Aetas Infinitas

Chapter 10

Savagery

For the longest time she just sat there, watching him eat, with all the envy and desire bottled in her simmering over the top, threatening to lash out and take some for herself. She wasn't a naturally spiteful creature, but thirty-seven years had done this to her; thirty-seven years of repeated abuse, lightless isolation, and clawing hunger had reshaped the once tender and extroverted young vixen into a mad dog who saw no reason for mercy. For that long she had watched that man age, and now he was as agedly strange as she had ever seen a human. His sons were long gone, they had twenty-eight years ago, and either of them had never shown any compassion in the time that they had lived here. Why he had let her in the house solely to watch him eat was beyond her.

Sometimes upon Phoebe passing by the shed she thought that perhaps that even the angels had not enough empathy to try and retame the thing that had been so beautiful from the savage and relentless canine. Phoebe imagined that the little vulpix was too blinded by her intense desire to stay alive to rekindle the sweet, intuitive bundle of joy that she had once been long ago on her own. She had tried several times by herself to approach the young vulpine, but never to any avail. Phoebe had hoped that someday something would revive the little vulpix, if there were any out there to attempt it.

Veri's anger still raged in the top of her head as it always did, the muzzle still rubbing against the skin where all of the hair had fallen off, making her even more agitated. He licked his lips and took another large bite from the thick leg of meat pulled off the tauros just the day before. Veri remembered hearing the moan of the beast as it fell to the ground from inside the shed. She remembered laughing to herself, rejoicing that the animal had died by the same bloody methods that she had scarcely missed that would have ended hers as well. But now, as she watched him eat, she held in a growl. Veri knew that if she showed even the slightest remark of retaliation, the consequences would be dire. So in her futile state she lay there, with nothing to do but watch, and stare at the enormous dish of fresh meat, dripping in some flavored liquid that made the smell even more intoxicating. The chain rustled as she shifted positions and he only moved his eyes to look at her while he continued eating.

In her anger she also envied the master's dogs, all kept neat and allowed to sleep inside the house on something soft and eat regular meals of things other than the previous day's scraps. The master's dogs- proud, brave, elegant. They were breeding at its finest and she envied them. She envied them all with a deep passion. That very moment, watching her master eat at that table, compelled her to pick them all off, one by one until they were all gone, and she could be free. She could barely remember the feeling of grass beneath her feet and the smell of open air- the feeling of freedom. The memories of her life before this had all but faded away into the attic of her memories. No one seemed out there to want to liberate her from this hellish prison, so Veri decided to do it on her own. Nearly forty winters had rendered her savage, one long snow after another.

Veri longed to have her smooth, beautiful rusty coat, and she longed to have a swift breeze rush through her fur and run down her graceful tails and into the grass below. She did not remember these feelings exactly, but they were sensations that seemed like recalling a past life; faint sensations that seemed like a vaguely familiar memory.

From that moment on, she began plotting her revenge. From the time when he led her by the collar back to the shed, from the entire night she lay awake under the first full moon of the summer, Veri held a sinister smirk to he muzzle, and scheming every second of it.

By dawn she had the entire thing figured out, and would tell no one, not even the ratatta of her plans. She knew that sweet, sweet Phoebe was of no threat, and if Veri had been in her right mind she would have been appalled at the way she was thinking that very moment, so hostile end evil with a dark aura that any around her could sense. Phoebe had never shown any antagonistic activity before, but she was in the way; she was the way, out. Veri knew that in a matter of minutes the young woman would be arriving at the shed door, and that would be when she made her move. In killing each and every person on the property she would have to be swift and make her moves strategically, which had already been carefully planned.

As the time neared, Veri began to slowly working the muzzle off of her face. Her attacks would be useless without her teeth, and more importantly, her fire. The two in combination would be a flawless match, and that was just what she needed to make this a swift and efficient kill. She worked the hard leather at her face, first pushing on the head strap with her forepaws and then flexing her jaws to loosen the tension on the top muzzle strap. After several minutes of working the leather Veri pushed up on the head strap for a final time and at last the muzzle gave way, falling to the floor. She wondered why she had not done this years ago, probably too hungry or scared to make a budge. If Veri had been able to think clearly at that moment, not only would she have been horrified at what she had become, she would have realized that for all those years her environment had slowly clouded and darkened her person. It ate away each day at what she once was. But Veri was too full of her own morbidity and was not able to comprehend these things. Veri thought that she had convinced herself that fear was for the weak, and her actions following in the next few minutes would prove just that.

