As the first rays of sunlight spilled across the horizon, my steps were relaxed and carefree. The weather was heavenly, and the scent of blooming flowers was thick in the air. With an energetic bounce that seemed to radiate from deep in my soul, my mind was made up. I was going to see the outside world today come what may. It was my last chance at freedom before my duty to the family took firm hold of my destiny. Tomorrow, I would become an adult.
My father had told me times beyond counting how within our home of Winterfalls, as long as I didn’t go past the magical barrier that surrounded the city limits, no danger could find me. “Xazorus, your life is here within the city,” my father reminded me earlier this morning as I sprung out of my bedroom. He must have sensed the defiance that bloomed within my chest so had wanted to head me off before that feeling took hold. “I see youth’s energy flowing through those veins, but don’t you doubt the importance that you follow in my footsteps just as I followed that of our grandfather. We live, we die, and we never question the blessing given to us by the gods. You will find happiness in our work. You will be happy, always.”
Even though I had risen early to not have been seen, my father, whether by accident or deliberately, was sure to make sure I didn’t get out of the house without his words of warning. Still, something was different about this day and the desire to be truly free ran rampant through my lungs. Another sensation flittered through my chest for the briefest of moments, it was an ache that I could not place. It was like a foreboding of evil deeds like I had been snatched away from… Well, regardless, that feeling was easily squashed by my confident optimism. This day was going to be an important one, I could feel it.
Still, my family would see that my wild-spirited nature would be forcefully tempered like steel hissing in protest as it was plunged into a blacksmith’s oil if they had anything to say about it. I let my ambitious feet guide me further and ever closer to the wild world that seemed to be shouting my name. Grimacing inwards as I remembered his warning, no one called me by my full name as Dad always did. Everyone else, even my mother, just called me Xaz and that’s the way I liked it. In my mind, it matched the ravenous silver-eyed gleam anyone found within my stare. Nothing seemed to escape my often-curious eyes for they matched my unfettered nature. Little did I know just how much that curiosity was about to change the only life I’ve known.
Growing up in Winterfalls, along with dozens of other trade families, was the life I had been born to. The town was not overly large, so little that only a single stone-paved road ran down the middle of it. The buildings to either side that held the varying goods for sale were spaced so close together that I found it harder and harder as the years progressed to be able to sneak in between them. It was a favorite pastime of mine to worm my way between the buildings and around town to my mother’s incessant dismay that more than one chore had gone undone. With little muscle showing beneath my drab cotton clothes, tomorrow I would turn eighteen and reach the age of adulthood. This meant that I would firmly find myself standing beside my father in his shop selling wares to the passing ‘Hunters’ who would find their way to Winterfalls.
I had been taught since as far back as I could remember, I would eventually take my father’s place in the family store and, in time, I would marry, have a child, and the next generation of tradesmen would continue on. That’s how it was for every family here. Generation after generation, from father to child, and shop to shop. This was the norm and, as my spirit lamented, was the life that I was born into. Still, today it felt… different. Perhaps I would finally meet a Hunter, even as elusive as they seemed to be in this remote section of the Kingdom. The last time a Hunter passed through was well before I was ever allowed into our shop.
Finding myself standing just before the edge of town, with my short-cropped brown hair waving briskly in the fresh air, I was greeted by a near-transparent barrier between me and the wilderness beyond. My eyes moved upwards and traced the protective dome that arced up over all of Winterfalls. I hesitated for what seemed like a lifetime, even though in reality only a few seconds had passed. No one went beyond the barrier, not unless you were a Hunter or an approved caravan merchant. I was neither of course.
“It’s not safe. You are not allowed out there, Xaz,” this time it was my mother’s voice that came unbidden to my thoughts. She had tried countless times to hound this fact into me. She had been successful up until this point. “You step one foot outside and you’ll no longer be protected. If I ever hear of you being out there, I’ll make sure you regret it, not to mention remember it for a good long time. Don’t you doubt that, young man.”
Once again, those warnings found their way into my thoughts, but nonetheless my feet remained planted to the ground, and I stood transfixed. My eyes looked beyond the protective dome and my imagination was already evading those words. No one left town, not once in the memory of my short years on this planet. Still, a feeling nagged at me to disobey. Tomorrow I would become a man and would forever be bound to my family’s fate. About to turn and let my fate be decided, a ray of sunshine broke the slight cloud cover, hitting my face and basking me in warmth. Any caution that had tentatively reached my feet was overwhelmed by that radiance.
