Fractures: Rewritten Chapters

Kane finds a puppy

Note: This is not canon to my au. It's just something I wanted to write in relation to @Rockythewolf558 's au. It's a long one, prepare yourselves-

First published on August 2nd, 2022

It was a moonless night, dark clouds raced across the sky, signaling an impending snow storm. In the dark forest, a lone traveler made his way through the trees. Kane dragged his feet through the thick snow, battling back the exhaustion in his legs, determined to reach the Netherbane tavern before the snowstorm hits.

A gust of wind blew past the tops of trees, making them sway and creak. He squinted up at the dark sky behind the branches and sighed, "Well, looks like I have no choice now."

Kane pulled out a tiny flask of purplish blue potion and downed it in one gulp. He made a face at its gross taste and blinked as his vision lit up until the night forest is as clear as how he would see it in daytime. Night vision potions were hard to come by so he tried to use them as rarely as possible. However, it would be quite difficult to keep a torch lit with all of this wind and Kane has always felt vulnerable walking in the dark with one, so he decided to use a potion instead.

With his new vision, Kane was able to pick up his pace and hurried towards his tavern. He was keeping a moderate pace until he noticed some horse tracks in front of him, which normally wouldn't raise any suspicion except for the fact that they are located in the most remote parts of the forest, untouched by anyone except the Netherbane. Who the hell walks around at this time, especially before a storm? Kane wondered as he peered at the tracks. It appears that the traveler had backtracked themselves. He followed the tracks and found that it ended close to a clearing. The person probably realized that they took a wrong turn somewhere and turned around here. Kane understood the urgency to return to the tavern as soon as possible, but something in his gut told him to stay and investigate.

The Netherbane captain stopped dead when he noticed other marks in the snow. A few feet away from the horse tracks there were some skid marks, as if something had been thrown into the snow from the horse. That something seemed to be a creature, as there were signs of struggle in the snow, as well as tiny foot prints leading towards the trees. Kane noticed something out of the corner of his eye and whipped around. Something was hiding between the roots of the tree. With a hand on his cleaver, he slowly approached the tree, ready to strike if anything goes wrong. But the sight of the creature made him pause.

It was a puppy. A tiny puppy with a very odd colored coat. It has black fur on its back while its belly is a pale purple. The puppy pressed itself against the tree roots and shivered uncontrollably in the cold. It stared at Kane with large, fearful eyes and whimpered softly.

Kane's expression softened as he put down his cleaver. He's always had a soft spot for baby animals. He got down on his knees and held out his hand to the puppy. It sniffed tentatively before pressing its head against his hand. Gently, he petted the puppy for a few moments before picking it up by the scruff. The puppy yelped and wriggled in his hands, its tail between its legs.

"Hey, shh, shh, you're okay, little one." Kane held it close to his chest and set down his backpack. He realized with a heavy heart that it is practically skin and bones. The puppy rubbed its tiny snout against his hand while he rummaged through his pack for his blanket. His teal blanket was way too large for this tiny puppy but he still managed to wrap it up in a burrito. The puppy immediately burrowed itself into the blanket and fell asleep.

A gust of wind blew through the clearing, picking up the powdery snow, throwing the icy particles against Kane's armor and shoving them down his collar. After the wind died down, he stood up and threw his backpack on before looking around the clearing one last time. Whoever left this puppy clearly does not want it back, if they didn't deliberately left it here to die. Kane held the bundle closer to his chest at the thought, enraged that someone would do such a cruel thing. He felt the puppy wriggle in its sleep through the blanket and adjusted his grip to hold the bundle more securely.