Crows circled in the hot summer breeze above the corner store's run down "open 24/7" sign, attracted by a loaf of bread left to rot outside the front door. It was a theme of his life to be discarded just like that loaf of bread, he even felt at times as though such a scene could symbolise the state of the world, or at least how he saw it. Subi entered the store drenched in sweat and sighed with relief as he passed through a jet of cool air streaming from the airconditioning unit.

His eyes scanned side to side as he looked through the shelves packed to the brim with icecream.

"Do they have cherry flavor, where is it? Ah here it is" he said as he leaned in.

Clacking his way to the front of the store he slid his hand into his pocket and pulled out a wad of copper and nickel coins. He flicked away pieces of lint as he counted the money.

"One ninety, two forty, four fifty five"

Placing the icecream down on the counter he waved at the distracted store clerk to get his attention.

"How much for the icecream"

The clerk looked at him with gaunt cheeks and dead eyes "Three seventy five"

Subi grimaced as his stomach grumbled. "And it says here you have a special on ramen?"

"Seventy nine cents" the clerk droned.

"I have a coupon here, for two for the price of one"

Subi fumbled into his back pocket and pulled out the coupon "Argh" he said as he furiously tried to straighten it out against the counter.

"Is corriander flavor all you have?" Subi asked as scanning through the box full of pale yellow packets.

The clerk shrugged.

*Damn it, I hate corriander. Maybe I still have a bottle of hotsauce at home?*

Subi tossed up two packets of noodles with the icecream and slid everything forward.

As the clerk tapped away on the register and scanned up the items Subi spaced out. The face of his niece popped into his mind. She always had a big smile on her face as she hugged tight to his side, it was as though nothing in the world could worry her. A bittersweet smile pulled to one side of his lips.

BEEP BEEP

Subi turned to the find the clerk struggling to scan the coupon.

"Sometimes these can be stubborn" the clerk replied.

"Oh, take your time"

Subi turned around and looked out the window of the store. Two cherry blossoms swayed in the breeze out front. Rays of sunlight gleamed down through their branches as the sun sat low over the city sprawl. Crows jumped about and fussed at the entrance.

The clerk mumbled and tapped numbers from the coupon barcode into the till.

"Sorry sir, it's just not scanning, I don't know why, I even typed it in manually but it's not working".

“Oh really, I guess I will put this one back then”

"Come again"

"Thanks"

CAW CAW!!!

The sound of the crows heckled Subi as he walked out the front door.

“Alright alright, calm down… Jeez”

CAW CAW

The sound of the crows wings fluttered wildly as the calls became louder in a flash. He turned just in time to see the bird swoop for his eyes. He darted out of the way and used his free hand to fend it off until if flew away.

“What the hell, come on!” Subi yelled out as the icecream tumbled out of his grip.

SCREECH! TING TING! RUM RUM RUM!

*Wait, what is that noise?!*

Sparks flew in the distance as a massive truck smashed hard into the gutter. Out the side of his eye Subi could see a wobbling black oval soaring towards him.

THWACK!

Everything turned to black.

Subi blinked a few times before lifting his hand in front of his face.

"Why is my arm see through, where am I?"

Something shuffled behind him, he turned around to see a blue room, and in the middle of it a black shadow.

"This week couldn’t get any worse. So let me guess you are death right? Come to collect my soul or something like that. I hate to disappoint you but I lost that a while ago, so you are fresh outta luck”

The shadow towered over him, swaying from side to side with a creepy grey smile painted on its face.

Mumbling and warping sounds came from its mouth, as it garbled meaningless word fragments at him.

"Chi to pa, wu ta si ta pak"

"Mhm, super interesting, my day was good too" he replied while rolling his eyes.

"Chi to pa, wu ta si ta pak"

"Look, stop it with that crazy shit and just get to the point already"

WAAAAAA WAAAAAA

The shadow began collapsing and reforming as it made alarming horn sounds, that blew Subi's ethereal hair backwards.

"I know I look like a scary shadow and all but you dont have to be mean about it, everyone is so mean" a girl's voice replied from the shadowy form.

Subi nodded along "Ah, fair point, I didn't mean to judge you on your appearance. I'm just used to a lot of bullshit, and this is another in a long line of crap that just keeps happening to me"... "Look, ah, if it means that much to you, I dont think it matters that you are a shadow, its fine, take your time and let me know what you came here to tell me when you are ready".

"You aren't horrified I look like this"

"No... really, I'm not"

"Really?"

"Yeah really"

"Haha, PSYCHE!"

