The little flame stopped pushing the little ice cube behind it when the girl stopped her motions. It stood straight, its yellow cat-like eyes narrowed, and turned its head far enough to talk to the little ice cube but not enough to take its eyes off the girl-turned-nightmare.
"Drak-gon?" The little flame asked as it cocked its head to the side.
"Wulf." The little ice cube answered.
The duo paused, then their eyes started shimmering excitedly, and they shouted out simultaneously,
"Wul-gon!"
"Dra-uff!"
Both immediately lost all their excitement, and they turned to glare at each other, yellow clashing with black.
"Wul-gon." The little ice cube stated imperiously.
"Dra-uff!" The little flame denied vehemently, shaking its head at the other.
Silence reigned as the two stared each other down. Right before the little ice cube let out a war cry, knocked the little flame to the ground, and pummeled it. The little flame, shocked by the unexpected actions of its peer, took a moment to get its bearings and, with an answering declaration of war, tried fighting off the little ice cube. However, it was an exercise in futility. It wasn't long though after that the little flame yelled, "Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!" at the other. When that didn't work, the little flame conceded the battle, hollering, "Wulgon!" over and over until the little ice cube stopped.
The girl felt her vision go blurry. These weren't just any little monsters. They were her little monsters. She could almost feel tears gathering. Not only were they all miraculously alive, but they were whole and safe right here. With her. Now, the question was how would she let them know she wasn't just a monster that could eat them but- ah-ha! The girl slowly lowered her head and let out a gentle huff to get her quarreling siblings' attention.
The little flame- no, Dagan immediately rolled off his distracted sister and pulled her behind him again. Typical Dagan, always putting himself between his twin and danger. The girl looked cautiously at him, trying to be as small as- No. Scratch that. She knew for a fact that her size was intimidating, hell even she felt daunted by how much larger she was and she was said beast! She lifted her paw slowly and wrote 'I' followed by an 'O' in rich soil.
'IIIIIII-II- I" The boy sounded out haltingly, his eyebrows scrunched up in concentration.
"oOO-O?" Sorcha followed, turning the simple 'o' into asking her brother for confirmation.
"En, O," Dagan acknowledged, a trace of pride dancing in his yellow eyes over his sister's accomplishment before focusing on the issue at hand.
"I-O, Io." Dagan put it together. He jerked up a bit and peered over at the monster as if he were trying to find the girl within the beast.
"Io!?" Sorcha shrieked, her voice hitting decibels, causing Dagan and the girl, no Io, to shudder. That high of a decibel should never ever be reached. Ever. Io thought to herself, her wolf-like ears twitching from pain.
Io watched Sorcha in trepidation. The little ice cube mimicked her brother, staring hard at Io for any visual hint of truth. 'This ought to be the hardest part,' Io thought anxiously, holding herself as still as possible. As if that would lend itself to the truth and make it easier for the siblings to believe her. She could feel an icy chill race its way down her back. What if they didn't believe her? The day she had found the both of them, they'd been between an old dilapidated waste bin and a crumbling brick wall. They'd been three at the time and lucky as four-leaf clover, she had been in the area scavenging for food, but they had saved her.
Family is difficult when even where you are born into it, but learning to become one when you have never known it and society deemed it an empty function? Difficult was putting it lightly. However, with time and patience, they'd made it work. It had taken the twins a while to trust her. Dagan wouldn't even be in the same room as her unless Sorcha was there for the first six months. It had taken her close to a year to get Dagan's trust that she would not hurt him or Sorcha and to understand that he and Sorcha would always be safe with her. Not that she could blame them. It had been a steep learning curve for the three of them.
She had earned their trust as a human fully the day Io had brought her brother's abusers' bones back, strung on two strands of leather similar to the one she wore. When she had laid the first necklace on the boy's hand, the boy bowed his head, hand clutching the necklace tightly as tears landed silently across his tiny scarred fingers. Io waited patiently for when Dagan lifted his head and rewarded Io with a stunning, albeit fierce, smile.
It was with that absolute acceptance that Sorcha relaxed the last of her guard as well. The sense of trust was a heady thing for Io. Someone had never depended on her like this until Dagan and Sorcha. Their trust that she would protect them branded itself somewhere deep in her soul and reformed who she was at her core.
That didn't mean that it didn't take them a while to understand that she was their 'big sister' and her job was to protect her little brother and sister, but once they'd acknowledged her, things went smoother. For her, their acknowledgment was like a missing piece of herself that had clicked in at last. She needed them just as much as they needed her. They were her reason for surviving as long as she had and vice versa.
