It was five thousand years ago, the time of Ancient Egypt (well, not our Egypt, anyway). A meteor struck Plushland only about a century before, and caused the first mass extinction event in many millenia. Our story begins at around the time when the plush species was making a comeback. 

At the time, the ruler of Egypt was a pharaoh named Kinn-la-par, who was quite a great leader and a talented inventor. He was one of the first Egyptians to thoroughly study science, and is still considered one of the greatest pioneers of his time. But for a very strange reason indeed.

The god watched the king work. The humans I have created are beginning to become quite clever, he thought. Especially this one.

The Titans, some of his personal demigod assistants, also found this fascinating. They had created many creatures, which the god implemented into his worlds, and considered themselves the creators of biology, evolution, and the like.

A little while earlier, about a thousand years or so ago, the Titans had attempted to create a species almost equal to them in power. To see if such a thing were possible.

To make a long story short, they failed. But they were willing to try again. As it turned out, the pharaoh was gifted in those skills to an impressive, some would say inhumane, degree. 

So the Titans sent him a vision (They're practically gods, they can do stuff like that) to use his skills to create a brand new species. One that would be unlike anything ever conceived before. One that would be almost immortal.

To the Titan's relief, he listened to the vision, and got to work. He decided to base his creation off of the thing the Egyptians worshipped.

No, not Ra, the sun god. Instead, he used cats.

His plan was to use a formula that he could inject into cats to make them immensely powerful.

But, he had to perfect the formula first.

To begin, he focused on the simpler things, and worked his way up. First, the ability of speech. After a few dead cats and one that developed dementia, he succeeded in making cats talk. Now he had to make them fly. This took a few attempts as well. Let's just say more than one cat was thrown off a pyramid, and didn't make it. He got it though.

Next, he did some minor powers, like telekinesis and invisibility. 

At one point, some ink mixed into the formula, and Kinn-la-par didn't notice until the poor cat already had ink in his veins. Much to his surprise, it survived. Then he threw it into a composter and burned it. Yeah, whenever a cat died or didn't meet the success criteria, he put it into a composter and set it ablaze. However, that specific cat, who called himself Inky, escaped, and vowed revenge. But we'll get back to him later.

Finally, he had to make them the strongest creatures in existence. No pressure. After fifteen more attempts, he got it. Using that recipe, he made about fifty or so of them. He called them Godcats.

These Godcats became the protectors of Egypt, but in 30 B.C, the Romans showed up, and war ensued. After only a few months, the Egyptians had fallen to the Roman Empire, and the Godcats fled.

                               * * * 

They spent a few years in the desert, until one day, they spotted something they never thought they'd see again. Civilization.

Before we move on, we should clear up who the Godcats are since we're going to be seeing a lot more of them from now on. 

Here goes: 

Prior to the war, there were three kinds of Godcats. Feel free to call them subspecies. The Rainbow Cats, whose fur was many different colors; The Sown, who had a strange texture on their pelts and typically wore scarves, bow ties, or bandanas, and even sweaters; and a third group who died out during the war. 

Speaking of, there were only twenty Godcats left now because of that. Remember they're not fully immortal. Their names were Aurora (Who will be our main character, at least for now), Shade, Bluespark, Shine, Redpelt, Blackfur, Brighteye, Papyrus, Whitewirl, and Prism. They were the Rainbow Cats.

The Sown were: Needler, Mittens, Swanky, Yearn, and three others. 

Now that that's out of the way let's move on.

                         * * *

The first thing Aurora noticed were the wooden fence posts protruding from the ground. 

Am I imagining things? Did we-did we really make it?

By then, the others had noticed, too, and all twenty of the Godcats rushed over. Eventually, Aurora made them out to be a wooden wall with guard towers and such. She and the others approached said wall, and were greeted by a pair of creatures none of them had ever seen before. 

One was yellow, with black undertones and long, thin ears shaped like a bolt of thunder, with sparks of electricity emanating from them; this plushy was called a Peak. 

The other one was literally an oversized Ice Cream Sandwich, which was also their name. Well, they had tiny, white arms and legs, and plump faces. That’s about it. They were holding spears. Bluespark, another Godcat, introduced the others.

“Hello, creatures. We are Godcats, and we have come here to seek refuge, as our home was recently destroyed.”

One of them, the Peak, answered, “We need some sort of verification or something to allow you to enter. You are outsiders, after all.”

“A… verification? We… don't have any,” Bluespark responded.

The Ice Cream Sandwich put his spear in between the wall and the group, and said, “Well, then we can't let you in.”

Aurora stepped forward, and summoned that magic power thingy the Godcats have. You know, the telekinesis? The energy also doubles as many other things. Mind control, healing, flight, and a straight-up lazer. 

She spoke calmly. “If you do not let us enter, I will have no choice but to force our way in.”

Her eyes began to turn a deep purple, and the energy beam intensified. 

The plushies lowered their spears and moved back, fear clearly visible in their gaze. 

Aurora relaxed, and the energy dissipated. The Godcats walked through the open gate. Into the ancient villages.

  From there, things actually went pretty smoothly. They didn't have much trouble inside the walls (largely in part due to their powers), and the Villages were quite beautiful. Not as much as our old Egyptian home, but still. 

It was Needler who decided to show the Peaks and Ice Cream Sandwiches what the Godcats could do. In short, he started using their telekinesis to move things around. The others quickly joined in.

This display of power rapidly caught the attention of the two kings of the Villages, King Electron and King Choco, who ruled the Peaks and Ice Cream Sandwiches, respectively. 

The Godcats were brought to the Chocolate Pavillion; the great glass edifice where the two tribes could unite peacefully, not that they were at war or anything.

Not yet.

