Of course, what did they have to do with these three powerful sects? The cat-kin knew about them as they had done trades and traveled to the Winter Lotus and the Jade Snake Sects in the past, but they had never done much more than that.
The cat-kin was a pacific race of beast-kin that lived on their own territory and didn't bother anyone else. Most of their people were only Rank 1 at Peak Stage at most, while only a few dozen of warriors were at Rank 2, compared to a sect with powerful Rank 3 Elders and several High Elders at Rank 4, they were nothing at all.
And due to their status as "nothing to worry about" the other sects had mostly ignored their existence as the cat-kin were of no real value to them, although there had been some talented youngsters that ended joining either of the two in the past years, and this was also a reason why this talented cat-kin had influenced the sects to not attack the pacific cat-kin.
Unlike the Ice Moon Sect, these two sects were way more tolerant of other demi-human races as in this area of the continent they were very abundant, therefore, there were several Elders and High Elders that were not just Ice Giants, and they were more open-minded, although slavery still existed through criminal slavery to those that could not pay for their crimes but didn't deserve death.
Nonetheless, as they had their own business, both sects never bothered the cat-kin, and most of the tribal races of other demi-humans also lived mostly in harmony with nature, often seen as the ones connected with nature by the sects, and inherently respected by these people.
Meanwhile, the Demonic Dark Shadow Sect, was way too far away from these lands but still close enough to these two righteous sects and remained low to not bring unwanted attention to the demonic cultivators that resided within them.
Everything seemed in harmony until the Winter Lotus Sect offended the Jade Snake Sect when one of their young masters ended killing a young man from the Jade Snake Sect who resulted to be the best friend of the Sect Master's daughter and her future husband too.
This raged a war right away as the sect master of the Jade Snake Sect couldn't calm the sorrow of his daughter and could only avenge her beloved childhood friend and her future husband, whose marriage he had even already arranged.
The war between the two sects began rapidly and caused chaos all across their territory, the Winter Sect couldn't punish the young master that did this atrocity because it had resulted to be the grandchild of the Sect Master.
As the two sects fought and weakened each other, the demonic sect attacked in the last moment and began to consume everything with their shadows, as they employed mysterious magic which they had acquired from their Sect Master, Lord Dark Shadow, who was said to have inherited the power of Darkness and Shadows from an old inheritance and built a sect of demonic cultivators and criminals who seek refuge from the wilderness and the righteous sects persecuting them.
As the two sects suddenly found themselves fighting a common enemy that was now overpowering them, they began to fall apart, and the darkness of war quickly reached them as the cat-kin ended refuging a large group of sect members from both sects out of kindness.
However, the soldiers of the Dark Shadow Sect followed their footsteps, and eventually… they reached the village.
This is where the darkness emerged as monstrous beasts summoned by the Dark Shadow Sect Members named Shadow Familiars assaulted the entire village, destroying the houses and slaughtering the people inside while seeking the soldiers of the two sects. A group of them ended running away, while only very few ended the fighting and protecting the people that offered them shelter for almost a month.
The village was being destroyed and the young boy was told to run away by his father, the chief, as he joined the warriors and fought to protect those that were running away as well.
The boy had tried to interfere and help his father, but was grabbed by a villager and carried away in between tears…
"Ungh… Father…"
As the boy's hands gripped tightly sorrowfully, he looked down into the darkness of such a nightmare, as the monstrous shadow familiars followed his group of survivors from behind.
"Why?!"
He began to think… Why? Why were these monsters following them? They were not even involved in the conflict after all…
Many of the survivors that ran away were picked up by the beast, while a selected few ended surviving, but the boy ended losing himself in the forest and ran away every time he heard the howls of beasts nearby.
Without realizing it, he came in front of a group of people eating in the middle of the wilderness and fell unconscious afterward.
The thought of his father, the only family member he had been eaten alive by the deadly shadow familiars ended consuming his mind and sanity…
"Cassim, you have you survive!"
As the darkness continued to torment him with tremendous guilt over his weakness as a man, a bright light suddenly shone on his nightmare, the power of Drake's dream magic influenced his nightmare, as Drake outside of this dreamscape waved his hand.
"Be Nightmares become Dreams, tender dreams, so he can rest well." Sighed Drake.
His hand waved magically as the monstrous nightmare suddenly became a soothing place, a grassland, and a forest, where Cassim once more found himself with his tribe and his father and mother.
The darkness faded away but what remained were the memories he had with his family, a family that was long gone.
Cassim who had no power over dreams ended being consumed by this tenderness and ended sleeping soundly, the fever dissipated, and he slept nicely, as he was embraced on his dreams by the hugs of his beloved and deceased mother…