Io watched the blinding orb of light, sun, she corrected herself, drift down until it disappeared completely under the horizon while they traveled. Just earlier, the sky had been so bright, but as the orb descended, it had darkened from a pale blue to a deep purple and finally a rich navy, interrupted only by the three moons. It was darker here too. Wait, no, that wasn't the word. Ah, night, it was night. Io corrected herself. She could see the star-filled nebula. The curling blues, radiant pinks, flourishing purples, peek-a-boo whites, streaking bits of gold. This differed from what she had read, but it was magnificent. Io doubted she could ever count them all. Beautiful, but so strange.
Io stopped and crouched reflexively. Her ears swiveled, trying to catch more of whatever had moved in the bush. The twins had squeaked at Io's sudden halt but otherwise remained silent, their experience being on the run and keeping out of sight proving its value.
Dagan leaned over to Io's ear, "Trouble?" he asked as his yellow gaze automatically searched the murk for any potential threats.
'Nope, just something yummy,' Io responded internally as she shook her head.
"Black or white Io?" Sorcha asked as she scooted slowly up Io's back towards Dagan.
'Hmm... Probably black, but we'll treat it as white,' Io thought, growling just loud enough for the twins to hear.
The twins stiffened, but quickly relaxed. The only change was the slight adjustments in their posture, and how they were prepared to move at a moment's notice. Unbeknownst to the Dagan and Sorcha, their ears twitched minutely in various directions as they strained to hear any potential danger.
Io gently rolled her shoulders to alert the twins that she was going to move again. When Dagan patted her shoulder in confirmation, Io stalked silently through the bushes, her padded paws lending themselves to cushion her weight against the leaves and twigs on the ground. Her passage through plants was silent, as the flora gently glided off her scales and fur like a soft breeze.
Movement caught her right eye, and Io crouched. She rolled a shoulder, and the twins slid stealthily off, staying close to the ground. Io nuzzled the two and pushed them under a rather thorny brush. Satisfied, Io face the potential threat and waited, blending seamlessly in the shadows. A tantalizing scent grew closer and Io salivated. The beast tensed in confusion over this reaction, unfamiliar with what new thing her body was doing.
Io's eyes narrowed as it filled her head. This was not good. She had no clue why her body was acting like this when something behind Dagan and Sorcha caught her eye. Not good! Io leaped over the kids hidden in the bush, her chest rumbling as she let out a vicious snarl.
A small fluffy animal, probably sixteen kilograms at most, hopped into view.
…
It was sooo cute! She squealed internally as she looked at her first living animal. Then she breathed in. As soon as she exhaled, Io was airborne. Whaaaa! Io screamed inside. She tried to stop, but to no avail. Twenty minutes later, a blood-covered Io was once again alone. Only a pile of bones lay by her side to accompany Io in her stricken state. She stared catatonically at the pile of broken bones.
Why had she? Io let out a whimper. Why did she kill it? It wasn't as if it had done anything. No longer did she have to worry about other humans revealing her or Dagan and Sorcha's existence to society. So then why? Don't get her wrong, the little creature was practically dead on contact but she'd ripped it apart piece by piece and eaten it. Io could almost feel her stomach sour, or rather, her mind felt sour over this unwanted experience.
While Io had lived at the facility, she received one vita bar daily. It wasn't particularly filling, but it contained all of her body's daily nutritional requirements. Then Io escaped, and she had survived on bugs in the tunnels, and later on, after she made it in the ruins, a combination of bugs and moldy rotten foods.
No blood, no live animal, just minding its own business eating grass and whatnot and being killed to feed another. Even after she had escaped S.E.L.F. and murdered her way through The Tunnels, she had not seen another animal. Even the richest of the rich may have seen a rat or two, and this was only after they had spent an exorbitant amount to flaunt their wealth and prestige.
Killing an animal and ripping it apart was a horrific experience, even though she had slaughtered thousands. The people that she had killed? They tried to kill her for payment, torture her for thrills, or worse, break her until she was only a mindless vegetable. What's worse is that for every person who she came into contact with, they were a direct threat to her family. If she let them go, the bounty for turning in 'wild children' or 'rebels' was just too much of a temptation for people to say no. The only way to make sure that her family stayed safe was to eliminate the threat, but this? This was an animal. A harmless, innocent little animal and she had murdered it.
