Cursed Flames

Sickness

Flaro awoke in the pocket dimension, still in his wolf form. He looked around waiting. There were no sounds. There were no ominous feelings. It was just silence. He expected Cyote to charge him out of nowhere... but it never happened. He eventually decided that he should explore the void that was his pocket dimension. He had never done so before mostly because he never got the chance after meeting Cyote. He started in one direction and tried his best to stay on that path until he saw something. Unfortunately he wandered around for a while following that same path, but the further he walked, the more if felt like he wasn't moving at all. No matter how far he walked, he felt like he was standing in the exact position he started. Eventually Flaro gave up on exploring and instead tried to mess with the ground. It wasn't at all loose nor did it have any grip. It was surprising how much friction it really had for something so smooth, but this didn't stop Flaro. He tried to dig into the ground with his paws and see what lied beneath the surface. The claw marks he made did puncture a very small portion of the ground but they didn't last. To his surprise, the claw marks slowly disappeared like they never were there. Suddenly, Flaro's side started hurting where he was cut. The wound wasn't bleeding like he thought. It was pouring some sort of black liquid. It looked very similar to the black he had on his hands after cleaning his armor and flowed just like the cuts on his hands before they 'healed'. Flaro tried to interrupt the flow of the liquid but it only made things worse. The pain. The amount of liquid pouring out. It was all getting bad. Suddenly he felt a cold hand touch his ears and he quickly turned and growled. Cyote had been standing there with a smug face. "You're leaking little wolf. It would be better to keep the attention to yourself instead of getting me in a bad mood." Flaro calmed himself down and layed on the ground slowly. "Y'know wolf boy... I thought just ears and a tail were new, but this? This is a whole new level of curiousity. I mean... you are a wolf so it shouldn't be so surprising but here I am." Flaro sighed and looked back at his wound. It was still pouring. Cyote got his attention. "Don't worry about that. You're in your pocket dimension. Everything here is either translating to the normal world or it's highly hyperbolic due to your mind." Flaro tilted his head in confusion. "Ugh... look. Do you feel dizzy and empty?" Flaro shook his head. "See what I mean? If you were feeling the symptoms of blood loss then it would've been actually happening." Flaro still looked confused. "You're that stupid huh?" Cyote sighed. "I can't understand you when you're like... that. So I can either leave you like that so I don't have to hear your voice." Flaro rolled his eyes at her remark. "or... I could try to change you back so we can talk in a language we both understand." Flaro just layed his head down and waited for whatever she would decide. "I guess I'll change you back..." Flaro's ears perked up. "Mostly cause I can't stand to watch the little puppy suffer~." Cyote was mocking Flaro, though she had every right to. She was stronger. WAY stronger. So naturally Flaro just ignored her. She snapped her fingers and just like that, Flaro was back to his normal form. His side was still 'bleeding', but he was able to speak now, so there was at least some sort of benefit. "You're real lucky Wolfy. Not only are you my guinea pig, but I treat you relatively well." Flaro held his side while he spoke, "Says the person that's been giving me restless nights for hours on end..." Cyote smiled, "I did say relatively didn't I? Regardless. The demon king is the most relentless, merciless being you'll ever meet. Do you think he cares about how much sleep you got?" "...no." "That's what I thought." Cyote walked up to Flaro and patted his head roughly. "Now why don't you go play with your other friends? We'll 'talk' more later." Cyote snapped and Flaro woke up by the fire. He was back to normal just like when he was in his pocket dimension. The pain in his side became more real but it wasn't dangerous. As he looked around, he realized the girls were asleep and Elera was next to him quietly staring in curiosity. Flaro whispered to Elera. "How long was I asleep?" Elera shrugged. "I didn't keep count. I was just waiting for you to wake up." "You were waiting?" Elera turned her head slightly to hide her face. "Well... yeah. I was looking after you making sure you were ok." "Well Elera... I should be fine. I only have a smallish cut on my side." Elers looked a little worried. "I know. We all do. I thought you were in pain while you were in wolf form so I tried my best to keep you comfortable." Flaro looked over towards Reyna and Phoenix. Though they were sleeping, they seemed a little uneasy. Maybe it was because of the incident. Or maybe it's because of him. "You guys really shouldn't worry about me. I'll be fine, I swear." Elera grabbed his arm softly. "We know you can take care of yourself. We all can. But that's not why we worry." Flaro's head tilted slightly. "Then... why do you worry?" Elera sighed quietly and looked Flaro in his eyes. "You're the last of your kind as far as we know. Not only that but... you remember the other pack that you scared into submission?" Flaro nodded. Elera bit her lip before speaking. "That's the only other wolf pack we've seen. Not to say they're the only wolves left along with us. It's just most wolves don't roam in packs anymore. Maybe it's out of fear or self preservation, but Reyna, Phoenix, and I refuse to break apart. There's strength in numbers and now that we have another member it makes us even stronger. I mean... you've already provided plenty of help by scaring the other pack and by helping us escape the village. You could've run away or found a place to hide, but instead you went out of your way to put your life on the line for us. That's a trait you don't see in many wolves nowadays." Flaro grabbed Eleras hand that she grabbed his arm with. "I guess you got some good reasons to worry... but please don't. I will always risk my life for you guys, but I won't intentionally get myself killed unless I have to. You guys risked your way of life for me which I ended up ruining. As of right now, I'm just trying to find a way to make it up to you." Elera remembered what Reyna said. "Maybe you can make it up to us sooner than you thought." Flaro's ears perked up. "Really?" Elera nodded. "Reyna will tell you more." Elera yawned. "But as of right now, we should get some sleep." Flaro chuckled. "I already got my fair share of sleep. I'll watch over you guys like you did with me." Elera smiled and went to rest on the sleeping grounds. Flaro whispered. "Good night." And Elera fell fast asleep. A few hours later, Flaro started trying to see if he could do something about his wound. As he lifted up his shirt to check the wound, he noticed that his skin around it looked like was black. He touched the black skin trying to figure out if it was dead or not. When he touched it, he felt his side react harshly sending pain throughout his entire body. Flaro noticed his finger had some black on it now. He figured that his wound just needs time to heal, and the black substance on his finger and skin was just the black liquid from earlier. He cleaned his finger off and lowered his shirt back down to cover the wound. He layed down staring at the leaves and night sky above him sitting up everytime he heard something that could mean danger. He was vigilant, for he had to protect the rest of the pack while they slept. Little did he know that the black substance around the wound was slowly spreading toward the rest of his body...