Ch 7: Awakening.

I awake in the burrow, I don't know how I got here, I look around but I see no one around, I feel my heart hurting as I remember the death of my brother, but suddenly I see him there, I try to run to him but I can't move my legs, he turns around to face me, but he was covered in wounds exactly like those he had when he died.

"Brother... why didn't you save me... do you... hate me brother?"

I try to yell, to tell him that it wasn't true, but I can't speak.

The floor under me shatters and I start falling and falling, there was no end in sight, and I continued falling.

A grotesque creature appears it looks completely pitch black, it's body looking like an outline of a fox, but upon closer inspection it has faces around it's body, these faces were that of my family.

"You are a disappointment of a sibling, you couldn't even protect your own younger brother."

"Big brother why couldn't you save him, you should have tried harder."

"It was all your fault that your brother died, had you been stronger he would have been still here."

"Boy, mother wishes she had never had you, If you weren't here my son would have never died."

"Son, you disappointed me very much, why couldn't you save him when he was in front of you."

Each one of them had berated me on my failure, I wanted to scream, wanted someone to comfort me, to tell me that it wasn't my fault.

But they were correct, if I had been stronger I would have saved him, if I had never left with sister he would have never left, if I had never been born he would be alive.

The creature continues to berate me becoming more aggressive after each face talks, eventually it starts to attack me, I was falling and couldn't move, the creature attacks me and kills me.

I awaken in the burrow, my heart is hurting a lot and my stomach feels hollow, I can feel my fur standing upright, this nightmare made me feel terrible.

I look at myself, I see my wounds have healed, I look around the room, I see several cut and squeezed leaves and next to me I see my sleeping sister, she senses me moving and wakes up.

"Big brother? Big brother! You're awake! Oh I thought you would never wake up! I was terrified of that idea."

"Sister... I am sorry."

"Huh why are you apologizing silly, we should celebrate that you are now awake!"

"No. I meant I am sorry I wasn't able to save brother, it's all my fault maybe if I was stronger I cou-"

"Shut up! It's no one's fault especially yours, you tried your hardest to save him, even coming back covered in wounds from trying to save him, you worried all of us thinking that you were going to die."

"But I-"

"No buts brother, no one blames you for his death, so you shouldn't blame yourself."

She was right, I knew she was right but I couldn't help but still blame myself, thinking thoughts like if only I was stronger.

I look at her, she was shaking, obviously extremely saddened because of the death of her brother, her eyes were sad, but she was forcing herself to act like always.

Seeing her like that, I realize that I wasn't the only one grieving for him, that I wasn't the only one affected by his death, but I want to know where are the others.

"Hey sister, where are father, mother and my brothers?"

"I don't know, I was awake all the time waiting for you to wake up and I think I recently passed out, they are probably out hunting."

I stand up, and I walk to the entrance, I stumble a little as I walk.

"Hey big brother shouldn't you take it a little slow? You just woke up after all."

I continue walking to the entrance and go out, it is very early the sun is barely out, usually around this time my parents would leave to hunt, they would return when the sun is at it's apex. Thinking that I must get stronger I decide to train.

"Hey sister, do you know that game we play?"

"Hm? Yes of course i remember it, what about it?"

"I want to play it with you."

"But aren't you tired? You were unconscious until now."

"I feel fine, now can you please play it with me?"

"Alright big brother."

We begin the game, I start dodging but I immediately lose because I tripped on my feet.

"As I thought you're too tired to play. We should stop before you hurt yourself."

"No! I am fine I just tripped."

"Are you sure? If you were fine you wouldn't have lost so quickly."

"Please play with me again."

She sighs but she accepts, I go on the offensive this time, I feel my body getting better but it is still sluggish, I rush towards her and swing my paw towards her head, she expects it and moves away, I follow it up with another swipe but she easily dodges that one too, I concentrate all my strength to get closer to her, when suddenly my body glows again, I feel way stronger and I reach her very quickly, she was obviously surprised as her eyes expand, I swing my right paw and hit her softly on the head.

"What was that big brother?! How did you do that?!"

"I don't know but I think it's a technique to increase my strength, I remember using it... against that damn hornet."

I grit my teeth when I remember the killer of my brother, and how I had used this technique subconsciously to drop the tree on top of it.

"When I try to use all my strength and clench all my muscles it activates by itself, but it makes me feel drained when I use it."

"Really? I wanna do that too!"

She takes a deep breath then starts to focus strongly, she eventually succeeds and her body starts to glow, she holds it for a dozen seconds then drops it, she falls to the ground exhausted.

"I did it big brother, did you see?"

She says as she was panting, she had managed to do it but it used all of her energy.

"Let's just take a break."

We take a break and talk with each other, it's nice not to think about all the bad things and increases my morale.

After a while the sun reaches the apex and my family returns.