The barrier shimmered briefly as I passed through, like passing through a still rippling waterfall, yet there was not an ounce of pressure as I stepped through. No warning sounded. No shout of outrage hailed my impertinence to tradition. Outside, the scent of spring and blessed nature flooded into every single pore. Where just moments before I had been warmed by the sun, now I was a flower basking in it. I felt alive like I had never experienced before. It seemed to be nothing short of a perfect day. A few rolling clouds lined the sky with most dotting the sun as it traveled up from the horizon to the east.
Looking one last time over my shoulder before my adventurous feet took me bounding away from home, a worry as quick as a thought lanced through my avid mind. Maybe it would have been a good idea to borrow my father’s leather armor. He rarely, if ever used it nowadays. My father last donned it over a decade ago when he made the long journey to another village with his wares. I could picture the hard leather in my mind, a dense layer of dust covering it from long years of disuse. Yet, worry didn’t hold me for more than a moment. My soul had been right. There was danger out here.
Even though it was far too early for anyone to be wandering nearby, a final look behind me was not enough to stop me. My feet propelled me forward. My choice had been made. Heading south on the stone road, since nothing had jumped out to attack me, I wondered, not for the first time, if my parents were just being over-protective. Still, it would be prudent to have some modicum of concern for my safety, right? The grass was tall on the side of the ancient road and matched the earthy-toned clothes that accompanied me on my journey. “At least it could help me blend in well with the bending grass.” I mused aloud.
Stepping off the main road and into the evergreen grassland, I traveled with quick steps. Even though I was disobeying my parents, I wasn’t planning to stay out here forever. Days earlier, I overheard of a nearby river, and I was interested in seeing that spectacle. “Yes,” I joked to a random fern, “A river is quite a wonder to behold considering where I come from.” The smile on my face was likely larger than I would care to admit. Comparing the feelings flowing through me to how it felt just yesterday was night and day. Not being able to quite place a finger on it, I was once again reminded that for an unexplained reason, it never felt right back there. It was like an almost haunted feeling that nagged in the back of your mind and made you feel like something was just not right.
“I don’t belong there,” the words tumbled from my lips, almost as if unbidden. Where did that come from? The thought felt like it was hidden behind a barrier not too unlike the one protecting Winterfalls. Though, even as I tried to focus on it, the feeling slipped through my mental fingers. The breeze on the air brought in a sweet aroma and that dark sentiment evaporated and was carried away.
Trees, the grass, and the hint of running water tickled my tongue as I greedily took it in. I was close and the bubbling of water rushing over rocks grew stronger in my ears. Breaking through tall grass that came up to my waist, a wide river finally came into view. It was ten paces across and at a steady pace. Judging it for a moment, it was too deep and did not appear that I would be able to simply ford my way across. Not to mention the lack of desire to finally head home with my lower half drenched in ice-cold water. Not giving it more thought, I urged myself further downriver hoping something would appear that would allow my curious nature to see what lay on the opposite bank.
Not long after, my luck solidified as I spied a downed tree spanning across from one bank to the other of the flowing river. Judging from the fact that the tree’s leaves were bright green with life, the tree must have only fallen within the past day. Recalling a storm that had passed through recently, it was easy to deduce that strong gusts must have been the cause for this once proud tree to topple over. Taking this as yet another good sign, I carefully worked my way over and used the tree to make my way across.
“You’ve got this,” I said aloud as I carefully balanced, my arms stretched out wide. Not blessed like my father with his thick runner’s legs and broad shoulders, I did make it up with the grace that my mother displayed whenever a festival dance came to our small town. Even with the danger of the rapids below me, crossing the tree seemed rather trivial as my feet found firm purchase with the damp bark.
Jumping the final few feet, I touched down on the opposite bank with a courageous smile wide across my face. Turning around to relive the not-so-daring victory, a dreadful noise reached my ears. It was a howl of pain, but with such a degree of anguish, unlike anything I had ever heard before. Icy dread and panic flooded my chest, tensing all of my muscles in an instant. Without conscious awareness of the defensive movement, I was crouched low, eyes wide, trying to determine what was happening. More than a little out of my depth, fear held me tight. This wasn’t supposed to happen and the icy feeling numbing my limbs was exactly what my parents tried to futilely warn me about. Another emotion though flared brightly for a moment, urging me onward to find the cause of the now muffled sounds coming from only a stone’s throw away.
