Tale of a Pup: In the Dog House

[Isabelle]

Continued from “Prologue of a Dog: A Titan’s Calling” in the Nexus.

As soon as she moved passed the smoke and into the verse, she already knew she had made a gigantic mistake.

The sky was on fire!

She had never seen anything like it before in her relatively short existence. The land around her was scorched down to the rock, and what wasn’t burnt was covered in searing red lava. She had only seen the stuff in textbooks, so to see it within walking distance of her made the hairs on the back of her head stand on end.

She peered back into the portal she once came, the white landscapes just calling for her return, even the world itself knew she didn’t belong as she could swear she could feel the void beckoning her back. She briefly considered that the worlds could be worse than this, but she had an endless supply of food and materials thanks to the Omni’s gift. She literally had nothing to lose by going back and trying another portal.

However, as she turned in place to retrace her steps, she took another look at the hellish landscapes. She pictured the Mayor here, tripping on the treacherous terrain and clinging helplessly over the edge of the lava pit, quietly praying for a helpful paw to arrive.

Even if it was the slightest chance the mayor was here, she knew she couldn’t give up. He could need her help.

Resolute in her decision, she fully faced towards the hellish landscape and took the first step forward.


She made her way through the scorched earth, her shoulders risen as she quivered in fear. As she continued, she began to question her logic. If the mayor had come there, he would have turned back, like she should have. She kept herself moving, still holding onto the hope that he was out there waiting for her, but doubt and reason slowly crept their way into her mind.

But before she could make a decision otherwise, she could hear a high pitched screech that penetrated her poor little ears. Covering the sides of her head, she spun around in place to see the source.

A dragon. A frikkin dragon! A really small one, about her size. It had blood red scales     and black eyes. It peered down at her with a hungry gaze.

Her eyes widened, she spun around and started running with all her strength, trying to propel herself faster than the monster currently on her tail. But with every set of steps she sent herself forward with, she could hear the heavy flaps of the creature coming closer and closer behind, getting heavier. She shut her eyes for what would be her final moments.

BOOOM!

The ground started to shake as she tumbled to the rock floor. She could hear the creature fly away to somewhere else unknown. She’d be happy of her apparent good fortune, but that doesn’t change the fact that the earth was still shaking beneath her.

CRACK!

Suddenly, the earth opened up, giving way to the quake. She grabbed on with her front paws, hanging for dear life off the edge of a crevasse. She looked behind her, the hole in the earth was now more than a yard wide. She tried to pull herself up, but the shaking persisted, loosening her grip with each toss.

And then she fell

Into the darkness she plummeted, unknowing where she was going to land. As she fell, she could see the hole above her mysteriously close behind her. She had no time to ponder this curiosity as the air whistled passed her ears.

She shut her eyes and embraced her inevitable demise. She prayed to Omni that his words about immortality were true. She prayed that she would come back to life as he said she would. She prayed.

She would eventually land, but it was not exactly what she prayed for.