Five years later, now ten years old, Nora was hanging out at Belle and Leo’s place with her sister Ari, who was now five. Belle’s mischievous smile let Nora know something was up,

“What are you up to?” Nora asked, Belles smile widened,

“I have a surprise.” Belle was thirteen now three years older than Nora and Leo but she still loved to hang out and play with them, her surprises were usually pranks. Nora looked at her suspiciously whereas Leo and Ari perked up,

“A surprise!” Ari exclaimed, Belle turned and waved for them to follow,

“Come on,” They all followed her, she led them to the basement of their house, “You guys are gonna love this.” The basement was dark and cold in the winter. She could barely see the outline of Belle raising her hands. Little green lights appeared and floated around her, fireflies. Her Nature affinity allowed her to summon animals. The fireflies filled the room, lighting it up. There were old boxes covered in dust all over. Belle walked over to the corner of the room behind a stack of boxes.

As Nora rounded the boxes her eyes lit up, a little black dog with white spots was sitting there tail wagging. She ran over and started scratching its ears and petting it, Leo and Ari followed just behind. The dog turned over on its back and Ari started petting its belly,

“She’s so cute, is she yours?” Ari asked looking to Belle,

“Of course, I’ve been raising her.” Nora looked to her,

“Where’d you get her?” She asked,

“I found her here.” Here? How did she find a random dog in her basement?

“When?” Leo asked,

“A couple days ago.” Leo picked the dog up and started cuddling it,

“Why didn’t you tell me?” He said as he held the dog up to his face, “I could have been playing with you this whole time.” He said in a high-pitched voice, she licked his face, “You’re so cute!” Ari started petting her,

“What’s her name?” She asked,

“Oli” Belle said, Nora thought that was a weird name for a girl dog but still cute, Ari smiled,

“Hi, Oli! I’m Ari.” Ari was so cute, Nora hugged her from behind and swung her around, She let out giggles. Putting her down Nora looked to Belle,

“I assume you haven’t told your mom or Ayala about this?” Ayala had been babysitting them pretty regularly since Ari was born, she thought Ayala was fun to have around.

“I didn’t want them to give her away,” Belle said, that was understandable considering her parents didn’t sign up for this but Nora didn’t think Ayala would sell them out or try to get rid of Oli, and she didn’t think a dog should have to live in a basement,

“Maybe we should tell Ayala, she could help you raise her and make sure she’s fed.” Belle thought for a second,

“I don’t want her to know though. She’d probably try to take Oli for herself.”

“Ayala would never do tha-”

“I’d never do what?” They all jumped, Ayala was right behind them giggling at their jump. Jesus, she’s quiet. Belle grabbed Oli from Leo and held her tight. Ayala leaned in,

“Aww, it’s so cute!” She scratched Oli under the chin and her foot started kicking, So cute! Ari giggled at that, “Where’d it come from?” Belle shrugged, “Well, can I hold her?” Belle hesitated then handed her over. Pulling Oli up to her face she said, “Hey buddy! You wanna live here?” Oli started licking her face all over, tail wagging vigorously. She jumped up and started playing with Ayala’s antlers, who laughed.

“So we can keep her!” Belle exclaimed. Ayala smiled,

“Of course! But I think we should tell your mom.” Belle frowned, That made sense to Nora, Ayala could probably convince her with relative ease,

“No! We can’t, she’ll send her away,” Belle said,

“No she won’t,” Ayala sighed, Leo grabbed Oli from her,

“She will!” He said, “You can’t tell her.” Ayala looked at them suspiciously,

“Why wouldn’t she let you keep her?” Nora thought it was weird as well, they had the money for it plus Belle and Leo could do all the work if Posie didn’t want to. Besides, who would get rid of a dog that cute? Belle looked to her feet,

“She never gives us what we want, so she'd definitely get rid of Oli.” Ayala kneeled and looked Belle and Leo in the eye,

“Is your mom mean to you when we aren’t around?” Belle glanced at Leo who looked scared his tail between his legs, then back to Ayala, Belle continued being silent and looked to Nora eye’s pleading for an out, but Nora wanted to know what was going on and if Belle and Leo were in trouble she needed to know,

“It’s ok, you can tell us,” Nora said, Belle avoided making eye contact,

“She’s… not nice.” She whispered,

“What does she do?” Ayala asked,

“She never gives us things and she throws out our toys when she’s mad.”

