Rex

Rex

Worried Thoughts
As the sunlight fades and vision is impaired Rex the bull terrier looks upon his starving group of dogs as a king looks upon his queen, prince, and knights, with swords pointed at their throats and tears streaming down their eyes as the knowledge of their last minutes of life comes upon them.
This king is safe, with no swords pointed at him because of deals he made, as Rex is safe because of his agreement with the gods.

The beast of bulls is staying alert as his pack drifts into sleep that is craved by them like the peaceful end of death is craved by the slaves of the unkind king who orders them to be beaten and whipped daily, to lose blood slowly, and only to eat scraps.
The escape of death is craved as the pain only increases when they are told to fight for their lives against the other slaves who they now see as brothers. The brothers of the pack fight like this for food.

The strong and fierce wishes to take his pack back to the prairie. The prairie, where even when it is night everything is still clear to the eye, and his pack can hunt and prance without the fear of dying before the next day arrives.  Rex misses his prairie like a kidnapped child left in the rain, while his kidnapper looks on smiling and throwing rocks at him, wants to be in his mother’s arms drifting to sleep as her humming voice soothes the pain and worries of a child’s life away.

With thoughts of the prairie floating through his mind, Rex drifts to sleep.

A Reminding Dream
In sleep, recollection of the dream that caused the present horror sets Rex twitching and whining.

The starved corpses of his pack fill his vision. Oh! How could his family be gone? His brothers, sisters, wife, and pups all litter the ground with the smell of death; maggots lacing their skin. Grief begins to overtake him. Whines escape through his teeth and an agonized howl builds in his throat. The pain! Oh! The pain!

As his heartbeat slows and grows fainter in his chest the image in front of his eyes changes. The Great Mastiff King God and The Saint Bernard Queen Goddess look at Rex from the stars and declare, “The hunters of the humans have started killing all of the hares. The pack will starve if you don’t find the Bone of Revitalization. Set out with your best fighters to the land of the Lost Ones, the slaves of the humans, and shed a tear for them, and them only, or your fighters will perish to dust before your eyes. They will give you the bone and the guidance to go home. Before you set off we will make you always strong and never hungry, under one condition: you must not hurt a human. The spells were cast centuries ago that the humans won’t find the prairie if no human is harmed by one of the pack.”

A New Determination
Consciousness consumes him and Rex starts awake with a jump that wakes the fighters to alertness. With the slightest growl to his teeth Rex tells them that it is the last chance, the last evening, they will get before they starve to death. Barks are made in anticipation as they gather around Rex. He howls his determination and they set off slinking through the back ways of the humans’ city.

When the smell of death is inhaled by him, Rex stops and perks his ears. With a short bark the pack is set in motion again toward the human’s graveyard. Searching with his eyes Rex spots an area of death without the honoring stones, the area of the Lost Ones. The one quick to anger lets growls that rise in power escape his lips. Spotting one of the wretched humans, Rex lunges but is stopped midway by the sharpest pain in his hock. The smell of blood rises in the air and is choked on by Rex as he realizes it’s his. Hearing quiet whimpering to his left, Rex turns his head.

Theodore stands with his nose to the ground and Rex’s blood on his muzzle. “Forgive me great leader. You must remember the prophecy made by the gods.” Rex’s features soften and soften more as where he is hits him. A tear escapes his eye for those who were made slaves of the humans.

The fighters look on as Rex’s body stiffens and twitches in a sudden unconsciousness and eyes then focus on his mouth, where a golden bone has materialized. Howls of joy begin.

Peace in the Prairie
After awakening to find the Bone of Revitalization in his mouth and his fighters’ muscle back and the glow back in their eyes Rex is sure by instinct of how to get back to the prairie.

After stepping his first foot onto the dirt of the prairie Rex sees his pack going from nothing but bone to the glory he remembers them as. The light rises on Rex’s back and he is worshipped by all and made into a god.