The Journey Around The World, In Order To Save Spring

When You Play with Fire...

They walked for days before having to hunt. They stalled off hunting long enough already due to the heat, but now they couldn't wait any longer. They were already in the valleys around the Rio Grijalva, with the Chiapas Highlands to their Southwest and an extensive tropical jungle to their Northeast. They were thinking of what to hunt and where, when they heard guttural sounds. They looked for the source from safety behind a boulder and saw a predator-prey interaction. A feline was jumping on a horse and felled it with one fell swoop.

The cat looked like a sabre-toothed tiger, Smilodon, but was larger, didn't have sabre teeth and had a long tail like most cats. Amaruq gasped. He knew what it was! It was a lion! Panthera atrox, the American lion. The books said that they were extinct, but he guessed that some still survived. But not for long, it seemed. Another predator had spotted the kill and was approaching the lion. It was a giant flightless terror bird. A huge one, probably 2.5m tall, as tall as the lion was long. The lion growled at the bird, but the bird didn't falter and came closer and closer. Once the bird was too close for the lion, the lion attacked it, almost hitting it with its claws.

The two animals then got into a scuffle over the horse. "Now's our chance," Taggak whispered to the other two. They crept towards the body, making sure that they were out of sight of the occupied predators. A snap of a twig alerted the animals, however. Amaruq hated it when that happened. Why do dry twigs just lie around waiting to be stepped on? He had no time to vent though, as the megafauna directed their attention to the two canines and the hairless ape. "Run." And they all did. They ran and ran, but Amaruq was lagging. His feet weren't as built to run fast like the wolves. His were built for long-distance travel.

He looked behind and saw the two animals gaining on him, especially the titanic bird with its muscled legs and taloned feet. "You guys head left. Meet me by the kill. I'll steer them away," he told the others. They nodded and did as they were told. The lion noticed this and moved to go after them, but Amaruq whistled to it, "Here, big guy!" He said. "Amaruq Cyclone!" He flew to the animals, hovering above their heads, taunting them. He was just far enough that they couldn't jump to reach him. He then boosted his hoverboard away from the general direction of his team. The two gave chase, hunger evident in their eyes. Once he was far enough, he transformed. "Amaruq Ice!"

He summoned his bow and took aim with his Ice Arrows. He let go of the string and shot them one by one towards the fast approaching predators. The arrows missed, the two animals nimbly dodging each of the projectiles thrown at them. The arrows left fractals of ice as they hit the ground. Ice gritted his teeth. "Amaruq Blaze!" He said angrily. He summoned fireballs and showered the two animals with them, like small flaming meteors falling from the sky. The two animals deftly avoided them, still managing to dodge somehow. Blaze was fuming. He didn't get stressed often, being a playful kind of guy, but when he did, no one would ever want to get in his way.

As the unknowing carnivores got closer and closer, Blaze took a deep breath. These two would learn not to mess with him. "Fire BREATH!" He yelled as he exhaled a stream of searing-hot fire. The fire was so much hotter than his Level 1 attacks. The two animals were just far enough to avoid getting singed, but they still felt the scorching temperatures. He exhaled for a good while before being done and watched the fire dancing before his eyes. The bright blaze reflected in his eyes. After Blaze had calmed down and turned to normal, Amaruq gasped as he realised what he had done. "No no no no no please be alive," he said as he kneeled beside the majestic beasts.

He sighed in relief when he saw that both beasts' ribcage rose and fell. They only had some first-degree burns, so that was a relief. He turned into Ice to extinguish the fires. Once that was done, Amaruq rummaged around his rucksack. He grasped what he was looking for and took it out. Aloe vera and St. John's wort. Perfect. He cut up the succulent to get the gel, and he extracted the essence of the wort for its oil. It was fortunate that he had bought medicinal plants back in the US to add to the ones he found in the forest. After he had mixed up the ointment, he applied it evenly to the lion's and bird's burns. He imagined that it felt soothing on their skin, underneath the fur and feathers. He rubbed them, enjoying their soft coverings. It reminded him of Qimmiq.

Gods, there it was again. Oh, how he missed his beloved husky. They were only together for a couple of years before that alien pipsqueak took him away from Amaruq. It was a no brainier that the vile alien perished at the hands of SS, Thunderstorm and Quake. Served him right. Actually, Qimmiq's death was what triggered the three to gain their power ups. If it weren't for him, Amaruq would have never found out about the Level twos. So, it wasn't all angst. But Qimmiq's death reminded him of his mother's own untimely passing. Her family name, Onnattuk, had become their household's name. She was a lovely wolf, sweet and caring. That's why his father fell in love with her.

She also taught Tukkuttok how to cook. Sigh. But her caring nature became her downfall. If she hadn't moved to protect Amaruq with her body, she would've still be alive to be here. Still be alive to keep a single father company. He regretted her passing the most, because she didn't have to shield him. He would've survived the jealous man's push anyway. Before he knew it, his hands and the fur around it were wet. "Huh?" He said, confused for a second before touching his bottom eyelids. Oh. He had cried. He wiped his eyes with his forearm and sniffled. Now was not the time for tears.

Once he was satisfied with his work, he wiped his forehead. "Phew..." he exhaled. There was one more thing he should do. A few minutes later, Cyclone dropped the American lion onto the ground in a prairie. He had a feeling that if he left the two together, another fight would have ensued. "Amaruq Thunderstorm!" He used his Lightning Speed to zoom off towards Grijalva River.

He arrived not long after and found the other two patiently waiting for him. He walked to the Haringtonhippus and saw that it was still alive. "We wanted to wait for you to do your thing," Taggak explained. Oh, how kind. "Thanks," Amaruq said as he crouched near the neck of it. He read his prayers and slit the throat open, spilling the equine's scarlet blood onto the greenery. After it had died, they had chopped it to pieces and roasted it, Amaruq thought. He thought about the horse. It was a stilt-legged horse, an endangered species. It looked somewhat different than the horses the wolves back in the towns kept. Their horses were larger and had thicker legs.

The donkeys at Mexico City looked different too. He wondered why that was. He would have to find a book on how animals diverged from each other. He heard the rumour that there was a good book on that, 'On the Origin of Species' by two English biologists. It was high on his list of books to buy. And he had a lot of books to buy. He found out his hobby was reading, but there were literally only three books in their tribe. And all of them were the angakkuq's. He needed them to do his rituals and give advice and stuff. Now that he was in the outside world, he sought to collect as many informative books as he could find.

And he would.