“Has she ever hit you or Leo?” Nora asked, Belle, looked to Leo again, he nodded to her, looking back to Nora,

“She... hit Leo once... and she always locks us in our room.” Fuck! What a bitch! We gotta do something. Nora turned to Ayala who looked to be fuming,

“We gotta do someth-” A loud banging from upstairs interrupted her, everyone paused for a moment. Then more loud banging. Ayala handed Oli to Belle,

“Stay here. I’ll go check it out.” She dashed upstairs.

Ayala stepped into the living room, the banging came again. Someone was at the front door. But Posie shouldn’t have been back for another hour. She approached the door, enhancing her body with magic and taking a deep breath. She opened it.

Two human men in leather armor with blades sheathed at their side stood there, she didn’t recognize them. Please tell me they’re just lost and looking for directions.

“Can I help you?” She asked. The man on the left who had a red cloak on and looked to be in his mid-twenties spoke,

“We’re looking for our dog and we know it’s here.” He rested his hand on the hilt of his sword, “Give it back.” Ayala could tell they were skilled by the way they carried themselves but as a Beast-Kin she couldn’t hand over Oli to someone who would hurt her and as a guardian, she couldn’t let them near the kids. Whos knew what they would do if she let her guard down,

“No. She’s ours now. So leave.” The cloaked man looked to his companion, who was tall and lanky, the lanky man looked to her half-drawing his blade,

“Do what we say or we’ll hurt you.” What was so special about this dog anyway? It didn’t matter she couldn’t back down now, but if they were mages she might not be able to stop them. NO, she could stop them, she would stop them.

“If you draw that blade, I will kill you.” The men hesitated for a moment, her heart was pounding and sweat poured from her. Just leave! I really don’t wanna fight for my life today. Her body was already enhanced with mana and she readied her water magic. The men looked at each other then back to her. They yanked their blades from their sheathes.

Ayala immediately conjured as much water as she could, creating a half bubble around the doorway blocking them from entering and creating a barrier between her and them. She punched the water over and over, changing it to ice as she impacted, sending it flying out the door where she’d last seen them. Just get scared and leave, please!

A red and orange explosion evaporated all of the water and sent her flying a few feet back slamming into the wall. She lost her breath and started gasping. The lanky man was charging blade in hand. Oh, gods! She raised her arm creating an ice shield. His blade slammed into it knocking her to the ground. He slammed, again and again, the force of every hit reverberated through her whole arm. Her breath wouldn’t return to her, she couldn’t focus. With a final shattering blow the ice gave way. His blade sunk deep into her arm. She screamed. He yanked the blade away. Her blood gushed warm and wet, she had to stop it. She conjured water into the wound and froze it hoping to at least slow the bleeding and avoid falling unconscious.

She tried to stand but her body was numb, and wouldn’t respond. Was she poisoned? Or maybe it was some kind of magic? The lanky man knelt, wiping his blade clean with her shirt.

“You Bastard!” She growled, It was strained and hard to say, he didn’t acknowledge her words. She felt the rage flowing. He stood up and looked to the cloaked man,

“Come on, it’s downstairs.” Her heart sank, No, they’re going to find the kids.

“Stop!” They walked toward the stairs, “Please!” They opened the door leading to the basement, “Please, don’t hurt them…” It came out as a whisper. They entered the basement. She closed her eyes, she’d failed. She wanted to do something but no matter how much she tried her body wouldn’t respond. She could feel herself losing consciousness. Her eyes shot open, No, stay awake. What if they need your help? Stained against her eyes as they forced themselves closed again, Stop! Please… The darkness took hold.

Nora was holding Ari tight, she’d heard screaming. Was it Ayala? Had someone hurt her? It was pitch black in here now that Belle had unsummoned her fireflies. Should they investigate or would it be better to hide? Since Ari and Leo still couldn’t do magic they wouldn’t be much help in a fight. Probably best to hide until Ayala came back but what if she was hurt and dying? Right, she had to go check on her. She pushed Nora back to Belle and Leo who were scrunched into the corner holding Oli,

“I’m gonna go see what’s happening, stay here.” Belle grabbed Ari and nodded. Nora stepped out, light flooded the room as the door to the basement opened, Nora dashed back behind the boxes. Her heart pounded and her breath was labored, who was it? She had to know. She peeked around the boxes trying to hide as much of herself as possible. Two figures with swords were silhouetted by the light. Nora pulled back behind the boxes.

