Only for that singular moment. In which I was obliged to sit up, my stiffened legs seemingly frozen from the inconvenience.
"Okami." I spoke and that was all that was needed. For he leaped from my shoulder. White energy, filled with the impurity of inexperience, suffused his existence.
Gathered around his claws the most, and with a swift leap, from the ground he had landed upon. Towards the creature that had come to disturb my now overdue rest.
Roars echoed from that dark night, where the only light was the slightly burnt embers. And even that was barely enough to see a couple feet ahead of oneself.
But for Okami, it was mere child's play. He leaped towards the first.
They were all the same, the same silver fur, the same maw, the same teeth. Even the extra limbs that came from their back.
All placed against the same spots. With the same movements. A duplicity.
I had half a mind to warn him of the imminent danger. But the other half echoed a 'no'. These were merely elementary grade, the same level that Okami happened to sit at.
A growl echoes from one, and as if to break the mold, this one leaped from the ground. Matched the timing so precisely that it was a wonder that Okami could even dodge. But he did. For he had seen my own dance of precision.
Had integrated the steps into his own version. A graceful leap that seemed to consume the world with bursts of white flames.
Flashy.
But for one to adapt such an advanced art on the fly.
A genius. A true genius.
There was one other feature that seemed… not odd… but unusual. So as my back leaned against a tree, took comfort in the roots that had grown a strong trunk. Where my hand reached to my side.
A slight rub to my side found skin and bones. Muscles were there but barely developed.
And when it was removed, that same spot, placed over the wolves body. It coincided perfectly. A vision of hunger that removed all doubt from my mind.
There was a greater predator around.
"What is the normal level of beasts, around this mountain specifically?" I called. My voice barely reached an octave higher than normal.
But the presences that sat by my side, enjoyed the comfort of the warmed embers and coals. They both smirked and turned to the fox. His maw snarled into a breath of flames. Formed within his mouth and directed by the air he let out.
An idea only some had, and those same few had taken months to figure such out. Yet for him… for him it took merely a couple seconds.
It must have been instinctual. It must have been, yes?
Who was I fooling? No one, not even myself.
"There should not, as there is a periodic purge every…" She paused, her eye turned towards the upper left side of her eye. As if in remembrance of some important fact.
"Three years. But there is a chance that one had wandered in, though they would be at the profound level at the most."
Nia puffed her chest out in pride.
"But that's impossible. I had studied the postings at the mission board and found nothing closer than ours. That must mean that there is nothing here other than elementary beasts."
I nodded. Relieved by her study. But she still drabbled, her voice drawled like a lecturer would. To explain her methodology in complete terms.
"Of course we couldn't go off of that completely…" I tuned her out, for she merely talked extra about the steps and cautions she had taken. The studies she had found and the sensory talismans she had bought.
Though with what money, I had no clue, I had neither been handed gold - the standard for most worlds - nor spirit stones - the standard.
I coughed and my attention was once more upon Okami. The beast had been beaten back, a series of maneuvers performed with deadly accuracy.
Claps rang out, I looked, only to realize that it was me. A small but welcome clap and a smile upon my face as I turned and watched him strut towards me. Visible excitement within his eyes.
"Good job." I praised. And he preened.
"Yes, great job." The more exuberant of the twins said, her quiet counterpart nodded along.
A movement that he preened under even further. And took pride and enjoyment amongst the scattered scratches he took from them.
The pampered fox that he was. I merely shook my head, grabbed him from the arms of the other and slept within that pouch of mine.
…
"Delphine…"
The sun had set over my eyes, cast a glare over the sleep I had taken. And when I opened them, a hand was forced over my eyes. To stave the glaringly bright shadow.
"Morning… already…" I muttered, still clothed in those same garments I had worn the day before… and the day before that.
"Yes… Yes… It is quite early but I figured that you would not mind."
I didn't but it was still quite rude of them. I raised no fuss in spite of such assumptions. Stretched my limbs with a crack and hurried to roll my own personal effects up into the small bag I had carried with me.
Our feet hit the ground with a sort of rhythm. The sun had already placed itself firmly within the sky. And if I squint, with all my power, I could make out the vague outline of fields.
Made of rice and grain. For they were the most common. Yet still, the roads seemed so dead.
A simple reason… no one wanted to deal with cultivators, not even they themselves. A smile softly played on my face. As that curled being around my neck yawned. Cracked open an annoyed smile that seemed to want to cruelly strike down the sun itself.
"So early…" He whispered. A voice so quiet that barely even I heard him. Still, amongst the rolling hills, the fields of grain that spread out against the horizon.
I merely scoffed in a faux laughter.
"Something the matter." Nia called, her voice barely audible over the rushing wind.
"Nothing of the such, merely…" And I turned slightly, enough that she could see Okami, the slight glare that he held.
The morning grogginess that seemed so intrinsic of his being.
And she laughed too, soon after… she pointed to her sister, who snickered in turn.
No matter the deadliness, the callousness that showed in the blood that had been spilt the previous night.
'Children'
They were still but children.