Audio: Chapter 2

 

Awareness returned, and Yuki couldn't open her eyes. Her body felt strange, unresponsive, and wrong. There was no noise — no whooshing wind, no common city noises — and she couldn’t hear her breathing. She cried out but heard nothing.

Was she deaf and blind?

Then she noticed the trembling. It was freezing, and she felt no clothes on her body. Had she been reborn as a deaf and blind baby and abandoned in the wilderness?

Fear gnawed at her now existing bones, but a rough… something, she wanted to say hands — it didn’t feel like hands — pushed her into a warm, fluffy blanket. The thing was so comfortable she immediately relaxed and forgot all about her blindness. Then soft, warm, leathery something pressed all around. It was heaven, it was safe, it was comfortable.

Better yet, amidst the incredible fluffiness, someone pressed a tit to her strange-shaped mouth. She didn’t have time to question things. She sucked on that with all her strength. It was ambrosia, her favorite ice cream, a hot cocoa cup in cold winter, and it was over way too soon.

Not that Yuki was still hungry. The small amount of nectar she managed to drink left her feeling full and satisfied, but it was so good that she wanted more.

Warm, safe, and cozy, she decided it was time to face the music.

“System,” she called it out. Her mouth moved, and she felt the scratchy air leave her throat, but no sound and no system.

“Menu,” she called again. The warm, fluffy blanket moved. Was Mom still around and responding to her calls? “Status!” she all but yelled the last one. The window showed up, and at the same time, something moist and ticklish pressed into her, several spots in sequence. What was that? She hoped it wasn’t anything gross, but she relaxed. She still wasn’t sure 'bout these instincts, but whatever that was, she felt safe.

 

Personal info.

Name: —.

Age: 0 days.

Gender: Female.

Race: Mutant Dwarf Horned Rabbit.

Evolution tier: F.

Exp: 0/3000.

 

Yuki decided it was too soon to worry about this. She was warm, safe, and cozy. The twitching of the leathery pillows around her wasn’t enough to disturb the paradise. Maybe she was blind and deaf, but she had a family that loved and cared for her. And she would have years to grow up. Anything else could wait; now, she would enjoy being a baby again. She wasn’t a rabbit. No, the system was just pranking her. She would see her actual status tomorrow after a nice nap.

 

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The air reverberated around Yuki. Something startled her awake. She felt for things around; the fluffy pillow wasn’t nearby anymore, and some of the leathery pillows were also missing. She sniffed the air. Mom’s scent was nearby.

The air vibrated again like an impact had happened close by. Yuki heard nothing but felt it. Then, the brief coppery scent she knew all too well — blood.

Yuki’s heart sped up, beating so fast she was afraid she’d die her third death by cardiac arrest. She froze, body locking down against her will. There was no flight or fight response. There was just raw, freezing terror. But the smell soon dissipated. Time passed, and nothing happened. Mom’s smell returned, and with it, a hint of blood.

Yuki remembered some half-watched documentaries about wild rabbits: the mom sometimes ate the babies. No, that was just paranoia. She wasn’t a rabbit, and there was no way Mom just killed and ate some of her siblings, right? Right?

 

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Exp: +1.

 

Yuki had long accepted she wasn’t human anymore. Blind and deaf, and now growing fur. The warm, leathery pillows? Her siblings. The awesome heavenly fluff? Her mother’s fur. Whatever she was, she fed from ambrosia once a day. Mother’s milk, thankfully not laced with poison for this newborn.

Now that the litter grew fur and could keep themselves warm, Mom did a vanishing act. She came once a day, fed the kids, then left again. Yuki knew why. She wanted to protect the litter.

Mom had a strong scent. Earth and pines and grass, mixed with sweet vanilla. It didn’t make sense, but that’s how she smelled. The kits in the nest had no scent. Even after days of just sleeping and eating and pooping, there was no smell.

“Status.” She called out.

 

Personal info.

Name: —.

Age: 11 days.

Gender: Female.

Race: Mutant Dwarf Horned Rabbit.

Evolution tier: F.

Exp: 11/3000.

 

One measly exp point per day. That would take more than eight years to reach full experience. Did rabbits even live that long? She still couldn’t see, even if it felt like her eyes were about to open. That was good because she noticed how fast the other kits in the nest grew. They were, like, double her size already. She didn’t mind. Their fluff was heavenly, almost as good as Mom’s.