Creeping so slowly that not even the crush of a dried leaf disturbed my heightened senses, my feet invariably took me ever closer to the direction of the tormented sound. Still not able to garner anything past the dense copse of maples, the sound of pounding against flesh became all too apparent. The horrid impacts were like a waking nightmare given form in the light of day. With each strike, my body flinched involuntarily and, without realizing it, my steps soon matched the pace of those heavy blows. Blood pounded in my ears and hammered my temples. Fear gripped me tighter unlike anything I had experienced in my short life, but, still, my feet brought me closer as if of their own accord. Someone was being brutally beaten to death and even my inexperienced mind could guess that it wasn’t long before that person’s heart gave out.
“Where is it? I know you have it!” a deep voice bellowed up after a particular bone-crunching blow landed. “Save yourself the pain and simply tell me.” Another devastating strike landed before the speaker continued. “Otherwise, you’ll find that I can carry this on for a very long time.”
There was no way that would happen, my fragile mind screamed. If I was on the receiving end of those attacks, I would have perished long ago. As if in response to my unasked question, a flash of azure light flared brightly. Magic, my mind screamed. They had magic! The curious part of my mind urged me to witness this never-before-seen miracle, yet the icy fingers of dread warred within my chest threatening me to bolt like a frightened deer. My curiosity won out and the shape of a man could be made out between the maple trees now only several paces in front of me.
“See,” the voice now said soothingly, but the tone was false even to my inexperienced ears. “Now, shall we begin again?”
At last, I was close enough to take in the horror beyond. In a grass clearing as wide as our city’s square, were two frightening men. The first was a tall bull of a man who was clearly the speaker as his demeanor screamed that it be from a remorseless predator. He was holding a bloody ruin of a man in a mailed gauntlet, inches away from his unshaven face. The strength that radiated out of the jet-black armor he wore was palpable and easily apparent with the ease at which the beaten man was held off the ground. He was tall, well over my average height, and had a dastardly set of plate armor with protruding spikes jutting at odd angles. The effect was terrifying to behold. With a wicked-looking sword sprouting over his shoulder, his midnight hair and dark sun-scorched skin were all at odds to the man held so casually before him. From ebony boots to his spiked hair, this man gave off an aura of pain, brutality, and barely contained rage.
In direct opposition, the other person was unlike anything his aggressor was. In one fluid motion, the poor man was thrown violently to the ground in contempt. The force of the throw staggered my senses as a bone-crunching sound reverberated through the air and was strong enough to cause the impact to reach the ground beneath my feet. Coming to rest on his back, he coughed up a mouthful of bright red blood. Underneath the copious amount of blood, the dirty blonde man had a lean, yet well-muscled frame. His tanned leather armor, though speckled with blood, looked well maintained though it was proving quite useless against the beast standing so casually nearby. If it wasn’t for the bruised face and blood-matted hair, I suspected he may have been considered to be quite handsome by many of the young ladies from home. One eye fully swollen shut and blood running profusely down his face, he looked to be a man teetering on the edge of death.
“I got rid of it, Marth. I’m done with this life,” the struggling man spoke through even more blood he coughed up. “Not all of us are like you who can only derive pleasure from harming the innocent people of this world.”
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Walking forward with a vicious backhand that surely split the dying man’s lip, the enraged man shouted in outrage. “The name is Duke, fool! And the people of this world are fodder just as you are,” he screamed in response. “They exist solely for my pleasure. I can do whatever I want, whenever I want!” The man paused a moment, seemingly on the edge of unleashing such violence that would only stop with the life of his victim consumed by its hunger. He continued, suddenly calm once more. The swift change in mannerism was jarring. “The same goes for what I am about to do to you if you do not tell me where your accelerator is. I know it’s nearby.”
With a deliberate motion, Duke reached over his shoulder, slowly pulling the blade from its scabbard. The blade was as dark as his armor and a sheen seemed to radiate just across its surface. “You are a fool, Stouter. This world is meant to be our destiny.” Duke inched forward, now leaning to hover over the prone man, “and yours is about to end.” If his tone could have taken a deadlier edge to it, it did just as his next words sounded like they had been grated across gravel, “One last chance, fool. Tell me where it is and I’ll cease your pain in one swift thrust.”
