Solpets: Theralice - the new pet!

[Mandy]

The icy mountains of Solopia were a cold and harsh environment, dangerous to traverse even for those experienced in navigating such terrain. One could never know when another blizzard would hit, and this is precisely how the human girl and her Chilee companion found themselves lost among the frozen land. Leianna trudged on through the heavy snow while Mia, the young Chilee, was bundled up in the human's coat. The blizzard made navigating through the mountains difficult and they didn't want to risk losing sight of each other, luckily Mia was small enough to be carried, allowing them to move on without anyone being accidentally left behind. But the journey was still anything but easy.

"Le, are you sure this is the right way?" Mia asked in her soft voice.

"The blizzard makes it hard to see, but I'm sure we are still on the right path." In truth Leianna wasn't too sure of that, but she didn't want to worry her friend.

Leianna knew that they couldn't be too far from the way home, they had made most of the journey before the blizzard struck, but now she could only hope that it didn't throw them off course. If it didn't clear up soon, or if they can't find the way back to the valley, then they would need to find a safe place to wait it out. Leianna didn't want to think of the alternative...

It was then that the human's thoughts were interrupted by a worrying sound. It was a low rumble that carried on the wind, loud enough to be heard over the storm. Mia immediately tensed up in Leianna's arms.

"Was that an avalanche?" She asked as terror started spreading through her heart.

"I.. I don't..." Leianna looked up, trying to find any signs of an oncoming avalanche. Yet as she looked through the storm she noticed something else.

There was a large rock sticking out of the ground not far away from them and on it stood a shape. Leianna's first thought was that it was a Chimare, but no, it couldn't be, the more she looked the more it became clear that this was something entirely different. The creature stood proud and tall on top of the rock, seemingly unbothered by the storm raging around it. Mighty paws planted unyielding into the ground, strong body holding near eerily still as the icy winds billowed through its thick mane, two fearsome fangs protruded from its maw, and those icy blue eyes which looked directly at the two lost travelers, holding a grim and unreadable expression.

Leianna just stood there in stunned silence, unsure of what to do. Then the cat-like creature jumped off its perch and started walking away from the course they were headed. For a moment the two girls thought that was the end of the encounter, but then they heard another rumble and saw the beast turning to look at them expectantly. That's when they realized the rumbles weren't an avalanche, but instead the beast's low roars, it wanted them to follow it. Leianna decided to trust the creature and started trudging towards it, if it wanted to harm them it could have easily done so by now, so wherever it was leading them it must be safer than here. Apparently satisfied to see the human follow, the feline continued on its way through the blizzard, leading ahead but still keeping a slow enough pace for the other two to not lose track of it. As they kept walking Leianna noticed the beast's pawprints in the snow, marveling at how big they were compared to her own, this truly was a being born for a life among the snow and ice.

Time was a lost concept in a blizzard, but by Mia's judgement they must have been walking for about half an hour until finally the wind started growing weaker, a few minutes more and visibility grew as well as the blizzard calmed down to simple snowfall. That is when they saw the creature stop and sit down, only glancing briefly at them before directing its gaze forward again. The human caught up to it and the two girls were met with a welcoming sight, they had reached the end of the mountain roads and before them now lay the path toward the valley, toward home. The two wanted to thank their kind savior, but as they turned around they saw no one there. There was nothing left of the strange beast, nothing but huge pawprints in the snow leading back towards the mountains.