Cold wintery winds blew between the trees that were a distant relative to the warm, thick trees they had first arrived in. The trees now dominating the land had become thinner and were decorated in dark green needles that they tried to avoid scratching themselves on.

‘Looks like a Christmas wonderland, doesn’t it?’ Leo muttered to Kaira as they walked over the changing landscape.

‘Sure ... just without the sparkly lights, presents and general merriment. It is starting to become just as cold though,’ she noted, wrapping her arms around her body as the cold started to seep under their skin.

‘I'm sure this would seem a happier place to walk in if circumstances were different,’ Bailey sighed, her eyes on those walking ahead.

‘Maybe. It is still scary even with improved sight. I wonder how much we’d be able to see if our eyesight wasn't developing,’ Leo pondered, as the darkening skies made it harder to see those they were tailing from the furthest distance they could get away with.

‘Easy for you to say, elephants aren’t exactly known for their night vision,’ Bailey huffed.

‘Well actually, they are. If we are getting scientific, elephants are part diurnal and nocturnal. In other words, over time your eyesight should be just as good in low light as it is during the day,’ Dorian clarified.

‘Well actually …’ Bailey mimicked Dorian, ‘bloody know it all.’

They all came to a stop as they saw Arctier and the pack waiting for them.

‘What're they doing?’ Bailey asked.

‘Why don’t you use that diner vision of yours and tell us?’ joked Kaira.

‘It’s diurnal. Besides, that is the daytime vision, even you know that nocturnal means at night,’ Dorian retorted.

‘Not quite as funny though is it?’

‘Then perhaps you should think of better jokes.’

‘Alright you two, we are about to find out what they want,’ Leo said, approaching the waiting pack.

Arctier somehow looked more daunting in the small amount of light that dusk afforded them as the moon began to replace the sun. Sam had taken up his position to the right of Arctier, standing just behind his huge frame and watching his brother as they approached.

‘We are still at least a day away from Saxum, so we will set up camp by Marama lake,’ Arctier stated.

‘Where are we now?’ Leo asked.

‘These are the forests of Taiga, which is the last stretch of land before Saxum. Although I dare say you could probably sense that we are close.’

Arctier did not wait for any further questions, instead he turned and continued at a quicker pace across the dusty trail.

The sounds of life that had crept into the air after the hunt were now few and far between. Leo wondered if this was because it was now night-time, or if it was the change of scenery that also brought with it a change in atmosphere.

As they got closer to Saxum, the more inhospitable the world seemed to become. The air was crisp, and condensation accompanied each of Leo’s breaths. The soft earth of before was now a distant memory, as the ground was almost all rock with the odd patch of harsh grass breaking through. The forests of Tempera had felt like the forests Leo knew from home, and they could have been forgiven for forgetting they were no longer there. But the world they were in now seemed to become more alien with every passing second.

After what felt like an hour of trekking, the trees became more condensed before they finally relented their grip on the land to reveal a clearing.

‘This is Marama lake,’ hissed the scaled member of the pack as they broke free of the tree line.

For the first time, they were afforded a chance to glance at the moon. Looming large and hanging low in the sky, its reflection shone pristinely in the vast lake. Surrounding them were scores of trees, some dipping their roots into the water, while others stayed back as if scared of its contents. In the distance, Leo could see a river flowing away from them into a valley.

‘You three, go and collect some wood,’ Arctier ordered his pack, who turned without question and went into the forest, bringing forth the sounds of branches being snapped and cracked away from their trunks.

Arctier led the rest of them down to the rocks that surrounded the lake, before lowering himself onto the biggest one. It seemed like more effort than it was worth to lower himself carefully, and after a moment Arctier must have thought the same, as he just let his frame fall ungracefully with a hard thump. Having stretched his legs out in front of him, he rested his arms between his thighs and gave a soft grunt as Sam sat down beside him, his black wings blending into the darkness as they flowed down his back and out past his sides.

Silence gripped the forest.

‘Tell me, Leo. After finding your brother, how did you plan on getting him home?’ Arctier asked, his gigantic head facing the water, affording Leo the chance to properly look at him. From the side, Leo could see how his face was also proceeding outwards as his fur went from a brilliant white to a dusty black as it reached his nose.

