Cynophobia

☠₂₅☠

 "But, I haven't see you in years," I said staring at him astonished. "How are you talking?"

His black eyes blinked. "You saw me not to long ago. I watched over you in your sleep."

"What do you mean? In my dreams? Can you control my dreams?" I asked.

Rags' face lacked emotion. "I did not enter your dreams knowingly. I watched you during the long sleep. I guarded you from the Jealous One."

"Are you the one who told Alpha you wanted her?" Loki asked. "Did you send them to kidnap her?"

Suddenly, Rags' calm demeanor changed. His fur bristled and he opened his mouth, revealing sets of sharp, mangled metal. "I did not tell the Jealous One to follow her!" he snapped defiantly.

Loki backed away, he did not know how to deal with it. This was like their version of Adam, the first Cynoid, the one who rivaled Alpha in the hierarchy.

"The Jealous One, are you referring to the white wolf with metal parts?" I asked.

"Yes." He returned to his calm state and stared at me. "He tried to watch you during your long sleep. I kept him away."

"What is my long sleep?" I asked.

"When the car took your energy away. You went into long sleep for a month. The creator is the one who revived you from your sleep," Rags said.

I pressed my hand against the cloth on his chest. "What happened? How did you get my baby blanket? Who is the creator and why did they steal and upgrade you?"

"The creator is the one who stole me from you when you were young, the surgeon."

I remember my dream of being in the room, unable to move. The one with the googles and doctor coat came in. The creator was the one who woke me from my coma, that's how I knew them. But why would they save my life only to kill the lives of many weeks later?

Cairo piped into the conversation. "Do you know where the creator is?"

"Yes," he said in his monotonic voice.

"Where is it? We need to stop him and shut down 'the Jealous One' before he can harm others," Loki barked.

He paused, his head twitched as he turned to Loki. "Subject revival 1.0, can't you remember the way back yourself?"

That sounded familiar. I heard it in one of my dark room nightmares. So Rags really was there, but how? Where was I?

Loki looked at him dumbfounded. "What did you call me?"

"You were the guinea pig, the 1.0 project. We are alike both being the prototypes of our experiments, but why can't you remember what you are? You found the little one, such was our duty. You don't remember?" Rags asked.

Rags was starting to freak me out. When I was little, he couldn't speak at all. He still had his limp, but he was bigger and had his pelt changed drastically. "What you're saying doesn't make sense, Rags."

Rags started shuddering, his entire body twitched. I reached out for him but Cairo pulled me back towards him. His eyes were wide open, his mouth opened in a fearful grimace.

"What's wrong? Are you ok?" I asked concerned.

"I am fine, I intercepted a message from the Jealous One," Rags explained.

"But I didn't sense anything," Loki said looking at us.

The Ancient nodded. "You can not. You do not have clearance. The creator gave me the ability to see all. The Jealous One is nearing his youngest spawn."