. He was descending into madness and too alarmed at his loss of senses to admit it to anyone.

Then Rhouse returned to the family. Ryzer insisted the baby bori she had located was in fact Rhouse, again. I brought the bori into the family in hopes that this time I would be able to give Rhouse a proper life. Yet the new Rhouse was an apathetic creature, barely interested in eating or contact with anyone else. Rhouse eventually wandered away from the family and I didn't try to stop her.

Kafall's madness left him just as quickly as it had come. He found himself alone in the desert with a clear mind and a worn body. How had he gotten there and what had happened? He didn't know, but he felt certain that something had ended. The confusion would not be back.

In the desert he met a lupe chained within a temple whom he tried to rescue. Though in the end, he was little help to the chained victim, it did set him on the road of the soldier again. That was the path he had always preferred.

Returning home, he was met by Ryzer who had found a treasure map and wanted to follow it. Kafall allowed himself to be dragged along on her quest which led into the mountains where she found another amulet. Kafall had no interest in trying this one on but Ryzer slipped it on him when he wasn't looking. Abruptly, wings grew from Kafall's back. He was not happy.

The year that passed was a quiet one for Kafall and Ryzer. For me it was a time of change as I left one life and moved on to the next adventure life offered me. For the others in the family, this was a time of transformation.

First came Rhouse. He died a second time, in a way. Apathy made him lose touch with life and physical form. He sank into spirit into the heart of the earth where he found the forges where the great smiths of legends hammer out their trade. 'You were born unfinished,' they told Rhouse. 'Climb upon our anvil and we will remake you.'

So Rhouse allowed her form to be beaten and burned upon the anvil. The creature that came out radiated heat and melted metal with a touch. For a season she stayed within the earth, learning the trade, beating metal, and sometimes being patched by the smiths when injuries occurred. But at last the smiths told her she had to return to the surface. 'Metal must be heated and hammered. Then tempered by water for its true strength. You will never be finished before you test yourself by water as well as flame.'

Rhouse refused. She would not risk losing the power she had with a dunking. The smiths would not permit her to stay so she was forced out of the earth's forge and back to the surface. She refused to approach the water. She would remain as she was, unfinished or not.

Next into the family plummeted a bundle of danger. Within the Shift was a creature who sometimes seemed to serve The Lady and sometimes seemed to do nothing but play. But as there was no time in that place; past, present and future merged so that there might have been one or a thousand creatures roaming the shift. As far as I can fathom, the Lady thought to send one of her servants to me. Something went wrong for the entity in passing from a timeless existence and into this world. It divided and the two entities fell to earth with a decade's separation between them. The first, it seemed, was Ryzer, completely oblivious to what she had once been. The second, plunged into the water and came out in the body of a lutari. He was known as Jasspen and he knew all Ryzer had forgotten. With powers unusual to the world, he found many to help or harm depending upon his mood. He knew why he was there, but he didn't care and would not have had any connection to the family, if it hadn't been for Attano.

Fear had driven Attano until he had run out of land and plunged into the sea. He swam until he could barely kick but there was no land in sight. He gave himself up for lost until a lutari swam a ring around him and led him to a sandbar where Attano haltingly admitted to his fears. 'I'll trade you your wings for a new tail.' The lutari said.

Attano had been born with strange wings which I called 'sometimes wings'. Usually he was wingless but sometimes he would arch his back and a frail pair of glassy wings would emerge. Those were what the lutari requested, in return for a 'sometimes tail'. Not sure what he was agreeing to, Attano accepted and found himself a water horse.

With a tail and fins, Attano cruised the ocean, supported by the ocean's current. And that support gave him strength that night to turn in his dreams and face his pursuer… and find he was far stronger than he had ever dreamed. That night he came into his own as a dream stallion, filled with abilities unimagined by others.

The Attano that at last climbed out of the ocean and back onto land was hardly different than the one who had entered. Still fearful and jumpy, Attano tried to take his lessons from the sea and learn to keep his mind working, even when terrified.

I don't know how I knew, but in dreams, my dream self found the stallion and lunged onto his back. For three nights the stallion fought to throw off the rider. To let go for a moment would have flung me from the continuous dream. But this was a fight neither of us could win. On the third night I whispered in the stallion's ear. 'Let me ride. You lose nothing. Not your freedom, not your choice. Let me stay and I'll be silent. I'll only watch. You choose the path.' He accepted. We rode together from then on.

When I awoke, I knew it was time to find Attano. Attano welcomed me when I found him and permitted me to ride. Only I could ride him, but who else would want to?

Ryzer convinced Kafall to come exploring with her after much prodding. In the end he went along because he was certain Ryz would get herself killed. Their travels led them into a valley and through a gap into the rock. Once there, they found themselves in what had once been a building. Ryzer found her way through ruined passages till they reached a portal into another world. They stumbled through before Kafall could halt their progress.

The world they had entered was one long ago destroyed in magical warfare. Rocks hung in the air in floating islands, defying all laws of logic and gravity. Ryzer managed to convince Kafall to fly to a few and in the dungeon of one abandon rock building, she found a book shut up in a glass case. Everything about it said 'do not open' but Ryzer was never the 'paw's off' type. She flung open the book and from the pages raced an entity radiating power and destruction.

