The legend of Zaphratos

A man's best friend

Henry awakens the next morning

He opens his eyes and yawns with a stretch "Ahh, good morning cave" he says stretching more before slowly sitting up.

He looks around the cave his mind still foggy from just waking up, he sees the glowstars crawling around the cave floor many of them eating the glowing fungus.

He gently stands up and picks up a big piece of the blue fungus that looks untouched before eating it in a few bites, "not bad" he says still chewing as he walks towards the cave entrance.

As he steps outside of the cave he closes his eyes feeling the warm golden rays of the sun above him, he takes a moment to bask in them letting out a sigh.

After a minute or so he slowly opens his eyes and walks forward through the rocky chunks towards the field of long grass, it takes him around four or five minutes as he slowly walks taking his time but he makes it into the long grass of the field ahead.

He stands there thinking for a moment "No way in hell I'm going back to the beach for a while but maybe there's something interesting this way" he says hoping for a peaceful day of adventure.

He then continues walking through the long grass looking around carefully in search of anything of interest and more importantly predators.

His eyes light up and he quickly stops moving as he notices a coat covered in brown fur, Henry moves to a crouching position as he watches the coat eating the long grass with content.

The coat appears to be decent sized compared to the last one he saw, "wow, he looks huge" Henry says admiring its size and thick light brown fur. Henry gently moves forward trying to get a closer look at the majestic animal.

As Henry approaches the coat its ears flap making sure it senses any danger that could be nearby, it suddenly stops moving altogether and quickly turns towards Henry in caution.

Its senses become extremely alert trying to detect any and every change in its surroundings while it keeps its eyes on Henry, Henry freezes at the coat's sudden movements and watches with fear hoping not to anger it.

The coat starts kicking its back legs knocking up the dirt behind it in a show of dominance and strength, Henry gulps and stays where he is slowly standing up hoping to change his vulnerable position.

Henry holds up his hands towards the coat and breathes heavily "Easy buddy, I'm not gonna hurt you okay?", Henry says hoping to show the animal he's not a threat.

The coat watches Henry carefully before slowly moving towards Henry realizing he doesn't seem to possess many of the typical predator features.

As the coat approaches Henry Henry stays still and gulps again slowing his breathing and attempting to relax a bit, the coat gets to Henry, and breathes onto him with a big huff.

It slowly sniffs up and down Henry's body while it eyes him with caution, after a minute or two it stops at Henry's hand and licks it.

Henry narrows his eyes and looks at his hand confused feeling the warm rough tongue against his hand, the coat happily licks Henry's hand then it hits him. "Oh yeah, you like the glowy blue fungus don't ya little guy" he says with a smile before holding out his other hand to the coat.

The coat looks up at Henry and happily licks the second hand too, Henry slowly reaches out and rubs the coat's thick fur-covered back with a smile.

The coat continues licking Henry's second hand making no moves to stop Henry only moving his eyes slightly curious as to what he's doing.

Henry's mood improves heavily seeing an opportunity with this big furry animal, he continues rubbing the animal's furry back while it licks his hand.

Henry stops petting it and moves his hand back from the coat, "wanna follow me little guy? I've got more fungus this way" he says with a smile waving his hand and trying to lure it back with him.