The black shadow drifted away to reveal a girl with blonde hair and pig tails wrapped up with pink ribbons. Her pink and white dress hung tight to her form like she was about to go out clubbing.

"You wouldnt believe how boring this place can be! I hate pretending to be their good little angel"

"Makes sense, so what was it you came to tell me?"

"You aren't mad I was messing with you?"

"Why would I care..."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"Hrmm," she replied squinting "You are a strange one"

Subi takes in a breath before unloading his frustration, "Strange one! You are the bloody one with a shadow form!".

Subi calmed himself before continuing, "Look, if I have more crap coming to me, I don't have the time for insults"

"Oh, I didn't mean it as an insult, you are far more interesting than most souls that find there way to this place. Not everyone makes it here you know. I'm curious why you of all people are even here?"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"I guess it means that most people that come here are overly sensitive virgins who did a little bit of good and are getting a pat on the back for it. To me it seems cruel to give the same treatment to you. Patronising even"

"Yup, that sounds about right, I end up at the kiddy table in the afterlife"

"Yup" she replied with a toothy grin.

"So what now? You gonna zap me somewhere or something?"

"Hrmm, I could, but I don't want to now"

Subi pinched the bridge of his nose and began to grumble, "I bet my niece is crying back in my world. I couldn't even get her icecream for her birthday, I'm pathetic. Look, I don't know if this is in your power or not, but could you make sure my niece gets the icecream I bought for her and has a good birthday. That is really the only favor that would really mean anything to me”

"Yes, yes she is actually. She's balling her eyes out that you are late. I suppose she'll feel worse about it when she hears you are dead” the spritely girl replied as glancing at a crystal ball.

“Can you at least do something to soften the blow?"

The girl squinted at the crystal ball until a pink pop of magic shot from her eyes into the vision of his niece.

"Okay, I gave her your ice cream, with a note that says sorry you couldn't make it. I don't know why I'm doing you favors, I never do favors. But I think I like you"

"Thanks" Subi replied as he wiped a tear from his eye.

"Hrmm, I'm trying to think of a better world for you than one with a demon lord and all that magic stuff... Hrmm"

Subi scanned the empty blue room for a while waiting for her to think of something clever but the girl seemed like a glitched out computer game load screen that just wasn't moving. "So what is the verdict?" he asked impatiently.

"Hrmm, I have a world, but there are no humans in it. Well... No inhabitable humans in it. Lot's of slugs and gentle creatures though. Good food sources, and nothing prone to violence"

"Wait, what, don't make me some weird thoughtless slug thing. At least give me the dignity of thought"

"Ah fine, but you would have liked that world I think, fresh air and nothing to do but frollick around"

"Do I look like a guy who frollicks to you?"

"I guess not. Okay, then how about this one! You can be human, and there is no demon lord, but... I don't know much more about it because I haven't studied this world"

"Look, lets just go with this one yeah, it sounds like a balance between demon lords and frollicking slugs so I'm good to go"

"Okay, here you go!"

ZWOOSH

YIP YIP YIP

Subi's eyes rolled around behind his eyelids.

*Ugh, I feel like I'm dead drunk*

His tiny eyelids quivered before squinting open one at a time. Bright blue eyes, looked up to the forest canopy towering above. Wind rustled through the trees, and a waft of must travelled with it. Subi twitched his snout and stood on all fours.

*Ah great! I'm not even human...*

YIP YIP

Subi turned his snout to the left and saw a moist teet dangling above his head, as a giant silver furred wolf lay on its side in the leaves and dirt.

*That incompetent ditz! She said I'd be human! What the fuck?*

A puppie with dark blue fur and patches of red looked over at him with stink eye. It peeled back its top lip to reveal its cannines before shoving him out of the way to suck on the teet. It garbled and slopped as milk squished into its palate.

*Oh, so thats how it is? I'm getting sass from a puppy now? Fuck this*

Subi pushed off with his hind legs and bounded off into the woods beyond his mother and siblings.

*I've gotta take a walk and clear my head, I'm not just going to suck on any teet that comes along just to get by*

After bounding off a few dozen paces Subi's nose twitched, *Wait, I know that smell!*.

His tail wagged between his legs in excitement as he pounced out of the forest edge to the ridge of a steep decline. Coal smoke drifted up from a chimney down in a village below.

He tweaked his ear to behind him and could hear the puppies guzzling milk and yipping at each other.

*Screw this, I'm outta here suckers!*

Subi wobbled his way to the edge of the hill and cautiously pushed his paw into the grass.

