It has come to my attention that I may be a little different compared with my siblings and parents. For a start, I’m not that bothered by the sunlight every time we exit the den, however my siblings always seem to be going through Halhol every time they come out. “Halhol? What is that?” That’s not to say I don’t suffer too, cos I do, it’s just…I feel more calmed by the day? Anyway, my siblings always seem to get distracted by lots of different things when—

“A butterfly! It’s so pretty!” I chased after the fluttering blue insect and ended up pouncing on sibling No.3’s nose in the process. We ended up tackling each other, somersaulting into the grass, before falling into another muddy puddle. We then chased after our other siblings and tried to get them covered in the mud as well.

Returning to the den after a day of playing, we all snuggled together – like we always did – and licked each other affectionately. Mother woke up from her nap when we returned only to sink back into slumber soon after. Once Father came in, we all rushed over and pounced on him. He growled a little at our rambunctiousness but soon relented and nuzzled us all before gently nipping at our ears in light protest.

“Kyeh! Kyeh! Kyeh!” I barked in short, high-pitched and strangled sounds as I laughed at the situation, only to receive the concerned gazes from my siblings and parents. I immediately stopped and whimpered a little in embarrassment before running towards Mother’s bosom to hide from all their stares. Oh, back to my previous thoughts, I really do seem to be different compared with the rest of the family…

After seeing Mother getting ready to feed us some tasty milk again, I scrambled to the source and began ravenously sucking out the sweet liquid. By the time the others had reached Mother, no more milk came out for me so I left the sibling frenzy and lay down in our bed area – pondering over my recent ruminations of the day. “Ruminations? Where have I heard that before? Nngh!”

I whimpered in agony as another severe headache assaulted me. In the background, I heard both Mother and Father growling as if something was attacking me, only for them to start giving worried whimpers by my ear as my mind slipped into darkness from fainting.

+++

“Hmm…? Where am I…?”

I looked around and saw I was in a bright den not under the ground. Around me, I could see lots of little suns glowing on the walls. “Crystal lamps?” The name of the glowing objects crossed my mind before I realised that I wasn’t in my own body again. I was looking through the eyes of that creature from my previous dream.

“Soft…”

I felt my furless paw stroking a much larger furred creature. With the angle provided, I noticed how the beast was considerably larger than Mother and Father combined yet I didn’t feel afraid. No, instead I felt reassured; completely protected. The creature had a shiny thing embedded in its head. “Crystal nucleus…huh?” Another term I was familiar with, yet didn’t know, entered my mind.

With every intake of breath the beast took I felt my furless paw rise along with its inflating body before sinking down upon exhaling. Observing my nearby surroundings, I realised I was on the ground, leaning against something warm and hard. With no control over what this current body was doing, I felt myself nestle more into whatever was behind me – drawing the attention of the beast lying in front.

“There, there. Go back to sleep.” I said. “I said? How do I know what I’m saying?” A little frightened of the situation, I suddenly felt exceptionally claustrophobic. I began internally hyperventilating out of panic, however my current body was as relaxed as when I first came to in this weird place. I saw my furless paw stroke the hard crystal nucleus and found myself entranced by the soft blue glow that pulsated every time I moved along it.

“So pretty…”

I then heard myself making a soothing noise with my lips closed. It was a familiar sound that calmed my panicking self – almost like when Mother and Father lick my head when too excited. Eventually, my lids grew heavy as my furless paw slid down the side of the beast’s slumbering figure. As my vision dimmed, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of loss when watching the beast’s almost motionless body…I wonder why…

+++

Waking up, I saw myself snuggled against Father’s stomach; my siblings all heaped on top of me with their sticky tongues lolling out. Feeling a little hot from the mini heat blankets, I attempted to move my petite self. Unfortunately, my siblings overpowered my meagre strength resulting in a paw covering my eyes and a few legs tangling with my own. Feeling trapped and helpless, I began croaking out a whimper in exasperation.

Mother’s ear twitched at the sound and turned to look at me: her dark eyes taking in my current predicament before standing up and moving over to pull me out of the body pile. Having been rescued from my dire situation, I then realised how thirsty and hungry I was. Whimpering to express my hunger, Mother gently placed me on the ground and nuzzled my cheek before licking my face and lying down.

Not wanting to squander an opportunity given by my most benevolent Mother, I stumbled over to that most glorious of places and began suckling. Soon after, the originally quiet den filled with the bickering sounds of my siblings all scrambling to get some food too. “Ah! That was my place!” Getting pushed out of the way by sibling No.1, I sulked in the corner, knowing that I was already full and didn’t really need to drink any more. However, that triumphant gleam in sibling No.1’s eyes irked me. “I’ll remember this!”

As I was thinking such things, I failed to sense sibling No.2 sneaking up beside me and tackling me to the ground. “We’ve just eaten and you already want to play?!” I thought as I rolled along the ground before kicking my hyperactive sibling away. The others soon noticed the commotion and thought it would be fun to gang up on me. “That’s cheating! I demand the referee to disqualify these ingrates!...What’s a referee?” Pausing briefly in thought, my siblings took advantage of my opening and piled in a heap on top of me.

Getting nuzzled from all sides, I gave a tiny, high-pitched growl before biting at the nearest sibling’s ears. Instead of wincing in pain, sibling No.4 seemed to enjoy my biting and even wagged her tail before nibbling at my own ear. “Ah, no fair…it feels so good…” With my defences completely lowered due to the fuzzy feelings inside, sibling No.1 pushed me completely down and bit my neck to assert his dominance. He gave a short bark of triumph before releasing me and licking my face affectionately. “Damn you, sibling No.1!” I quickly got back up and tackled him, which resulted in an epic battle of revenge! We fought tooth and claw against one another, with no clear victor in sight. Saying that, I obviously overpowered them all…most of them…maybe two.

Soon after, we all became tuckered out and collapsed into a comfortable heap of small-but-no-longer-tiny bodies. “These siblings…they’re such a handful…but so lovable.” I gently nuzzled the one nearest to me and yawned contentedly before falling asleep with the rest. I vaguely recall hearing both Mother and Father leaving the den together but don’t really know how long they were gone for. Oh well, presumably it’s not as if anything bad will happen to us with them nearby, right?