Io heard muffled sniffles coming from the brush behind her and trembled before swearing to herself. 'Shit, the kids must have seen this. Oh, effing bells, how am I going to explain this?' She trembled harder. 'I can't explain to them that I couldn't control myself. That I didn't know that this would happen.' Io's trembling grew as her mind whirled at an astounding rate over any of the possibilities of how she would give the two to explain her current state. Nothing.
Io inhaled deeply, wanting to calm down, but the lingering scent of blood simultaneously made her stomach rumble while in her mind she wanted to gag. Her inhalations grew deeper, as she struggled to come up with a solution on how to appease her most likely traumatized siblings. The sound of plants swaying gently in the breeze broke the cold silence. Io heard it but was distracted by this jumbled mess of communication issues. She didn't make the connection that there wasn't even a breeze to begin with.
Io had to admit that she felt lousy about it, but, like many other experiences in her life, she just needed to treat it as a fundamental part of living here. Because it was. Her body was different, and so were her needs. Akin to when someone is out to kill you. You couldn't be squeamish about defending yourself because it was you or them, or worse, your family.
Survival was the priority and anything else, well, Io's moral compass would always point in the twins' favor. She rushed down to a narrow stream and washed the blood off. Then, dripping wet, she returned to where she had hidden Dagan and Sorcha.
'Effing bells!!!' Io cussed, as she snarled savagely. They were gone. That was right. If Io was disgusted with herself killing that animal, then it'd made sense that the twins were horrified. They'd probably fled the area before they could wrap their heads around the situation and, to be fair, they were still young.
Io, upset with herself for scaring the kids, put her head down inhaled, struggling to catch any hint of their scents. She sort through various smells such as vegetation, earth, and mold until the wind finally changed direction. Io's ears perked up as she caught hints of frost and wood smoke. Got it, Io smirked, pleased with herself, white fangs exposing themselves briefly before she darted after them.
Io reached the rock field at the edge of the forest when she heard them. At first, it sounded like the twins were bantering back and forth, but as they became more distinct, Io grew alarmed. As they reverberated through the lowlands of the mountains, Io felt her heart stutter and pump harder as she raced over the rocks. Shit! Io snarled as her sleekly muscled body moved agilely between the rocks.
Io arrived at the base of the mountains and started working her way up. Thankfully, the slope was not steep, but Io still needed to be mindful of where she stepped because of her size. Once she made it to a relatively flat area, Io broke in a mad run. The kids' voices had become desperate, and Io, not knowing what was happening, could only get there as fast as she could and pray that they were ok. Otherwise… Io shook her head.
She didn't want to think about that. She'd get there in time. Io scrambled to a stop, claws curving over the edge of the crag. Below two bloodied forms were cornered against a rock by a creature identical to the one Io killed. It paced back and forth, as it growled threateningly at the two.
Sorcha hugged an unconscious Dagan close as she shrieked at the creature. In her fury, Sorcha's appearance altered. The girl bared shark-like teeth at the creature, her grey cat-like eyes turned black with frost adorning her waist-length cyan hair.
A delicate layer of ice served as armor and curled on each side of her neck. Another thin layer of icy armor traveled downwards, wrapping around her chest and back down to protect any vulnerable areas. It wasn't perfect. Parts of the armor had broken, and numerous cuts covered the girl while transparent liquid flowed from her wounds onto the frost-covered ground.
Upon a closer look, Dagan was no longer that rich charcoal but an almost ashen color, and his scales had dimmed to the color of a dying ember, and his raspy breaths were puffs of mist in the colder temperature that surrounded the duo. Even though Sorcha had scratches and her icy armor cracked in several places, the furrows were not deep enough to warrant emergency care. In comparison, Dagan's body was riddled with gashes and puncture marks. Each one steaming with an almost magma-like substance that poured from his wounds.
A deafening roar echoed through the mountain range, reminiscent of a tyrannical primeval beast. Birds flew away in droves, animals stampeded, and even the trees shivered momentarily before settling back into their usual stoicism. Io growled threateningly at her prey again when it did not get the hint to flee.
Io's ears laid flat. She had just three rules pertaining to the safety of the twins, but it was because of these three rules that she'd left oceans of blood in her wake during her time on Earth.
Rule #1: Don't get between her and the twins or you're dead.
Rule #2: Don't effing make them cry or you're deader than dead.
