[ScalySpaghetti]

resss

[appiesauce]

marking

[myth;]

Withdrawing, winner can keep the art~

Username: myth + destiny
Name: Quilo - "The North Wind"
Gender: Male
Favourite Winter Activity: Ice Skating
Having been born with long fur around his neck and ears, Quilo has the ability to survive and thrive in the colder, winter weather. He used this to his advantage and, when other Shadow Flitz hide away from the ice and snow, he enjoys going out into even the worst of snow storms to frozen lakes to practice ice skating, his favourite winter activity. The evergreen trees and winter shrubbery make excellent decoration for his antlers and body, so that when he does have an audience he looks all the more wonderful.
Favourite Food: Red Grouse
Though this bird is rare and not often found in his native homeland, Quilo loves eating the red grouse. It has been speculated that he loves it so much because it is rare, he savours the meat whenever he can get it and keeps the feathers to decorate his antlers and apparel.

Art: (the winner can keep these)

[khvoxtic]

mark

[~Teya~]

In this world, people are replaced with viscets, which are an average height of 7-8 ft. tall, possess fur and have a tail. Just keep that in mind, or else it may seem a bit confusing. xD

Username: ~Teya~

Halima ♂ meaning: "gentle" in Egyptian

Personality & Family

Halima was always the quiet one in his small herd of Shadow Flitz -- he was the watchful sibling, in charge of keeping a look out for the herd; in case of predators or even poachers.
Growing up being the second to oldest in his large family of four sisters and three brothers, he was always exploring the vast, thick wooded area surrounding them with his other siblings. None of his brothers or sisters cared that he was quiet, because they loved him the way he was. They fought back and forth often of course, but on the inside, they were a strong family.
Besides not being very talkative, Halima has always been quite nurturing, in the sense that whenever anyone in his pack gets hurt, especially a flit younger than him, he is the first to immediately rush to their aid. His mother even began calling him "Doctor" after awhile, telling him how that meant a viscet who healed others, and the name stuck.
Out of all Halima's personality traits, however, protecting those he loves is by far the greatest. It may be because Halima realizes that the herd is special; almost all of them had antlers, which was very rare for a flit. Not to mention the peculiar, shiny specks that seemed to always surround them; that changed with the Flitz mood. They even had a name for them: Aura (plural Auras, pronounced Or-ah). Once, Halima had gone so far as to run back into a forest fire to track down an elder which the herd had seen no sign of. On another occasion, he dived into thick thorn bushes to rescue his much younger sister, who had somehow fallen deep within the thorns; that mind as well have been knives growing in the bushes. His older brother, Luin, was also this way, but even he acknowledged Halima's dedication, going as far as to say, maybe he was a little too dedicated. At times, Halima would stay up for days, whenever he had a "feeling" that something was going to happen. But nothing ever did . . . except, one fateful time.
The night he lost everything.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

ＳＴＯＲＹ

Chapter one

Orange, pink and purple hints in the darkening blue sky signaled the beginnings of a brilliant sunset, Halima stood atop a low cliff; gazing down at the herd below, silent.
"Gud night, bruther!" Halima's youngest sibling yelled up to him, Halima smiled slightly at the way she talked. "See you tomorrow!" he responded back, laying down near the edge to watch over them. All the flitz were heading off to their various dens close by each other, while Halima guarded them. Rarely did a predator dare make its way into their dens, but it was possible, so someone had to keep watch all night.

Hours pass, nothing to be heard as Halima's eyes began to close; the only sound to be heard was the hoo of a lonely owl acting as a sleep inducer. The trees were wavering casually, and there was a quivering chill in the midnight air.
But -- something still didn't feel right. He didn't know what, sensing only he must keep himself alert, just in case.
The glowing Auras around him grew a bit brighter as his anxiety increased; but still did not understand why he felt so impatient. Everything was quiet, there was no present danger.
"That's it," Halima muttered to himself softly, staring out into the woods. "The owl . . . it stopped." he thought to himself suddenly, wondering what it could mean. "Stop overreacting," he could hear the voice of his family whisper in his ear, "there is absolutely nothing to worry about." they assured him, his tense muscles starting to relax.

There!

