I remember the day you found me.
My village was in ruin. The bodies of those I loved lay around me or piled high as kindling to burn. An acrid smoke filled the sky until it seemed as though the entire world had been set on fire. Such was the devastation that not even the carrion crows dared to land and feast. I remember being so scared. So helpless. So confused. Why? How? What caused people to attack other people with such anger? I remember crying beneath the body of my mother, lying still and hoping that the wrath of the outsiders had passed.
And then you were there.
You pushed her aside, and I could suddenly breathe again. You were my savior. My reason for living. You took me in and gave me years of immense joy and unconditional love after I thought my time had come to an end. Every moment with you adds weight to an already hefty debt, but its one I'll gladly keep.
I stare down the hoard before us, side by side with the one friend I can count on through anything, and lift my chin in challenge.
He whistles, and I look up. My friend gazes down at me with a smile on his face and the softest of eyes, but there’s a determination and security in them that I have come to know well. He speaks in his strange, monotonous speech, but I recognize the name he gave me the day I was given a second chance to live. “Adi.”
You’re a good boy, Adi.
I shake my pelt in recognition, swaying my armor so that it sparkles in the sun. His smile grows, and together we turn and launch ourselves at the monsters. I bare my fangs, toss my head and howl from the deepest chambers of my chest.
No matter where you go, no matter what awaits us, I'll be there with you. I have a debt to repay.
ns 15.158.61.48da2
