Prolog

Bang.

The door of the huge hall swung open abruptly. The darkened room was immediately exposed to the rays of a thousand lamps. Their light poured from the door and as if alive disappeared in the depths of the room, but it did not fill everything around, and carefully continued its way in the form of a golden path all the way to the elevation. But the darkness around was no longer so absolute, now, the rare glimmers falling beyond the boundary of the light revealed hundreds, if not thousands of menacing eyes, which were of different sizes, colors, but necessarily with elongated pupils.

The owners of the gazes, succumbing to some feeling known only to them, concentrated all their attention on the lonely black silhouette that crossed the threshold.

Clang. Clang. Clang.

The figure slowly, even lazily, began its way along the path created by the light, its steps were silent, and only a light sound of claws resounded the absolute silence of the hall hidden by darkness.

Step by step. The figure moved gracefully, showing the attentive observers the refinement expressed in even the most ordinary action, as if a secret meaning sent to all around. The movements of powerful muscle created shimmers of black color on the fur that covered them, like indomitable waves. The image of him on the path marked by the light conveyered a sense of monumentality and strength to all who watched him from the darkness of the room. Those closest to the figure could even see sparks flying in different directions with every movement. It was a sign of superiority and power they had not seen before.

Unfortunately, the hypnotizing gait, like everything in this world has tends to come to its end. The figure finally reached the dais and without even noticing the nearby steps, it made a few quick movements and vanished into space to appear at the top in the next instant.

Continuing to ignore the attention of the thousands of unknown beings lurking in the darkness, the silhouette approached the podium set up facing the streaming light. The final steps were accompanied by the shrill creak of the room closing. It was only when the last rays of lamp reflected in the orange elongated pupils that the darkness around it came into motion.

A flash. A flash...

In the next instant, the clicks of the spotlights being turned on resounded throughout the hall, which immediately concentrated all their light on the podium, revealing the image of the unknown creature. It turned out to be an ordinary-looking black cat, which, ignoring the glare of bright camera flashes hitting its eyes, looked at those the audience present but still hidden in the darkness. In the next second his loud and strong voice, which turned out to be quite human, but with heavily concealed growling notes, sounded throughout the hall:

- R-r, glad to see you all today on this important day for our entire race, meow! Why is it important? Because today we will accomplish the destined thing! - With a note of authority and triumph the black cat began his speech, at the same time he spoke measuredly, putting into each word the emotions torn from within him.

- We have been coming to this for centuries, tens... no, hundreds of generations of our ancestors did not spare their claws and fangs to get back what we lost thousands of years ago! The same nearly forgotten utopia our race had! When each of us was equal in status to the gods! When each of us could proudly call ourselves part of a Great People, a Great Nation and a Great Empire! - He was answered by thousands of low meows, symbolizing unanimous agreement with his words.

- When miserable people were crawling in the mud and trying to cover their shortcomings with the parts of animals they had killed, our proud people were learning the secrets of this beautiful world! When people learned to make primitive tools, we already had our own language, writing, and culture! When people began to make the first attempts in agriculture, our people were already unraveling the secrets of the universe, and our ancestors shifted their eyes from our native world to the vast expanses of the immense universe and began the Great Campaign ...

Having calmly finished in a muffled and already trembling voice, he again circled all his listeners, from whom were heard louder, but not so slender meows, meaning categorical agreement and strong support of the gathered.

- In the age of prosperity, the great sages united, under the auspices of our god and the greatest emperor, Cotius the Great, to create a gateway to new and uncharted worlds that none of our kin had ever set foot in. This world, too, was no exception and quickly became one of the most important colonies for our people. We, bearing the burdens of the four-legged, brought people to civilization! We showed them and then taught them much knowledge they had never had before. We asked nothing in return, only their loyalty and honest labor. - The tone changed again, becoming velvety and the gaze blurred, as if the narrator himself were reliving these moments of triumph from the history of his own people, which is absorbed by many kin with the milk of his mother. But the next instant the black cat exclaimed angrily:

- H-s-s. And where is our great nation now? Meow Where are the great warlords who strike fear into our enemies and bring loyalty allies? Where are those great cats fighting dragons, breakfasting with leviathans and dining with basilisks? Where are our great archmagics cats who conquer space with their will alone? Where is that empire that stretched across more than one galaxy? Where is it? Can someone tell me where it all went? - The black cat let out its claws and began to poke at the crowd with one of them, and then angrily waved its paw, which cut off a corner of the podium, which began to slide slowly under the angry gazes of the listeners. Transfixed, they saw a target on which to take out their anger that had built up over the speaker's words. If not for the respect to the speaker, thousands of angrily meowing creatures pounced on the poor piece of wood, wanting to annihilate it.