His mind hadn't imagined that: He saw the beam of a flashlight for a split second, just a little ways past the dens and up a small hill, full of thick pine trees and shrubbery.
Again, he saw it. But closer this time, much closer.
How could this be? Poachers couldn't possibly move that fast. Unless . . .
Then he heard it a second later, the most dreaded sound for a wild flit to hear, the sound of a roaring engine coming towards you, one of the few things that was futile to run from.
Halima watched in pure terror as the headlights moved even closer, unable to move. He had never seen actual poachers before, but why else would a vehicle used by them be way out here, heading towards him, towards his family and friends?
He had to do something, standing here wasn't going to help anyone. Breaking from his half-trance, Halima rushed down the cliff he was atop, scrambling down the loose dirt and tripping multiple times, he made it to the bottom within the same minute or two.
"Mom, dad, everyone, wake up!" He shouted urgently, immediately, a few of his brothers and sisters poked their heads out of the den.
"What are you all up about? This isn't one of your stunts again, is it?" His oldest brother questioned with irratation, yawning loudly. "Shh!" Halima began, "we have to get out of here, poachers, I saw poachers, coming this way!" all of the herd was out of their dens a few moments later at the word of "poacher".
"Mummy . . . I hear them." Halima's youngest sister commented, staying close to her mother's warm fur for a sense of protection, as the sound of an engine came into hearing range for all of them.
The Auras surrounding them all abruptly became very bright, not helping them in the least with camouflage. "We have to go now, follow me everyone, stay close!" Halima's father declared, going into a full on sprint in the opposite direction of the vehicle, so close now they could be seen from where they stood in brief flashes of light.
"It's no use . . . we'll never get away unless someone stays behind to distract them." Halima said somberly, looking towards a few of his siblings that had not already began following their father.
No brother -- it isn't worth it," His middle sister pleaded, frozen in place. Luin, Halima's older brother, nodded towards him, seemingly understanding Halima would never leave, no matter what they said. "Come on sis, we have to go," Luin ordered, nudging her. "Wha-- Luin?! No, we can't let him do this!"
"Now." Luin responded with a menacing growl, causing his sister to pinned her ears back, and run in the direction her father had gone. Luin stole one last glance towards his younger brother, and with that, vanished into the night along with the rest of the herd.
Halima took in a deep, slow breath, trying his best to calm his nerves, although, it didn't help that he had glowing beacons "buzzing" around him like bees. Swallowing hard, he listened at the sound of grass and branches being squished and snapped, and a motor coming very close now, reverberating from the ground and through his shaking paws.
Nothing could stop him, no one was going to mess with his family; not now, not ever.
Two shockingly bright headlights suddenly came into full view just mere yards in front of him at full speed from behind thick shrubbery; the lights blinded him instantly, causing Halima to shield his 'eyes' and cower onto the ground.
A moment later, he heard the loud screech of wheels and almost instantaneous great stab of pain when the vehicle striked him straight on.
Immediately flown back, Halima hit the ground hard with a thud. The pain was so unbearable he could hardly keep his eyes open as he lay there in the dirt, too afraid to open his eyes. "This is where I die . . ." he thought, giving into his ultimate doom. "At least they'll all be safe now . . ."
"Honey, what's . . . that?" Came a confused female voice as Halima barely held onto consciousnesses. "Why, I think that's a Shadow Flit! They're quite rare, you know."
"I knew you were going too fast," the female voice replied in a regretful tone, then after a pause, exclaimed, "it moved, did you see that, Geb? You didn't kill them!"

