scuttling gait. It takes him a moment to process what he's seeing.
A dog.
Or something like a dog. Its body is covered in a hard shell, segmented like armor, and beneath that shell is fur so soft it seems to shimmer. The colors shift as it moves—brown to green to a flicker of purple—matching the undergrowth, the shadows, the dappled light.
It looks up at him with dark eyes. Its tail wags.
Something breaks in his chest.
He knows dogs. He