‘I haven’t thought about that yet,’ said Leo honestly, taken aback at Arctier calling him out on what his intentions were, ‘I hadn’t planned on this whole other world thing.’

‘Well, here you are,’ said Sam, ‘what now?’

With his brother now within his grasp, Leo was faced with having to think not only about the fact that he had no way of getting him home, but he was also apparently going to have to persuade him to do so.

‘Can’t you take us?’ Bailey asked.

‘And why would I want to do such a thing?’ asked Arctier, swinging his head round to look at her, his eyes twinning with the night sky, ‘I have trained Sam to become one of the instinctive. He belongs here, as do you all. Once in Libero, people do not choose to return to the misery of Earth.’

‘But it’s our home,’ said Leo.

‘Welcome to your new home, Leo.’ Arctier smiled, as he turned his attention back to the lake, ‘so Devolo didn’t promise to take you back?’

‘No. He just left us here.’

‘Of course,’ Arctier growled, his bulking frame hunched forwards.

Sounds of cracking continued to cry out in the calm air, cracks Leo had started to ignore as he thought it was just the pack gathering firewood. But, after a poke in his ribs and a nod in the direction of the lake from Kaira, he saw that his assumptions were quite wrong.

Delicate cracks were coming from the formation of ice at the point where Arctier’s paws touched the rock. As Leo watched, the ice began to grasp its way down to the water, constantly changing speed as if Arctier was teasing the rippling tide. Upon making contact, the water froze in place as the frost spread across the lake, blurring the reflected glow of the moon.

Oranges and reds glimmered on the faces of all those gathered around the growing fire. The unmistakable smell of pine was overcome by that of smoke and burning meat, as the pack had forced a stick through the carcass of the deer and were now giving it the rotisserie treatment. Though Leo and his friends had averted their eyes as they skewered the deer, the noise was something they had been unable to avoid. Now, they sat in silence, watching the others greedily eye the carcass.

‘I trust that you are all hungry?’ probed Arctier, rising from the rock which was now coated in an icy shimmer.

‘Do you have anything else?’ asked Bailey cautiously.

‘Only what you can source yourself. I am sure you will find plenty out there,’ he raised his black snout towards the forest, which was even more daunting as the fire cast flickering shadows across the treeline.

‘I guess I’m not hungry then,’ she said, squinting to see within the trees.

Arctier grunted as he followed her eyesight.

‘Tell me, have you always been a vegetarian?’ he asked.

‘It’s a very recent development.’

‘Is that right?’ he asked rhetorically, focusing his eyes on her comparatively small frame, ‘you are top of the food chain, my child. This is the natural order. On Earth, the mighty lion kills and eats a buffalo, and no one thinks anything of it. Why are we different? Man and woman have eaten meat for centuries. Only now do we question our actions. Starving ourselves of what is rightfully ours.’

No one spoke for a moment, until Bailey had a look on her face as if a lightbulb had just turned on inside her head.

‘But if my instincts are that of an elephant, then I am surely meant to be a vegetarian? They are herbivores after all.’

‘You do not become the animal you share your instincts with. Not fully. If you are strong of will then you will still be you, just the complete version. Do you not eat meat either, Kaira?’ he met her eyes and she simply shook her head, ‘perhaps it is simply looking at what you are eating in the eye that you have got a problem with.’

Arctier went to pick up the stick the deer was roasting on but held his hand just above it. Ice formed over the wood that instantly melted, but as the wood cooled, the ice accumulated before Arctier raised the deer into the air.

‘You will come to live for this. Not just the taste of the meat, but the thrill of the hunt as well. The feeling of chasing something down, something that is so desperately fighting for its life. And then, then you get to deliver the merciful blow, tasting the unmistakable and irreplaceably sweet taste of blood as you feel their life drain away.’

Arctier took a great bite from the half-roasted carcass. A short crack escaped his mouth as his teeth eased their way through meat and bone, causing blood to trickle down his matted white fur.

‘You never forget your first,’ he said, winking at Kaira before looking towards Leo, ‘under my tutelage you will come to understand how life should be. Forget all the lies you have come to believe.’

‘I don’t know if I want to,’ responded Leo, ‘I’m no killer.’

Arctier studied him for a moment, the embers of the fire reflecting in his eyes. His only movement was to rest the deer back on the sticks, causing the fire to hiss as blood dripped onto it.

