Slaynvigil began singing softly to himself as he felt Shetan preparing to jump.
"Little pup don't run away from home.
We can find your missing throne.
I promise you it is not lost.
No more so than the winter frost."
He tried to keep his voice soft and calm, but it rose shrilly as the rushing lava grew closer.
"She-tan!" he shrieked, pressing his mouth into the fur of the Penticorn's shoulders to muffle the sound of his fear.
He shuddered violently, his stomach lurching painfully as he felt the world disappear from beneath him. Strangely enough, his body went slack with the sensation, and a memory from the past filled his brain.
Perhaps it was the song he vaguely remembered his mother singing to him when he was very, very small; perhaps it was the sense of security that washed over him when the world left his feet. Or perhaps it was simply time...
A tiny puppy frolicked happily in the grass, two others with purple and black coats identical to its own running beside him. A larger, feminine Sahound watched them dutifully, her amber eyes glinting in the half-light produced by the forest surrounding her. "Seer! Tayen! Pherelts! Numen! Come, quickly! It is the Blackberries!"
Her children stopped immediately in their tracks, spinning around to dash to her side. Without warning, a Blackberry Slithey streaked from the trees, bashing into the mother's head cruelly with her tail. The pups squealed in distress, scattering in an effort to protect themselves. Undaunted by their infantile ways, the Blackberry sauntered up to the first Sahound, Seer.
"So." she drawled, very much in control of the situation. "You feel like running, eh?"
Shocked into immobility, the pup nodded.
"I don't think you're going to run much farther, kid."
A mature male Void Sahound sprinted from the depths of the forest, lifting the pup out of harm for the time being; bliss surrounded him like a cloud. With a jolt, Slaynvigil realized who it was.
Him, as a child. He had not noticed before.
..
In real time, the body of Slaynvigil was motionless on the back of his friend. The only clues that he was still alive were the constant movement of his lungs, the rapid breathing of his heart and the occasional twitch..