Animas (comments/criticism welcome)

[catcher.]

Note: Each person has their very own animas, and a animas can be any animal, hawks, dogs, hamsters, foxes, rabbits, you name it. They appear magically sometime after the child is born. It can be in merely an hour, or sometimes it can take a month or two before a child get's their animas.
If a human is separated from their animas for too long (or vice versa) their strength will slowly start to fade till they are too weak to function. If you hurt a animas, their human feels pain too (and vice versa) If the human dies, so does the animas (and vice versa)
A animas is very different then a normal animal, for example, a dog would be full size at around one year, and die at around fifteen years. However, a animas will grow at the same rate as its human, a one year old animas dog would still be a young pup. A animas can also speak to humans.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter one
Two young creatures were curled up side by side inside a crib. A young baby girl, Adira, and her animas, a caracal named Amylase. They both looked so young, so harmless, Adiras caretaker feared the day they'd find out about the evil in the world. As much as she'd like to protect them, they were already destined to fight against it.

"I worry about them, Benton." The caretaker sighed as a ring tailed lemur delicately jumped onto her shoulder.

The lemur stared at her curiously. "Why Zinnia?" He asked her as his head turned towards the crib. 'Do you have no faith in those two?" He asked her.

She shook her head. "I do, but they're so helpless and young right now." She said, her voice full of worry.

Benton jumped onto the edge of the crib and stared down at the two, who had woken up to the sound of their voices. The girl giggled and reached for his long ringed tail. "They won't always be so young and small." He said as he allowed Adira to grab his tail. "For now, they need our help to keep alive, but in a few years they'll be ready to save our people, just give it time Zinnia."

"How are you so sure they'll succeed?" Zinnia asked him.

Benton turned his attention back to her. "How are you so sure they'll fail?"

Five years later

Adira walked across the house, the hardwood floor cold against her bare feet, not that she minded though. "C'mon Lace let's go play outside." Adira said as she headed for the door, but Amylase stopped in front of her. "Don't you think we should ask Zinnia first?" She asked Adira.

"Oh, right!" The young girl giggled as she and Amylase went to the kitchen, where Zinnia was making lunch as Benton watched.

"Zinnia! Zinnia! Can we go play outside, we won't go far! We won't even leave the yard!" Adira asked as she looked up at the young adult.

Zinnia laughed softly. "Alright, go play." She agreed, before she even finished her sentence Adira ran out of the kitchen towards the front door, followed by Amylase.

Adira didn't bother with shoes, there wasn't any need for them due to the fact the lawn was mostly soft grass with a garden and a stone path towards the gate. The grass felt soft and cool on her feet. "Tag you're it!" Adira shouted as she tapped Amylase on the shoulder before running off.

Amylase could easily catch up with Adira if she wanted to, but to keep it fun she chased her around for a minuet before poking the girl with her nose. "You're it!" Amylase said as she dashed off. Pacing herself so she was only a few feet ahead of Adira.

After awhile of chasing each other around they stopped and sat under the huge apple tree that was in the yard to rest. After a moment Amylase suddenly got up and put her paws on the trunk of the tree. She snarled slightly and climbed up. "Lace, what's wrong?" Adira asked as the angered caracal climbed up.

There was a squeal of surprise from another creature, Amylase fell out of the tree and landed with a thump while holding what appeared to be a young dog of sorts, but upon closer inspection it appeared to be a fox. Adira winced in pain, feeling the pain in her side that Amylase did from her poor landing. There was a shout of pain from a human on the other side of the fence.

"Amylase, that's a animas, let it go!" Adira cried out.

The caracal released it. "I realized that." She said. "But he wasn't supposed to be up there." Amlase pointed out.

After shaking its head clear, the fox climbed the fence surrounding the yard and hopped down onto the other side. Adira ran after it and climbed the fence halfway with little difficulty so she could look over, only to see a boy her age hugging the fox while scolding it. "I told you not to go over there! You worried me." The boy said the the fox, who nuzzled his shoulder.

"Hello." Adira said as she sat on top of the fence.

The boy, startled, looked over at Adira, who waved at him. Amylase hopped up and stood on the fence, glaring at the fox, who fearfully looked away. Adira noticed claw marks on the canine. "Amylase! Did you hurt that fox?" She asked Amylase.

"Only a little, before I realized it was a animas." Amylase said casually.

Adira ignored her and turned her head back towards the boy. "I'm Adira! And this is my animas, Amylase, she's a caracal! Is your animas a fox? I didn't know they could climb trees. Sorry about Amylase, she can get pretty defensive." Adira said excitedly.

"Adira, is it a good idea to be telling a stranger that?" Amylase warned her.

"Um, I-I'm Zade, this is Jax, he's a gray fox, they can climb trees. I'm sorry, he wanted an apple even though I told him they weren't his to take." The boy, Zade apparently, said nervously.

Adira waved it off. "No, it's fine. You can have one." She said.

Amylase looked at her, obviously not happy with the fact Adira was telling the stranger information about them and offering free apples. Adira hopped down into her side of the fence and climbed the apple tree to get a couple good apples before heading back to the fence. Unable to climb it with the apples in her hand, she walked to the gate, opened it, and walked over to the boy. "Here." She said as she handed the boy the apples before climbing back on top of the fence.

"Thanks!" The boy said happily.

Suddenly she heard Zinnias voice. "Adira, Amylase, lunch time." She called from the doorway.

Adira looked over her shoulder. "Coming!" She shouted to Zinnia. "I'll see you later Zade." She said as she waved goodbye before climbing down onto her side of the fence, followed by Amylase.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Important Characters
Adira-Female-Human-First appeared in chapter one
Animas- Amylase the Caracal
Other- Her dad was murdered before she was born, her mom died due to complications during childbirth
Amylase-Female-Caracal-First appeared in chapter one
Human-Adira
Other- Called "Lace" by Adira a lot. Tends to keep Adira from doing things she shouldn't do

Zinnia-Female-Human-First appeared in chapter one
Animas-Benton the ring tailed lemur
Other- Cares for Adira
Benton-Male-Ring tailed lemur-First appeared in chapter one
Human-Zinnia
Other- N/A

Zade-Male-Human-First appeared in chapter one
Animas-Jax the gray fox
Other- N/A
Jax-Male-Gray fox-First appeared in chapter one
Human-Zade
Other- Isn't known for his bright ideas.

For more information about characters, animas, etc. feel free to PM me

[katomorakwarrior]

I like it; it appeals to my inner evil writer.
I'll stick around to see where your story goes.
(I assume you'll tell me if I'm not supposed to post.)

[catcher.]

I don't mind comments at all, glad you like it so far

[BlazingSabre]

I like it! Marking ^.^

I'm having serious His Dark Materials flashbacks here. Did you ever read The Golden Compass?

Additionally, the biology nerd in me would be remiss for not pointing out that amylase is the enzyme in your saliva that breaks down starch. The more you know~

In all seriousness, I saw your post on Inklings and was wondering if you'd like a critique!

[catcher.]

No, I have never read The Golden Compass, but I feel like I feel like I've heard the name somewhere. Maybe a friend mentioned it to me once, I'll have to google it later.
I did not know that, cool.
And sure I wouldn't mind a critique