Aetas Infinitas
Chapter 2 – The First Life
Here's chapter two Enjoy!
'In the beginning there was darkness, only the touch of a gentle mother.
Then came sound and then smell, and then light came to the world, and you find that its nothing as you had imagined it to be while you were still blind.'
The young pup opened its cerulean eyes and blinked repeatedly, violently shaking its head to clear its senses. The nidorina was nowhere to be seen- then it remembered the previous day and being carried away against its will. This new place was flooding with more of the two-legged strangers. They were so foreign, so from the unknown that they seemed like gods or some other form of deity that no one lower than them could fathom.
Their actions also puzzled the vulpix; one female stranger was entwining long colorful strands of something on a large frame that looked like it was made from the trees. Another was grinding sharp stones against other stones- that seemed pointless. The vulpix looked around for others of its kind but there were none. Upon a second inspection it spotted a pair of the most peculiar creatures posted a ways away near a triangular house. The fox picked itself up and curiously trotted over to the pair of pink and black bovine that towered over the young vulpix. The pup plopped down on its stumpy hindquarters and examined the set of rosy steer with a neck stretched long and high to see their heads, which were quite a ways up.
A slight breeze blew past and sent dust all over the vulpine, making the baby sneeze. The sound caused one of the pair to glance down and notice the ball of orange fluff resting on the ground just in front of where it was standing.
The tiny vulpix stared up at the bright pair with a perplexed expression; head cocked to one side, an ear straying on the side lying flat, eyes dancing in wonder. The vulpix flinched when the large bovine suddenly spoke.
"Well, hello there little one. Who might you be?"
The pup didn't respond. The pink cow's voice was cheerful and inquisitive and seemed harmless. Then her partner spoke up.
"Well?" The vulpix shifted its gaze to the other bovine and she continued to stare upward in curiosity. The second cow lowered her head to face the vulpix as far as her loosely tied rope permitted.
"You seem like a nice young one. Do you have a name?" All the vulpix could do was shake its head violently to the sides, trying to somehow get the cow to understand that it was of no name or origin that it knew of as of now.
"That's alright dear," the first miltank said in her loving voice. "Why don't you go off and explore a bit. "
The tiny pup nodded gleefully and started to prance away.
"And if you ever need anything, we'll always be here, love- we're a bit 'tied up' at the moment though," The first miltank whacked her partner upside the head with a hoof.
"That was sad..." She whispered.
The second miltank spoke again after she had regained her consciousness. "I'm Moon, and my sister here is Sun." Again the vulpix acknowledged the pair with a wagging three tails and trotted away.
This place was enormous. Large, triangular shelters stood towering over the pup who was barely one and a half hands high itself. The two legged strangers were scarcely clothed, save for some females, who wore long coverings of deep and intricate shades. As it continued exploring, a few children ran by, playing an innocent game of tag.
The whelp stopped short to avoid getting trampled. Then something caught its eye; something raging to the side in some sort of pit. The vulpix slowly ambled over to the mystical glow, and the heat of it alone made the whelp reluctant to approach. Its curiosity, however, moved it onward until it stopped right in front of the orange inferno. It stared at the colors in wonder, slowly leaning unconsciously to get closer. The pup jerked and stared to fall in but was swooped away with a harsh limb and crashed to the sand below.
When it had regained its senses the pup looked up at the inferno, and the creature standing next to the flame that had swatted at it. It was about four hands high at the shoulder, a glowing orange, and a fluffy white tail and head tuft. Black stripes ran along its back. The growlithe stood valiantly before the whelp with a stern but caring look in his eyes. He waited until the pup was relaxed before he spoke.
"That's not exactly safe you know." The vulpix looked innocently at the flame and back at the growlithe, lowering its ears and head. The growlithe's voice was a deep tone, but not of one too old and it came accrossed as friendly but the male's tone made it seem otherwise.
The growlithe rose to its feet and paced over to the pup, which lay down now and roll onto its back, showing its lightly-shaded belly. The dog circled the pup several times to inspect it, and when it saw the submissiveness of the vulpix it sat down again near it. He now wore a warm, loving smile and his eyes became welcoming as well, which put the tiny vulpix at ease.
His voice became soft in addition. "Now what's your name little fella?"
The vulpix didn't respond.
