The pearls of sunlight flitted through the trees bringing tears to his eyes. Their warm rays were the only sense of salvation he felt. Painful spasms wrecked him. His body should have given up a long time ago. He collapsed on the ground. His leg wouldn’t respond to him anymore but he still wouldn’t stop just yet. He drew up his loose pant leg revealing his leg stump.His bionic leg had been severed nearly up to his hip.

All that remained was a small metallic stump revealing loose wires and dripping fluid. He looked around at the trees and heaved himself up for a second only to grab onto a branch and use his falling body to rip it free. He snapped off connecting branches and leaves. He grinded the splintered end against the ground, smoothening it down. He lay on his back gasping. He really had no energy left. Even doing this had overexerted him. Unable to overcome his biology, he fell asleep.

His eyes snapped open as he sat up. How long had he been asleep? The sun was still high in the sky, it mustn’t have been for too long. He checked around him for any danger but there was none. He felt his body but there were no vines or roots, no insects or anima or creatures threatening his life. He was lucky that nothing had happened. He caught sight of his mangled leg, the spines still in his body, the purple bruising and gashes covering every square centimeter of his body. He could almost laugh. Even he could never have imagined feeling fortunate in a situation like this.

Tweeting caught his attention. A small red bird. It pecked at blue berries atop it. Its jostling head brought some flying down to his feet. “What the hell? '' He muttered before eating them. The flavors exploded in his mouth. He fervently ate the rest of them. Some of the strength was returning to his limbs.

He got to his feet using the smoothened branch as a walking stick. He avoided the roots on the ground moving forwards at a snail's pace but as consistently as a tortoise.

He ate some more of the blue berries that he occasionally stumbled upon and even roasted some bugs. Their hard carapaces were unappetizing but at least they concealed the mushy texture of their soft insides.

The trees began to clear. Did I finally find it? Did I finally find the flower? Among the descriptions he had gotten he had been told it grew in small clearings. As his view cleared he made out moving figures. There was a pack of canine animals in the clearing. They had black fur with orange markings on their backs.The only glimpse of fur he had seen previously in his entire life had been an old ragged strip of animal skin with sparse hairs a trader had shown him, when the old man had caught him staring at it. A small yelp snapped him out of his trance. There was a cub there encircled by the animals. They bit at it drawing blood causing the pup to yelp in pain. One of them stepped forward from the group bit the cup and shook it. The cub cried out in pain. The cub loosened from its jaws and went flying up before slamming painfully into the ground. Why would they do that? Wasn’t the baby one of their own?

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Iota grimaced, he couldn’t stand to watch to torture any longer. Iota sighed, when had he gotten this soft? He picked up several sticks from the ground. He flung the sticks as hard as he could into the distance behind the animals. Their ears perked up but they didn’t react any more than that. He then lifted up a rock and flung it in the same direction. The rock smashed loudly in the distance, most likely against another rock causing a loud ear-splitting sound. The animals scattered into the forest towards the sound.

Iota sprinted to the cub. Well, if you could call his wobbly, crooked gait a sprint.

It lay there on its side, its tiny chest breathing rapidly. He picked it up, holding its small body against his for warmth. He then saw that another animal was to the side. It was much larger - full grown and dead. The animal had dark green fur that blended in with the surrounding foliage. It had similar green colored eyes. Black streaks went along its back and there were white spots on the back of its ears. Massive canines grew from its jaw. It must have been its parent, probably its mother. .

It seems you don’t have anyone left. Though Iota. He glanced back once more at the mother before disapearing into the forest before the animals came back.

He fed it some berries and inspected it. It was bleeding from many wounds but there were no large external wounds on its torso, as for its internals, it was hard to say but it wasn’t coughing blood so it seemed like it would live. He ripped off long strips of fabric from his shirt and used it to bandage its legs and a gash on its throat.

It whimpered and licked his hand.

“Since you’re a girl I’ll call you Alessia .”

He continued on fashioning a makeshift pouch on his chest where he put the animal.

It soon began to walk. Iota was amazed by its vitality.

He hadn’t noticed it but the sky was getting dark.

“Let’s call it a day.” Said Iota to the cub.

He sat down. The stick he had quickly made was now bent and threatened to snap every time he put his weight on it. His fast movement earlier had not helped in maintaining its strength either. He carved a branch from a much sturdier tree this time making it as straight of a pole as he could get it. It was significantly shorter than the first one but that was due to its different purpose. He ripped thin vines from the surrounding trees and tied the stick to his stump. The vines coating of a sticky sap-like substance serving as a natural adhesive. Providing an extra level of stability. He tested it, stepping gingerly on it. It stood firmly under him.

“That’ll do.” He sighed to Alessia, tired but also happy to have fixed it at least for now.