Chapter two

Halima stirred, feeling a cold metal pressed against his back and a peculiar, soft fabric covering over parts of his body. His eyes were still tightly shut, not wanting to see where he was, and what fate would become of him.
Pain was everywhere, his back, his head, and most noticeably, his right leg. His heart felt like it was leaping right out of his chest as he wondered nervously what was going to happen to him, he could be taxidermy-ed for all he knew!
He just had to open his eyes, he had to know what was going on, before he was killed, in the least.
It took a few strenuous moments for his eyes to adjust to the light, but he could see now; and what he saw confused him greatly. In a room of some sort -- he lay in a large metal cage, surrounded by other animals. Wolves, miniature mountain lions, rodents, and even a number of birds, that tweeted away their loud songs in an annoying fashion, nothing like the birds of the forest.
"Why do you wolves look so . . . weird?" Halima found himself asking a black wolf that lay in a cage close to his own.
The wolf raised his head, staring at him and looking a bit confused. "Huh, are you talking to me?" Halima nodded his head, and the wolf added slowly, "I'm not a wolf -- I'm a dog."
"A dog? But, you look so much like a wolf," He responded, bewildered, questioning his sanity. "Well . . . what's with the mountain lion over there, why's it so small?"
"Are you calling me small?!" The pale yellow "thing" suddenly cried out, sticking it's head through their bars with its slit, light green eyes. Halima stared at it for a while, not saying anything, he didn't trust himself. "I mean . . . you are a lion of some sort, right?"
The door to the room was abruptly swung open as three viscets walked into the room, all of the awake animals turned to look. The "dog" beside him wagged his tail, "Food!" he exclaimed loudly, (in the language viscets call barking, naturally).
"Well well well," A tall viscet in a white coat said, looking around the cages with a bright smile on his face, "looks like all my patients are doing excellent, even the Shadow Flit looks better." the male continued, Halima slid over to the back of the cage, intently staring at them.
"Are you sure the flit is doing alright, Doc? My mate didn't exactly just lightly tap him." The female that had accompanied the male along with another male remarked.
"Oh yes, the damage could have been much more severe -- for example," Doc paused, kneeling over to Halima's cage, and pointed to several parts of his body. "This guys thoracic or even lumbar vertebrate could have easily broken from the impact of his fall being so forceful, among other things. He's lucky the only thing to really worry about is the broken humerus on his right leg." Doc said in a matter-a-fact voice, turning back to the two other viscets.
"English, please?" The other male asked with a slight laugh, and the Doc complied with a chuckle. "His back could have been broken, but instead, the worst injury this flit has sustained is a bad break on the upper right leg; it's remarkable really."
"What's going to happen to him?" The female wondered aloud, curiosity written in her gentle voice. Halima looked up at the Doctor as she did, awaiting his response. "What is going to happen to me . . ." he thought, alarm bells singing in his mind.
"Well," Doc began, glancing down at the cage, "We can't put him back into the wild, sadly," the Doctor confessed with a heavy sigh, "flitz are born into one specific herd, they aren't the kind of animal that is welcomed, or even wants to join another, and I highly doubt we could find his herd, no matter how hard we tried."
Halima sucked in a breath, shaking slightly. What if this Doctor was right, what if he never found his family?!
"That's horrible," the female viscet responded, looking down at him with a pitiful expression. Halima whined, returning the viscet's gaze. "He won't go to a zoo or anything like that -- will he?" the female questioned.
"Doubtful,'' the Doc replied, putting his paws in his coat pockets, adding, "No, he'll most likely be adopted out to an able bodied viscet willing to tame him at some point."
The female looked over to her mate with a sudden smile, then back to the Doctor. "Would . . . it be possible for us to adopt him?" Doc seemed to ponder the question, scratching the back of his neck. "It depends; are you willing to have the responsibility of owning a rare animal?" the female nodded, and the Doc continued, "can you support them; feed, groom, and have a safe living area, along with giving them the attention they need?"
Halima watched silently as the pair continued to talk, turning towards the black dog. "What does "adopt" mean?" he questioned, the dog laughed a little, saying, "it basically means once you're adopted, they own you." Halima raised an eyebrow, "no one can own me, I just want to get back to my family, that's all." he muttered, head held high. The dog gave out a small laugh again, "we'll see bud, we'll see."

Chapter three

A bump in the road suddenly jolted Halima awake, thrusting him away from the peaceful dream he had moments ago been experiencing. In it, he saw his family running around in a colorful, lush meadow full of many wildflowers, he was also there. Laughing and playing with his youngest sibling, the way she talked still made him smile a little, but he never teased her. Everyone was happy, including him, nothing could've possibly spoiled that moment.
But something did happen.
A pack of wolves had been hiding in the tall grass, and were now attacking the herd one by one. "oh no," he had thought, "I wasn't watching, I should've been paying attention." within moments, the whole herd had vanished, leaving behind pools of dark blood in their place.
"I guess that dream hadn't been so pleasant after all . . ." he remarked to himself, grimacing as he glanced around his cage.


Where was he?

