It's become quite common for aliens to land on Earth really. What started off as a warm fling with visitors and anomalies from outer space, has now turned into a hobby for some mountain people we hear. Where aliens used to be surprised to find us sordid creatures hiding in the ground, or underneath shrubbery and behind large cave systems, they now found vast cities of concrete and pavement.
Aliens were curious themselves and we met quite a few of them, from many different star systems. Some < 5 light yrs away to some > 50 light yrs away. Now that took some imagination. Whatever kind of technology and ambition it took for these intelligent species to make this kind of journey was beyond us earth-dwellers. We were rather happy to go about our daily lives thinking we could talk to animals and birds and such.
It become common to put up carnivals for their arrivals. And carnies usually brought with them large packs of wild animals, that they used to perform tricks and amuse their favoured guests from outer space. The contract was mostly for space gold or space weaponry, to be used to find more animals and fight battles on Earth.
Now us humans are natural born hunters, and while we enjoy a tumble or two, being in the top of the food chain, we were quite complacent with who we were. Figuring out how to drive large packs of animals and alien species to survival based routines was not difficult for herders and cowboys. Aliens found this amusing.
To them, forming a bond with an animal was reckless and foolhardy. To us it was a way of living.
What terrified them was when it used to happen the other way around. Usually with nocturnal spirits, reptiles and other non-bonded animals. These species managed to bond with us almost out of nature and instinct. And to get them off was no easy feat.
They'd follow us anywhere. Dungeons, mountains, even dark dense forests. Alien tech helped to a certain extent. But reptiles that have been living underneath the planet's crust for thousands of years, don't give in to fire crackers that easily.
Our people have a story. It goes that ages ago, when man was not born, reptiles ruled the earth. And man was born from union of reptile and fish in dark night. It is why reptiles are drawn to us. They sense themselves in us. Though we are more intelligent, their species have survived more millennia on Earth and know more about it than we do.
It is why the liminal bond between animal, reptile and man on our planet has continued to be revered, despite costing life and limb sometimes. Life continues and while aliens come and go, we remain bonded to both light and dark. Sound and tidal wave. Animal and reptile.