A Whole Different Life (Book I)

Chapter 11: Winter's Love (Part 2) (Edited)

As the pups and I walked around the beach a little, my ears perking to the different sounds of conversation while my eyes were constantly darting back and forth to either watch people play on the frozen sea or the pups trying to steal people's food. It didn't take long before the sights of normal-looking people started to change into more...fish-like people. Some looked like angler-fish, others dolphins while the rest looked like sharks! These must've been the Pices that Ryzel mentioned...least they didn't look anywhere close to what I was previously imagining. A normal looking animal with shaven human legs.

"Ow!" I heard someone shout suddenly, causing me to quickly snap my head behind me before I saw Raiko pulling on the...head-tail? Of a poor Pices.

"S-Sorry about that!" I whined before I rushed over to pull the pup off, the Pices glaring at not only Raiko but me as well.

"You can't just go around chewing on people's tails Raiko." I scolded.

Raiko tilted his head a little and whined. "Why? They taste like fish!" He laughed before Kaa let out a small sigh.

"Because it's rude Raiko, isn't that right Shiro?" Kaa said before looking towards her younger brother, Shiro only nodding his head while Raiko huffed and turned his nose towards the sky.

Once a little more time had passed, constantly having to stop to either tell Raiko to stop chewing on people's tails or to go back and retrieve Shiro from randomly finding a good stick to chew on, it didn't take long for me to suddenly catch a glimpse of something familiar in the distance.

It was long, snake-like and-

"Basilisk?!" I barked almost too excitedly.

It was the Echidna who helped me escape all those months back! He was here and living just fine!

With the sound of his name being called, it didn't take long for the half-snake to soon turn to look around for a moment before his eyes finally landed on us and he started to slither over.

"Well..." He chuckled lightly as he came over, the pups letting out a quick yelp before they scurried off.

Hopefully, I didn't have to worry too much about them getting back to our side safely...then again, this beach seemed to be relatively small. It wouldn't take them too long.

"If it isn't the mutt, still caring about other useless people's safety?"

I rolled my eyes but nonetheless nodded. "Yep and I'll have you know that I've gotten a pretty good reputation because of it!" I stated proudly before I sat down, my tail thumping against the snowy ground while Basilisk simply crossed his arms and scoffed.

"Of course, you did. People tend to enjoy it when someone cares for them, allows them to start relaxing and no longer caring about themselves" He sighed.

"But, enough of that, how are you?"

I shrugged a little. "Fine more or less, my tail's nearly freezing off." I snorted, Basilisk letting out a small chuckle of his own before he suddenly turned his head to the loud calling of his name.

"The King calls." Basilisk grumbled. "Do you wish to meet him?"

My eyes widened a little, I was supposed to be here on a snowy vacation! I didn't need the mental stress of dealing with a royal.

"Depends, are we going to talk about business?" I snorted, causing Basilisk to grumble before he began to turn to start slithering away.

"Of course not, even my King hates the talk of business on his rare days off." He sighed, a small chuckle leaving me before I quickly rushed after him.