Civil War

Bronze

Reyna's POV

"I'm going to find food so none of us starve to death," I stated. We'd done nothing but hide in this blasted cave. It was ridiculous, I could imagine how pathetic we looked shivering next to a small flame.

"Don't go t-to far," Hazel worried, snuggling up to Frank who'd remained a bear for the most part. He was the only one of us equipped to withstand the cold.

"I won't," I assured. Nico gave me a weary look as I passed him and exited the cave. By now the snow had ceased falling but it only made traversing the frozen tundra even more difficult. The chances of finding anything were slim but I had to get out of that cave.

It felt like we were sitting there doing nothing, just waiting to ice over. Shaking my head I set off at a slow jog through the snow and struggled on in search of some sort of food.

It took ages before I came across the small tracks of what could only belong to a rabbit. It's small little feet left slight indentations in the ground. Hardly noticeable from an untrained eye.

"Alright, lets see where you went," I mumbled, beginning to follow its path. The tracks went on for a while until at last they led to where a pale colored rabbit was sitting in a small expanse of space sniffing for food. It's little nose twitched and its tail wiggled as it walked towards a dead bush.

Watching it I found that with each passing second I lost the desire to kill it. It was food, but it was so small and innocent how could I just sneak up and end its tiny life? What if it had young bunnies to feed? Or better yet, what if it was a young bunny learning the ways of the world? And why the hell was I trying to figure out this rabbits life? "I'm going soft."

Groaning I mentally kicked myself and let it scurry off to some unknown destination letting the one food source we had get away. I was turning to head back when something caught my eye. It was a flash of light amidst the white snow and backdrop of the environment.

Pausing, I crouched lower to the ground and  studied the terrain searching for the cause of the flash. At last my eyes settled on something strange but familiar. For a split second I felt elated, but quickly realized it wasn't what I thought it was.

Across the way hiding in dead shrubbery was a dog. It looked exactly like Aurum and Argentum but its color wasn't silver or gold, it was bronze. My emotions quickly turned to that of confusion.

"What are you doing here?" I asked taking a hesitant step or two in its direction. The greyhound slowly crawled out from its hiding spot and stood slim and proud in the light. It's sleek body a glistening alloy. "How are you here? This is the middle of no where! And why do you look like Aurumn and Argentum?"

The greyhound tilted its head, red colored eyes curiously observing me. It turned slowly glancing over its shoulder and began to pad in the opposite direction of the rabbit.

"Do you have a name?" I asked as if it would answer. There was obviously no response as it kept walking. For some odd reason I got the sense that it wanted me to follow it. "Bronze. Is it Aes? The Latin term?"

Once more the bronze greyhound didn't respond and simply kept walking. Sighing, I kept quiet and continued behind it. Nothing appeared different as we walked. It was all the same; bare lifeless trees or the occasional limb of a bush peeking through the snow.

"Where are we going? I have friends to get back to. I can't just leave them." No response came. Not even an indication that it'd heard me. I was considering abandoning my cause and turning around when it broke into a run. "Hey! Wait!"

Groaning, I took off at a run going as fast as I could through the snow. Up ahead the metallic greyhound seemed to float over the ground. The snow didn't slow it down in the slightest. For a split second it disappeared from sight and I spun in a circle trying to locate it once more.