“You must think me the fool if I would trust a single word uttered from your foul mouth,” Stouter did his best to rise, but whatever strength he might have had was beaten out of him. Sapped of all remaining strength, it was all he could do to prop himself on a single arm. “We both know you take pleasure in what you do and nothing I do or say will change what is about to happen.” Firming his will to the inevitable fate before him, Stouter continued with disdain tinging his final words. “I chose this life, unlike you and so many others, to end people like you. One day, mark my words beast, you’ll find true justice from someone just like me.”
“Not today,” Duke kneeled low, placing the blade across Stouter’s throat, and purposely placing his hand inches above the resolute man’s heart. “… and not ever.”
With a motion faster than my eye could follow, the sword sliced across Stouter’s exposed throat which was swiftly followed by a line of bright blood. Defiance never left the dying man’s eyes, even as Duke spoke a single syllable and a gout of fire lanced from his hand. It pierced the man’s chest in a rush, causing devastation to the armor and flesh beneath. An instant grimace of pain screamed across Stouter’s face. With what was surely agonizing seconds for the prone man, the resolve never left his glare as he stared at his enemy. In moments, his body fell against the hard ground beneath him and stilled with finality.
The image of Stouter’s final defiance and courage in his final gruesome moments stirred something deep within me. As if some tenacity of his spirit had just crossed unseen through the distance between us, my own essence shifted in response. In the face of death, the man had ended life on his terms, without fear and an unwillingness to show anything but determination to his enemy. Unknown to me, I had just been changed irrevocably thereafter. Stouter’s fervent courage pierced every fiber of my being.
Duke stood up and slashed his sword downward at his side, flinging blood to spray against the ground near him. Incomprehension flittered across his face as if he couldn’t understand even an ounce of the fortitude that had just been revealed. Whereas the final act of defiance had bore a hole into my soul, this man was only bewildered by it. The brute, with what looked like practiced ease, replaced the blade at his back.
With the deafening silence that suddenly oppressed the clearing around us, terror finally gripped me tightly as the finality of what had just transpired reached my stunned mind. Fear of betraying even the slightest whisper to the man before me kept me as motionless as a statue. With a careless motion, Duke reached down, placing a hand directly on the dead man’s chest, holding it there motionless for several beats of my heart. As the metallic tang of blood reached my nostrils, my pounding heartbeat was once against noticeable as it hammered behind my ears. Loud enough that it seemed to threaten to cross the small distance between us and reach Duke’s ears, he was just hunched there motionless as if pondering something I could not detect.
“What?” Duke asked in agitation. “This is all junk, hardly worth considering.” Speaking to the cooling body under his bulky form, he continued. “I would have thought someone with such an advanced accelerator would have been able to find at least some loot that was worthwhile.”
Suddenly, as if never there, several pieces of Stouter’s armor simply… vanished. Blinking in astonishment, where before was a leather armored form, only a bruised and mangled body remained. It was not possible. I could only stare blankly as my mind raced, trying futilely to understand what just happened. Nothing like that should be possible, my mind screamed. Duke had just somehow removed the dead man’s armor, piece by piece, in what should have taken minutes, not mere seconds. In the span of three beats of my heart, nearly everything had been taken. All that remained was a barely recognizable figure with bloodied underclothes.
Duke straightened to his full height, towering over the body, and for no apparent reason lashed out a vicious kick. As the armored boot connected, Stouter’s lifeless form bounced away like a carelessly discarded toy tossed from a child’s hand. The strength behind such a simple kick was shocking. Such a casual blow could have surely taken my head clean off. “No one will ever remember your name,” Duke spat on the ground in frustration. “They called you the Fortunate, what a lie.” Turning an eye to his surroundings, like he was trying to unravel a mystery, he continued. “Make a final scan, Felix,” Duke spoke out of the corner of his mouth as if speaking to something on his shoulder. It was then that I spotted a small lump clinging there. Black as his armor, it looked nothing more than an unusual aspect of his equipment. “Are you sure the accelerator is nowhere nearby? This fool wouldn’t have given away something so valuable.”