"Not much of a talker, eh? Well, that's alright. You'll warm up to this place real quick like. But stay away from that fire, it's not safe." He gestured with a paw to the left. The vulpix's eyes followed the orange paw back to the heat.
"I know it's early but eventually, and probably the one who found you, someone will take you in as their own and you'll be expected to do certain tasks for them." The pup looked confused. "That's ok; you don't need to understand right now. In the meantime you can hang with me and I'll show you around- tell you about this place. You could use a bit of getting used to. Come with me and we'll take a walk. By the way, my name's Kapok"
The vulpix rose to its feet and eagerly trotted after Kapok. It followed him down a long clearing of shelters, which the strangers were frantically going in and out of. This confused the vulpix once more. Kapok saw the confoundness in his friend's eyes and explained.
"Those are humans. They protect us and provide us with food, company and shelter in return for favors on our part." The pup still held a baffled expression. "We meaning the animals. Those two miltank I saw you talking with earlier, those twins are almost never apart. They were born about the same time as I, and I've watched them grow up into the fattest hunks of beef you'll ever see." Kapok laughed to himself.
"Anyways, those two provide milk for the humans. I'm sure you've had milk sometime in your life, right?" The vulpix stopped in its tracks at the word. It suddenly thought of the nidorina, and how it had been killed by the hooves of death the day before. The vulpix remembered nothing, however, of its mother before meeting the nidorina. It had been too young. Then the pup started to swell up with tears in its eyes. The baby then began tiny sobs and whines that made Kapok look over his shoulder and comfort the pup with its warm fur and tongue.
When it had calmed down, the vulpix rose to its feet again and continued its walk with Kapok. He told the vulpix many things about the humans, including the way they ate, their customs and how that some even still remained a mystery to Kapok, and how the humans interacted with the animals. The entire time, the vulpix looked around it in curiosity at all the things that these strange creatures did. Kapok then spoke of what would become of the pup.
"You know, the man who brought you back is a very kind human, despite how intimidating he may seem. He will most likely call you his own, and then you'll get a name. His name is Laske and he is the brother of my human, Dusty Murkrow. He is a good man also."
The vulpix continued to stare with an infantile speculation at the growlithe. He explained some more.
"When Laske finally-" Kapok stopped when he saw Laske swiftly approaching. Dusty Murkrow was standing a short way behind him, carrying some wood. Kapok bounded over to him, leaving the vulpix behind for Laske to pick up. The vulpix trembled as he scooped it up with his large, strong hands and swung it over his shoulder, walking back to where Kapok had swatted the pup away from the fire.
Laske gently dumped the whelp back on the sand, and leaned down over the pup. He ran his hand slowly down its side and then lightly rolled the vulpix over onto its back, inspecting its underside. Laske stood up and put his hands on his hips. He called over to a human that the vulpix did not know.
"Yes, this one is a female, she is- a pretty one too. Just look at that smooth, shiny coat she's got there."
The strange human replied, "What are you going to call her?" The tiny pup still trembled on the cold, gritty sand as the humans conversed over it. The whelp had little idea of what exactly they were speaking of, although she knew it was of her.
Laske paused and thought for a moment. "I am not sure…how about Veri? Is that a fitting name for this creature?"
The strange human looked the pup over from a distance and slowly spoke, "Red Wolf…that seems to go well with her paint. I think so." The two humans discussed something that the vulpix could not understand and then the unfamiliar one went away.
Once Laske had scooped Veri up again, he carried her up a hill to a triangular shelter that Kapok had said the humans used for homes and were uniquely built to be disassembled quickly when the pack of humans was ready to move again. He had said that every few moons the male humans would go out, taking the animals that bore flesh-tearing teeth, and chases the huge herds of tauros that they followed. And many times the males would return with large pieces of the kills and discard nothing. The animals were rewarded as well with large portions of the kill.
Laske set Veri on a soft cushion inside one of the larger shelters, and left through the door so that the tiny vulpix was alone.
A/N: Well, there's chapter two. Hope it was as good as the second chapter, and I'm really sorry about the long wait. Since these are especially long chapters, they take me awhile to do. Well, there's not too much else to say except thanks for all of the wonderful reviews and I'll have the third chapter posted sometime before the end of February.