The question came to him in a flash; had he fallen asleep? And where were they taking him?
His heart began to race, the Auras surrounding him shone bright; echoing his stressed and jumbled emotions.
Another bump in the road caused the cage to move upwards and back down again; his right leg banged against the side of the cage this time. He clenched his teeth down as hard as he possibly could, trying to ignore the sting of pain that rushed through it.
Wherever they chose to take him, he was utterly at their mercy. He had absolutely no chance at escape, not now anyway.

A number of hours passed by sluggishly, finding himself unable to sleep. With a small movement, the truck squeaked to a full stop, but, since a large blanket covered his cage, he was unable to see anything. They began moving slowly once more, but soon stopped, yet again. This time, however, he heard the sound of car doors slamming as a presumed viscet or two got out of the vehicle, hearing footsteps as they approached.
The cover on top of his cage was removed, revealing a large house in front of him surrounded by forest and a lazy river, and the pair of viscets from earlier.
Here we are -- our home, and now, your home." the female announced with a vibrant smile spread across her delicate features, staring down at him.
He couldn't help but be drawn to the kind viscet, but then, the memories of his herd came flooding back all at once. "No, no. You don't understand -- I have to get back, I'd never be able to live if something happened to them!" he whined urgently, trying his best to stand, but his weak legs wouldn't allow it.
"Shh, it's going to be alright," the female cooed, putting one paw up to the bars. A low growl escaped his throat, "why can't they understand?" he thought in exasperation, suddenly making up his mind. Force was the only way out of this, he couldn't play nice.
Snapping at the viscets paw, she moved just in time, narrowly missing his teeth. Growling louder now, he banged his antlers against the thick metal bars, managing to stand to his feet with extreme difficulty. Once up, he began ramming his entire body as well into the metal. "Let me out!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, but it simply came out as a distressed howl to the ears of a viscet.
"Poor thing," the female murmured, with a now depressed expression clouding her face as she glanced towards her mate for support. "Are you sure you want to do this?" the male asked slowly, shifting from foot to foot.
"Absolutely." the female replied, with not even a trace of doubt in her confident voice.
He gave one last forceful smack onto the cage bars before collapsing, sighing deeply from the strong strain he had just induced; for nothing.

Chapter four

Soon after his "episode", the flit found himself being taken into a fairly large wooden structure behind the house that was much bigger. That was where he still lay, put into a stall of sorts. He had seen these barns before from afar, they put domesticated horses, sheep, llamas, among other animals in them.
But, never a flit. Not that he had seen, anyway . . .
Although he was in a stall, they still kept him in his cage, probably fearing he could escape somehow.
It was morning now, yesterday they gave him a slab of meat, but he refused to eat it; trying his best to ignore the grumble in my stomach. Maybe if he didn't eat, they would have no choice but to release him?
There was a creak to the left of him, the sound of a door opening shortly after. He pinned his ears back, sliding over to the back of the cage so whomever was there couldn't get too close.

Silence.

Nothing to be heard for what felt like the span of close to five minutes. Raising an eyebrow, he lengthened his neck a bit, attempting to see over the stall door without standing, but found that he couldn't.
At that moment, he heard a loud scraping noise move across the wooden floor towards the stall; causing him to pin his ears back again. It stopped, and the dark head of a viscet popped up, looking down at him with curiosity filled purple eyes.
"Hello," The small viscet whispered, smiling shyly. He couldn't have been much more than eight years old. The flit stared at him, remaining still. "It's ok," they said, "you don't have to talk; just listen."
He tilted his head intrigued, his gaze fixed on the viscling boy. "My name's Zabari . . . you met my mom and dad." he continued, placing his head on his paws on top of the stall door. "I've never seen a real Shadow Flit before, only read about them in school." the viscet paused, intently looking at the Aura's glowing about his body. "I heard about those too -- no one knows where they came from, but I know." his smile became slightly bigger as he murmured, "I think they're magic."
"Zabari, what do you think you're doing in here?" Zabari turned his head away from him instantly, hopping down from whatever platform he had previously been standing on.
"But Mother, I--" Zabari began, but was interrupted. "I told you you couldn't come in here alone, the flit may be injured, but he could still hurt you."
He twitched his ears, trying to see what the two viscets were doing, but it was too hard to stand.
"We can't just keep calling him "flit", mom," Zabari muttered lowly, and there was a pause. "What do you suggest, then?" his mother asked in slight exasperation, and he heard their footsteps coming towards him.
Zabari climbed up the platform once more, staring down at him. He returned the small viscet's gaze, looking into his eyes.
Swirly?" he thought aloud, glancing to his mother. She shook her head with a laugh, "definitely not."
"Fluffy?" the flit snorted, "you better not name me that." Zabari's mother giggled; "even he doesn't like it," Zabari shrugged, "maybe that means he does like it." the mother shook her head with a compassionate smile, looking down at him.
"What about . . . Halima?" she asked, glancing back down at her son. "Huh?" the boy squeaked, making a weird face. "it means "gentle" in our main ethnicity; don't you remember?" his mother questioned, Zabari yawned, saying, "yeah, I guess I remember."
Halima looked from one viscet to another, whining lowly. "Halima . . .'' he thought, somehow, the name seemed to fit him. He'd way rather be called "Halima" than "Fluffy" any day.
"I think he likes it," Zabari admitted regrettably, sighing. "I suppose it's an alright name." he added, perking up a bit.

