Howling echoed in the distance. Quiet whimpers made him bend down to Alessia. He stroked her quivering body until her body stopped shaking. Despite some time passing it was no wonder she was so afraid considering what they had done to her. They seemed to be getting closer by the day. Knowing his luck it wouldn’t be long before they had another encounter.

Alessia raised her head from under Iota’s hand and gently sniffed the air. She darted of into the undergrowth. “Don’t run Alessia!”Iota shouted after her. “They are still to far away!”

Iota followed after as fast as he could, his eyes widened when he saw what she stopped by. She was standing by a flower nestled in the grass. He took out the picture. The features were identical: the golden yellow pedals, the spiky stem- although everything in here had spikes, the tube shaped top. The paper dropped from his hand.

“We did it.” He said softly, his voice barely a whisper.

“We did it, we did it.”. He shouted, his voice rising with every repetition. He could finally save Zeno!! He picked up Alessia by her front paws and swung her around. Alessia was confused as to why her owner was so happy by the plant but she barked happily as well.

A howl pierced the air. Animals burst from the surroundings and circled them.

Iota turned towards them, placing Alessia at his back next to the flower putting his body between them both, at the same time he retrieved a blade from within his clothes. The animals raised their hackles growling and snarling.

A larger one on his left leapt forward. Iota kicked it with his good leg. It connected solidly with its ear. It yelped and moved back. Another fainted at him flashing sharp teeth. Iota didn’t react. Another one charged for real this time. Iota stabbed it in the neck, blood spilled freely. It retreated, making choking sounds before collapsing. The other animals were more cautious now.

A darker maned one among them stepped forward. Judging by its confident gait and snarl it gave, sending the remaining one slightly back it seemed to be the leader. The force of its attack knocked him onto his back driving the air out of him. He was only just able to avoid crushing Alessia and the flower. Its fanged snapped shut a hair's breadth from his face. Holding its head back was taking all the energy he had. The animal's claws scraped at his already worn down body.

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Was it worth it to fight this hard? Maybe this was just a way of life in the Safrarian forest. What right did he have to be here and disrupt the natural order of things? He had interfered with nature, wasn’t that his mis - Alessia whined before charging at it and nipping at its feet. All doubt vanished from his mind. How had he dared to think that way!? After everything they had been through. Who was nature to decide? He punctured it in the neck. The entire creature went limp. It cried out meekly but its eyes soon glazed over. The knife stayed even without any support from his hand. He withdrew it, heaving it out of its heavily muscled neck.

There was only one left. It retreated, its tail between its legs. He threw his knife at it. It pierced it in the back of its neck between its ears. It collapsed and rolled to a stop. Its limbs and neck twisted unnaturally. Alessia darted up to it, biting its vice like jaws into it for good measure.

He tiredly picked the flower. To his surprise the roots of the flower were long and still connected. Further pulling revealed that it went underground. He followed it and to his surprise it led to more flowers. They all seemed to be connected. Maybe it was all one plant? He wondered. Iota collected that and did the same thing until he had ten of them.

Iota then made his way to the animal corpres littering the area. He quickly butchered one of them, slicing through the coarse fur and tough skin. He separated limbs and cut through tendons and ligaments. He wrapped the meat in leaves and placed them on his belt and in his backpack. He separated its black pelt from its body. He removed the remaining yellow fat and flesh still sticking to it.

He would have rather avoided harvesting it especially considering its similarity to Alessia but in the Sagrarian forest it was a literal dog eat dog world. Alessia had fallen asleep by now. Her paws tucked underneath her head serving as a pillow.

He wrapped the pelt around him. The pungent smell of the fur and raw meat made an unholy combination but it would do. He continued going back. If he stayed any longer he really would die. Alessia walked in front of him and wagged her tail. He wasn’t as durable or as adaptable as she was. His fatigue seemed to roll over him. He had never allowed his body a moment's rest until he found the plant. Even when he had passed out, he hadn’t felt anymore rested afterwards. Numbness overcame his body. The world tilted to its side, except he realized it was him turning. It didn’t hurt when he fell. Alessia barked.At least he thought so based off ff her opening and closing mouth, he couldn’t hear a thing. His world enveloped into darkness