Ayala had been hurt and now they were gonna hurt them. What should she do? Maybe they should just reveal themselves. Would they really hurt a bunch of kids? No, that was too risky, she’d met plenty of people in her past life who would happily kill a kid to get what they wanted and this was a fantasy world so it was probably even more likely. But was there any other option?

“We know your back there.” A voice called out. Shit, now they had no choice. She held her hand up to the others signaling for them to stay. She stepped out. There were two men there, swords drawn. There didn’t look to be any blood on them. The taller man spoke,

“Give us the dog and we won’t hurt you.” She could tell they were serious and that she wouldn’t stand a chance against them in a fight. They were easily four times her size and they had swords.

“If we give her to you, can you promise not to hurt us?” She had to keep Ari and the other safe. The cloaked man nodded,

“I promise, we won’t hurt any of you.” Nora knew Belle and the others wouldn’t like it but this was the only option.

“Belle, bring her out here.” There was no response, then a wolf charged around the corner leaping at the tall man. Belle’s summon. His eyes widened but the blade in his hand easily sliced straight through the wolf’s head, causing blood to splattered him as its body slammed him to the ground. He shoved the carcass to the side and snarled, stepping forward, blood covering his chest, “Please, don’t! She won’t do it again, Belle bring her out here NOW!” She commanded. She heard a little scream from behind the boxes where they were hiding and the dog ran out. It looked to Nora as it passed, she could have sworn it nodded. The cloaked man kneeled and picked her up. He nodded to Nora and started walking out, dog in hand,

“Wait!” The tall man said, he stopped walking and looked back, “They attacked us! Are you just gonna let them get away with that?!” The cloaked man turned and walked up to him,

“Yes. That’s exactly what I’m doing.” The tall man took a step back,

“But w-”

“NO!” The cloaked man interrupted, “We are leaving.” He turned, walked up the stairs, and out of the basement. Belle had walked out and was standing next to Nora. Her hand was bleeding. Had Oli bitten her? Belle was glaring at the tall man, hatred in her eyes, he looked at them then turned and ran after his boss. Belle turned to her,

“Why did you do that!” Leo stepped out with Ari, “She’s mine! You had no right to give her away!” No matter what she said Nora knew her decision was the right one,

“They would have killed us.” Belle’s face scrunched up,

“I don’t care! I’d happily die for her.”

“You’re not the only one here! I won’t let Ari die for you or that dog!” The silence after that was palpable. Belle’s face fell and she looked away. Nora turned to Leo and Ari. “Are you ok Ari?”

“Yeah.” She whispered. Nora smiled, Wait, Ayala! She hopped past the bloody wolf carcass and leaped up the stairs. Please be ok! Slamming through the door into the living room, Nora’s heart sank, Ayala was slumped against the wall, blood all over her right side.

“Ayala!” She ran over. There was ice covering a part of her lower right arm. She could lose the arm if it weren’t heated up soon. She knew Leo had a fire affinity but could he even use it? Even if he could, would it be a good idea for an untrained mage to use fire on someone? She examined her body looking for wounds but the only damage was the ice. Where had all the blood come from? She examined the ice more closely. It was colored slightly red from the blood and appeared to be going into a part of her arm.

Nora gasped, she stopped the bleeding with her ice. Amazing, if she hadn’t done that she probably would have bled out. Those assholes! She better not die or they’ll regret it. A little cry came from behind her, she turned to see Leo holding Ari tight. Muffled cries emanated from her as she hid her face in his chest. Shit, she hadn’t thought to warn them. Nora ran over to Ari and held her.

“It’s ok Ari.” Ari grabbed onto her,

“But Ayala’s hurt!” She cried,

“She’ll be ok. When Leo’s mom gets back she’ll help her, like she helped me when I was hurt.” Nora continued to cry. Belle ran into the room eyes wide. She ran over to Ayala and started examining her from head to toe. Right she’d probably been taught how to deal with injuries from her mom. She closely examined the ice and sighed. So, there was nothing they could do. They had to wait for Posie.