"Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole." - Roger Caras
~~
Years passed promptly. Bastian went and jumped pass obstacles of being a father for Axiea. He never was great at taking care of kids, but he tried for her. He named her Catherine. Stressful days of giving care for a child passed, from draining infant to exhausting toddler, and luckily the weary days are over, and she will be ten years old by the next turn of their clock's needle.
She grew up intelligent yet still curious about things around her. There is still too much to learn. The green pigment of Catherine colours half of her head's hair at the right side, contrasting the colour between her eyes and strands. Her hazel right and emerald green left eyes became much lighter, and it's as if it gleams when you look at it.
There she was, standing in front of a tall tree, looking up at a bird's nest curiously as you can see a glimpse of the mother bird feeding her young. Catherine can't quite see them when small twigs, sticks, grass, and dried up leaves are sticking out of the nest and blocking her view of the fledgelings.
The little girl snaps out of her curious thoughts when her dog, Lucas, barks at her. Lucas was a white Samoyed dog, which is given by Bastian to Catherine to protect her whenever he wasn't looking. Of course, the dog was also Catherine's best friend who she always plays with since there's rarely a person or a child you can spot in the middle of the forest. She giggled along with Lucas' happy barks; then, they run along the Yard to play.
Catherine jogs around their garden, where her foster father planted different kinds of flowers for her, which now blooms to fine pulps. As she passes through plants, bushes, and orchids, it nourishes and glows unnoticed. Like magic, the plants prosper and dried ones hydrate.
Bastian noticed this charm of her's long ago. While he currently paints her by the window, he gleams at her sight then continue to brush strokes of light colours on his rough canvas. Time went on calmly, not until Bastian remembers the vegetables that should be collected up at the nearby Village; thus, Bastian needs to hunt for their dinner.
He panics when he looks at the time. Bastian should be picking up the vegetables by now, but the dinner is coming.
Catherine ends up picking it for him, so she starts to walk down the forest path to go to the said Village. She was lucky enough that the Village is not that far— a fifteen walk away— but thinking twice, Bastian wouldn't let her go to a distant village alone. So, her dog Lucas is with her, wagging his tail while he walks beside her. Dried leaves crunch up as they stride, skipping through roots of trees, and humming carelessly to herself.
When she passes through fields of colourful flowers, Catherine can't help but hear whispers around. Though there was no one in the area. She quickly turns her head to her left, but all that's some plants sway by the passing wind. Catherine ignores the murmurs and continues to her path; then, as she proceeds through her walk, the flowers follow her direction. They murmur yet again in a lower voice, "The news was true! Delivered from the fields of flowers from the inner forest!"
"How fortunate to be planted near her," says the Lily as they still follow Catherine with their gaze.
"It's the mother's soul in a human." Lucas can't hear the voices but sense their movements. He turns his gaze to the flowers' direction hence growl. Catherine got puzzled by his behaviour and look at where he was looking, but all that is there were the blooms and nature.
"There's nothing there. Come on!" Lucas calmed down after she pats his head and did as she commands. The plants they pass by similarly did the same 'till they reach the end of the forest.
~~
Catherine heads to the said destination without knowing that Lucas strays off. The dog ran around places sticking his tongue out while he waggles his tail. His fluffy fur bounces as he wanders through the Village when he spots a group of four children, bullying another boy.
"You freak!" the girl shouted then threw a stone at the helpless bullied. It hit his arms as he tries to block it, so it got bruised and bleeds.
Lucas saw the kid's terrible actions, so he barks then ran up to them. They were all taken aback as he dashes there unexpectedly, guarding the boy behind him who was stooping on the floor with few bruises on his body, including the fresh wound from the thrown rock. Lucas howls at the bullies, one girl and three boys who were glaring at the two.
"Oh? You got some little guard puppy now, eh?" The tallest kid among the four grips the wooden stick he was holding then hit Lucas with it. Just like a signal, the three follow after then tried to do the same.
Though outnumbered, he still squabbled back. The dog's whimper follows after whips of the bullies' weapon.