‘Neither was I,’ Arctier said, as he lowered himself back onto his hind, ‘not always.’

‘What changed?’ asked Leo, ‘what separates us from animals is our ability to think. They do it to survive. We only do it because we can.’

‘There are many things to being human, Leo. Just because humans have the ability to think, that does not mean they do. Why do you think you are in Libero? Why do you think there is such a place as Libero? The problem with humans is that they do not think, they just do.’

‘Are you still talking about killing animals?’ asked Dorian.

For the first time, Sam’s attention was drawn away from Leo and up towards Arctier, watching as though he was a student awaiting the teachings of his sensei.

‘Not quite, Dorian,’ Arctier said tensely, ‘allow me to take you back to the beginning. Back to before all of this.’

Kaira raised an eyebrow at Leo as Arctier continued.

‘The four of us who created Libero were not born with the power to control the elements, we were born into them.’

‘That doesn’t make sense,’ Kaira whispered.

‘Do not interrupt me,’ he snapped, causing his pack to immediately sit up as he regained his cool composure, ‘my apologies, Kaira. I do not like it when others ask before they are told. Anyway, my mother was pregnant with me, and was due to give birth when an avalanche came down upon our home. My parents had died long before they were found, but I was still alive inside my mother’s frozen body. I was born into ice and rock.’

Ice began to appear from beneath Arctier's paws once more, though this time it did not head towards the lake, but instead formed intricate patterns on the ground in front of him.

‘Ever since I was brought into the world, I was a connected to ice and rock in some way. I can feel it within every fibre of my body. And because of this connection, I grew up feeling your world’s pain and suffering as humans destroyed everything, ignoring all warnings from the Earth. The others have the same connection I do, and they felt the same pain. So, before it was too late, we created Libero. Everything here is as it should be, just as nature designed it. Harmony.’

‘This isn't how nature designed me,’ said Kaira, poking the developing pads on her hands.

‘Nature adapts.’

Neither Leo or his friends could think of a response, and so they all sat in silence, as Dorian started to write in his notebook and Lu walked over to the deer.

‘Is it done yet, Benni?’ Lu asked the scaled man who got to his feet, his tongue flicking out and sensing the air.

‘Seems so,' he hissed.

Before any of the pack did anything further, they all looked expectantly towards Arctier, who gave a simple nod. Benni licked his lips with his long, slender tongue before picking up the deer and placing it on the ground.

As Leo watched, he saw the delight on their faces as they ripped meat from bone. Besides the delight, he also saw a shimmering imprint on Lu’s left shoulder blade. Four silver, snow topped mountains glistened brightly in the darkness of night, the largest was forked and towered above the other three and was continuously coated in an eternal snowfall. Each snowflake was as bright as the last, and they gave a final flash of silver light upon reaching the top of the mountains and seemingly melting into the flesh.

‘Komado will give you your imprint, Leo,’ Arctier said, making him jump.

‘Why?’

‘You want it to be me?’ he grinned.

‘I meant, why will I get one? Why do you have them?’

‘Everyone has an insatiable need to feel like they belong to something, Leo. Even here.’

‘But isn’t everyone meant to be free?’

‘They are, Leo. Free to choose. Free to be. But everyone still longs to belong.’

‘Why Komado?’

‘The instincts of a lion are best suited to the deserts. Although I have a few mountain lions in my pack, I am already looking after one Wyman. I know Komado will want the other.’

Leo looked at his brother who had gone to eat alone by the lake. He knew it was not going to be easy to prise him away from Libero, for even he was starting to be swept up in its allure as they sat underneath the moonlight. There was, however, a feeling inside of Leo’s gut telling him that all was not as it seemed.

Perhaps his instincts were developing.

‘Where do you go to the toilet?’ asked Leo.

Arctier simply rose a large paw to the land around him as an answer.

‘Right,’ said Leo, picking himself up and heading towards the outskirts of the forest. He hoped that there he would be afforded a little bit of time to think in a place where he did not feel like he was under surveillance.

Though he and his friends were seemingly in no immediate danger, he still felt that the sooner they found Isla, the sooner the heavy feeling in his stomach may ease and things would make a little more sense. But, most importantly it would mean they would be one step closer to going home. Now all he needed to do was figure out how to do just that.