Another absolutely breathtaking piece done by the wonderful   Kirena-Kaya

Siber belongs to me,   TheGoldenJackal

ORIGINAL POST: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/30901753/

It's been a long while since I've done a huge narrative piece like this, so be ready for a wall of text.

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Siber perked his ears up and looked into the outside world, activating his sixth sense. His expression of happiness with his time with Luca, turned to a serious and worried look. He reopened his eyes. They only widened out of horror. A single tear flowed down his cheek, and onto the stone floor of his cave. He stood up quickly. Siber knew what he needed to do now. Luca looked up at her companion. Siber’s emotions of fear had struck her.

"What’s going on, Siber?" Luca spoke.
"It’s time," Siber stated, before walking out of the cave.

The world right outside of the jackal’s den was quiet and peaceful. It was like nothing was going on just a few miles away. The moon was full, and lighting up the night sky. The wind was blowing through the trees, making each one of the leafless logs wobble, back and forth. Smaller gusts of wind along the ground brought up loose snow. Siber sighed and clenched his hands into fists. His time had come.

Luca walked out of the cave, and stood at his side. She wrapped her arms around his, and cowered slightly. Siber pulled on her arms slightly. It was his way of telling her that there was something important to attend to. Luca looked up and noticed Siber’s determination. She nodded, and stood tall.

Siber rushed ahead, with Luca not far behind. His mind was running at a mile a minute. The longer he took to get to the pack, the less people would survive. Needing to get more of an idea of what was going on, Siber used his agility to jump from the side of a tree to the next. He gradually gained height, and perched himself on top of one of the leafless oaks. He looked into the distance and surveyed the forest ahead.

Black smoke bellowed out from the tops of the trees. Perking his ears once more, he could hear the distant cracks of gunfire, followed by screaming. He looked back down to the base of the tree, where Luca was looking up at him for direction.

"Why are you in such a rush to get over there?" She asked.
"They’re under attack," Siber responded.

Siber jumped down from the top of the tree, imprinting the snow with his roll upon landing. He dusted himself off. The rest of the snow in his fur melted quickly from his warmth. The golden jackal gestured to his companion to follow him.

"Siber," Luca said, "wait."

Siber stopped in his tracks and turned to Luca. The blue-furred jackal looked into his eyes. He sensed how worried she was. Hidden behind that worry, however, was confusion.

"Answer me," Luca demanded.
"I can’t let them suffer," Siber promptly answered.
"Why do you care so much about the back that has disowned you for years?"

Siber bared his teeth, about to growl at her. He held back.

"They protected me when I was young. I am repaying my debt."

After his answer, he took off once more. Luca shook her head. She hated how cryptic Siber was sometimes, but that was just something that he did to hide his true emotion. It was as if everything he said was some sort of riddle. She had learned to deal with it, though, and she enjoyed it from time to time.

Siber stood in the shadows of the trees on the outside of the pack’s dens. Luca joined him shortly after. The two assessed the situation. Multiple masked canines patrolled the area with their rifles drawn. One of the radios they had on their body armor started to transmit a message.

"The target is that golden jackal. Do whatever you need to capture him, but I need him alive," a deep, grizzled voice spoke from the radio.

The canine with the radio nodded, and looked to the five that were following him. He gestured to them to search the area. They split off into groups of two. Before the leader of the squad moved out with his second in command, he looked directly at Siber and Luca. He widened his eyes and readied his rifle.

"He’s here!" the canine yelled.

Several other canines came to his side, all pointing their rifles towards Siber and Luca. Siber bared his teeth and grabbed Luca’s hand. The two started to weave in between the trees. Gunfire lit up the darkness of the seemingly pitch black world around them. Bullets grazed by the two jackals. Siber felt a sudden, sharp pain in the back of his right leg. Adrenaline started to rush through his body, and the pain disappeared almost instantly.

"Keep running, Luca," Siber said.

The two jackals ran around the outskirts of the area, before finally stopping behind some pine bushes. Siber’s blood trickled down the back of his leg. It left a trail right to them, so he knew that they would be found again soon.

"What now?" Luca questioned.
"Our only chance is to fight them, head on," Siber answered.
"That’s suicide!"
"Listen, Luca," Siber was face-to-face with his jackal companion, "if we run, they’ll find us. My blood will leave a trail for them to follow. We either fight now, or just delay the inevitable."
"But they-"

Siber interrupted Luca by putting his finger over her mouth, shushing her.

"Show them the power of our species. We may be very few, and very far between, but just remember what we can do."

Luca looked into Siber’s eyes. She found comfort in them, once again, just like the first day they met. She trusted Siber with her life.

"You ready?" Siber asked.

