Submission (#755) Approved

+5 shards (prompt)
+4 shards (451 words)

: +9 shards

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Alorus had been feeling slightly down as of late. No real reason, he assured his grandfather when he asked, but... it was in fact a deflection. He'd come to realize that a lot of his problems stemmed from putting aside his feelings for what had happened once upon a time, and how he'd lost his parents. Mourning, it turns out, was a very important process in healing.

As such he'd made a commitment of going out into the woods each day, both to keep on training; one could never train too little, and to let himself... feel, and think about his parents. The process often brought him to tears, but he'd found over the last few days, weeks even, thinking about them slowly got easier.

It was due to his usual escapades into the forest that he one day noticed the weird sort of feeling in the air. Everything was too calm, or perhaps... too tense? Too quiet all in all, until he heard the scream. It came from his right, and Alorus had thought not twice about charging forward, having shifted mid sprint to the location of the screams.

There, he found a woolyne he did not know. They were clutching a kiritsune tightly, and though she was trying to scramble away from danger, it was clear that her foot had somehow been hurt in the process, making escaping the threat that loomed in front of her impossible.

A full grown, adult Lycore stood a few feet away, having tasted a bit of blood, it was clear the large animal was not going to pull out of the situation easily.

Alorus did not ask questions and did not waste time. He rushed the full of his bulk against the Lycore in hopes of unbalancing it, and though it did no such thing, it at least managed to take its attention off the other woolyne and its kiritsune. Seeing an opening where there had previously been none, the wool in question locked eyes with Alorus for a split second, just enough for a silent thank you to pass by, and then, she did her best to grab her companion and book it, leaving the shifter to fend off the Lycore.

A brief exchange of blows happened before the lycore realized its previous prey was gone, and that the shifted wool was too much of a hassle for it to bother with. With a snort and huff, the creature, although not exactly intimidated, gave up on the assault; it would find easier prey. Why waste energy it could be using to hunt with?

Thankfully, Alorus escaped the ordeal bruised, and a bit worse for wear, but very much healthy, all things considered.