The Golden Lion's Mantle - Chapter 2 - "Lost"

“LOST”

Wednesday, December 8th, 2048

Reno, the German Shepherd

K9 Unit

??? — ???

…

First, it was cold.

Then, snow up the nose. Sharp. Icy. Rude.

Then came nothing. No hum, no boots stomping, no guy yelling “Off your ass, Reno!” No smells that made sense. No sounds came from a busy place.

Just cold. Big sky. Quiet like the whole world got unplugged.

He lay there a minute, blinking. Not because he was scared. He isn’t afraid. But he needed a second.

Something was off.

Sniff.

Nothing familiar. No Filip. No fuel. No stew. No Kevlar. Just dirt. Snow. Very big trees. Trees? What big trees? Bigger trees?

He blinked again, harder this time. Okay — trees. Bigger ones than what he saw some time ago. Crooked, leaning over like they were talking to each other, judging him, maybe. Snow on their backs, dripping in slow motion.

Raa—roo—raa—roo…

Birds somewhere, but weird ones. Not the Base’s birds — those guys were loud, predictable. These? Twitchy. Foreign. Like they’d never seen a dog before.

He tried standing.

Front paw, okay. Back paw, okay. Shaky but solid. He shook his body, and then snow flew.

No leash.

No one to follow.

No tasks to do.

Just white ground and white air and trees with strange birds. Everything is blank and wide open.

This wasn’t the familiar place he was once in. This wasn’t anywhere.

He turned in a slow circle, nose low, tail stiff.

Not even a footprint to follow.

But… Where... is Filip?

“Ruff?”

The thought dropped in like a stone in water. No ripples. Just gone.

Then — something else. Not a scent. Not a sound. A picture that he remembers.

A face.

No, not a face. A glow. Shaped like a human female. Not human exactly, but not not, either. Eyes like headlamps. Hair that moved like smoke in water. She looked at him, and he didn’t know if it meant good or bad, or to run, but it was warm and comforting.

They just stood there. Glowing. Then, strange words.

And then—

White.

Blinding.

Searing.

A sound like the world tearing in half and someone yelling — no, Filip yelling—

"WHAT IS GOING ON!?"

And then—

Just snow. Just cold. Just now.

Reno jerked his head, ears up. But the forest only sighed, slow and empty.

Beep!

He jerked his head at the sharp, instinctive noise.

Then it came again.

Beep!

Soft and mechanical. Too quiet for the forest. But the familiar sound of protocol.

He looked down.

His special ceramic vest — still strapped snug around his chest — blinked. A small bulb near the left strap flickered