Frică ☯️

Frică (freak-uhh) - meaning "afraid" in Romanian

Background

Frică took her first breath on a cold September night during a new moon somewhere in the mountains, a warm wind escaping from her nostrils and becoming a vapor in the brisk air. She could hear the crackling of leaves as they were gently pushed along the ground by a tender breeze that would enter through the den and give her a slight chill. The scent of pine was the very first scent she'd ever discovered, and she remembered it smelling almost sweet. Her mother, Nyquil, was accompanied by her father, Nirliq in caring for the newborn pup. After the next couple weeks had passed, she finally opened her eyes to see her mother and father lying next to her, proud to finally see her pale, shadow-crested eyes. For the next few months, she played in piles of dry orange and yellow water-colored leaves with her parents, crunching them beneath her paws and smelling the brisk pine cone-scented autumn air. One night, she was sleeping peacefully beside her mother, curled up and warm next to her stomach, until they heard a familiar bark in the distance. It was a panic signal and her mother knew this, because she scrambled to her feet and quickly grabbed Frică, running out of the den and greeted by a cloud of dry, black smoke and bright orange fire that blazed fiercely in the distance. Her mother panicked and ran away from the area, her father close behind as he caught up, his tail slightly singed. The fire, being fueled by the dry autumn leaves she'd come to love, was spreading quickly, faster than they were running...she could tell she was getting too heavy for her mother, especially after breathing in all the smoke they had. The fire began surrounding them, the crackling she heard was not the leaves dancing in the wind as they once had, but rather the wood of the trees burning and crumbling from the outside in, turning into crisp, blackened husks and falling all around them. Her mother and father, now completely surrounded by the fire, looked for an escape to find a single route: they'd have to jump down off the small cliff in front of them and into a ditch down below. They gave each other a single glance and nodded, leaping off the edge. They fell and tumbled down the rocky siding of the cliff, yelping and howling from the pain and possible broken bones, her mother losing her grip and letting go of Frică. When they landed, they were only 10ft away from each other, but as soon as her father limped and struggled to get up to get her, a fiery tree fell in between them, crashing and sending fire-encased ash flying everywhere, burning tiny bits of her fur. She yelped and barked for her parents with no response and the only way she could get around it would be to try and swim through the raging current of the river located next to where the tree had fallen. She stepped into the water and was immediately swept away- no matter how hard she tried to fight the current, she was violently jerked away from her parents and all she could do was watch them struggle to catch up to save her, limping and falling. When the current finally gave way, she was able to just barely reach the edge of a small opening on land where it was shallow enough to gain footing. Tired, she plopped down onto her stomach, her back end still slightly submerged in the water. She laid there for a 30 minutes, panting and trying to catch her breath as she stared at the fire in the near distance before suddenly, it started to rain. It came down harshly onto the poor, tired pup, and all she could do was lie there, sneezing as rain drops hit her nose, but...she eventually fell asleep. When she awoke, it was still sprinkling and she could still see black smoke in the air, but no fire. She trembled, still wet and now freezing in the brisk air that felt as hot as the sun just a few hours ago. She struggled to her feet, wanting to find her parents, and straggled and limped back to the site of the fire where her home once kept her safe and warm. When she got there, the beautiful foliage that once surrounded her was now replaced by a barren wasteland of ash and trees made of coal and the leaves that once danced for her were nowhere to be seen. The scent of pine was also now replaced by a hollow, suffocating scent of cinder. She coughed, staring at what used to be where her and her parents would play together, and howled weakly, hoping they would hear her. She sat there howling for hours until her voice broke off anytime she tried. Giving up, she straggled in the opposite direction from which she came, stumbling on any and everything and unable to keep her footing, she fell and tumbled down a large hill, going limp at the end from exhaustion. She had cuts and gashes on her from all the rocks and jagged-edged branches she'd hit and was bleeding as well. She looked up and saw a small, black satchel that smelled slightly like a human, though it was hard to tell now after the rain- and a small lighter that looked like it had fallen out of the bag. She pulled herself forward with her front legs and shimmied up to it, crying and letting out one last weak howl, before passing out and dropping her head. This time, when she woke up, she was in a den, accompanied by another wolf who was sniffing herbs that were neatly lined up in front of them, picking them out and ripping off bits and pieces and putting them in a small bowl and mixing them. Frică tried to stand up, but was interrupted by a jolt of pain throughout her entire body, causing her to yelp in pain. The wolf jumped and turned to face her. "No no, don't do that, please, you need to take it easy. Just rest, you're safe, I promise," she said, putting her paw on her side and gently coercing her to lie back down. She felt her forehead and put her ear to her chest and paused for a moment before finally letting out a sigh of relief. "You know, you were in pretty bad shape when I found you. You're lucky I was out gathering herbs or else I wouldn't have heard your howl for help," she said matter-of-factly. "Well, it's a good thing I found you. My name is Flora. It's a pleasure to meet you. What's your name? Where are your parents?" she asked, looking at Frică's face as she averted her gaze, wincing at the thought of them. "I see...well, you're more than welcome to stay here, I mean what choice do you really have with injuries like that?" She chuckled, trying to lighten the mood. "Ahem, the King is here as well, if you'd like to meet him? I'll go grab him, you stay right here." She got up and turned to walk away until she felt a paw touch her hind leg. "Don't go," Frică said quietly. All Flora could do was smile gently and sit down beside the pup. "Okay- you can meet him later then. Oh, I found this lying beside you when I found you, so I brought it too," she said in a sing-song voice. Frică jumped up, grabbing the satchel and staring at it, remembering the pain of everything that had happened and scowled. She later fell back asleep next to Flora with the satchel flat on its side over her head as she wished she could just disappear. The next morning, she woke up to Flora searching for her, but...she was right there. She called out her name, and Flora could hear her, but couldn't figure out where she was. She looked down and could see herself, so why couldn't she see her..? Was Flora going blind? She slowly got up as to not hurt herself and limped outside into a fray of wolves and puppies relaxing and socializing together. She walked right in between some of them, but none of them acknowledged her. Was she actually...invisible? She hobbled quickly back to the den and held her breath, making sure it wasn't all just a dream, but when she held her breath, Flora exclaimed in happiness and confusion. "There you are!! You came out of nowhere. Where were you?" She explained what had just happened and what had happened before and waited for a response. "You poor thing...I'm so sorry you had to go through all that, but I believe you've been blessed with a power," she said in excitement. "You're a goddess now!!" This news confused and made Frică happy and she eventually met the other goddesses along with the rest of the pack, including the King. After a few weeks of healing, she was finally ready to go back to the burn site to search for signs of her parents and live amongst the wreckage, not far from her new pack, but far enough that she could be alone. She took the satchel with her and kept it at all times so that she'd never forget the pain that humans had caused. She never wants to forget that pain.

On your way to the Effortless Charm pack, you come across a barren wasteland of ash and see a wolf digging in the dirt and searching for something. You offer your help, but she says "No, I need to do this on my own." Guess that's that...
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Theme Song: CoaastGxd - Don't Forget (to Forget Me)
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Stud: Haldir