ORIGIN

The first thing Mosaic became aware of was that she was wet.

The second thing she became aware of was that she was thirsty.

So the first thing she did was lap up the fluid clinging to her fur and surrounding a pile of yellowish orange stuff. She poked the stuff experimentally with her tongue, but they didn't taste good (the first thing she learned), so she left them alone. Speaking of things that tasted good, she was hungry. Her belly twisted with an uncomfortable sensation, drawing a low whine from the pup. Her magic flickered to life automatically, searching for a sound. And a sound it found!

Barking excitedly, her ears swiveled toward a dark hole at the base of the gorge wall from which a thumping sound was coming. Mosaic wasted no time in trotting over and stuffing a paw in the whole, batting around blindly to search for whatever was in there. A moment later, a sharp pain erupted in said paw and she withdrew it with a yelp and a high-pitched whine. "Stupid prey!" she shrieked (her first words), waving her paw wildly in a vain attempt to shake off the pain.

However much her paw hurt, Mosaic couldn't deny that she was still hungry, and the scent inside the hole smelled oh so very good. Mouth watering and hissing insults at the prey animal inside, she stuck the other front paw inside, batting wildly and hoping to make contact with something. Hey, if it didn't work once, try it a couple more times and it should be fine, right?

Her paw made contact with something furry and fat. Barking excitedly, Mosaic proceeded to flap around her paw wildly. She'd get that rabbit, and make it PAY for hurting her! However, just as her paw found its target again and started whipping at it, there was another sharp pain, like something had kicked it. Howling, Mosaic drew it out again, tears streaming down her face and shrieking incoherently.

This time, she decided to stick her whole face inside. As soon as she did it, Mosaic realized what a bad idea it was - rock pressed down on her snout from above, and the prey-thing sank its tiny blunt teeth into her sensitive nose. The puppy shrieked again, furiously, and the prey-thing seemed to be stunned by the sound, if only for a moment. Growling, she started snapping wildly, feeling the satisfying crunch of a leg in her teeth.

Satisfied with the taste of rabbit leg in her mouth, Mosaic attempted to withdraw her head to no avail. She was stuck! To make things even worse, the rabbit started kicking at her muzzle, making her let go of it! Whimpering, she pawed at her snout and the rock around it, trying to extract herself. Spoiler alert: it didn't work.

Starting to panic now, Mosaic tugged her head wildly, shaking it and trying to get out of the hole. Nothing worked. Tears started pouring from her eyes again. Was she going to be stuck here forever? Well, might as well delay starvation, right? She lunged for the unseen rabbit again, snapping furiously and unintentionally wedging her head in even tighter. Her mouth closed around its neck this time and she did her best to eat it, trapped in the tiny enclosure.

She'd eaten the rabbit as best she could with her limited head movement and nonexistent eyesight in such a dark space. Now, she wanted out. She didn't want to be attached to a rock wall for life! That would be horrible! "Stupid jerk rocks!" she screamed, tugging her head this way and that to try to free herself.

With a painful pop, she wrenched herself free. Hmm - it seemed that yelling insults at things made them more likely to listen to her. That knowledge would definitely come in handy later. Satisfied with her discoveries, Mosaic laid down and curled up for an after-meal nap.

--exit