King Electron addressed the plushies gathered before him and Choco. “What have we here? These creatures, likely from The Desert Of The East, have arrived in our tribes’ land to seek refuge, yet they are nowhere near weak; their ‘powers’ show that they do not need help as much as they seem to. Interesting. Interesting indeed.”

Aurora answered the kings. “It may not seem so, but O’ Great Kings Of The Villages, we do need help. We need a safe, secure place to go to after the tragedy that befell our home, the human’s land of Egypt. Please, give us sanctuary here with your tribes.”

“How do we know you are worthy of our aid, so-called Godcats? For all we know, you are trying to bring our villages to ruin!” Choco contradicted.

Needler responded with, “Because we have the key to the survival of the Villages, a secret kept hidden away for generations. We know where The Orb is.” 

                   * * *

Aurora, Bluespark, and Needler were the only Godcats brought to The Orb’s location. King Electron led them through the town, outside into a quarry of stone at the edge of the village’s territory, and inside an old, abandoned mineshaft. The wooden posts and caves worth of holes etched into the walls, along with the damp smell and eerie, all-encompassing darkness, gave the place a horrible feeling. 

Something went wrong here, Aurora thought. 

And if all of the Godcats’ instincts were right, it would happen again. 

As the four of them journeyed deeper into the caves, the layout became more overwhelming, the tension in the atmosphere intensified, and a true, heavy sense of dread settled over the group.

We’re nearly there. It’s not much farther. 

Aurora was trying to stay calm, and seeing as she was pretty much the leader of the Godcats, it was imperative that she maintained a constructed demeanor. It wasn’t at all easy, though, and that’s when she tripped, her face slamming into the cold, hard rock. Her head was bleeding, and as she got up, she found a rotten skull grinning up at her from the ground. 

Suddenly, Aurora wasn’t in the cave anymore. She was in a lush, green forest, with the sounds of mice and squirrels scattering around in the undergrowth; everything was bathed in a rich, ethereal light. 

No, not the visions. The visions are back. 

However, she did have to admit that the forest was quite pleasant. 

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, her mind was bombarded with some less than pleasant images, visions, if you will. 

There was a war, and she realized that this conflict was taking place in the Villages. The Peaks and Ice Cream Sandwiches were locked in a bloody, never-ending conflict. The Godcats were there too. And they were fighting against each other. 

Then, the battle was over. 

Aurora stood in a ravaged, devastated plain that had been turned into a battlefield. There was fluff and blood everywhere, splotches of liquid chocolate from the Ice Cream Sandwiches, the bodies of Peaks, maimed just as much as the remains of the Ice Cream Sandwiches. There were bodies of Godcats, too. 

It was horrible. 

Suddenly, an unfamiliar voice spoke in her head.

It said: “This is the future. History will repeat itself in a disastrous way. You Godcats will cause it, but only you can stop it. It is your destiny to do so.”

As the forest faded, she realized, to her great dismay, that she was seeing visions of something yet to come. And it was near. 

       Then, Aurora was back in the cave, with Bluespark standing nearby. Her head was spinning, and everything was in pain. 

She groaned, and tried to sit up. But she couldn't. 

Bluespark looked at her in concern. 

“Do you need anything?”

Aurora didn't answer him. She didn't quite have the energy for that just yet. However, she was grateful for his concern. 

After about a minute, she finally managed to get up, and awkwardly said, “Thanks. Now, we should probably go.”
She followed him through the rest of the mine to a small, sandstone chamber where Needler and King Electron were waiting.

There, resting on a shiny pedestal, sat The Orb.

King Electron was fuming and yelling by the time Aurora and Bluespark arrived. 

He screamed at Needler, “How did you know?! Why did you tell Choco, when did you find out of its existence?! Answer me, stupid cat! You could cause a war!”

At that last phrase, Aurora felt nauseous again. 

A war… 

Bluespark cleared his throat, and Electron finally acknowledged them. He locked eyes with Needler, full of displeasure, and turned around to face Bluespark. 

Somewhat reluctantly, he told him, “Well, I guess now I have to tell you about The Orb. Here goes:

               Many, many years ago, possibly before the Great Extinction, the Peaks and Ice Cream Sandwiches conducted an extensive  mining operation to find the source of the mystical Blue Lava. Instead, they found the Chamber Of The Orb. 

No one knows its origins, and we likely never will. Both tribes knew The Orb was more powerful than anything they had seen before, even the Blue Lava. So they unanimously agreed to leave it alone.

However, one of the ancient kings of the Peaks, King Lightning, took The Orb. He found the true extent of its power, though there is no documentation of what exactly he found out. Later, he inconspicuously returned The Orb to the pedestal, where it has sat ever since. 

There are suspicions that The Orb is cursed, as mere months after stealing it, King LIghtning passed away from one of the earliest cases of Bad Fluff. Anyone who touches it since then has a terrible curse inflicted upon them.

Now, you must promise to keep The Orb a secret, and to not tell anyone its whereabouts. Not a soul. 

That is all.”

As they left the chamber, Aurora could have sworn that she saw a thin, dark, shadow flicker past them.  

                        * * * 

Choco was waiting in his throne room when the spy arrived.

He was a 40 year old Peak who had been following King Electron and the others through the mine. His name was Charge. He was a traitor. Charge told King Choco about the meeting between King Electron and the Godcats, and The Orb. 

“I see…I probably should do something about this… You may leave my Throne Room, spy. I have some war to ensue…”

“WHAT?! HE KNOWS?!”

King Electron had just received Choco’s declaration of war, and wasn’t at all happy about it. Then, he got an idea.

He said to his messenger, “In that case, tell Choco that the war is on.”

And that, reader, is how one of the greatest wars in all of Plushland history began. And it was called….