Tyranny: Onwards

Chapter 109- Incapacitated

Now I lead our group on towards the great black mountains forged of spiked obsidian while Hester and Rin take their share of the load, carrying the stretcher, I plow a path through the snow beside Aegis and when I glance over my shoulder I see Phoenix peeking at Blaze's wound. If Blaze were to get an infection, there would be very serious complications and issues.

The sky has finally cleared of the dark grey leering clouds and is so wide and blue, vast and deep, and my mind steps into thought of space and the universe, and the magnificence of this Earth. I am drawn back from this infinite realization to my tiny trail and plowing through snow with Genesis bounding wildly about. Life is so delicate and fragile, it can be stolen so easily.

"Whatcha thinking about?" Phoenix as always picks up on my pondering and inputs his curiosity.

"Not much, just admiring the sky and being thankful that the clouds have finally passed." I shrug and he smiles.

"How much further do you think? It will be getting dark soon." Phoenix inquires and Aegis seems to acknowledge this and frowns slightly.

"I have no idea, but I doubt too far, look there, you can see them." I point and they both gaze over there.

"We shouldn't make another camp, we should try to make it tonight since we can see them." Aegis decides and continues to gaze at the dark hazy jagged ridge.

The snow is loud and crunches, it now has a hard crust on top and crumbling snows beneath, thankfully it is no long thick and packed; except now the crust is so firm it hurts my shins when I keep shoving on through it. But this pain is only physical and not severe enough to even consider so I toss it from my mind entirely.

There is no more wind, just a subtle shadow of a breeze which has some curiosity it would almost seem. The sun embroiders the far off ridges gold and they appear to blush with the warmth as it seeks to hide once more behind the horizon to warmer places, already my toes tingle at the idea of showing them all the coming beauty and feeling the awe of the power and pure might.

Genesis leaps and bounds about, rolling and shoving her face into the snow, flinging drops of it about, I giggle but also try to scold her as it doesn't help those carrying the stretcher, though how can I deny this innocent joy so light and simple knowing things will be very stern and serious for long?

Aegis even chuckles too, Phoenix decides to chuck some snow playfully back at Genesis who shows off her skills and dive rolls out of its path to charge and tackle Phoenix, taking him by surprise he yelps and giggles at the licks he receives in his defeat. Genesis's tail wags vigorously in joy and she gets off of him to race around in circles.

"OW!" Aegis shouts in pain and halts where he is, concerned and hoping it is not serious, I come to his side.

"What happened?" I ask him and glance around for any immediate dangers.

"I think it must've been a Snow Hedgehog," He explains but I am utterly confused.

"A what?" I ask again.

"We call them Nixspicia which is directly translated as 'snow spike', but we changed it to be Snow Hedgehog in english as these creatures look like hedgehogs but have spikes of ice and curl up in deep snow to seem like sea urchins but in snow.

"And that's what hurt you? Are they dangerous or poison?" I inquire further, sort of hoping to see one.

"Depends on its personality, but no, they aren't poisonous, they're the size of your hand about, and quite cute actually." He smiles and Genesis sniffs about, then pounces, bringing back a strange looking creature that certainly looks like a frozen hedgehog.

"Is that a Nixspicia?" I point and Aegis chuckles more, taking the creature as it makes the same sounds as a guinea pig. It sits in his hands and sniffs about eagerly, seemingly a bit frightened by the entire ordeal.

"Definitely is," He smiles at it and I crouch to see the small adorable little face.

"AWWWWW! It's so cute!" Rin squeals. "Can we keep it?" She bounces.

"Well if it is okay with being put in a pocket then yes, but not if it struggles." He sighs and reaches to slip it into a pocket of his cloak which I am still wearing.

It reaches its two front paws to hold the rim down a bit to peak out and sniffle the air, Genesis is very intrigued and sniffs and licks it curiously, then tries to play with it.

"We should name it!" Rin suggest and Aegis agrees as does everyone else.

"Latricia...Asis...Lexi...Ryan...Roy...Robert...Charles..." Rin starts to list off names.

"Bagels, Chip, Snowflake, Ice Ball," Hester joins in.

"I vote Bagels," I say and Aegis gives me a look like, 'what are you thinking'.

"I'm okay with that,"

The rest all agree but we decide to leave it open to change still.

Carrying this teeny tiny creature in my pocket reminds me of the times when Genesis was so small and of the pictures I had of her when she was still too young to be sold and how she was so cute. Originally she was supposed to be a simple guard dog, but then I ended up spending far more time with her than with any other people so she became the best guard dog there ever was.

Just training a dog or beast to protect something or someone is not the same as them having a true and real bound with the person, because they will save them no matter what and they will refuse to die if you are still in danger. Genesis could never have been a proper guard dog if we had not forged this solid bound we still have.

I also remember the day two years ago she was taken from my side, and I from hers.

They called me down and were standing in the doorway, I came down with Genesis at my side, they came further in and set down a large crate and opened the door, they explained that they needed her for a bit, but I wasn't listening. Genesis would not move when they coaxed her. Then they threatened to hurt her so I tried to get her to go. But she firmly refused.

They brought out long poles with loops on the ends and other poles that would shock her, but knowing my family, I knew they'd made the shock far too unreasonably intense. So I was crying and angry and got between them and her, they tackled me despite my efforts to fight them all off. Genesis fought too, completely furious with them for hurting me.

She dragged me away and hid me in a closet but I watched through the cracks between the doors as she bit them and tackled them, a deep fire burning with loyalty in her heart, she was furious to her core, and was raging with animosity. Blood leaked upon the floor as she battled on, some of it from her, she never gave up until they tranquilized her but had to use many darts as she kept awake for quite some time.

Eventually I fell from the closet and tried to fight them off and away from her, but they threw me back. I then grabbed a dagger and stabbed a few of them in the leg, continuing to lock the front doors and shutter the windows.

In the end I had incapacitated all those who were inside and shut us in, but then they got bombs and forced their way inside, knocking me unconscious they had taken her when I awoke and relocated me to a new house and left a note of where my new school was and had provided me with the supplies.

That day I cried for a long time, I felt so empty, like half my heart was gone, and I wanted to be comforted and forced to laugh by Genesis, but it was Genesis I had lost. Why they went to such lengths, I do not know and probably never will.

But I laid and cried for weeks, until they came again and forced me to attend school and eat something.

It was the worst two years of my life but also the best, since I met Rin.