A bolt of light flashed across the sky, followed by a loud, scary sound. Kitu let out a choked scream and ran faster, water falling from the sky and wetting his fur. Mud flew up behind his foot steps, eyes wide and panicked as he bolted through the trees, frantically following any last trace of his mother. The light came again and again, casting shadows on the ground and trees, shifting into beasts of the night, clawing out to Kitu, snarling at him and sneering at him.

Kitu let out a sob and scrambled desperately out of a clump of vines he'd become tangled in, whimpering pathetically, feeling small and helpless and completely alone.

Shaitani...Shaitani...! Where was she?! Where was his Shaitani?!

Tumbling through a mud puddle and darting around several trees, Kitu finally recognized where he was. He was standing in front of their twisted home, the mouth of the hidden den gaping open like a mouth. Kitu stood in front of it, heaving in and out, hesitant to go in despite the safeness he knew would greet him. But once the calls of his mother rang in his ears, the young male ran inside, leaving the demonic shadows and rain and fear behind him. He ran to his mother, clinging tremulously to her forearm, mud and rain soaked into his cold fur. He squinted his eyes shut and let out a pathetic sob, still horrified by his experience.

He never wanted to leave ever again...He never wanted his mother to leave him ever again, either.

He'd make sure they'd stay together forever from that day onward...