In the past five days, the forest had transformed. It went from nice and breezy with a thin carpet of leaves, to a frigid world of white. Almost two feet of snow covered the forest floor, the still growing cubs were buried almost to their necks in some of the deeper areas. Thankfully this was not an issue, the den itself was kept clear by mother, who used her Fire magic to periodically evaporate all of the snow in their immediate vicinity. They did however, allow the frozen wonderland of the forest to cover their food stock, letting the low temperature to preserve their supplies for the winter. This was a trick that mother seemed to have picked up at some point during her life.

The cold did not particularly bother them though, the fledgling monsters revelled in their new environment. Making tunnels in the snow, chasing and hiding from one another. These games were not only fun to play but also strengthened their stats and sharpened their senses.

The youngest was particularly good at them, her superb agility and the mobility allowed to her via wind magic, made her nigh impossible to either catch or escape. Kuro on the other hand was the undisputable champion at hiding; although his black fur was completely visible against the pure white scenery, Darkness magic specializes in numbing and fooling the senses. He would simply find a shadowy area and concealed himself in a cloak of darkness, effectively camouflaging him from sight.

During one such game, she wandered off farther than she had meant to, and came across several sets of footprints that were like nothing she had seen before. They were long and ovular, lacking any distinct features like toes or claws, though some areas were deeper than others, it looked as though small studs or spikes were affixed to the bottom on whatever’s foot the tracks belonged to.

Despite her curiosity, she decided that it would be best not to wander off in search of the mystery creatures; instead setting off back towards her siblings. She opted to float rather than walk, this was one of several things she had discovered, she had the ability to do. Whereas before she merely used Wind to make her close to weightless, now she could outright levitate. It did not have the maneuverability that actual birds had achieved, nor was it a particularly quick means of transportation, but it was practice. She had decided to allow her physical abilities to develop on their own, through both combat and play. Instead magic was her new focus, the ability to fly but was one of three new ideas she had come up with in the short span of five days.

Thinking back on the times she had seen mother fight had led her to a realization; although mother was physically strong, it was her ability to combine physicality with magic that truly made her a force to be reckoned with. In fact one of the new techniques was directly inspired by mother, wrapping her talons in Magic when striking. The difference was in how Fire and Wind actually inflict damage, While Fire burns the opponent scalding the flesh and boiling the blood, Wind cuts.

She arrived back to where her siblings still played, when they saw her approaching they stopped abruptly, running over to greet their sister. She landed, eager to resume the game. As they got close she began to move, not sprinting but merely walking away from them, taunting them to give chase.

It worked, she waited until they were less than a meter away before bursting forward at top speed, causing snow to pelted her pursuers. They changed tactics; merely giving chase was a practice in futility. Her newly named sister Meril, was uniquely suited to even out the playing field. A Water magic user surrounded by snow and ice is a force to be reckoned with. As she ran, more and more snow seemed to affix itself to her body. Her speed began to decrease, weighed down by her rapidly growing luggage, her talonned paws became encased in blocks of compact snow.

She had to stop this, a cloak of Wind covered her frame, blowing off the stuck on bits of frozen water. As she ran, she used gusts of Wind to push the snow aside, carving out a path in front of her, being careful not to fall into the same trap twice. Meril attempted to cave in the walls of her makeshift trench. Sensing what was about to happen, she jumped out of the way, using the third bit of new magic she had come up with to rocket herself upwards almost higher than the trees themselves. Kuro seized the opportunity, a wave of black mist rushed towards her.

She had seen this before, it was a magic he liked to use in combat to weaken opponents. She gave a bark at the cloud sending a gale of Wind towards the fog, in hopes of dispersing it. Unfortunately this had no effect, a thin haze of Darkness swallowed her, the whirlwind surrounding her seemed completely ineffective at moving the fog.

When she emerged from the other side her vision was dim, everything sounded as though it were underwater, and a numb buzzing seemed to ring out in her nerves. Even her thoughts felt muddled, slow, tired… But she couldn’t give in to those feelings, she had to land safely, she transitioned from a freefall into an unsteady glide, struggling with her coordination.

As she touched down, she was accosted by Kon, Sasha, and her two unnamed brothers. Covered on all sides, she knew this was the end, she had been caught, the game was over.

Slowly, feeling came back into her body, the world seemed to be growing incrementally brighter and brighter, she could hear properly. That was a good match, and even though she had been caught, she still felt satisfied.

Perhaps it was the lingering after effects of Kuro’s magic, but she now felt rather sleepy. She bid her siblings goodbye and made her way back to the den looking forward to seeing mother. To her surprise however, she was not alone. One of her brothers followed behind her, apparently also rather tired. He was so far the only sibling who had not yet awakened a specialized element of magic. She stopped, waiting for him to catch up to her, and continued walking, side by side with her brother.

The two Chamroshes greeted their mother, brushing up against her side, before curling up next to where she herself lay. She wanted to show mother the weird tracks she had found, to demonstrate her new magic, all of it. But at the moment even moving seemed like a herculean task, and even though the sun was still in the sky, her eyelids shut by their own volition. She fell asleep, her mind swimming in the events of the day.