Chapter five

The days began to fly by the day Halima met Zabari; the little viscet visited him everyday, simply talking to him for hours on end. And somehow, he actually found himself anticipating him coming everyday after this "school" Zabari talked about often. Maybe it was his voice, or the way he looked at him with pure joy, he wasn't sure.
In the back of Halima's mind, always, was the herd. Although he was growing attached to the viscling, he couldn't lose sight of his goal. Once he was better, Halima couldn't stay; he wanted his family more than anything, and he would find them. No matter what it took, he would find his way back home, to where his true home lay, calling him.
Two weeks after Halima's arrival, he stood in his cage, licking his right leg. It felt much better, he could even walk on it a little; not that there was much space in this cage for him to do much.
Hearing the barn door open, he raised his head to see Zabari, holding something in his hand.
"Hey Halima!" he said cheerfully, dangling the item in his hand; it jingled like a sweet song as the boy skipped across the floor. "I have a present for you," he hummed, hopping up his chair so he could see Halima better as he always did. He held the puzzling object up to him, moving it slightly to make it jingle. Halima pulled his head back for a moment, staring at the red and gold "thing" perplexed.
Zabari laughed, enclosing it in his paw, saying, "it's a Christmas bell, mother gave it to me today -- she found it while putting up the decorations." he stopped for a moment, "it's nice having mom and dad around . . . it seems like they're always leaving." Zabari muttered the last word as if it left a bad taste in his mouth.
Halima cocked his head, attempting to stick his nose out of the cage to stiff it.
"Christmas . . . I wonder what that means." he wondered, shifting from foot to foot. "You want it?" Zabari asked with a laugh, slowly handing out the bell to him.
Halima paused, suddenly retracting his muzzle back into the bars. He had never allowed a viscet to touch him before, and wasn't altogether sure he wanted to be. Zabari let his paw fall back to the stall door, still holding the bell. "It's okay Halima, I understand." he murmured, eyes downcast. Halima whined, he didn't like when others were sad; he hated it.
Sighing deeply, he put part of his muzzle through the bars until his antlers didn't allow him to go any further. The viscling looked up again, his eyes now wide with a grin.
Zabari held his paw out slowly, he could hear the boy's breath stop as he touched his soft muzzle. Halima flinched for a moment, almost pulling away, but didn't.

* * *

"Halima . . ."

"Halima!"

Halima awoke with an abrupt jerk, opening his eyes. It was dark, he couldn't make anything out besides the illumination provided by the moon, but even that didn't help very much.
Being outside, he could feel the wind on his back and the soothing sound of grass blowing back and forth around him. But, how was this possible? The last time Halima checked he was in a barn.
"So you have a new name now, eh?" Halima whirled to face the voice, only to see his father, mother, and whole herd.
"It's you, it's really you, and everyone! -- how did you find me?" he exclaimed happily, but they all just, stared at him.
"How could you let the viscets tame you, brother?" Halima's eldest brother questioned, with a look of deep disappointment. "You don't understand, they helped heal me, see?" he glanced down at his bandages, but found that they were not longer there. Sucking in a breath of surprise, he looked back towards the herd.

