Miracle
A dark mass stood out from the sea of white, slowly moving, if not at all if you watched for more than a few seconds. From a distance it appeared like a large piece of bark that had been removed from a tree, perhaps a desperate meal for an animal looking to satisfy the pains within its stomach during these hard winter days. It wasn't however, as you could see from approaching, it had fur and appeared to have a head and limbs. A fox? No, not possibly. Its tail was too short and body squared... A wolf pup.
Anaeia had been walking for days now, stopping to munch on the very few berries she could find hiding away from the harsh weather. Sometimes she would get lucky and find a frozen carcass left behind from a large predator and before scavengers came to pick the bones clean, but it wasn't enough to keep her stomach full. She couldn't even enjoy the excitement of this new thing in her life, the changing of seasons, all the snow. No, all she was thinking about was looking for more food, to find a place to keep warm so that she could continue her search the next day.
Her journey would come to an end finally, her little body too exhausted and deprived that she finally collapsed in the snow. She shook violently, too weak to even curl up into a ball to retain the little heat she had left in her small frame. Eyes closed, she was ready to let the darkness take her, to finally take away all the pain and fear that had racked her mind for days now. Snow has been falling for a few minutes, and when she went down the wind had begun to pick up, the flakes growing thicker in size and coming down heavily. A blizzard was making its way into the lands. |
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The wind beat at her small body, but by now the girl had given up trying to get away from it, finding no use in doing so. She was suddenly surprised though when it had stopped almost entirely, able to feel the wind whip along her spine. What was going on? Slowly her eyes would struggle to open, fluttering the faintest before finally opening just enough to find that something dark was around her. Confusion set it at a steady, slow rate, registering within a minute or two that there was an animal that was blocking the harsh winter air from attacking the child's body. But why?
Next thing something was being set near the girl's face, red in coloring and smelled strongly of blood... food. Anaeia's eyes closed, taking in a shaky breath, her scent glands filling with the meal set before her. Oooooh, how much it made her stomach hurt, to know that a meal was just centimeters from her mouth but she was too weak to reach out and scarf it down. Hesitantly, her head shifted the slightest, stretching forward just an inch but just barely able to grab onto the meat with her lips. Failure, she pulled back, face scrunching in disappointment.
A voice spoke, smooth, a comforting tone she knew all to well to belong to a female like herself. Something about it gave the child a small boost of energy, hearing that she was safe now, giving the girl a small sliver of hope. Paws dug into the snow, crunching beneath the applied weight, trying to push herself into the woman's fur, to warmth. She tried hard to move, limbs shaking beneath her body as she slowly inched her way closer and closer. She needed this, the pup NEEDED to get out of here. 'Take... me...' She wanted to cry, but all that came out was a struggled whine. 'Please... take me.' |
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The moment she was picked up the child curled up tightly, body going limp instinctfully so that the woman could carry her easily. The only thin going on in her head or around her body was the knowledge of knowing she was being taken away finally, to where? Maybe the wolf was carrying her to her mother, to reunite the two and make all the pain go away. Or perhaps she was taking her to a warm place, poke and prod at her little body to find out what was wrong. More time would be spent on bringing her back to life, but was it worth it when all she wanted was to go to sleep and never wake up?
It didn't register that the temperature around the pup had changed, the howling winds no longer pulling at her fur, the cold no longer stabbing her body and making it feel like she no longer had legs. Next thing she knew, her body was being set down and something warm was wrapping around her. "M... mmmuuu...." It was difficult getting the name out, so the child just tucked her head into the woman's fur, breathing shallow. |