At the peak of a certain mountain in the middle of an arctic wasteland sat a cave, and as a blizzard accompanied the newly rising sun, things weren't nearly as calm inside this cave as one would expect.
Screams and howls of agony bounced off the rocky walls and out into the nothing, all coming from the young man whose domicile it had become, and unable to sit back and watch any longer, a small ball of fur recently named Glacia took off without hesitation.
She didn't understand what was happening, even if the young man who had recently summoned her, Aoni, had shown and explained it multiple times. Her level of intelligence simply wasn't up to par with that type of information.
Sure, she was able to surmise bits and pieces, like when he acted as if he were choking and falling, the connection to the prior night's events lined up, but she couldn't comprehend what he meant behind it.
That is until he smiled up at her as she perched atop the bed and watched him lay down before a terrifying presence descended from out of nowhere into the cave.
This presence, in fact, was what had awoken her the last time something happened to her Lord.
It was oppressive and unlike anything she had ever felt before, and the presence was nearly enough to cause her bowels to empty all over the makeshift bed.
Yet as rapidly as it had descended on the cave, it vanished, and all that was left was her Lord, writhing about and screaming as cuts and gashes opened up all over his entire body.
Through the recently established Link of Subordinance, she could feel mental anguish and, to a lesser extent, the physical pain he was experiencing. Honestly, it was simply too much for the not-even-year-old Infant Artic-GigantoUrsusPithecus to handle.
Filled with panic and fright, Glacia jumped off the bed and circled Aoni multiple times. She even extended out one of her arms as if she wanted to nudge him, but she would stop when she remembered something her Lord had done earlier.
During the explanation he had tried to give, Aoni had taken her paw multiple times and mimicked pushing on him while shaking his head and making other gestures; he even went so far as to make chomping motions while pointing at his belly and using a stern tone while saying not to do it again.
So left without any other choice, little Glacia stepped back and watched in sadness as she was helpless to aid her Lord…her new Family.
That was when a memory clicked into her small mind; in this memory, a large figure whom she felt a connection with plucked things off of some trees and rubbed them on a smaller figure's body.
From the vision, Glacia was able to see red motts of fur clinging to the smaller figure, but when the strange object was cracked open and its contents were pressed against the motts of red fur, they vanished.
As quickly as the fragmented memory appeared, it vanished like a cloud of smoke, and Glacia was once again back in the cave, albeit extremely confused but feeling as if she knew what to do.
Whether it truly was a memory of a past she didn't remember or some form of instinct, only time will tell. Still, with renewed vigor, Glacia took off toward the mouth of the cave before stopping to look back at her Lord one last time, then vanishing into the snowstorm.
---
The moment her feet and palms touched the fresh powdered snow, she felt nostalgic, as if she belonged, in contrast to the cave, where she felt slightly stifled and uncomfortable.
Usually, it would have been unbearable for such a young creature to live in such an unnatural manner. Strangely enough, it was the Presence of Aoni, along with the LoS, that contrasted that natural feeling and turned the cave into what humans would describe a home.
Still, that didn't take away from the fact that once she was out in the snowy environment, Glacia thrived.
On all fours and running as fast as her small legs and arms would carry, Glacia darted across the snow as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
No matter how deep or loosely packed the fresh snow was, she seemed to glide over it as if it were solid ground while making her way down the Mountain's peak and reaching the first of many tree lines.
And even then, she didn't stop; bouncing up, the ball of fluff was soon airborne, and then, using her powerful arms and claws, she scaled the first tree, which was of considerable height, and within a minute or two was at the top.
From there, she could see everything, and so her hunt began. With the mental image of the exact plant she was looking for prevalent in her mind, Glacia set out, jumping from one tree to the next, looking for a very specific fruit.
Unfortunately, as she ventured deeper into the mountainside forest and farther down the Mountain, she became more tired, yet the fruit was nowhere to be seen.
And that's when it happened.
In the midst of her desperation to help Aoni, something triggered inside her very core, a spark of sorts, and it was this spark, this itch, which caused her small head to turn and look further down the Mountain.
She was utterly unaware of what was happening, but for some reason, Glacia felt that if she moved just a little bit further down the Mountain, she would find what she was looking for.
So she moved. Tired as she was, she lept from one tree to another, progressing slowly thanks to the density and closeness of the trees until finally, after an unknown amount of time, she spotted a small cluster of strange spikey objects at the very top of an odd-looking tree.
"OOO!" Feeling recharged, having located the object of her search, Glacia shot forward, clearing a 20-foot gap between the trees, and caught hold of the strange tree with her claws before scaling it with ease and plucking one of the three fruits clustered at the top.
With her prize secured, the long trek back began, and since she was both young and naive, she didn't even notice the three pairs of glowing purple eyes glaring at her as Glacia left them behind.
It was totally unknown to her just how close to danger she had danced.