~~
Catherine reaches the house and was about to knock but stops her hand midair. She didn't know why but something bothers her. Plastering a big smile on her face, she ignored that feeling and knock three times at the door. It took a few moments before the woman inside answers.
Rushing footsteps can overhear coming to the door, then it opens, revealing a woman who looks like in her near forties. Her stained apron and damp hands show that she just finished her chores in the kitchen.
She's tall compared to Catherine's small body, so she had to look up at her. Catherine's bright smile greeted the woman, and she was immediately mesmerized by this odd beauty.
"Hi there, sweet one. I was expecting Mr Asher but never foreseen to greet such..." She knelt and looked at Catherine; her words stopped as she forgets it while captivated by the young girl's emerald.
"Hello there, Mrs Melody Villin. my father told me to pick up the vegetables he bought," Catherine told the woman as she ignores her reactions. As if coming back to reality, Mrs Villin blinks twice before talking to her again.
"Of course, give me a minute." Mrs Villin stands up and moves back inside her house again, even forgetting to close the door.
While Catherine waits, she entertains herself by observing the interiors of the house. It was no wealthy house nor a poor one. You can see a glimpse of her living room after the hallway with a door to some room. The wooden floors neatly complement the caramel-coloured walls, where pictures of the whole family were hanged and displayed. Her eyes stop at the images of the complete happy household. An unknown feeling came up to her, and she felt sad for some reason.
The doorknob made a clanking sound then the door opens, revealing a lad who was one of the members in the picture. He has tanned skin, but uncommon bloody red eyes and messed up straight currant red hair from a nap. He similarly had odd characteristics like her's. Catherine averts her gaze from the pictures to the boy, which she misses a glimpse of when he once again closes the door shut. She tilts her head to the side, stunned about his behaviour.
At last, Mrs Villin came with a basket full of vegetables. "Can you manage to carry these? Or do you want me to send my son with you?" Catherine immediately moved her head from side to side then smiled once again.
"No, thank you. And I figured your son might get lost since our home's way back in the middle of the forest." She accepts the basket, and she admits that it genuinely is heavy. Despite that, she remains smiling. "I have my dog with me. I can manage."
"Do be careful." Mrs Villin pats her head, which Catherine responds with a giggle. Catherine turns on her heels to leave when she noticed that Lucas is not with her. Worry rushed to her chest, but she tried to remain calm. He might have just run off playing here in the Village. Catherine walks off with concern weighing on her chest and wishing that Lucas is safe or just spending time around the area.
~~
The four bullies get together to attack both Lucas and the poor boy they were bullying. Lucas kept growling, barking, and bare his sharp teeth at the four, still trying to fight back. He knows that he could never win, so he turns on his back and barks at the bruised lad as if trying to make him run.
The lad hesitated but did runoff in the end as Lucas tried to bite and snarl at him so to scare him. When he's gone, Lucas once again fought the four bullies who were disappointed that their main target has escaped.
--
After leaving Mrs Villin's house, Catherine skips through the hot sunny village, looking for Lucas. She peeks through corners and holes of the place, busy streets and the town's Pavilion but he seems nowhere in sight. Catherine became more worried as time by, happy smiles of her's are also turning to a frown. Beads of sweat roll down from her temples as she started getting tired from running around and being overexposed from the daylight. Catherine thinks twice before going home, and lumps of bitter tears began forming in her throat, trying to escape from her eyes.
She continues to walk through the path going home. Her head hung low, and her eyes look dull when suddenly, she heard a dog's whimper from nearby. She immediately turns to the direction and ran up to where the sound was. There, in a hidden area of the village was the four children and poor Lucas, who was raising his left leg which looked strained. Catherine stops on her tracks. Pity made her tears flow, and at the same time, anger boils up inside her. She curls her hands to a fist 'till her knuckles turn white; hence she rushes to the scene right before her, dropping the basket of vegetables assigned for her to bring home. The vegetables scattered on the ground, but Catherine couldn't care less than her companion.