Gone, they had all vanished.

"No!" Halima cried, sprinting into the trees, why would they leave him like this?! It simply wasn't fair, none of this was fair. What did they want him to do, try to break out of a steal cage?
"Trader!" came the voice of his mother as a mere echo from afar.
"I never want to see your face again!" another voice exclaimed angrily, this time that of his youngest sister.
"You're a disgrace to the herd." his eldest brother muttered, suddenly appearing in front of him, causing Halima to trip and fall to the ground, his brother's face was shadowed by the dark woods, but the moon made his face just barely visible; that of sorrow and shame.

* * *

The flit stirred, feeling cold metal touching his face. His eyes began to fill with tears as he recalled the nightmare, whimpering longingly almost completely inaudible.
"It's not fair . . ." he thought, his anger growing steadily as his eye lids lifted to reveal nothing but his cage. Halima laid there, frozen for hours, staring into the black pit of loneliness and utter despair provided by nightfall.
He could not take it anymore . . . he was tired of this cage, tired of the viscet's friendly nature, tired of their games, tired of everything!

Chapter six

"I'm sorry honey, but we have to go," An apologetic, but rushed voice said, their foot steps walking farther away from where Halima lay. Twitching his long graceful ears, he listened to the conversation.
"But mother -- father, what if you're not home on Christmas Eve?" came another voice, this time he knew it was Zabari.
"Don't worry son, we will almost definitely be back Christmas day, be good while we're gone, okay?" Zabari's father ordered, a second later a car door shut. "You can't do this to me! It's not fair!" the viscling exclaimed angrily, as a car engine came roaring to life, Zabari continued to yell out useless words; gravel crunched and wheels turning soon made its way to Halima's ears as the car drove speedily away.
A loud growl came reverberating from the small viscet's throat, his footsteps coming towards Zabari now at full speed.
The barn door abruptly opened, a whirl of bone chilling air blowing into the barn. Zabari didn't even bother to close it as the viscling hopped onto his chair and screamed madly.
Halima stared at him, baffled, he had never seen Zabari so angry before.
"You would not believe what just happened," the viscet exclaimed loudly, flailing his arms about like that of the insane. "My parents left me, all because of their stupid job, when it's almost Christmas!" Zabari calmed down a little bit, taking in a deep breath, he continued. "I never want to see them again." he muttered, looking down at Halima with misty eyes.
Halima looked up at the boy, forming an idea. He no longer had much sympathy for what Zabari was going through, he knew he'd forget all about what his parents had done in a week or less anyways. Why should he care, when Zabari's father was the one who had injured him and taken him away from his family?

No.

He didn't care in the slightest, but maybe the child's emotional state could help him. Halima stood, nudging his cage as he stared at Zabari. Zabari glanced from the cage to the flit with a confused look on his dark gray face. "Are you hungry?" he asked, causing Halima to bang on the cage harder.
"Do you . . . want out?" he questioned slowly, grimacing with regret at even asking. Halima ceased banging, now beginning to whine lowly.
The boy bit his lip, he could see him even quiver slightly, debating on what to do. "Only if you promise not to run away, okay?" Zabari murmured, lowering his paw to the first bolt of three on the cage. The first slid back with ease, but the other two were too low for the viscling to reach. Jumping off his chair, he opened the stall door and reached for the second bolt, sliding it back slowly.
Halima glared at the third eagerly, shifting from foot to foot as a shiver of excitement ran down his spine. He would be free in a matter of moments! Soon, he would find his family, he would find a way; he had to.
Zabari clinched his teeth as he tugged at the bolt as hard as he could, stopping for a moment. "I don't think I can do it, it's stuck, I'm sorry."
Halima whined more, banging his antlers on the cage again. Zabari couldn't give up now, this would probably be his only chance of escape for a long time, maybe his only chance!
The boy sighed, giving the bolt another forceful tug; hearing the metal bar begin to loosen. "Just a little more . . ." he thought enthusiastically, as the bar moved slowly out of the latch.
With a loud clink the bar slid out of place, causing the viscling to fall back, signalling his freedom.
Bursting from the cage, he glanced around the barn; his eyes soon fell on the open barn door straight ahead.
"Halima?" he spun his head quickly, eyes now landing on Zabari who stood in the stall door, despair written in his features, like he knew Halima was going to run at any moment.
He stood there, watching the boy; painfully silent. This was his chance, no turning back, no regrets.
Wrenching his eyes away and turning them back to the barn door, he bolted into a full on sprint out of the large barn. An explosion of cold air smacked him in the face the second he was out of the barn, he hadn't realized the last time he had been outside was so long, it had been much warmer than now, so his fur hadn't adjusted into its natural winter coat he would've grown from being outside.
"Halima, no!" the words of Zabari echoed in Halima's mind, running as fast as he could through the thick, blindingly white snow. His eyes finally began to adjust to the brightness as he dodged large pine trees and jumped over small ditches, freedom was his now, all his.

