Beast Tamer

III

Fauna felt like she wasn't moving - she actually was barely moving at all. It felt as the air clung to her and was pulling her back. She felt hot, too hot.

A cold rush of air ran past her outstretched hands before coming into contact with her arms. Slowly the cool air was beginning to push against her skin and was cooling her down.

She gasped in a huge gulp of air as cool air rushed past her face. She sighed in relief and a massive black mass came up to her, licked her face.

Fauna pushed it away and it landed gracefully on the floor, staring up at her with golden eyes. Fauna screamed.

She staggered back. "Wolf!" She screamed while Nico smirked. "This isn't funny!"

The wolf barked and nuzzles her leg with its head before looked up at her.

"Wait...Orion!" She shouted as she stared down at him. "How? What? When? How did my dog turn into a wolf?" She yelled.

Nico turned away. "She doesn't even remember," he whispered to himself before sighing. "Remember when I said it was ironic you named your dog Lupa?"

"Yeah," Fauna answered, unsure, while petting Orion.

"Well, Lupa in Latin is wolf, your memories are gone but some part of you was clinging to your Companion even with the glamour fooling your eyes into thinking Orion wasn't a wolf but a dog."

"Companion? Glamour?" Fauna asked.

Another wolf came padding forward and Fauna took an involuntary step backwards but the dog stared at her before nuzzling up against Orion.

"Sage?" She asked and the wolf perked up before she jumped up onto her hind legs and licked Fauna's face, making her laugh. "I take that as a yes."

Sage brushed up against Fauna's other leg and Fauna rolled her eyes before kneeling down to pet both of their wolves.

"You two are spoiled," she laughed and looked up at Nico as he stared at her playing with them. "You spoil Sage don't you?"

Nico tore his gaze away with a small, barely audible, sigh. "Yeah," he muttered.

She stared at him for a moment wondering what she'd done wrong since he'd seemed friendly when they first met but now... now he was closed off.

Fauna decided to let him be, looking away from Nico and for the first time took in her surroundings. She gaped at everything around her.

She blinked rapidly, even rubbing her eyes,  just to check if what she was seeing was real but, nope, it was all real.

They were standing in front of the same knotted tree from the clearing but they were definitely a different clearing.

Everything was... greener, more vivid and full of life. They were surrounded by trees the size of skyscrapers, the canopy barely letting any light filter through but it was still so bright.

But that's not all. Every tree had a treehouse built - fashioned - around the tree trunk. There were people running down the stairs that spiralled around the trunks. People and animals running around everywhere.

"Welcome to Velarium!" A voice boomed through a megaphone.

Fauna yelped and covered her ears just as Orion pawed at his. When Fauna was sure she wouldn't be deafened she uncovered her ears.