Not a moment after the muzzle dropped to the floor Veri heard footsteps approaching the shed. Now was the time for action. Veri quietly stepped up to the side of the wall where the door opened, muscles ready to pounce. Every day for the past few weeks she had counted the steps it took the young woman to approach the door from where she exited the house. Veri recounted this number and this time it was not a single stride off- eighteen and a half steps exactly from the house to the shed and one for every two years she had been in this nightmare. Veri was clearly a nightmare spawned from a nightmare and she plainly showed it.

The second Phoebe opened the door Veri pounced upon the woman, sending her toppling backwards and spilling the food in the dish she was carrying all over the ground. Veri dug her claws into Phoebe's chest, and growled before sinking her needlepoint teeth into her neck and pulling back, tearing her throat right out. Blood splattered all over the vulpix's face and paws. Phoebe died with a look of complete terror on her face and had perished in mid scream that had died away in a choking last breath. Veri knew that they had heard the scream and would be coming out in a matter of moments to see what was going on and they would find her, and she knew what would happen. But she would get to them first. Veri ran around to the side of the house where she knew they would come out and hid behind a garbage can placed next to the door.

Loud, rumbling footsteps came from inside the house, followed by claws scratching the hard floor, desperately trying to follow their master outside. The squeaky door swung open, and Veri made her move. Just like she had planned, the master had his gun, and was looking around for what had caused the scream. When he looked Veri's way, she pounced before he had a chance to raise his gun and tore at his throat as well. He strangely didn't go down as quickly as Phoebe had, but he fell off the hard steps and rested onto the ground clutching his throat with one hand and the gun in the other.

All this time the dogs were running around the yard, barking at nothing, and Veri thought she had killed him right away, so she leapt for the dogs. While trying to get at one's throat, she felt a gunshot whiz by her ear and realized that he was not dead and firing upon her. He shot at her again and she dodged by rearing on her hind legs and dodged another by leaping into the air. When she went for one of the dog's throat's the master fired another shot upon her but she ducked just barely out of the way and it hit the dog in the side of the neck where she would have bitten it not a moment later. The dog cried out and yelped before falling to the ground.

Veri ran back to her master and ran around the side for a better strike and pounced him, savagely digging her jaws into his tender throat flesh and tearing back and forth. This time he screamed his last as she bit down a final time and sent a stream of flames into the exposed flesh, charring every fiber of muscle. Once he was dead Veri leapt for the other dog and gnawed at its leg until it fell to the ground so that she could burn its face. She then clamped down on its ears and tore them off, burning its entire body with a rage that now exploded like a volcano kept dormant for thousands of years to release its fury on the innocent victims that invaded its slopes. Veri now stood over the lifeless mightyena in a wide stance, a predator standing proudly over her prey. She was now free- Veri had liberated herself after so long. She turned her body around and gazed at the yard that was littered with the bodies of the four that had held her captive for a thick chunk of her life.

Veri galloped around to the side of the house where the shed was and found Phoebe's body still lying there. For a reason beyond Veri's understanding, she sat down on her haunches and stared at the body. Most of the blood had stopped flowing out and as she ran her gaze around the surrounding area she saw that where the bowl had spilled lie three hunks of fresh, juicy meat. For the first time in nearly forty years she lowered her ears in shame, but she hadn't the slightest idea why because she was so tainted with the foreign rage.

Without another thought she bolted away from the house and into the woods. Veri was fleeing again. From what? Herself? Hadn't she done this somewhere before for the exact same reason? It was difficult to remember but the thought kept flooding back to her each time she fought to drive it away. She was confused, and began to feel fear. The very same fear she had been so sure that she had driven away because it had meant that she was weak. Was she really weak? Fear had kept her alive all those years bottled up in that dark shed but was now causing her to run away. Veri ran all the way to the drop off and came to a slow trot so that she could stop and sit on the very edge. Here a strong wind swept past her perch and- this was the wind, the wind she dreamt about all those years without knowing it. Veri closed her eyes and threw her head to the sky and let out a howl.