 

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“Oh no, you don’t!” Yuki charged at Sir Hopsalot. Her screech attracted her sibling’s attention. Four weeks had passed since her rebirth, and she could see and hear again. Bunnies, who would have thought?

She charged her brother. He was tall, handsome, and had terrific brown silky fur. His white eye glowed in the darkness of their burrow, and the horn on his forehead was the biggest of the litter. Despite that, Yuki was faster. Who would have thought 20 in DEX was enough to run rounds around her siblings?

Sir Hopsalot was too late to react; before he could even look her way, Yuki had already zipped past, carrying the last nibble of the nut in her mouth. She had no idea where Mom got it, but it was divine, almost as good as the ambrosia milk Mom was not feeding them anymore.

Yuki posed in victory. Head high, displaying the nut between her teeth.

Then the vixen showed up and walked closer, red eyes gentle and forelegs moving elegantly. Bunbun McFluff had the most fluffier of the furs, even Mom didn’t hold a candle to that. Bunbun wasn’t as big as Hopsalot, but she was still two times Yuki's size. Her sister didn’t waste time; she enveloped Yuki in an almost hug, the soft, warm fur enough to make Yuki forget everything. Even her hard-earned prize.

When Yuki returned from fluff heaven, Bunbun and the nut were long gone.

Dangit. She needed to get her shit together. A bit of soft fur, and she lost her mind. Dejected, she walked to Flopsy Mopsy. He wouldn’t betray her trust.

Mainly because he was always sleeping.

Big, but not the biggest of the litter, he was cuddly and floppy, which made him the perfect pillow, even if Bunbun’s fur was nicer. But that little vixen had learned how to weaponize her fluffiness. Yuki needed to steer clear of that.

From her comfortable spot, she saw the biggest of them, Captain Nutjob’s smug face. He glanced at her and sneered. His nose twitched with self-importance. Poor Whisker Wigglebottom waited by his side, nose twitching in desperate calls for help. Yuki felt sorry for not saving her sister from the big bully, Captain Nutjob, but what else could she do? The one time she tried, Nutjob almost skewered her with his horn. A horn Yuki didn’t have. Even if her race was called Horned Rabbit.

No, Yuki’s fur was white and silky when her siblings were shades of gray and brown. In her modest opinion, her fur was even better than Bunbun’s S Tier fluffiness.

 

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Exp: +1.

 

Today was finally the day! Yuki bounced up in the cuddle pile; her siblings' noses twitched at her sudden movements. She jumped and bounced and danced. Yuki and her siblings had explored every nook and cranny of the burrow. She knew every scent, every curve, and dead end. Some of those, Yuki knew, led to outside, but Mom always kept those shut.

Bored out of her mind, Yuki had explored every part of her new home. She even picked a fight with the neighbor's litter. They were annoying. They kept smelling her, pushing her, shoving her. In retaliation, Yuki stole their food and ran behind Captain Nutjob for protection. Her bully of a brother had grown even bigger, and when presented with the chance to bully others, he always picked the strangers.

Yuki was sure to leave a bit of the klepted food behind in his corner of the nest, just as a safety measure. She wasn’t afraid of him — nope, not at all.

She also explored all her system tabs. Skills and Advanced Skills, for some reason, were still grayed out. She couldn’t use them. No [Analyze] or [Identify] either. She jumped, ran, sang and danced. No skill increased. Which was a shame. Was she locked out because of her race?

The only thing that ever changed there was her daily experience pittance.

But to say she learned nothing was untrue. She knew how to cast the spells she selected. Somehow, the knowledge had been implanted in her mind. The only problem was… There was a chant, hand-waving, material components, and ritual circles.

The only one she could cast from the selected ones was [Contract Familiar], which needed a ritual circle, which Yuki guessed she could draw with her paws. With this one, the chanting just enhanced the chances of attracting the attention of something better, and the same was valid with the hand-waving and material components. Still, technically, she could cast it; it just wouldn’t be worth it.

But enough of that. Mom was finally here. As usual, her pine and vanilla scent spread out in the warren the moment Mom stepped in. The kits lined up, and Yuki bounced more than Sir Hopsalot. Even Flopsy Mopsy was awake and alert. It was finally the day to see the sky again. The big blue, the sun, the stars! Yuki was sure nothing would go wrong. They were just going to enjoy the open air, the fresh food, the new neighbors. Right? Right?