My body had locked in panic when Duke’s eyes roved close to where I was hiding. As he spoke, my lungs began to burn for lack of oxygen, but the fear of what this monster would do if he found me kept the air locked behind my still lips. I dared not even blink until his gaze moved back toward the clearing. Deliberately breathing in slowly despite my desperate need, life-giving air blossomed in my chest. Please do not look over here again, I prayed internally. Even as ridged as I had been, the urge to bolt from cover had threatened to overwhelm me. If he looked in my direction again… I doubted my panic wouldn’t betray me.
As if called to motion by his statement, the undistinguished lump rose over Duke’s shoulder at that moment. Spreading out tiny wings, the object took shape and looked like nothing more than a small bird that proceeded to hover inches above the armor, wings flapping slowly. When twin beams of pale cobalt light emitted out of the thing’s eyes, my breath was once again caught. The creature spun in a small circle, and slowly covered the entire area in the cone of light that was emitting from the twin blue orbs behind its crow-like beak. The light reached out to everything in a vertical arc. “Negative, Duke,” a raspy voice uttered. The words had a mechanical element to them yet were surprisingly elegant.
Then as if drawn by my fear, those eyes passed between the two trees acting as anchors to my panicked mind. My heart missed a beat and my fingertips dug furrows into the bark. My heart was near to bursting from the sheer terror coursing through me. Those blue, uncaring eyes locked onto mine and hesitated. Staring me down, the voice, for what seemed like an eternity at that moment, continued before resuming its circuit. “Nothing of significance detected.”
A burst of pale light engulfed the bird before it vanished completely like it had never existed. As Duke held out an armored hand, the unremarkable lump was once again perched on a shoulder, and uttered just a single word, “Map.” An eerily similar blue glow sprung upwards from his palm into a projection of images that I quickly recognized. Even at this distance, realization dawned on me. It was a depiction of the surrounding countryside, complete with the nearby stream and even a small outline of my hometown. “Such a pitiful area, with mobs barely high enough to pose a threat to a level one Hunter,” Duke continued, disdain evident in his voice. “Why did the fool even consider hiding here? Felix, give me information for this NPC village.”
“Sir,” the same raspy voice replied, but this time without the fanfare of the tiny flying creature. Remaining as an indistinct bump, the voice was nonetheless as graceful and clear as before. “Small settlement. Designation: Winterfalls. Reported to contain multiple merchant families with approximately fifty residents. All are marked as Appropriated Homo Sapiens, Non-Player Characters. Level designated as Beginner levels one through three.”
Duke's other hand appeared to manipulate the projection. It spun around, looking to expand outwards for a hundred miles before finally focusing closely on the village. “Lead me there. Perhaps the fool hid it there.” The image winked out and Duke, making one final glower down at Stouter’s body, made his way out of the clearing. A thankful feeling flooded my chest when his path took him well beyond the trees I cowered behind.
Even when the fleeting sounds of his passing faded far into the distance, I held still for many minutes, fear holding me still. Finally able to coax motion into my drained limbs, I made my way over to the body. A mix of revulsion and anger filled my chest as I stared down at the broken form. The body was beaten to a pulp and a dark stain of blood soaked the entirety of the man’s shirt. The tang of blood and sweat was thick in the air. Pity for a man I would never know overcame me and tears welled up around the edge of my vision. I couldn’t understand how someone could so casually, so brutally end another person’s life. “I’m sorry,” the words came out just above a whisper and seemed hollow to the unmoving body before me. Kneeling, I reached out and gently placed a hand on the man's shoulder. Overwhelmed with emotions, tears continued to stream down my cheeks unchecked.
Not knowing how long after, my tears finally stopped flowing. My head bowed low, continued to experience sorrow for this poor soul. What happened to him was not right. It should never have happened. Why had that Hunter… done this? None of it made sense to me at that moment. The brutality and careless hurt inflicted on another threatened to pulverize my fragile mind. Nothing had prepared me for the devastation and realization of what had just happened. Having been only a few paces away from death shocked me to the core. Sure, Hunters had been explained to me over the years, but it was nothing close to what had happened. The promise of safety our home had offered and, even just this morning had been beaten into me by my parent, seemed stale and empty. We were merchants who would occasionally sell our goods to the “friendly” Hunters. The notion of being friendly would hardly be the reflection that I would carry out of this field.
