Slammed against the wall with a loud bang, my head hits a jagged edge. I scream out from the pain. I can feel a throb in my brain as it begins to swell and push against my fractured skull.

I let out a whimper filled with all my emotions—fear, pain, reluctant submission, and a hint of anger. Shaking and unsteady, I look at my attacker. He is a robed man, probably just a henchman of him.

“Stupid fox!” The man spits on me. The next thing I knew, there was a foot on my ribs—the pressure of the foot slowly increasing to a painful level. Sensing joy from the man, I look up only to be greeted with a sadistic smile slowly forming on his face. The pressure increases and my ribs begin to hurt under the force of the foot. Squirming and screeching, the man’s joy only increases; his smile widens.

With a loud and painful yelp, the sound of bones cracking reach my ears. Then, not a second later, the sound of multiple bones snapping—the man’s enjoyment reached a climax at that sound. I could only resign to my warden, unable to harm him, only being capable of releasing cries of pain.

“HAHA, look at you. Pathetic!” The man spits on my trembling body—a body I can no longer control, the pain still rushing through my nerves. All I can do is whimper. “How many times have I needed to give you this lesson? I lost track. Every time you try to attack me, you will only receive pain.”

Attaching a leash to the collar around my neck, the robed man stood back up and gave me a look of disgust—a look as if he stepped on a pile of shit that stained his shoe. He began walking out of my cell, wiping his hands on his robe. I tried to stand on my wobbling feet, but he was too quick. I fell down on the rocky floor and was dragged through the lab. Rock after rock. I Screeched out in pain as rocks and gravel occasionally hit my broken ribs.

As we stopped, I was given a moment of relief as I lay there, not daring to move in fear of more pain. I tried to find a place in my memories—an escape from my torture—but I was only met with difficulty. Over the years, my memory has degraded, replaced with the latest memories of suffering, loneliness, and fear.

Interrupted by sudden suffocation, the robed man lifted me up by the leash. I couldn’t breathe. My body contorted as I wiggled and writhed—mouth wide open and paws scratching at the metal collar around my neck—a futile and desperate attempt to allow oxygen through my asphyxiating throat.

My suffocation only lasted for a few seconds, and after a few more seconds of rest, my back was pressed against a table. The robed man locked my neck and limbs to the table, my underbelly and stomach pointing up, exposed.

A little while later, I could hear an all too familiar sound. The sound of steel rubbing against steel. With every scrape, I shivered. This sound was always followed by pain. Always.

I struggled to swallow the saliva building up in my mouth—an ever-growing lump in my throat preventing me from doing so. All that could pass through was labored breaths—which were growing quicker and uncontrolled as I began hyperventilating at the expectation of extreme pain. The pain of a blade slowly, and with practiced precision, splitting my skin, exposing my organs, blood gushing out and being sucked into some magical device. The pain of watching as the once-hot area of my body slowly turned cold and numb. The scene of tools entering my body, changing me, mutating me.

Suddenly squinting my eyes, a light is focused on me. Commanding my eyes to see beyond the light, I experienced a burning feeling as my pupils were forcefully expanded—dilating outwards, taking in more light to see beyond. And there he was. He was old: wrinkled white face, graying short and curly black hair. He wore a robe adorned with powerful mana stones of dead magical beasts. Desecration! It was the only way for the vile humans to use magic.

I couldn’t help but snarl at him; I choked myself to rip his throat out. I will kill him! My anger was only inflamed more as he waved his hand close to me, a seal appearing on my muzzle, preventing me from making a sound and opening my maw. I could only glare at him with hatred. I will kill him! Will kill him! Kill, him! HIM!

Silently suffering, I was stabbed in the gut. Like many times before, the scalpel slowly split across fur and skin, followed by blood gushing out. The illusion of warmth spreading over my wound was soon replaced by a frosty chill, a numbness from the lack of blood. I could feel the foreign substances entering my body. Pain shot up my spine while it squirmed in my body. Metal poked and prodded at my innards.

Focus! Memories. DAD! MOM! WHERE ARE YOU!

Grr, the pain. HIM.

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Focus!

﴾֍֍-֎֎﴿

“DAD!”

“MOM!”

“Please come back….”

I continued to wander around, hoping to find some sign of my parents. I marked the areas I searched, leaving pee-mail for them and myself. But sadly, I still couldn’t find any sign of them.

Reluctantly, I decided to head back to my empty home. I hate it. The den is so large, so… empty. I’m alone with no one else to keep me company. What happens if my parents don’t ever come back? What if my parents are lost? What if… what if… they are dead?

Shivering, I struggle to swallow the building saliva; my only comfort is the tails that wrap around me at the thought of my mom and dad’s death.