She sang a long, sad melody, one that let all know for all within a day's journey in every direction know every single second of pain she experienced for years. The tune sang and then died down and Veri opened her eyes and with tears in her eyes she got to her feet and took a step off of the drop off. She put another paw into the air. Another gust of wind wavered her stance and threatened to send her toppling into the chasm. Veri felt the strongest urge to jump and end it all. What good was anything if she couldn't remember all that she had been through and what she had been? What good was she if she had no memory of the ones who had loved her and had shaped her into what she had been? At that moment Veri wished that she could just grow wings and fly away from all of it. Her muscles tensed to jump but a voice behind her forced her to halt. She opened her eyes and looked around.

Another wind suddenly sent her toppling off the edge, only to be caught on the scruff of the neck by the creature that had called out to her. It set her back on safe ground and when she shook her head to get the dust out of her eyes she saw the strange creature. For a moment she was intimidated, having never seen such a ghostly white on any animal ever before. It was twice as high as Veri, with a short snout, long, slender legs and ears, and the strangest bright pink eyes. The thing that captivated her attention the most was the gold rings that circled various parts of its body. It was strange but beautiful.

"Why were you going to jump little one?"

Veri said nothing.

"Have you done something you regret?"

How did he know about her previous actions? Now Veri was suspiciously curious and she decided to slowly pry into his intentions, although it didn't go very well.

"How do you know that that was my reason for jumping? Answer me or I'll damn you to hell," He recoiled a bit from her answer.

During the creature's brief pause, Veri got a small grip on herself. "Well, there are few other reasons that I can think of for one to want to end their own life."

"I…I've just done some things that just don't feel right. I figure that if I can't remember anything about myself, than what good am I anymore?

He seemed to know the answer right away.

"Come with me then. I think I may be able to help you."

And so Veri followed the strange, white creature deep into the pine forest, away from the hunting trail and onto an unmarked path where the pine needles fell to the floor and pricked at Veri's feet because it had been years since she had been in the forest and had made her feet tender. They walked for a long time, and he would occasionally ask her questions about things, things which Veri hadn't the slightest idea about, or at least what she couldn't remember.

Finally she spoke, but her tone still signaled that her patience was thin.

"Okay, this has been bothering me. What in the forest are you? And why are you acting all wise?"

Her sudden question apparently surprised him.

"Well, man calls me umbreon, but I'm different than my brothers and sisters. Where they are black I'm white. It's something that just came with me when I was born. They also have red eyes whereas mine are pink and I don't see quite as well as they do."

Veri felt a little ashamed all of a sudden for asking this question, and she wondered why he was different from his siblings. Yet another mystery Veri would have to figure out someday. She tried to decide to just let things take its course, but her anger was boiling up again for no apparent reason. It proved an extremely difficult task to not lash out at the white freak that was leading her nowhere and was acting as if he knew everything. Her muscles tensed as she held it back, but her unsolicited rage constrained her to leap forward at him. She was just seconds from tearing him apart when, without even flinching, he let out a shrill whistle and Veri stopped frozen in mid-air. She looked around, and eventually spied a creature very much like the white freak, but instead a light lilac pelt with elongated ears, a red stone in between its eyes, and a long tail that forked into two short ends.

Before Veri had a chance to say anything the white freak spoke.

"This is my sister. I have an almost certain feeling that she can be of great assistance to us."

Veri was puzzled and she narrowed her eyes in a low growl that resonated from the back of her throat.

"Helping us do what?"

"Trying to return back these memories that you say you have lost. Isn't that what you wanted?"

Veri sighed as she still hung limply in the air. "I suppose so. At this point I'm not really sure what to do."

The white freak put on a promising smile. "That's why we're here."

Without setting her down first, the two strangers began speaking in some tongue that Veri couldn't understand. After a few minutes when they had finished the purple one gently let her down and gestured for her to follow. As she continued to follow the pair through the forest, she noted that it was already a decent amount of time since the sun had been at the top of the sky, and she knew that it would be setting in a matter of hours.

" I don't mean to interrupt, but," She wasn't even sure what she was interrupting. "It's getting late, and I'm getting tired a bit early, with all that I've been through today."

The purple one turned her head around while still walking. "We are almost there. You can rest 'till your little heart's content once we arrive."

She seemed like a sweet and kind creature, like her brother. Not much thought passed through her head in the time it took to follow the pair through the woods. When they apparently got to where they were going Veri had expected their home to be a little…different.

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A/N: That's it for chapter ten. w00t! Where has everybody gone?