Side Stories - Snowlily's Adventure - 1 (Patreon)

Going back in time for a bit...

Snowlily stood firmly on the deck of their ship fighting side by side with her partner Thomas. She knew she wasn't strong enough to defeat all of the pirates on her own so she focused on disabling and distracting them. This gave Thomas plenty of openings to defeat them. Their teamwork felt natural to her and she was enjoying the thrill of combat. The entire Garou race had always wanted to work side by side with humans as equals. Now she was and she loved every moment of it. As she launched a block of ice from her mouth and smashed the knee of a pirate she turned to look at Thomas. She froze at what she saw.

Somehow a man had managed to get behind her partner. Before she could try to issue a warning or fire off a spell, the man punched the back of Thomas's head. Weird ripples filled the air as the man's fist made contact. As Thomas collapsed onto his knees, pirates began to surround her. She saw the look of worry in Thomas's eyes before he completely collapsed onto the deck of the ship.

This was bad. She was quickly being surrounded by the pirates and she could see the looks of greed on their faces. She knew that not all humans were like Thomas... Well, he wasn't human but that was beside the point. She had to make a decision and make it quickly. She could stay, fight, and lose. After losing she would either be captured or killed. Being captured was more acceptable than being killed. She was the last known living Garou if she died her species may be wiped out completely. Her only other choice was to run. In the end, it wasn't a difficult choice. Her partner may be captured or killed but it didn't matter. She knew that he was immortal so if he died he would just come back. If she died they would never meet again.

She didn't like it. Even knowing that her partner was immortal, she still felt like she was abandoning him. She pushed those thoughts to the side and inhaled a deep breath. Her lungs expanded as her mana churned within her body. When she exhaled her breath came out as a thick cloud of freezing cold fog. Wherever the fog touched would become covered in a thin layer of slippery ice. The cloud billowed and surrounded herself and her attackers. Unlike them though, she had a much better sense of smell and could still tell where people were by their scent.

Snowlily quickly spun around and began to charge toward the nearest direction where she could smell the briny scent of the sea. As she got closer she spotted two of the pirates near the gunwale. She didn't want to get caught or have to deal with a long drawn out fight. Her mana churned again causing a long thick spike to appear in front of her muzzle. Once it was fully formed it shot out at a blinding speed and slammed directly into the unsuspecting pirate's knee. The pirate screamed and grabbed at his knee while falling down. Snowlily used his face as a springboard and leaped over the side of the ship. She fell through the air for a few moments before slamming into the icy waters.

The water was freezing cold and instantly caused Snowlily's small body to shiver. Her luxurious fur offered minimal protection. She ignored it the best she could and began swimming for her life. She was still too close to the battling ships and if she didn't make her escape they would find and capture or kill her. That couldn't be allowed to happen. Mana gathered at her paws and slowly transformed into ice. The ice was thick and wide giving her paws more surface area to push through the water and propel her faster. As she pumped more of her mana into the ice blocks beneath her paws the ice became wider, thicker, and more buoyant. Eventually, she stood on the iceblocks and used them to run on the surface of the water.

She never looked back and ran as fast as she could. Once the iceblocks had been formed it took a minimal amount of mana to maintain them. This allowed her to run on the surface of the ocean for over an hour until her mana finally gave out. Panting in exhaustion, she turned to look in the direction she had fled from. She could just barely see a single ship floating on the surface of the ocean. The large pillar of smoke floating above it made it easier to spot in the distance. She didn't know what had happened after she fled but she knew that her partner was still alive and getting further away from her.

She floated in the water as she waited for her stamina and mana to recover. She needed a plan. She couldn't just simply sit around waiting for Thomas while hoping he would find her. She couldn't run off and rescue him herself either. She needed help. The problem was, she didn't really know anyone but Thomas. Even worse, she couldn't communicate with anyone either. Thomas sort of understood her but he was her Soul Companion and even then he could only just barely understand her. How was she going to get help that could understand what she needed from them?

She thought furiously as she floated in the cold water. The longer she did the less the cold bothered her. It wasn't until she was ready to begin running again that a single possibility came to mind. One she was not very happy about. She had met a single individual that would be able to understand her. A descendant of the Garou. One that had tried to forcibly separate her from Thomas and then stalked them when she failed. Snowlily let out a long, drawn-out sigh. Desperate times called for desperate measures and this was definitely desperate. Her mana churned and formed ice platforms beneath her paws to once again allow her to run on the surface of the ocean. She only hoped the stalker hadn't given up when the ditched her almost a month ago.

For three days Snowlily ran on the ocean heading back in the direction she and Thomas had come from. She was hungry, thirsty, and exhausted but she pushed herself and ran. Whenever she got tired or ran out of mana she would float in the water until she recovered. Whenever a creature would try to attack her she would freeze it in a block of ice and flee as fast as she could. She wasn't strong enough to kill the things that wanted to eat her but being surrounded by water mater her Ice magic a little more effective. She didn't need to create water with her mana and freeze it. Instead, she would just freeze the abundant water around her and use it.

