https://www.deviantart.com/ifritnox/art/3-3-The-First-Strike-971878579

The darkness knew it was spotted and her first attack had to be swift.

The protectors also knew they didn't have much time. Lupus had called them all to Trishanku, but on the clearing itself, only the inner circle sat together. Other than Lupus, these were Lynx and Vulpecula, the five scouts and the children of the Three First: Mirfak, Arae by his side, Castor and Pollux as well as Algieba - and Regulus.

The titans didn't know the lion had betrayed them. Unfortunately, Deneb hadn't seen him in the lair of the Darkness and thus couldn't reveal his true nature.

Fourteen were gathered, discussing how they should act. Lynx, the wise consellor, had the idea to make shields of light, which would enable the defendants to stand against the darkness, much like Aldeban Ruby-Star. To create the shield, three things would be needes: A flower of Virgos creation, a feather of the flaming bird Phoenix, and a silver tear of the unicorn Lukida.

While Lynx cared about the endurance of the defendants, Vulpecula though of tricks to confuse the darkness. He even proposed giving up the clearing Trishanku and going to a less central and obvious place, maybe putting a trap for the Darkness on the clearing, but Lupus spoke against it.

"This is where I awoke", he said. "Trishanku is the center of light. If it falls, the light might vanish, but most importantly we cannot give up the most precious place in this world!"

Everybody understood, but Vulpecula and his sons promised to find other ways.

Mirfak raised his voice for the courage of the inhabitants of Andromeda. They mustn't lose their bravery. To protect their lives was as important as to protect their souls against despair.

Finally they had to end the meeting and went their seperate ways. Lynx searched for Lukida, Phoenix, and Virgo, to start the creation of the shields. He also took the shield, which Bootes had gotten from Ursa Minor, in order to strengthen it. Vulpecula and his sons thought of plns and Mirfak went to raise the spritis of everyone. Lupus sent out his scouts, to watch the Darkness. He implicitly told Corvus that nothing should go unnoticed.

In that night, Regulus stealthily left. The lion ran to his queen to tell her all about the meeting. In the meantime, the darkness had crept forward and was closing in on Trishanku. Only the snake Serpents had stayed behind, with Draco, who was still sleeping - but his awakening was near.

As Regulus crossed the fields, Cygnus spotted him. The swan wondered what the lion was doing so far from the clearing and flew over to question him. But Regulus attacked him, since he couldn't give a reason for his behaviour.

Cygnus was surprised by the attack, but he got lucky. Regulus hurt his wing, but the swan could flee. 

Now Regulus started to ran, but in the other direction, until he reached his dark master panting.

"What have you learned?", she asked, and Regulus told her about the meeting.

"This lyxn character seems to be dangerous", the darkness said, "I will kill him first!" She was ready to send her claws to kill. "His shields could prove to be a problem."

"Kill him. He is too wise", Regulus agreed. "But others can build shields as well. Your second claw has to hit Phoenix, Lukida or Virgo."

The darkness thought about it. "The unicorn", she said then, "a bird is hard to hit and the wolves all look the same to me."

"So Lukida it will be. But you have to kill one bird: Cygnus mustn't warn Lupus' servants for me."

"It was silly of you to let yourself be spotted", the darkness scoulded him. "I'll send my sight after the swan. So we have one claw and the tooth left. The poisonous bite of pyxis shall crash down on Lupus. He is the mightiest of them all. Who do you suppose as target of the final claw? Another lightsource for the shields?"

"That might be safe, but I advise you kill one of the foxes. Their cunning shall not be disregarded."

The darkness agreed. She remembered the first dragon, as did Regulus, and she knew they couldn't risk the foxes creating a similiar beast to fight Draco.

After they made their decision, the darkness sent out all her five weapons at once. Three claws, Sculptor, Antlia and Octans, the terrible Sight and the poisonous tooth Pyxis.

The first claw, sculptor, came without warning upon the defendants, and went streight for the heart of the unicorn Lukida. Her dying scream scared the allays of the titans.

The second claw, Antlia, met Lynx and killed the titan. The third claw, Octans, went for Vulpecula. The fox titan however saw the danger and let himself fall. The claw missed him, but he let out a loud death scream and stayed motionless - wanting to trick the darkness, he knew he had to trick his friends as well. Only Castor and Pollux, sitting next to him, saw the truth.

"You have to weep", Vulpecula told them, "this attack went for the shieldsmiths, and this means there are traitors among us. Nobody must know I live. Soon this might be our only advantage."

So Castor and Pollux lowered their heads crying. The defendants saw the final two attacks closing in: The Sight and the Tooth of Darkness.

Cygnus, althoug wounded, had managed a heroic deed and was almost at the clearing, when he was attacked. With loud calls he flew up, but despair let him fall silent as he saw three dead already. Then, the Sight of Darkness caught up to him. He met Cygnus like a flame. All muscles of the swan lost their strength and he fell like a shooting star from the sky.

All the attacks came sof ast that nobody could react, not even heroes like Sabik Arrow-Star. They all could only atch as the tooth Pyxis came from the sky to Lupus and hit the First Wolf in the chest.

Immediatly, the Brightest pulled the thorn from his flesh, but the poison was doing it's work and Lupus fell inbetween his allays. Then the weapons of night returned to her.

For a long time it was silent. The allays only slowly dared to come closer. They found that Lupus was still alive and even Cygnus was still breathing. The poison didn't manage to kill the Strongest, but it had put hi into a deep sleep. Similarly, the Sight had paralyzed Cygnus.

But Vulpecula managed to pretent to be dead, his sons helping him. Lynx and Lukida were dead, the first victims of the coming war. Pegasus called long and painfully, as he understood the passing of his love. Kitalpha and Kentaur, their children, stood shaking side by side. Algieba was cowering at her father's side.

The allays laid Lupus in front of the safe clearing. When they wanted to put Cygnus beside him, they noticed the bite mark and realized a big cat had attacked him. When they talked about it, Algieba overheard and stood up.

"Regulus is missing", she noticed, "where is my brother?"

"We have to assume there are traitors among us", Castor and Pollux said, remembering the warning of their father. "The darkness knew Lynx wanted to make shield."

Dark fear rolled over Algieba, as her distrust grew. She was afraid Regulus could be the traitor - or one of them.

"I will find out where his loyalty lays", she promised quietly.

That was the only plan that was formed that day. The inhabitants of Andromeda were deeply shaken.

The war had begun.