Luca nodded. Siber grabbed her hand once again, and ran out into the clearing. The two stood, side by side, in the center of all of the burning huts of the pack. A wave of sadness hit Siber. He had failed his task to protect the pack. But how? How did all of the huts get destroyed to quickly? And if these mysterious canines killed the pack, then where were the corpses? He shook the feeling away. All that mattered now is avenging the people who cared for him.

Within the minute, several squads of canines surrounded the two jackals. Two dozen rifle barrels all pointed in their direction, and the flashlights on the end of each nearly blinded Siber. He looked around, thinking of a plan to get out of here alive. He bared his teeth, and let out a slight growl. With one quick motion, he let loose a large sphere of his soulfire. It collided with one of the canines in front of him, and sent him backwards, along with the three others surrounding him.

The others surrounding them backed away slightly at the sight of an entire squad being instantly wiped form a single attack. Siber nodded to Luca, who did the same. She, too, knocked another squad out of commission. The remaining groups backed away even more.

"What are you buffoons doing?" the same grizzled voice from the radio yelled, except this time coming from a battle-scarred coyote, "capture the gold one!"

Rifles trained on the two jackals once more. Siber desperately looked for a way out of this situation.

"On my mark!" the coyote ordered.
"Split up, move quickly, and take them out," Siber whispered to Luca, "They can’t capture us if they can’t hit us."

Luca nodded, acknowledging the plan. The two ran in opposite directions, as fast as they could.

"Fire!" the coyote finally called.

Gunfire lit up the landscape around them. Gunfire cracked in the quiet night. Bullets whizzed past each of the jackals. Siber slid in the snow beneath him, throwing snow up into the air, and reducing his visibility to the ones firing at him. Now behind the cover of his deceit, Siber concentrated his Aura into a sphere. He sent it hurtling towards his attackers. The light blue of his soulfire grabbed the attention of everyone, including the ones firing on Luca. They turned from her, and started firing on Siber instead.

Several of the attackers shot at the ball of Aura Siber threw, thinking that brute force would stop it in its place. The bullets instead went straight through. Several of the canines put their guns down and ran, trying to avoid the blast. It was to no avail, and the three canines that ran were hit, and all fell to the ground.

The squad of attackers simultaneously put their guns down. They each dropped their rifle’s magazines, and loaded in new ones. Siber heard each of the rifles click, chambering more ammunition. Siber bared his teeth once more and let out a war cry. The cry could’ve been heard from miles away. Siber was going to end this.

Without a moment’s notice, Siber turned and ran directly at his attackers. Once he got within feet of them, he took another shot to his left shoulder. The golden jackal barely flinched, and jumped into the air above the group. Seemingly miles above them, Siber charged one more sphere of his Aura. He extended his arms forward, creating the momentum for the soulfire to speed out of the palms of his hands.

Before he could get his attack off, another bullet hit him, and entered the side of his abdomen. With his adrenaline having a hard time keeping up, he flinched hard, making his attack veer off into the forest.

Siber hit the ground hard on his chest, knocking the wind out of him. His blood soaked the snow around his body. He tried to muster enough strength to push himself back up. No matter how hard he tried, he could not get up.

"Siber!" Luca cried.

Luca ran over to her friend. She stood between the now approaching coyote and Siber. The world fell silent to Siber. There was no more gunfire. No more screaming. No more crackling fires. All that was left was the heartbeat in his chest. It started to slow down.
"I won’t let you take him!" Luca shouted.

The blue jackal stood tall in front of Siber. Her blue soulfire surrounded her hands, and the tan markings on her lower body and arm now glowed. She was ready to fight. Before readying an attack, Luca was knocked off of her feet.

The scarred coyote smirked and laughed in an evil tone, "you’ll be enough."

Luca landed on the ground right next to Siber. The two were locked, eye-to-eye. The coyote leaned forward and placed his heavy combat boot on the side of Luca’s head. Another canine rushed over with a syringe and gave it to the coyote.

"Say goodbye to your little friend," the coyote whispered into Luca’s ear.

The blue jackal was then stabbed in her neck by the long needle. The drug within was pumped into Luca’s neck.

Siber stared into Luca’s eyes. He could see the pure fear in his best friend’s eyes. She wanted to cry. She wanted to break free. But she couldn’t. Even Siber couldn’t fight back to save her, no matter how hard he tried.

"What about the other one?" another canine asked.

"He’s as good as dead. He’ll bleed out before tomorrow," the coyote responded.

Luca faded out of consciousness. Her captors dragged her along the ground, leaving a large trail in the snow beneath them. Siber saw them disappear into the forest. The knife Luca had given him a few days before started to give off a faint glow in the snow in front of Siber.

With his remaining strength, Siber could only cry. Tears flowed down his face, and into the snow beneath him. He realized he had failed. He failed to protect his pack. He had failed to protect the most important thing to him: Luca, the only one that cared for him in this world.