The guardians of the book arrived too late and didn't take Ryzer's apology as payment for their century-long ruined guard duty. But Kafall's offer to find and recage the entity sounded better to them, especially when it flashed through the world portal and away from their interest. 'But if you're to chase that thing across the worlds, you can't as you are now,' the guardians remarked. Ryzer caught on before Kafall and agreed to any changes to their forms. Before Kafall could protest, they had been transformed. Kafall into what in his world was called and eyrie and Ryzer into a faerie-winged xweetok. She was delighted. He was ready to hurt her. They returned wearily home with the book in tow and a new quest to complete.

When they told me the story, I realized the portal would need to be guarded. Since we had never fit into our home, I packed up and moved to the abandoned complex. It was in terrible repair, but I knew exactly who to speak to about that.

It was a long journey into the mountains and I had only my writer's instincts to lead me. High in the chilly peaks, deep in a cave, I found the smith I sought at work at her forge. I sat down at the entrance, not saying anything. Eventually Rhouse stepped out. I talked for a time about the past and what had been. I apologized for never being able to help Rhouse, for leaving her behind thrice over and failing to aid her returns. Rhouse didn't say anything.

At last I gave up and started down the slope. The spring thaw had made the going treacherous. I lost my footing and fell into the river. I fought for air, for a handhold, until strong teeth caught my shirt and dragged me to shore.

It was Rhouse. Rhouse who had at last dared to face her tempering by water for the sake of someone who had failed her. I held her while her form cooled and she returned fully to life. A bori once more, still patched and burned, but no longer radiating the earth's heat. The heat was within her now, there at the slightest request, but in a different way. For the first time in her lives, Rhouse found herself complete.

She followed me down the mountain and set up her forge within the ruined complex. With the aid of the family, Rhouse performed the massive repairs that were needed to make the building structurally sound. At last we had a home.

The others were slower to move in but they came at last. First was Meyel. The Hunter dropped her off on his way on some quest or another. He said he needed to go alone. Meyel was annoyed but she took to the new hunting grounds fairly well and returned often with game. Next was Attano. His herd had broken up and the colt was lonely. I built him a stable. The valley had a large lake and river in it so the colt was pleased whatever form he chose.

Then came Kafall and Ryzer, hot in pursuit of the entity. It took all of us to corner it. Ryzer, drawing on powers of the Shift, caged the entity while Kafall and Meyel kept it at bay. Using Sycorax the drackonack as a diversion, I opened the portal book and linked it to the book of power that had caged the creature before. The entity was dragged back to its prison, but not before flailing in every direction with its full power. Jasspen, who had shown up to watch, took the shot intended for Kafall.

Jasspen was gone. Nothing but a wisp of smoke wafted from the dirt where he had stood. We were bewildered that the entity who had never shown us kindness had laid down his life in that way. We returned home to patch our wounded and marvel over this event.

The Hunter stopped by soon after to pick up Meyel. He had a new contract. It seemed something had died, made its way to heaven and proceeded to tear the land upside down until it was booted out the gates. Off the creature had gone to hell where the demons refused it admittance. Loose in the cosmic netherworld, the creature was having a marvelous time wrecking havoc wherever it pleased. All had united in hiring the hunter to take care of their pest problem.

Meyel and the hunter returned within the week with Jasspen in tow. "We need Rhouse." Was all a sputtering Meyel could say.

Rhouse set to work at her forge. When the heat cleared, Rhouse introduced us to a grinning ghostly Jasspen, who had changed quite a lot in form and was now firmly anchored to one form with chains around his legs and neck. "Is that our housekey?" I asked, peering at the object welded to Jasspen's collar. "It was all I could think of." Rhouse replied. Jasspen still had power, quite a lot of it in fact. Rhouse had tied to the house, forced him to return their often, or else weaken in the rest of the world.

Kafall was all for moving and I wanted the key off immediately. But Jasspen could be charming when he wanted to be. He was clearly delighted to have new ways to torment the family and wasn't ready to be 'really' dead yet. I only grudgingly allowed him to stay when he promised to play housekeeper and repair any property damage he caused. He mostly did neither but by then we were stuck with him.

Attano, Kafall and I were out on some delivery message or another for one of my many frequent employers when we were set upon by, of all things, the Wild Hunt. Some say they are gods or faeries or heroes of old. Some say they are led by Arthur or Wotan or a man in an antlered mask, but most agree the spirits of the dead run with them and to see them is never a good sign. But it was not me they wanted that night; it was Kafall.

Before I could protest, they had dragged the eyrie into their midst and galloped away with him across the fringes of this world and into their own land. Attano was swift on their heels and swift enough to join them in their run through the other world. Once across the boundary, Attano could make use of his dream runner other self and run with even more speed and skill. So we kept pace with them until they dismounted and the arguing began.

There is an old legend that sometimes the hunt leaves a hound behind until the hunt runs again on Hallows Eve. Kafall's mother, it seemed, was one of those. She had bred and whelped her pups before returning to the hunt. The hunters had long ago retrieved Kafall's sister. Now they wanted him back as well. They claimed they had seized him once before but he had escaped after a time. That was the year of Kafall's life he had never quite been able to recall.

I managed to convince them to let me have my hound back, provided he ran with the hunt on their most important day of the year. They returned Kafall to his proper canine shape and taught him about the things a Wild Hunt hound ought to know. We stayed with them a year and a day and were returned to our place and time hours after we had left. There are lace and people. advantages to dallying with the unearthly.

Meyel returned without the hunter some time later. He had decided to return to his p