Chương 1: Legs so Little

His two feet smack the ground in a quick rhythm. The sounds of the pack on his trail sends a shiver down his spine as he runs as fast as his little legs will go. He wonders, in that moment, why he didn't just pay attention. He had seen the paintings his mother showed. The creatures in the wood eat anything they can to survive. He may be the biggest of my four-pup litter, but father is still so much bigger. The dense jungle flashes past his eyes as he scans the forest floor for a hiding spot.

That's what they usually do with father and mother. They hide. He can hear the yips from the pack of four legged things chasing. They are getting close, so close.

'Ok focus, focus, where was the trail. Should I circle back? I don't recognize this part of the wood... What's that shimmer?' He slows for a small bit to look at this strange tree with some symbols in its bark. Why would anyone mark a tree with these squiggles? Never has he seen anything like this but there, in the tree before him is what looks like a line of symbols etched into the bark going from the jungle floor up in an arch and back down to the floor again.

Between the symbols there is a dark hole as black as night, but the sun is high in the sky. When he left the hole my family sleeps in, they had just finished the first meal of the day. He looks up to find where this deep shadow must be coming from but only see normal tree canopy above.

'So, it's not a shadow, I guess.' His large round eyes go wide as he is ripped back to his current situation, when three creatures burst out of the bushes behind him. All three are larger than him. With narrow snouts and ears poking straight up off their heads. These things have a lot of sharp looking teeth. As they prowl closer crouching down, he can see the sleek brown fur bristling on their back.

'I did it again. Why do I keep losing myself to curiosity.' As they spread out to cut off his escape, the creatures yip in a shrill high-pitched way that makes him stumble backwards in fear. The young pup scrambled to grab a stone, a stick, anything he could possibly use to keep them back. Right as he is about to really panic, he notices how the creatures pause and sniff the air. One whimpers and takes a step back. Holding his breath, he can't figure out why they haven't pounced yet.

He hasnt yet learned to swing the stick his father carries around. He doesn't have any skills or abilities yet. He is still so small, but none of this explains why these things haven't tried to eat him yet. With a snarl and another reluctant yip, they do the unthinkable and step back several feet. Slowly turning his head to the side, he searches for whatever has them afraid, knowing that whatever can scare this pack could easily eat his tiny little body for mid meal.

'Nothing that way' he thinks to himself before he turns the other way fast as he can knowing it must be right beside him. His grey furred brow creases as he slowly stands up. Nothing is there, but the creatures keep retreating. Just a few seconds later they peel off into the brush, and he can hear them padding away with several grunts and yips, probably going to find a small fuzzy thing to snack on instead. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

After throwing his hands to the sky in victory, he clenches his three fingers and thumb into a solid ball of a fist on each hand like his father showed him and start swinging them around. Pretending to be convince himself that he was just too terrifying to be eaten by those mutts today. With a spin and a kick, he misplaces a padded bare foot and falls into the tree behind him.

At the point his body is parallel to the ground he begins to wonder why he hasn't smacked his head on the tree yet and also, why is the sky split like that? Falling through this tree was definitely the strangest sensation he has ever felt.

'How do you fall through a tree.' He knew trees were solid things. He had even smacked a few with his fathers big stick when father was busy and wasn't looking. They usually make this really fun PAP noise. This pup really likes fun noises. Landing on his back was expected as he could see his gray feet against a mid-day sky. What wasn't expected was to stand up to find a different tree in front of him.

He scrunches his brow in confusion as he recalls the limbs on the other tree were much higher and it had sharp pointy leaves instead of these big fat green leaves.

'I can't hear the creatures that chased me anymore.' Concentrating harder he realized the he can hear running water.

'I know we don't have water near the family hole because I followed my father out to the pump days ago to fill our pouch.' He had tried to carry the pouch while it was empty, and it was like a blanket covering him. It was still shocking to think about how his father carried the sac while it was absolutely full of water. Ok so, new tree, no creatures, and water somewhere close. He realized he was thirsty, he doesn't know this place, and he is alone out here.

He decides to just be a bit sneakier this time and maybe he can get back to his mother and father before dark. Turns out, he was more lost than he thought and that's a lot of water! This river is huge! He imagined his father couldn't even throw a rock to the other side. After getting himself a large gulp of water and walking a bit of the riverbank, he decide he was probably not going to make it to the family hole today. The sun is on its way down and this place looks so strange.

He has found bugs he doesn't recognize and birds flitting in the trees that sound weird. Not to worry, he is the biggest of his litter.

'I know just how to dig a hide hole and that tree root over there looks perfect!'