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Pomegranate unveils her tattered brown hood, glancing around. The freezing cold weather had dissipated, but a chilly breeze still remained present. Glancing around and making sure no one is around, she takes it off fully. Her red sleeves fall, brushing against her side softly. She recoils in uncomfortableness, the fabric is damp and wet due to the snow bleeding through the brown cloak.
She seethes silently, folding it up neatly and tucking it under her arm. She hated the Cacao Kingdom. Now that Dark Choco had left, Enchantress would surely send her to go find him- or rather, the sword. God knows where it is now. The priestess had seen what it could do. Sometimes, whenever she was by Choco, she could hear it whispering. It spoke in an foreign tongue.
She traces her finger along her torso, following along the deep gash that Dark Choco had inflicted on her. Pomegranate grits her teeth; wincing slightly at the pain. “Traitor..” She mutters under her breath. It had healed up a little bit, but it still stung whenever she moved too quickly. Snapping her head back up, Pomegranate continues her way towards the cursed castle.
The priestess looks up at the clouded sky, squinting to look for the sun. Cold air nips at her fingers, making her shiver uncomfortably. The sun was shielded by a veil of dark clouds that were coming together. Pomegranate grits her teeth. Just her luck. With the circumstances, some snowfall would happen. She needed to get back to the castle fast, what would Dark Enchantress think of her if she came back with nothing but a cold?
Pomegranate walks faster, leaves crunching under her feet. She could hear her own ragged breaths and the rustle of the trees that loomed above. Little wisps of air briefly touched her shoulders. She looks left and right, furrowing her brow. The priestess decides to distract herself by looking at her surroundings. Some frost still covers the ground below her, leaving some subtle footprints. Little icicles hang from the branches of the trees. The scene is mostly still, save for the wind rushing past the twigs and leaves.
Then she hears little pitter patters behind her, stepping on sticks and shrubs on the forest floor. Pomegranate’s heart almost stops for a second. One day she’s gonna have a heart attack if this keeps happening. Continuing to walk, she pays attention to the creature’s steps. It sounded eerily similar to the cream wolves. It made her skin bristle just thinking about them – the sharp yellow eyes, long narrow fangs, the silver claws that would sink deep into her skin.
Those damned things. They might be worse than those cursed hounds that Red Velvet trains. Though, Crunchy Chip is more laughable than Velvet. At least he gets things done rather than pandering all day.
Pomegranate figures that running won’t do her any good. A cream wolf would be able to catch up to her in seconds flat. Swallowing the bile that was rising in her throat, she whips around abruptly. The priestess arms herself with her mirror, the diamond pendants making a soft jingle sound as they’re held close to her chest. “Who’s there?!” She demands, eyes scanning the woods.
There’s a little bark, and to her surprise, one of the Cacao Kingdom’s hounds comes bounding out of the bushes! A few pale, crumbling leaves linger on the dog’s warm brown coat. It looked to be a wild hound considering its matted fur and all the twigs stuck in it. It runs up to Pomegranate, circling around her while panting happily.
“I..” She stutters out, completely dumbfounded. She was on edge because of some harmless dog? The priestess grits her teeth, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Seriously?” She glares at the cacao hound. It doesn’t seem to be phased by her cold stare, jumping up on her robes to play. The priestess brushes it aside with her foot.
The hound just runs up to her again, and Pomegranate brushes it away once more. The brown cakehound keeps sprinting up to her, tail wagging. “Agh, why won’t you go away? Can’t you see that I don’t want you around?” She groans. The dog seemed to have lost interest in clawing at the priestess’s crimson robes, picking up a small stick from the snow and running circles around her again.
It drops the twig in front of her, and she reluctantly picks it up. Pomegranate twirls it around in her hand, before chucking it as far as she could into the distance. As expected, the cakehound runs after it, scampering into the depths of the frost covered forest. The priestess turns around, walking on her path again.
“Finally.” She mutters quietly to herself. That wild cakedog shouldn’t bother her anymore.
She spoke too soon.
One bark, followed up by two more fill the air, and the feral cakehound is clawing at her leg again. The priestess sighs, scooping it up into her arms. Now that she has a closer look at its fur, Pomegranate can see little dark brown spots that dot its fleece. It looked like chocolate chips. She hesitantly pets it, and the dog eases into her touch. The priestess takes a moment to pluck out all the broken branches and leaves stuck in its coat. It looked much more like a dog now.
“I’m not going to be able to get rid of you, am I?” She speaks to it, and the cakehound replies by licking her face. Pomegranate wipes the saliva off promptly, placing it back into the snow. The dog rolls around with its tongue out, looking rather silly. The priestess stifles a laugh, but the edges of her lips creep up into a smile. It suddenly stops, getting back onto all fours and running around the priestess again.
“Well come along.” She chides playfully, walking towards her destination again. The chocolate cakehound bounds after her, stopping every once in a while to sniff something or chase after some animal that it happened to see. It always strays back to her though, following Pomegranate happily.
“I think I’ll name you Chip,” She declares, expression softening as she kneels down to pet the cakehound again. Chip barks joyfully. “I’ll have to hide you from Red Velvet.” She chuckles, treading further into the woods and out of Cacao territory.
Pomegranate returns home without any difficulty, and now with a new member of the darkness.