17 Chapter 17 - Another Beginning

While traveling through the forest, he tripped and fell many times, since it was nighttime. He had also noticed that he was stronger now but he attributed it to being fully healed.

'I had no physical activity for two years, I'm probably not used to my body'

Mount crown, named as such due to its jagged tip that was shaped like a crown, where the Roc had come from was near the western border of the forest; so Ango was able to get out of the forest after only four days during the day.

At first he was very careful, he wouldn't make any noise and would move very slowly but days passed and he saw no beast. He saw small animals but no beast; he was confused but took it as him finally having good luck. He couldn't feel it but the beasts could feel the spirit of the forest's blessing on him so, they respected her wishes and did not attack the tiny human.

Beyond the forest's borders, he could see the great mountain range, it was named as such because it stretched from southwest all the way to the north, but as far as he knew none of the higher races lived here. Maybe it was because of the lack of natural resources or it was because of the great forest being in such close proximity, he did not know but that meant he could hide here, away from them.

The sight of so many sky-high mountains covered in trees, grasses and shrubs made him gasp.

'Maybe this is how ants feel when they see us'

He could see ordinary birds flying around singing, small rabbits chewing on grass, squirrels climbing trees and other animals. There was a small lake nearby and he could see small animals drinking water there, the sight looked like it had come straight out of a painting.

He enjoyed the sigh for a few minutes, breathing the fresh and chilly air thinking to himself

'This place looks nice, there is water, food and seems safe since I don't see any beasts around. I could live out here'

Ango couldn't go back to living in a city or anywhere with a hint of other races. If he was lucky he would die or get enslaved but here, …

'Here I can be free'

Free, being free, and freedom were only words for Ango before this. He knew the word, he knew the meaning but he never knew what it meant.

That day he walked around that place, searching every place he saw and familiarizing himself with them which took a long time even for that small portion of the land. He trapped two small rabbits using a long vine he had separated from a tree which he placed near the small lake after making a trapping knot. He had learned that particular knot when playing with other children when he was younger. He skinned the rabbits using sharp rocks and roasted them by a small bonfire of his own making. He ate one rabbit and kept the other one in his clothes that he had taken off and was using them as a make-shift bag.

He cried when he was eating, he cried so much that he had to stop eating to catch his breath

'Meat… I'm finally eating meat, a proper food' Meat was a luxury for slaves but among elves where eating meat was not the norm, they had an even lower chance to taste it. Even before his two years of imprisonment he had only eaten meat a few times, and only the scraps left behind in the trash after a banquet but now he could eat it again and in such quantity.

Afterward he stated to feel sleepy, he was tired both mentally and physically one could say. For two years he couldn't sleep comfortably. Constant nightmares, pains, physical and mental tortures and the list goes on; getting knocked out from free falling into a river didn't equal comfortable sleep neither.

And so he started searching for a place to sleep. He found many caves, by the foot of the mountains and many of them were filled with rocks or animals but nothing dangerous.

But after searching for an hour or two, he found a perfect cave. It was large but not too large, its entrance seemed hidden and it was empty or so he thought until he reached its end; when he walked to the end, he saw a small mass of white fluff.

It was a very small wolf with white fur. Ango was first alarmed but he couldn't see anything else besides the wolf and it was lying on the ground.

Ango knew that albino beasts and animals tended to get abandoned by their mothers due to their color which meant they wouldn't be able to blend in with the environment and hunt easily. He slowly walked forward, the sound of his footsteps echoed through the cave, alarming the little cub.

He stopped in front of the wolf and crouched. The wolf was weak and small and couldn't walk or stand properly, shaking nonstop and was just looking at him with his round red eyes, not trying to make a sound.

"Were you abandoned little cub?" the wolf stayed silent.

"Are you hungry?" he still didn't make a sound

Ango took out a thin slice of meat from his bag and waved in front of the wolf. It first smelled it and then tried to bite and eat it but didn't have good enough teeth yet. Animals this young would have their moms give them food or milk but there was none of that here. So Ango put the meat into his own mouth, chewed it and fed it to the wolf in small amounts.

"So cute.." the wolf was… well, wolfing the meat down. He had not used that word since he was young, he was not one for these niceties nor the world he lived in, even less now than before but the scene took him back to those times, when he didn't need to work yet.

The wolf's teeth and small hands tickled his hand and caused him to chuckle; One of the few he did during the past two years.

'Two years huh? Mom, dad, Nina, Talia, Joe,… they are all so…distant' he wasn't that bothered about his parents anymore. It didn't mean he was not angry or sad, just that after all this time, he could reign them in. The fire burned cold in his heart.

After the little wolf was done eating, it tried to look up at Ango but failed. He put his hand on the wolf's head and muttered "I'm not going abandon you like your mother little cub, you're going to stay with me"

He laid down on his back beside the cub in corner of the cave, he grabbed the little wolf and raised him up so he could properly look at him

"A girl huh?"

He then turned to the side and hugged her; the wolf was now looking at him with her round red eyes.

"you're so white and fluffy, I'll call you …" Ango remembered a story his father had told him, about when during winter small white dots fell to the ground, blanketing the ground and the houses in white. John had told him that "It was the most beautiful sight I had ever seen, not considering your mom of course haha"

...

"I'll call you ... little snow"

The wolf still looking into Ango's eyes opened her small mouth and

"woof"

It sounded so weak and adorable that it made Ango smile. His eyelids gradually grew heavier and not long after, he fell asleep.

That night Ango slept soundly for the first time in a long time with a white fluff in his embrace.