But, how would he find the herd?

He tried to ignore the question for now, opting to worry about that later, he had to get a certain distance away from civilization just in case the viscling called for help. No matter what, he was never going back, not now, not ever.
Soaring over a large fallen log in his path, just as his paws touched the ground his mind suddenly clicked into place that his right leg was far from completely healed yet, causing the flit to tumble into the deep snow.
Struggling to get back on his feet, Halima took in a deep breath of air as his head emerged from the perfectly put mound of snow. Slowly but surely, he inched onto his feet once more, they shook slightly, as his Aura's grew bright. "I can do this," he thought, putting more pressure on his right leg, it stung, but was somewhat bearable.
"Halima!" he jumped, startled by the voice coming from close by, he had to go faster, or else Zabari could actually catch up to him. Beginning to run again, trying his best to avoid any ruts or rocks, he eventually came into a sprint once more, scarcely managing to keep up the pace as his right leg and various other parts of his body showed their utter displeasement at going so fast without little warning when he was still healing.
The first speckles of falling snow began to pour from the sky as he slowed to a walk, running was simply too stressful and he had already tripped three times over the period of half an hour or maybe even less. Catching his breath, he attempted to keep the weight off his right leg to ease the throbbing pain, eventually giving up all together.
Halima suddenly felt extremely lonely -- there was nothing around, not even a bird to sing a song to him, or a stream gurgling; even the falling snowflakes were dead silent. Thinking back to Zabari, he wondered if the viscling was all alone in his big house, his parents were gone so he probably was. It must be so very lonesome, waiting for your mother and father to come home all the time. He shook his head, pushing the thoughts out of his mind; it wasn't his fault.
But in a way, it was. If he had stayed, both of them wouldn't be so alone right now.
The snow picked up speed before Halima knew it; thrusting itself down from the heavens with a vengeance, tiny icicles formed near he eyes and fur, and it became increasingly difficult to make out the path in front of him.
Shaking uncontrollably from the blood freezing temperatures, his teeth chattered loudly, feeling his legs weaken with every step, while his head felt more heavy than usual. Flakes of snow refused to stop batting his thin coat mercilessly; they felt like hundreds of tiny ice pebbles were being thrown at him, and melting into his skin.
Finally, he just couldn't take it anymore. Curling up under an old oak tree, he closed his eyes, giving into whatever would become of him.
He felt ashamed; ashamed that he was too weak to find he way back to his family, too weak to do what they had wanted him to do, he had failed them, failed everyone he had ever cared about, even Zabari -- and punishment was never seeing any of them again, followed by a slow death.
Snow started to pile on top of him like a white blanket, his whole body stung as ice dissolved through his fur, but strangely enough; he ceased to shiver. He actually felt . . . warm? Or was he going numb to the sensation of cold? Halima relaxed, feeling his mind slip away into unconsciousness.