Something finally caught my attention through the swirl of emotions and thoughts waging through my muddled mind. A soft, steady hum was coming from nearby. Glancing at a thick tree about fifteen paces away, I narrowed my gaze. The sound was so low that I could barely register it, but there was no mistaking it now. Something was over there. Had I not been silent for so long, I doubt I would have heard it. Now though, the sound was undeniable. It wasn’t the sound any animal would make, not to mention the precise pause of a second between the humming.
Giving one more glance to Stouter’s form below me, I stood, making my way over to the tree. At first glance, nothing looked out of the ordinary. The tree was as wide around as I was, with a bough full of vibrant, jade leaves. The humming was certainly coming from it, perhaps from within it. Walking a circuit around the base, listening keenly for any change in the sound, I finally noticed a small depression waist high off the ground. There was a small hollow, naturally looking knot in the bark deep enough for me to reach inside. Peering through the shadow within was a metal egg-like sphere, similar to that of an apple.
As my hand inched forward, the humming intensified in energy such that the vibration carried up through the ground to my feet. The thrum reached upwards into my chest and seemed to reverberate there for a moment in time with my beating heart. Then something close to my heart resonated in sync with the pulsing power. Feeling no danger or apprehension whatsoever, pushing past any remote hesitation, I grabbed the sphere. It was warm to the touch like it was a stone warmed under a noon sun. A fleeting memory from my childhood flittered through my mind’s eye, of holding a beautiful newborn pup, as I held the object. It imparted the joy of holding a new life just about to be born into the world. Peace and empathy replaced any sadness or fear that lingered within me. It was extinguished so completely that it took my breath away in its purity. Glancing a look back to Stouter, understanding dawned upon me that this was the object that Duke had been desperately looking for.
“Contact detected,” a voice spoke with the gentle tenderness of a child. It took only a moment for me to realize it was coming from the sphere held softly in my hands. “Appropriated soul detected. Removing masking protocol.” The humming intensified, its pulses coming only a fraction of a second apart. A connection, unseen in my vision as I peered down at the now shining egg, linked the two of us, irrevocably and unconditionally. The feeling of safety, peace, of joining burned brightly. The glow encompassed my body, its warmth coursed through me as the pulse sped faster onward until it was one continuous stream. “Accelerator Integration Initiated.”
As brightness began to overwhelm my vision, the egg’s shell split vertically from its base, opening like that of a flower. White light burst forth, and poured directly into my eyes, into my chest. All sensation vanished and my world became pure white. An untold amount of time later, text in large letters appeared in that endless brilliance. Scrolling quickly as if typed by an unknown hand, yet at the same time it also sounded clearly in my head as if read by a refined and cultured voice.
System Message: Accelerator integration has been initiated. Please remain calm as this pairing process is completed.
Notice! Anomaly detected. Attention! Non-designated, appropriated non-player character detected. Aborting accelerator integration.
Notice! [System Override Successful]
Pairing process…
10%...
50%...
90%...
Please stand by… Interface successful.
Welcome Hunter # 1,342,918.
Current Location: Prime World “Echo”
Character Status
Name: Xazorus
Title: The Free
Level: 0 [!]
Race: Error # Non-designated, appropriated NPC #
Reputation: Views – 0, Followers – 0
Attributes
Strength: 5
Dexterity: 5
Constitution: 5
Intelligence: 5
Wisdom: 5
Charisma: 5
Luck: 5
Health: 50
Mana: 50
Stamina: 50
Spells: # Error – Level 0 #
Abilities: # Error - Race Undefined #
Skills: # Error – Level 0 #
The brilliant light gradually faded from existence, returning my surroundings to the grassy clearing. Confused and a bit dazed, not knowing how much time had passed, I found myself sitting on my butt. Feeling a weight in my hands, I looked down at the shards of the metallic egg lying around my cupped hands, presumably parts of the egg from moments before. Lying inside my hands, was… a tiny dog. It was curled up in a ball and as I continued to watch, it stretched out lazily to about a foot in length from head to tail. It was covered in short, curly black hair that was velvety soft. Its eyes were a deep brown and shone with such a deep, inner intelligence that it took my breath away. Our eyes locked and each of us saw something profound within the other. For an instant, our newfound connection carried the weight of the world between us. Her tail, for I realized it was female, wagged ever so slightly, brushing against my palm.
“Hello,” her feminine voice smiled up at me. It was lovely and melodic. “My name is Stella.”