I can’t think that. I won’t think that! My parents are strong! They can’t die, won’t die. They will come back. But what if only one of them comes back? NO! Both will come back alive! Mom and dad are the strongest! So what? Return to an empty den? It’s the only thing I can do. I will find more knowledge stones! Quantum Mechanics. Chemical Engineering. Political Economy. I will continue learning it all! Mom will be so impressed. I’ll impress dad too! Dimac. Qi first stage. I’ll master all of it!

Reaching where I started my search outside the boundary, I was left confused. Where is the border?

As I look around, all I see is unfamiliar territory. I can smell it—this is where I left the boundary. But why isn’t it here? Where is it? Did I forget to leave the starting mark? No, I remember marking the boundary. Why isn’t it here?

Day after day, lost and confused, I wandered aimlessly. I continued searching for my home, only stopping to hunt, find water, and rest. After a while, I just wanted to find something, anything. That’s when, for the first time in my life, I found another sentient creature! I had been lying on top of a branch, resting, when I heard its voice.

“Damn. Escaped.”

Glad I learned the many languages of the land, I climbed down the tree I was atop. I was ecstatic! Also a little scared, but I was primarily thrilled. I won’t be alone anymore! So with gusto, I ran over to the creature.

The creature stood up, probably startled by my happy yips. That’s when I saw it, it was a human. This worried me since my parents would always say, “Nike, humans can’t be trusted.” But right now, I didn’t give a shit. I was finally not alone!

The human man saw that I was friendly and flashed me a big toothy grin and a light chuckle. He seemed happy to see me; he was probably lonely too! Quickly, he changed to a normal smile and greeted me.

“Hello, little fox.”

“Hi!” I yipped back. He wouldn’t understand me since he doesn’t speak the fox tongue, but I think he guessed what I said.

“Are you out alone?”

“Yes,” I replied and gave a whimper of distress. Then remembering the language barrier, I nodded.

“Ah, you must be lost by the sound you made.” He gave me a pitiful look. “I can help you find your home; we just need to make a quick stop back at my village. Care to join me? The forest is vast, and I can’t promise I will be able to find you again to help.” The man crouched and held out a hand to me.

I could sense excitement coming from him. He must really want to help me. Such a kind human! “Mn. I’ll go with you.” I nodded, walked up to him, and sniffed his hand. He smelt of dirt, pinewood, and grass.

Seeing my confirmation, the man pet my dark gray fur. The feeling was divine! So I gave him an appreciative nibble and a bunch of happy yips. He seemed to really like the texture of my fur; he kept petting different spots. Once he was done, I could sense even more excitement, and he even flashed an even bigger smile. He did like my fur! Good, my coat is the best, hehe! I raised my head up high and pumped out my chest.

“Hahaha. Alright, well, let’s get going.” The man turned around and began walking in some specific direction. Then he turned his head to look back at me and said, “make sure to follow me, OK? You don’t want to get lost again, right?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I don’t want to get lost again. I’ll follow.”

He turned his attention back to the direction he was going and set off with me trailing closely behind him. I wanted to talk to him more, but I knew this was not the place for a friendly chat. So following silently behind, a few hours passed.

We stopped a few times for water. The kind human man even shared his own water with me. He also found a plant he was looking for. It was called Gelsemium—a yellow-looking flower. I knew about it; consuming a little bit of it can cause paralysis and death. After giving him a wary and questioning look, he explained that it was used for pain medicine by the local apothecary. It checked out with my knowledge, so I let it be.

Out of nowhere, I got a massive headache. It hurt like hell. I even started getting dizzy and had trouble seeing. Then I began to have problems breathing and, at that moment, gained clarity. I was poisoned! The human poisoned me! These were all the symptoms of Gelsemium poisoning!

One of the final symptoms of Gelsemium poisoning was full-body paralysis. I entered a fighting stance. I needed to kill this human quickly. So with a snarl, I lunged at the man’s legs. However, it was too late; the poison had already progressed too far. I could hardly control my body and ended up grazing the side of the man’s leg.

He kicked me in the stomach and sent me flying back, hitting a tree behind me. Under normal circumstances, I could have easily killed him. But I was poisoned! Paralysis was quickly coming over me, so I had to act fast. Since I couldn’t beat him, I decided to run.

Though, even running was futile. I could only take a couple of steps before falling and rolling on the ground in a seizure. I was foaming at the mouth, unable to control my body. The last thing I saw was a foot coming down on my head.

My first ever interaction with another sentient creature other than my parents ended in betrayal. Why? Why lure me into consuming poison? To capture me? Send me to a fur farm? Ugh! Why was I so stupid? I blindly trusted him! It all makes sense: that smile, him pushing me to blindly follow him, he probably lured me to the Gelsemium flowers and away from any freshwater. Fuck!

And with those final thoughts of my stream of consciousness, everything went blank. I was knocked out.