It's A Dog's Life

 Earlier…

Nibbles watched with confusion as her human and the others were hauled away. What was going on? Furthermore, she was still trying to wrap her head around why she was small again and couldn’t talk to Millie like she could when she was bigger.

She liked being in the sun well enough, of course. It felt nice and warm on her fur, and she could relax in it. But when she was in the light of the full moon, that was fun too. She enjoyed that werewolf form, and being able to better talk with her human. And she liked that pretty vampire lady and wanted to be friends. And she liked that one with the detached head (they gave some great pets). She even liked the spider-lady, even if she’d gotten webs in her fur and her human didn’t really like her that much (though she thought that might have been easing a bit).

In all honesty, Nibbles had never once imagined that she’d be in this situation. Before coming to this world, she’d been content just to chase mice and chew on her toys…

Years Ago, Human Realm

The shelter was a bit crowded as of late, people having surrendered their unwanted pets. Some of those unwanted pets had recently given birth, and Nibbles was one of those overflow puppies. Many of those that came by looking for a new pup had looked her over, and she was always excited to see those humans.

But most of them passed her over, selecting dogs that were more housebroken (but not yet old). One of them had brought her home, and she was happy for a bit. But after a couple of months (and docking her tail), she was dumped off at the shelter again. She went through three or four potential forever homes within the span of a year before Millie showed up.

Nibbles was quite energetic. Some might say she wasn’t a good fit for a small apartment such as her new home, and that she would be returned to the shelter before too long.

But Millie never did. Rather, she’d embraced the chaos that young pup brought to her life, even when she did try to chew on her feet. That was how she’d gotten the name “Nibbles” in the first place.

Her human had a tendency to share snacks with her, and the dog had a definite affinity for peanut butter.

Nibbles loved her human more than (most) anything else, and when she’d come home that day with a box of stuff, she didn’t resist when she collapsed and hugged her tightly. She knew her human needed her at that point (but not sure what was wrong).

And then they wound up in that forest, and she’d turned into a big wolf.

Present, Daylight

Nibbles padded along the white stone road, sniffing the area. Either for food or her chosen giver of food, she was on the hunt. But the whole area smelled weird to her.

It wasn’t the normal “New place!” smell. Instead, it had a strangely artificial scent to it. A lot like those monsters they’d been fighting. But nothing had tried to attack her yet.

The dog kept up her search of the area, seeing a few people around. Nobody was glitching, but they had an unnaturally smooth movement to them. That off-putting scent was still there. She normally would have approached the people and wiggled her tail happily, but that smell gave her definite pause.

Something told her that food (as she knew it) might not be in plentiful supply around there.

“Well, hello there, puppy!” a voice called from nearby.

Nibbles glanced at the person. It seemed to be a young girl, dressed entirely in white, who carried The Smell with her. Her eyes looked like they lacked any sort of a soul. The fingers fluctuated in numbers.

And Nibbles was still a regular dog.

Having no other real course of action right now, she began to bark at the girl as loudly as possible. It was an ear-splitting, angry bark, the girl backing away from her. Nibbles also backed away, running through the streets to get away from what she was certain was another of those creatures. Or at least something related to it.

The dog kept running through the city, barking as she went. She barely watched where she was going, before colliding with something dark. Two yelps, and she managed to get a look in front of her.

She’d just crashed into her human!

Sure, she’d knocked Millie right onto her backside, but the important thing was they’d found each other. Nibbles pressed against her human, tail wiggling as Millie wrapped her arms around her.

“Good to see you too, Nibs,” she said, continuing the hug.

Millie got up, before reaching down to scratch Nibbles’ ears.

The dog noticed that her human was alone, and as if reading her mind, the human answered her.

“We’ll go back for them at some point,” she said. “I wanna see if there’s some way to bypass the sunlight so it’s easier for Talia and Amaia.”

As Millie kept walking, Nibbles stayed right by her side, just so relieved to be back with her again. Millie’s arms were crossed in front of her, and she glanced to the dog.

“So, I dunno about you, but nobody around here seems normal, y’know?”

Nibbles appreciated that she still talked to her like she’d answer back. It made her feel less alone, in a way. She kept close to her, still, trotting along the streets. Maybe they could find some food together, as well.

After more wandering around, the two of them came upon a library.

“Anyone asks, you’re my emotional support animal,” Millie told her as she walked in, Nibbles right there with her.

The library itself was immense, made of the same white stone as everything else. It had more of a pearlescent sheen to it than some of the other buildings. Nibbles didn’t entirely like this place’s scent, either. It still had that monster-y smell to it. There was one person to be found in this place, and they were at the desk.

“Need help with anything?” she asked, glancing at the pair from over the rims of her red-framed glasses.

“Just browsing,” Millie said. “Thanks for asking, though.”

“Here from Nightshade?”

She blinked. “Yeah, why?”

“You look like a witch. Just missing the hat.”

Millie nodded. She remembered that she’d let Talia borrow that hat, and hoped that they hadn’t done anything to her.

“What do you know about Nightshade?” Millie asked her.

The librarian tapped her chin. “I was summoned there a while back. Something about fighting some weird digital creatures, but that didn’t pan out.”

Millie’s eyes widened. She knew Talia had been wanting some answers, and she may have found a prime source for a few of those.

“Can you tell me about what happened when you set out?!” she nearly shouted, leaning against the desk.

The librarian shrugged. “Not much to tell. I came across this place a little bit into the quest, and they let me live here. Went looking for work, found the library, and that’s about all she wrote.”

Nodding, Millie started looking around the library, checking for anything about sky manipulation. The text on the signs, however, gave her pause.

They were typed rather than handwritten, and so there was absolutely no earthly reason that the text needed to blend the way it did. Like it was thoroughly generated by a machine. The slight yellowish tint to the white paper didn’t help matters.

This library was one of those threats. The librarian had probably gone from a prior champion to a previous victim.

And Millie knew that if she and Nibbles didn’t get the hell out of there as soon as possible, they would probably be next.

Millie thought quickly, doing everything she could to will a chew toy into existence. With a pink glow, it formed in her hand (and answered the question she’d had about if her magic still worked around this town), and she whistled for Nibbles’ attention.

The dog looked right at her, as she tossed the toy toward the door. Nibbles rushed for it, Millie running right after her, and looking to throw that door open.

The door, however, wasn’t cooperating at all. She tried and tried to get it open, but it wouldn’t budge.

It had every intention of keeping them there.

Swearing, Millie kept trying to break the door open, the librarian starting toward her.

“I could always use an assistant…” she told her, voice having taken on a more artificial quality.

“Get bent!” Millie called back.

There was a time she would have killed for an offer like that, but not like this.