Chapter seven

Whisked away into his dreams, Halima forgot about his impending demise; envisioning jumping into the hot spring him and his family had once found, splashing water onto his brothers and sisters in a playful manner as he laughed blissfully.
He felt a soft paw touch his shoulder as he dreamt; thinking it part of the dream. The paw shook him now, causing his fantasy to abruptly fade away. Refusing to open his eyes, he pinned his ears back in annoyance. Couldn't the wolves let him die in peace? They could feast on him later.
Both paws shook him very forcefully now, a muffled voice accompanying it as well, but he couldn't make it out in his groggy state. Moaning, the flit opened his eyes lazily, attempting to rub the snow from his face so half of his vision wasn't just whiteness. His body felt incredibly stiff; he could barely move his legs.
There was a dark, blurry figure that stood out from the immense white surrounding him as the storm raged on, he blinked a few times, trying his best to focus. Their purple eyes stood out from everything else, Halima smiled slightly, even though he couldn't feel his face.
"Why would you do that, Halima?!" Zabari exclaimed loudly above the noise of the blizzard, hurriedly rubbing away the snow on Halima. "If I hadn't gone after you, you would've died!" he continued shakily, his voice beginning to crack. "I . . . I could have never lived with myself."
Halima swallowed hard, fighting the powerful urge to cry as he tried to move his legs to stand. "Luckily, I brought this, so I can guide you back." Zabari held up a peculiar red and green object, just as the boy fastened it around his head. He didn't resist, knowing the viscling would never harm him, plus he didn't have the strength. "C'mon, we have to get back," Zabari ordered, attaching a rope to the "thing" on his head and pulling on it. Halima fought against it for a brief moment, wrenching his head in the opposite way.
"You have to stand, can you do that?" the viscling asked, looking down at him. He groaned, trying to stand by lifting his legs up a bit, they immediately gave way. "Halima, you can do it!" Zabari urged, tugging at the rope in an attempt to help. He tried again, using his left leg first, it lifted, followed by the hind legs and finally his right leg. "You did it!" Zabari exclaimed happily, jumping up and down.
He whined, hesitating to walk; his legs wobbled from laying down in the cold for who knows how long, and he already felt tired. Zabari took a step closer to him, and hesitating for a moment, put a reassuring paw on his sleek neck. "I know it's hard to walk . . . but, you gotta try, or we'll be stuck out here." Halima sighed, glancing around at his bleak surroundings.
Taking on step forward with his left, the leg wobbled, but didn't collapse. Another step, he ignored the sting of pain that shot down his leg, and kept walking. "That's it!" Zabari exclaimed enthusiastically, jogging with him through the winter wonderland of deep snow with everything around them covered in a stunning sheet of white, as snowflakes rained down upon them.

"There!" Halima squinted, trying to see what Zabari saw as they ran. Perking his ears, he made out a structure in the near distance. They both sped up with a growing excitement as the storm still waged on at full force, but even it could not slow them down now.
He could see it more clearly at this point, panting hard as the pair approached. His throat felt dry, his feet ached, and he felt like a living icicle. But Zabari had somehow done it; he had found the way back . . . home.
The two pushed the barn door open, immediately feeling the change of temperature from inside. Zabari quickly slammed the door shut, leaning his weight on a nearby wall as he caught his breath.
Halima puffed out his chest; taking a deep breath in and out, as he started to move towards the closest stall that had a bed of hay. Allowing his fatigued, shaky legs to sink beneath him, he laid down in the stall, content.
Zabari appeared at the stall door with a faint smile, leisurely shuffling over to the flit and situating himself next to Halima.
"You know how I found you?" the viscling questioned, glancing down at him. Halima raised his head a bit, staring at the boy. "I followed your prints, yes; but after awhile they faded away," he continued, yawning sleepily. "One of your Aura's found me somehow, so I followed them, and found you." Halima stared at the glowing Aura's surrounding him; mystified.
"I knew it all along," Zabari remarked with a grin, "they're magic."

[Guest]

Username: fukaase
Name: Kiernan
Gender: Demiboy

Personality-
Kiernan is a sweetheart, soft fur and a soft heart. He cares more about his friends than himself, and would rather die than see his friends sad. He is physically strong and quite muscular, but if you ask him, he will say "I am strong so that I may pick up any of my friends in their hardest times." This proves true, as when he gets excited, he is known to pick up the closest friend or family member. He absolutely adores affection, going so far as to learn new things in hopes of praises. His fur is soft like a chinchilla, and he prides himself on being able to be like a living electric blanket for his friends. He will cuddle up to cold woodland creatures, as he hates to see them go cold.
Art- wip
Poems-

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wip

[hugs100]

Dropping, just gonna watch C:

[roelian]

reserve
katzuvo

[Medd-Lee]

Username: Meddled.
Name:
Gender:
Extra:

Oh lord

[dragonstars]

Username:
Name:
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huge ress o h m y g o d