Knock.

And only the echo of the clatter of the fallen wood on the stone floor filled the room devoid of any sound. The cats present, having heard the black cat's question, reacted differently: some lowered their muzzles, some looked away with a pensive look, and some looked at the speaker with complex emotions in their eyes, but no one remained indifferent, that's for sure.

- It's all gone! All is forgotten! All destroyed! - Sparing neither their own nor other people's feelings, the cat standing behind the podium shouted sentences, which like nails was hammered into their relaxed consciousness, which was not ready for such violence against it.

- And who is to blame? Is it us or our ancestors? No, I don't think so... - the speaker spoke confidently, no, the spiritual favorite, that's what he was for the gathered representatives of the cat family. His words poured on the fruitful ground, the crowd, having reached the emotional peak, was ready to spill all their indignation on the one on whom their leader would point.

- It was all the fault of him - our Great Enemy! And his entire heretical race! - The black cat said with a distinct disgust in his voice, and his face wrinkled as if his keen sense of smell had caught a not-so-pleasant odor. In response, a wave of angry hissing erupted from the crowd as every cat, regardless of breed, sex, or age, showed how much they disliked these nasty creatures.

- They were the ones who had once declared war on us, killing peaceful cats! Destroyed the tangible evidence of our achievements! Destroying our culture, our history, and making sure there was no mention of us in the universe! They leveled our worlds to the ground, leaving only ruins and millions of lost lives of ordinary civilians! They insidiously sowed heretical thoughts, poisoning the minds of our vassal races - humans, Kree, Xandarians, they even turned away from us the once loyal and first vassals of our kind - the Skrulls. The damn dogs convinced them that they could live without our rule and supervision. Told tales that they could do great things without us, isn't that silly? What do you think, honorable cats? - He asked and again from the crowd there were roars and disgruntled meows, full of indignation and support for his words.

- Yes, we see from the example of humans that our vassals once made some progress in both natural and mystical sciences, but do they know how to use them properly? Polluting our beautiful colony, destroying our hunting grounds, opening the door to alien invasions, castrating..." The black cat shook his head from side to side unhappily. - There was no such thing under the Meow're Empire! Back then, every person living in this world had a cat master who looked after them and didn't let them do such nasty nonsense. And most importantly, we didn't castrate them! - In end speaker said with rage and pain for the unlucky relatives, receiving in return a similar extravaganza of feelings, but suddenly, as if remembering something, he stretched his lips in a smile, exposing before the crowd rows of sharp and shining teeth.

- But today everything will change! Brothers and sisters, from today we will begin to restore the proper order of things, finally we will official return our rightful place as nature intended. - Again looking around the silent crowd who listening to his every word, the cat swung his claws upward and added thunderously. - Each of you will get your own land, fish, and vassals. Yes, they will break out and perhaps rebel, but we, who are on the path of rebirth, will overcome all obstacles in our way. All you have to do is to keep an eye on our lesser brothers and not let them do anything stupid. - The crowd murmured patronizingly.

- I would like to announce that in the interests of all us and those cats not present and all of our kind, this country, and later this world, will be reorganized into the Second Meow're Empire," the black cat announced proudly. - And I believe it will one day become the First Galac... no, First Universal Empire!

Mrrrrr. Shh. A muffled, contented purr was heard from the crowd, along with the scraping of thousands of claws that were now digging into the stone floor, creating loud scrapes and sparks throughout the hall. The crowd went wild, showing the happiness and joy that enveloped everyone present.

- Long live the Second Empire of Meow're! - Roared their spiritual leader, nay, Emperor, from the podium. As if expecting this, the remaining floodlights came on and illuminated the empty wall behind the dais. In the next moment, however, it was covered by three large canvases, depicting the symbols of the recreated state, which fell from the ceiling. All three had a completely red background with a white circle in the center, in the center of which was already a black imprint of a cat's paw.

Each cat from the crowd surrounding the podium extended its right paw upwards and roared in response:

- Hail Imperrratorrrr! Hail Emperor!

- Hail!" said the new emperor, who looked like an ordinary black cat. But shadows can't be deceived, they see more, they know more, and they don't mind sharing this knowledge with those who can understand them. But, if one wanted far more vivid proof, one had to look into the eyes of the new emperor. His pupils gave him away, as if liquid lava was pulsing and flowing in them, and hiding inside a range of different emotions, among which anticipation stood out.