Rule #3: Don't friggin' hurt them or you're dead without a corpse.
Unfortunately for the beast, it had broken all three, persuading Io to change her plan from a simple rescue, leaving the creature alive out of respect for life, to now it was a dead thing walking and didn't know it yet. The creature snorted at Io, pawing the ground as it challenged her. Io's eyes narrowed, and she hurtled herself over the edge. The creature's large button-like eyes turned red and it screamed in defiance.
The two beasts met in a violent crash. Jaws snapping and claw leaving gashes, leaving rivulets of blood. Unlike her earlier run-in with the same animal, this one was more experienced. It dodged backward, evading her sharp teeth, and swept its spike cover tails at her. The metal spurs on the end scraped across her side. With a growl, Io stepped into range, letting the spurs strike deeper, sunk her teeth into its shoulder as deep as she could manage. The beast tried biting at Io's neck to rip her off of it but ended up catching on to one of the horns that protected the sides of her head. With a jerk, Io's head twisted uncomfortably as her teeth dislodged from its meaty flesh.
That was a mistake. Freed of the awkward angle, Io put her claws to work, grabbing onto the beast's head, sinking them in deeply as she could, and pulled it off. Roaring in pain, the beast snapped at her face as it attempted to rear up. Io shoved it over onto the ground and, with her greater weight, her claws sank even deeper. The animal thrashed, hooves raising to do damage when Io leaned down ripped a chunk off its shoulder.
"Arruuoo!" It howled out as it twisted and turned, its legs pushing against her chest, striving to free itself from her grasp. Io's eyes darkened and hints of fire between her normally cool-to-the-touch ink-colored scales. She wrapped her tail around the beast's legs, pinning them down, and lifted her right claw as she increased the pressure of the other on the head, slowly fracturing its skull. Io slashed down its sides with her other claw. Once, twice, again and again, her claws raked the beast, eventually, her claws caressing the muscles buried deep between its ribs in vengeance for Dagan and Sorcha. Fueled by fury, her scales heated up, burning the beast wherever they made contact.
Cold in her bloodlust, Io bent over the struggling creature, digging her free claw into its exposed back leg to further pin the beast, and started shredding it apart ferociously, bite by bite. The taste of blood satisfied that driving urge in her for dominance. To prove that she could ultimately protect what was hers.
'Dare to harm my family? Hmph! Then your life shall be the offering that I lie at their feet.' Io thought as viscera sprayed across her body, sizzling upon contact with searing hot scales. The wails of the dying beast like that of a sweet melody to her ears only. Io brutally ripped the whimpering beast apart. An ear here. A leg there. One of its three tails fell on the other side of that rock.
A cry broke through her bloodlust, pulling Io back to sanity. The Io's Draconian head jerked up from the insides of the beast, and Io shoved her desire to continue mauling the creature away. It was time for her to stop and take care of the kids. Io simply grabbed hold of the weakened beast's neck between her jaws. The bones crunched and cracked until she had completely torn the head off and, with a thud, the head landed a few feet away from the corpse.
Io took a few moments to gather herself before she looked over at Sorcha and gently rumbled at her between her quickened inhalations.
"Io!" Sorcha cried, cooled as she had finally received the okay to speak.
"Io, I sorry. So sorry. We thought you bad. I know I wrong. Io is Io. Io protects always. Io never let us hurt. Our fault. Our fault. Never again! Please no leave. Need! Know you no harm me and Dagan. Sorry, I so sorry." Sorcha sobbed out clinging tightly to her brother as Io padded over. Io paused in front of her now back-to-normal ice cube and rested her forehead against the girl. Mist rose around the three of them as her scales cooled rapidly from the leftover cold that still clung to the girl. If it hadn't been for the beast trying to eat her siblings, Io would have marveled at the sight.
Sorcha let go of Dagan with one arm and hugged Io's enormous head to hers, her hand resting against one Io's horns as she sobbed out her anxiety, fear, and pain. Io huffed again and wrapped her tail around Sorcha, forcing her to let go of her brother before being placed on Io's back. Io then coiled her tail around Dagan and laid him down in front of Sorcha for the girl to hold on to.
She waited for Sorcha to signal that she was done making any adjustments needed to for her and Dagan to stay stable. When Sorcha tapped her foot against Io's side, Io began her trudged into the shadows cast by the setting sun. Just right before she faded into the darkened landscape, Io looked back at the mutilated creature and let out another growl. Never again.