Glossary

Bearen – bear shifters. Almost always work as firefighters.

Citlali – spiritual leaders of all shiften. They are able to communicate with the deities telepathically, and sometimes bring back prophecies from these communications.

Deae – goddess.

Dragen – dragon shifter. Rare.

Echo – an animal with the same markings of a shiften. Usually seen as a harbinger of bad things, but could also be a messenger from The Light.

Felen – big cat shifters. Almost always work as mercenaries. They are also the protectors of Rhen’s physical body and a specially trained group of them can track Khain when he comes into the Ula.

Foxen – the foxen were created when Khain forcibly mated with female wolven.

Haven, the – final resting place of all shiften. Where The Light resides.

Impot – a shiften that cannot shift because of a genetic defect caused by mating too close to their own bloodline. Trent and Troy are not thought to be impots because they were born during a klukwana.

Khain – also known as the Divided Demon, the Great Destroyer, and the Matchitehew. The hunter of humans and the main nemesis of all shiften.

Klukwana – a ceremony where a full-blooded shiften mates with another shiften with both in animal form, then the mother stays in animal form during the entire pregnancy. The young in the litter are always born as their animal. Wolven from a klukwana always come in at least four to seven young. Bearen are always two cubs, and felen are unpredictable, sometimes only one. Shiften born from a klukwana are almost always more powerful, bigger, and stronger than regular shiften, but many parents don’t try it because of the inherent risks to the mother during the (shorter) pregnancy and the risk that the shiften young may choose not to shift into human form. A lesser known possibility is that the shiften young will have a harder time learning to shift into human form, especially if no one shifts near them in the first few days after birth.

KSRT – Kilo Special Response Team, or Khain Special Response team. A group of wolven police whose primary goal is to hunt down and kill Khain, if that can be done.

Light, The – the creator of the Ula, humans, Rhen, Khain, and the angels.

Moonstruck – insane. Shiften who spend too long indoors or too long in human form can become moonstruck slowly and not even realize it.

Pravus – Khain’s home. A fiery, desolate dimension that sits alongside ours.

Pumaii – a small group of specialized felen tasked with tracking Khain when he crosses over into our dimension.

Renqua – a discoloration in a shiften’s fur which is also seen as a birthmark in human form. Every renqua is different. The original renquas were pieces of Rhen she put inside the wolves, bears, and big cats to create the shiften. Every pure-blooded shifter born since has also had a renqua. Half-breeds may or may not have one. Some foxen acquired weak renquas when they mated with shiften. Also called the mark of life.

Rhen – the creator of all shiften. A female deity.

Ruhi – the art of speaking telepathically. No humans are known to possess the power to do this. Not all shiften are able to do it. It is the preferred form of speaking for the dragen.

Shiften – shifter-kind.

Shiftsegen – a special blessing left for the One True Mates by their father, a pendant that represents their angel half and the animal of their intended mate. The shiftsegen is powerful and unpredictable and its uses and powers are not clear.

Ula – the Earth, in the current dimension and time. The home of the shiften.

Vahiy – end of the world.

Wolfen – a wolf shifter. Almost always works as a police officer.

Wolven – wolf shifters, plural.

Zyanya – when a wolfen dies, the funeral is for the benefit of humans, but the important ceremony is the zyanya. The pack mates of the fallen wolfen run in wolf form through the forest, heading north to show the spirit the way to the Haven. When they reach a body of water, they all jump in and swim to the other side, then emerge in human form.