"Get away from Lucas!" she shouts in anger at the same time, tears were rolling down her cheeks.
She picks up a stone then throws it at them which lands on the other fellow's forehead who was right about to hit the dog again. He cried out in pain and steps back holding his forehead with his free hand. They gasp, and their glares turn to Catherine.
"What is your problem?" the girl with the bullies asked angrily.
Catherine jogs to Lucas and protected him behind her, tears that she's trying to hold back were still visible on her eyes.
"If it weren't because that dog interfered us, we wouldn't have attacked him, too!" The tallest kid clutches the stick he was holding and was about to strike Catherine when Lucas jumps up to him and bites his stick, so he struggles to brush him off.
"You— Let go!" He yells. When Catherine tries to help her dog get no more injuries, one of them get ahold of her and oppose her. The other two helped to restrain the dog. The place has become full of angry voices, shouts of kids. The girl bully had enough, so she strikes Lucas with her wooden stick.
Little did she know that it will hit the dog with its sharp edges. The weapon has dug deep into Lucas' left, staining his white fur with fresh red blood. Lucas cried out in pain and steps back from them, but he staggers down to the ground because of his fatigue, soreness, and strain leg.
The four bullying kids froze, and the girl who stabs Lucas froze from guilt. "I-I didn't do that on purpose," she said, knowing that the puppy might die now any minute.
The three boys also filled with fear and guilt, so they run away while tugging on the girl's arm who was still stunned from her behaviour. The oppressive kids are now gone and so Catherine rushes to her dog's side; tears are flowing from her eyes like a waterfall.
"No no no, Lucas. Don't die..." she begs and kneel on the grass carpet grounds. Her small shaking hands are hesitating whether to touch him or not because of fear that she might hurt him. All Lucas' response she receives was his cries from a painful wound. His breathing is becoming weaker, and anguish was visible in his eyes.
"Lucas..." she whispered and hugged her dog best friend, taking note of squeezing not too tight, or he'll get hurt. The warm blood of the pup is now smudging the floor; then, Lucas' eyes slowly shut and so has his breathing. Grief made her chest more painfully hard to breathe and so she couldn't help but hug her lifeless buddy and scream in agony.
When she cries out, her powers rush out. Matching the circumstance of suffering, the grasses around wilted. It goes far and spreads on the ground in a hexagon form; the field was moreover affected and also dried up. The bullied lad who ran away earlier came back for concern has been eating him up since he fled. He was panting and catching his breath, his unusual blue hair was messy, and bruises still stained on his pale skin fresh. He looks back at where he departs and saw the scene before him. His blue eyes widen. Remorse blankets over him.
Soon, he saw a man who approaches the crying girl with worry in his eyes. Catherine looks like she's having a second thought of letting her puppy go but eventually, she gave in. Bastian has put Lucas in a sack to carry him back to their home and bury him there while he also takes his daughter with him because of fear that bringing her down might involve other more plants. Catherine holds the basket of vegetables for him while still sobbing and drying her tears using the back of her arms. They left, and the spectator lad who was a little far the area has followed them with his gaze then turns towards the dried up ground which spread out in a hexagon form. It was full, and in the middle of it was the amounts of the Samoyed dog's blood. If you don't know what happened, you might think that some cult has made their sacrifice.
Sooner or later, somebody might see that view, so the lad went to the location and closed his eyes. He positions his left arm horizontally just below his trunk, palm facing upward hence his right arm was at his shoulder level and likewise horizontal, palm facing downward. The lad inhaled then releases large amounts of energy to send out his magic and form an aqua between his palms. Then, he spread out his arms and a hexagon shape water levitated in the air, about the same size about the dried ground. His blue eyes were glowing as he manipulates.
Next, the water splashes down to the dirt. It won't instantly remove the problem but will dehydrate the grass in as fast as an hour. The bloodstains were also purified from the ground, worked by the extraordinary water he released. When finished, he leave the area before anyone could see him there.
~~
"God's finger touched him, and he slept."
- Alfred, Lord Tennyson