On the fourth day of her travel, she finally saw a ship heading in her direction. As the ship got closer she caught a familiar scent on the wind. Part of her was thrilled at catching the scent, the other part was supremely annoyed that the scent was there at all. Still, it was a stroke of luck, providence, or a gift from the gods that she didn't have to run all the way back to the port and begin her search from there.

When the ship came close enough, Snowlily could see a shocking head of red hair looking over the side of the ship. The golden eyes of the woman were locked firmly on her. With the last of her strength, Snowlily ran as fast as she could and leaped off of her ice blocks. She flew through the air and landed on the ship in a sopping wet mess. She panted heavily while watching the red-head run over to her. Despite her distaste for the woman, Snowlily was glad to be near someone that would take care of her and protect her. That was the last thought she had before passing out from exhaustion.

Sometime later Snowlily awoke. She felt warm and comfortable. The salt from the ocean had been carefully washed out of her fur leaving it soft and luxurious once again. She was laying on a bed wrapped in thick blankets that filled her with the warmth that she had missed over the last few days. As she became more aware of her surroundings she smelled something in the air. The instant she caught the scent her stomach issued a ferocious growl. Driven by her hunger, Snowlily forced her way out of the comfortable blankets and spotted the source of the scent.

Sitting on a table next to the bed was a plate filled with thick slabs of juicy meat. Judging by the lack of steam it had been sitting there for some time. Unable to hold back, she charged across the bed and instantly began to devour the well seasoned and perfectly cooked cuts of meat. It was a pleasant surprise to realize that the meat was still luke-warm while it filled the gaping void that had once been a stomach. Snowlily devoured every last piece of meat on the plate and was exceedingly happy to find no signs of vegetables anywhere.

It wasn't that she disliked vegetables. No, that wasn't it. She DESPISED vegetables! They were the enemy of all young Garou and should be purged from the world and left to antiquity! Sure, they tasted okay and when Thomas made them they would be alright. But still! All vegetables must die!

As she finished off the last slab of meat the door to the cabin she was staying in opened. Lexiana walked into the room carrying a plate with a fresh meal on it. Seeing Snowlily awake and the previous plate of meat gone she smiled warmly, "I was worried. You've been asleep for almost a full day."

Lexiana stepped into the room and closed the door behind her. As she walked over, Snowlily watched her cautiously. Lexiana didn't seem to mind and set the plate of steaming hot freshly cooked meat down where the plate of previous food had been, "Here's some more for you if you're still hungry."

Snowlily eyed Lexiana with suspicion but the scent of the hot freshly cooked meat was too much to resist. Before another moment passed her muzzle was buried inside of the meat. Lexiana pulled out a chair, sat down, and cradled her chin in her hands. She happily watched the little wolf devour the pile of meat that easily weighed just as much as her. Lexiana's eyes practically glittered while watching Snowlily eat.

Once all the food was eaten, Snowlily ignored Lexiana completely. She felt overly full and it made her tired once again. Still ignoring the red-head, she walked back over to the pile of blankets. After walking around them in a circle she flopped down and immediately went to sleep. She could feel that Thomas was still alive thanks to their connection. She didn't know what was happening to him but it didn't seem too bad. At the moment she was too tired to do anything and panicking would do her, and him, no good. She needed to get some rest. When she woke up again she would explain the situation to Lexiana and get her to help with his rescue. Until then she needed to recover her strength, or better yet get stronger.

Snowlily didn't wake up until the next morning. Thanks to a huge helping of food and plenty of rest, she felt fully revived and ready to begin trying to find and rescue Thomas. If he needed to be rescued. Being immortal and all he could just revive after dying making it even easier to find him. After fully waking up, Snowlily climbed out of her pile of blankets and looked around the room. It was still pretty early and she was left alone. She felt a little lonely. This was the first time she'd woken up alone since she'd been given to Thomas as his companion. She didn't like it. Not. One. Bit.

She wanted to leave the room but when she looked at the closed door she growled in frustration. Doorknobs! Yet another thing that needed to be brutally destroyed and purged from history. It was unbelievably frustrating the be stopped from leaving the room because she couldn't open the door. She could, of course, simply destroy the door using her magic but even she knew that wasn't a good idea. She might have been a small pup when she was placed in stasis but she still had some education. She knew humans didn't like it when their things were broken. Even if that thing was evil.

Thankfully, she didn't have to wait too long before Lexiana arrived with a plate that was once again filled with a pile of steaming meat. Snowlily didn't know exactly what kind of meat she had eaten before, she was too hungry to care. This time though, it looked like fish filets. Once Lexiana set the food down, Snowlily immediately dug into it. Neither of them said anything until Snowlily had finished every last bite. Once the food was gone, Lexiana put on a serious face, "I think we need to talk about why you were all alone on the ocean."

Snowlily looked up at Lexiana and nodded her little head. She needed to tell Lexiana what happened and get her to help. Thomas needed to be found and rescued as soon as possible!