PONK

His legs suddenly gave way and he found himself tumbling and skidding down the hill, until splashing in a muddy puddle at the bottom. He stood up and attempted to shake off his fur by wobbling his butt like a golfer.

*Alright, that wasn't so bad*

TINK TINK TINK

As Subi pranced through the street with his newfound puppy swagger he could hear the pounding of steel of the blacksmith, and the call of merchants at stalls.

The people of the village towered like giants above him, as though they were five stories tall. He wound and twisted his way between their boots, sniffing the scents on the wind as he went, trying to look for something edible. Heck, even trash would be better than sucking on a wolf teet.

A man dressed as a farm hand walked past carrying a haybail over his shoulder.

*His boots stink like shit, and some kind of poisonous weed, hmph, makes sense I guess*

A young man in leather armor with a sword at his waist walked by smelling of ash, bone dust, and torch oil.

*Smells like he has been somewhere really old and dusty*

*This lady here has a second smell, kind of like another person, maybe she is pregnant?*

Subi strolled at the edge of each of the market stalls looking at the different sets of clothes and armor on display.

*Guess I have fur now, so I don't need clothes*

"Awww cute its a puppy"

*Hey hey, hands off me little girl! I'm not a plush teddy bear to squeeze, let me go*

Subi wiggled and kicked like a rodeo horse until he pryed himself free of the little girl's grip.

"Yuf yuf!!! Yuf yuf yuf!"

The girl, poor and with a dirt smudged cheek, looked at him with a bemused look on her face, "Oh, you dont want to be held. You sure are an independent little guy aren’t you, but where is your family?"

She had a point, his stomach was already rumbling, and he was already starting to consider if his life would consist of rummaging through trash cans to survive.

"Yuf! ... Yuf!"

"Are you hungry? Aww here you go little guy" the poor girl said as she pulled a small bit of meat off her skewer and handed it to Subi.

Subi bit on it and was surprised by the fact he could already chew and eat it down *Great, I guess I am grown enough I dont need milk, that is a relief at least*

Subi turned away from the girl and started proudly trotting off.

"Oh, I guess hes going home, okay..." the girl said with a frown.

Through the next weeks, Subi made a small home amidst bits of cloth and wood strewn about the backyards of the village houses. He also honed his nose to the point that he was able to find the girl by her scent whenever he was hungry and yipped brightly every time she gave him food.

"Hey, you are back! How did you get so dirty? You are getting so much bigger already, when I first saw you, I could hold you with one hand but now you are almost up to my knees"

*Hey, I'm not a pet, just give me the rest of that skewer, I'm hungrier now* he thought loudly as pawing at her leg.

The girl looked on sadly as Subi trotted off again after finishing.

"I'm glad he's growing, I think he lost his parents. It is hard to be an orphan isn't it" she said with a weak smile.

TADUN TADUN TADUN

Subi rushed through the grasses close to town, springing from his hind legs towards the sound of pattering feet springing infront of him.

POING

A horned rabbit shot into the air above him, twisting and turning in the middle of its arc.

Subi pranced side to side trying to predict which direction it would go as it landed.

*Left!*

He dived to the left with wide open jaws and snatched into the air.

FWOOSH

The rabbit twisted as it hit the ground and shot off like a bullet towards a tree in the distance.

*Damn it, I can't let it get away*

He scurried through the grasses until he reached a hole. He teetered at its edge and sniffed inside.

*Its already found another way out. Bah, I was so close too*

Subi trotted back to the village as night fell, looking down the dirt streets.

"YUF!!!" he barked as he saw the girl at the market stalls

"Look Rem, I can't keep giving you free food every day, you'll have to ask some of the others if they will feed you"

"But all the others say they can't, they tell me to go work at the hall, and the lady there said I'm too small to sign up"

Subi stopped as he listened into the conversation.

*Wait, the girl is homeless? I thought she got money from her folks*

"Please mister, show me some kindness"

The man scratched his head and tightened his lips.

"Sorry, just not today, maybe tomorrow"

Subi looked at her with sad eyes as Rem turned around.

"Oh hey there, I'm sorry, I haven't got anything for you yet, but I will keep trying okay!" she said with a forced smile.

*You are an orphan, I'm sorry I didn't know*

Subi dipped his head for a moment, before jumping up to scratch on her leg.

"You want me to pick you up?"

Subi responded with a little wag of his tail, and let her lift him. He nudged his snout to her cheek and gave her a happy lick.

*Don't worry, I'll soon catch food for the both of us!*