You know, I would love to say that my journey to wherever I was going was full of laughter and fun times but…it’s been boring. Sibling No.1 and I have been cooped up in our cage on this vehicle for goodness knows how many days now and not once have we been let out to stretch our legs! I have needs! Sibling No.1 has needs – well, that’s actually kind of questionable due to his idiocy…but I don’t particularly enjoy defecating and urinating right next to where I eat and sleep! “I have my rights!”

With my ranting ceased for the time being, I suppose I should say how there was some sort of activity occurring whilst I was confined to my cage. For starters, the scenery outside is no longer the same as before. At the journey’s inception, there were trees tightly tangled together – making the travel slow and careful. This was also where that crystal tiger attacked the group. Moving along, we had entered a more mountainous terrain – with rocky outcrops and crystal structures jutting out here and there. Now, we are going through some grassy terrain that reminds me of when we last saw Mother, Father and sibling No.3… “Are they taking us to them?”

Speaking of that crystal tiger, by the way, the day after the attack the adults hauled its body out of the village in the afternoon. For a few hours there was a thick stench of blood in the air before a reminiscent scent wafted over. “Cooked meat.” I didn’t really understand what was meant by the word, ‘cooked’, however the humans outside the vehicle seemed to be in an exceptionally elated mood for the rest of the evening. As for the crystal tiger? I recall seeing a pile of crystal claws, teeth and bones placed somewhere in the back of the vehicle but never the sleeping beast. “I wonder if they set it free…” Either way, I thought the smell was very hunger-inducing, but alas I did not get to partake in such delights.

Throwing that thought to the side, a recurring event that transpires was to do with that boy from before. I don’t know why, but every night since that first time he’s been sneaking into our area and going towards the spider cage. I’m not entirely sure why he keeps doing this, since I am clearly the more interesting and beautiful being to watch. “Look at my pretty fur! I just finished grooming it earlier this evening! Hey! Hey! Look at me! Don’t ignore me when I am deigning to deliver some discourse with you!”

I sighed as – instead of garnering the attention of the boy – I received the unwanted affection from sibling No.1. It might not be clear as to why I didn’t want his affection, however when you’ve been stuck in a small space with the same person for an undesirable length of time – where you can’t even leave the place due to restrictions – then even the smallest of actions can incur irritation. Saying that, I did appreciate the times he nibbled on my ears, “Ah, it feels so nice!”

Reverting to the topic of the boy, I found him enigmatic. Why? Well, for one, I never saw him interacting with the other children. Although, I can’t really base my conclusions on such little evidence on account of me being stuck in this stinkpot of a cage! Ahem, I did however notice how he sometimes entered with a limp, sometimes rubbing his shoulder every now and then. It caused me to wonder if he was suffering from constant play-fighting, like I did with all of my siblings.

Ruminating along that line of thought made me feel a little camaraderie with the boy, although such positive emotions were hastily swept aside every time he ignored me. “No wonder the others don’t like you, humph! Rudeness ruins relationships!” In order to calm my aggravation, I bit sibling No.1’s ear which resulted in us play-fighting again for a long while. There’s no point saying who the winner is because everyone is a winner for participating…right?

Eventually, the scenery changed again to a smaller version of the market with no desks covered in various items dotted outside. Not many people were present – from what I could observe – and those that were didn’t seem to be wearing as nice attire as those at the ranch. After a brief few minutes of entering this new place, the vehicle stopped beside the largest den I could see – despite it being relatively minuscule compared with the ranch. The adults then proceeded to finally unload our cages from the vehicle and into the large den. “Finally! I can run around and play with tons of toys again!”

My expectations were dashed at the doorstep. The den was dank, dingy, dusty and deplorable. Of course, the humans had determined this to be the place to store all of us for who knows how long. “What do you take us for?! We are living and breathing, just like you! Argh!” As well as the poor accommodation, we were also left in our cages, which riled me even more…The ranch was so much nicer than here…Despite the occasional stabby-stabby, at least we got toys, nice food, a large space and regular grooming…

“I miss sibling No.4…and Sam…”

Since I had nothing else to do in this ramshackle ruin for a home, I decided to observe the beasts in the other cages. The Umbral Spider sling, I didn’t need to mention much about, other than the fact it was pure black and smaller than me. Oh, it had eight legs and many eyes which kind of creeped me out but that wasn’t as bad as the fact that it could camouflage itself within the shadows – meaning even my amazing night-vision wouldn’t allow my viewing of it.

The next beast I suppose I could describe could be the one with the horn. I’m not entirely certain what the name for it is but I can still explain its features without too much difficulty: a small horn made from a greyish-brown crystal, four stocky and stumpy legs, very flat feet that almost seemed to meld into the legs, and a grey not-fur. From what I had seen, its personality was a little…temperamental? At least, whenever the human who brought our food neared its cage, it would stomp its feet and huff before groaning loudly at him. I suppose its size being twice that of mine and sibling No.1 didn’t help, either.

Another beast the humans had stored here was actually a group: the Molnir Panther cubs. Fluffy, fuzzy, fussy, small and round balls of cuteness. I mean, if I was the most beautiful thing, then these would be the cutest. I can sort of see why they would be popular, but I bet I could beat them in a fight surprisingly easily…Just ignore the fact I still sometimes lose to my silly sibling. As for their personalities, as mentioned in my listing I have found them to be quite fussy eaters. Then again, perhaps they are still more used to their own Mother’s milk?

The other beasts I can’t say anything about cos I got bored of looking at them all and couldn’t strain my neck enough to get a good glimpse, even if I wanted to. As such, with my analysis of the new environment done, I ate the awful food provided then had a bout of play-fighting with sibling No.1. Once we were both tuckered out, we called it a night and snuggled up together to sleep. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t because we enjoyed snuggling up…it was to avoid the faecal matter that the humans still hadn’t cleaned up…

“For once, can’t you humans just come in and clean out our cages?! Or at least let us out for some exercise and fresh air?! Give me back my free and happy life at the ranch! Better yet, give me back my parents and siblings! I want to work with my family to catch crystal termites again! I want to sleep underground in my cosy den that Mother and Father took time to dig out for us! Argh! Sibling No.1 stop kicking me, I’ll end up rolling into the excrement!”