"Aghhh," Daisuke groaned, his eyes flickering open as awareness dawned within him. Where… am I? What happened? Instinctively, he reached up to touch the spot where his head met the rock, frowning at the tender bump that dwelled there.
As the fog in his mind cleared, a flurry of memories came gushing forward, particularly the one where the chimera's fangs narrowly missed closing around his face. Jarred awake by the harrowing visual, he attempted to push to his feet, but a sharp pain had him freezing in place with a snarl. Belatedly, he noticed that his ankle was sprained, rendering him easy prey for opportunistic predators.
"That's just great," he murmured drearily.
Crawling on his stomach, he slowly made his way over to a nearby tree. With his back against its solid trunk, he awkwardly positioned himself upright, gazing out into the unforgiving forest. I guess this is where it ends for me, he muttered, his inner voice laced with resignation. It's what I get for thinking I could single-handedly take on that monster.
The world seemed to contort into shades of bleak gray, as if all color had been drained away, leaving only a hollow, lifeless void. Minutes stretched into hours, days, and then two excruciating days, each passing moment worsening his hunger. Daisuke wasn't sure about the game's mechanics, but in the real world, a human could survive at least two weeks without food, but only three days without water. He contemplated crawling around in search of the nearby water source he sensed, but abandoning what he now perceived as a safe refuge to do so was basically looking for trouble.
Withered and on the brink of dehydration, Daisuke's thoughts eventually turned morbid. What did I do to deserve this? Did I truly enslave and slaughter an entire race of people in my past life? I've sacrificed so much, only to be abandoned and left for dead in the end. How is any of this fair to me?
His eyes grew dark, the once soft gleam slowly replaced by anger and resentment. Just as his heart threatened to freeze over entirely, a tiny canine cautiously approached from the surrounding brush. He was bloodied and limping, his matted coat as tattered as the rags that clung to the boy's own body.
"Get lost," Daisuke muttered coldly as the small pup, no larger than a baby Shih Tzu, gazed up at him with hopeful eyes. "I said scram! I can hardly manage myself let alone take on another mouth to feed."
When the creature stubbornly refused to leave, Daisuke reluctantly hurled a stone in his direction, an act he instantly regretted as it drained the last of his energy. But his intentions bore fruit.
The pup whimpered softly before turning tail and fleeing into the shadows. With the creature finally gone, Daisuke was left with the bleak choice of either resigning himself to wither away in peace, or summoning the strength to seek out water and likely get eaten alive in the process.
***
Emerging from the shrubs into a small clearing, the pup flopped onto his belly, legs splayed in every direction with a small pink tongue sticking out of his mouth.
"Ahrr," he whined, glancing up at a familiar figure hidden away behind a gray hooded cloak.
Bending her knees, the young girl stroked the pup's head tenderly, crimson-red eyes quivering sympathetically within her hood. "No luck, huh?"
"Rawrwu," the canine exhaled wearily.
With a wistful smile, the girl shifted her body quietly, peeking through the undergrowth at the boy who, with just a selfless act of kindness, had rekindled a ray of hope deep within her heart. As her thoughts drifted to the heroic way he had hurled himself at the monster to buy everyone a chance to escape, a faint blush warmed her cheeks, and her eyes shimmered with admiration.
Suddenly, as if the emotions invited venom in her veins, she abruptly turned away and hugged herself tightly. With deep breaths, she squeezed her eyes shut and focused on steading the erratic beating of her heart. Though her circumstances were anything but ordinary, she couldn't ignore the sense of duty she felt toward the boy who had risked everything to save her. Yet, despite that debt, she couldn't bring herself to close the chasm between them.
With a heavy sigh, she cast a glance at her canine companion, still weak from the battle with the chimera. His wounds were a constant reminder of the solemn responsibility she had been given—to safeguard the deity at all costs. She had sworn to protect him, and there was no room for failure in that oath.
After a careful survey of their surroundings, she had noticed a town just beyond the forest's edge. Her plan was simple: leave the pup in the boy's care, trusting that they would both rely on each other to find the help they so desperately needed. But, unfortunately, her injured savior was being unreasonably difficult.
"Awrru~" the pup sighed wearily again, his belly growling softly in protest.
The girl's eyes lit up as the woeful sound reached her ears, and she leaned in closer, a bright idea forming. "Oh!" she exclaimed, her voice a hushed melody of inspiration. "I know just the thing to brighten you both up!"
The pup's ears twitched, his gaze turning.
"Monstron!" she declared, her tone infused with a burst of excitement.
Before the words could even completely leave the girl's mouth, the ball of fluff sprang to life, up and raring to go, oceanic eyes burning with vigor.
"That's the spirit!" the girl beamed with determination, tiny fingers curled into tight fists. But moments later, as she was peeling her bruised and reddened face off the hard ground following a failed lunge at a Horned Rabbit, that determination quickly evaporated.
"…This seemed so much easier when it was just a thought," she murmured despairingly, teary-eyed. "But I can't give up now—Rai and that boy are depending on me. I can't afford to let them down."
From the neighboring brush, the pup looked on with a poker face as his female companion, time and time again, tracked and pounced on a Horned Rabbit, only to miss her mark by a wide margin. Then she would cry and throw a tantrum like a petulant child, begging the terrified bunnies to allow themselves to get caught.
"Fudge that!" one of them seemed to say as it bolted into the woods.
The pup's stomach growled again, a sharp reminder of their dire situation. It was becoming painfully clear that, at the rate things were going, all three of them would starve and waste away to nothing. The girl's intentions were pure, but it was obvious she was no hunter. Despite the lingering injuries that had yet to yield to his remarkable regenerative abilities, the canine knew it was time to take matters into his own paws.
His eyes remained focused on the girl as she stalked another rabbit, her moves clumsily and uncertain. She made her move too soon, tripping over an unseen root and sprawling forward with a cry of frustration. The rabbit, startled by her misstep, bolted away, but the pup had already anticipated its next move. In a flash, he lunged, cutting off its escape route. His jaws snapped shut around its neck with precision, the creature stilling instantly in his grasp.
"Rai!" the girl cried, excitement bubbling in her voice as she rushed over with her two left feet. "You did it! You actually caught one! Are you okay? I'm amazed you were able to move like that with those injuries."
The pup placed the motionless rabbit on the ground with a proud huff, then spun in a quick circle, his tail wagging furiously as he celebrated his success. But as his stomach growled again, louder this time, his excitement quickly turned into a sudden crash to the ground. He sprawled out, his tongue lolling from his mouth as he panted in exaggerated exhaustion.
The girl giggled softly, but there was a sadness behind her eyes. "It looks like you're mostly healed up now," she said, reaching down to caress the pup's head. "With proper food and rest, you'll be back at full strength in no time."
When her hand paused atop his head, the canine glanced up to find tears spilling down his friend's cheeks. Heartbroken by the sight, he leapt into her arms and licked her cheek with a whimper, her salty tears adding to the weight of his grief.
"After everything he's done for us," she sobbed quietly, "we can't just leave him here to die… all alone."
"Rawrwu."
"Take good care of him, Rai," she whispered softly, her voice breaking. "When he's able to stand on his own, come back to me, okay? I'm going to miss you more than you know."
"Kyuu~"