Dawn- An age of Darkness

In front of me was something that had bunny ears. And I recognized those ears right away. 

It was Biteria, there was no doubt about it. But there was a problem.

"Biteria?" I took a step forward, too cautious. I really hoped it wasn't Biteria.

The thing made just the sounds Biteria used to make. It was at least ten times bigger than Biteria and maybe half the Size of Alisa. 

But that wasn't the problem. The thing was bald and it had fur on its head instead of hair. 

But that wasn't a problem either. The thing looked like a human, kind of like Alisa. 

But even that wasn't the problem. The real problem was- it looked at least a hundred years old. Keyword- at least!

"Oh, Biteria, what has happened to you?" I grabbed her, hugged and cried.  Wrinkled, skin, no hair, short slouching stature. Her eyes were red, and her fur was pinkish-white. She was wearing a cloth. The poor thing. "It'll be all right now that-" I actually didn't get to finish. 

There was a bit of pressure on my hand followed by searing pain. And then I noticed, I was being bitten solidly by this thing. But the mere expression she wore- a smug of doom- was more frightening than the intense pain.

I did not like that look.

I pushed her away and hid behind Ve. "What the hell happened to her!?"

I had bite marks: the marks were kind of in between a human's and Biteria's. 

"This is why, we didn't want you to see her, but-" Alisa sighed and went towards Biteria. "She's still your bunny: probably."

As I thought, these two already knew. 

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." She patted Biteria's fur. 

Biteria purred and promptly bit Alisa. 

"Are you sure, sure!" Because it sure didn't look like that. 

She looked at me a bit pained. And then screamed and started to run around. 

And all this time, I was still hiding behind Ve. 

"Have some courage. It's just a rabi-" Ve's voice stopped as her head was literally inside Biteria's mouth. And Biteria was literally hanging down from her head. "-It."

Biteria's expression was somewhere in between a grin and a smirk. The damn thing was enjoying all this. 

Ve grabbed the bunny and pulled her off, shoving her down at the floor, breaking the floor, and making a hole in the process. 

"As I said, she's just a rabbit. Don't worry about it." She acted nonchalant but was bleeding from various places from her head. And not to mention she just created a hole on the floor. 

Arghh!!

Biteria was an undead, meaning we didn't have to worry about her life, but seriously!

I really wanted to cry, and I might have already been crying too. My wet cheeks were proof of that. 

***

With loads of sniffs like I'd contracted pneumonia, I headed down to apologize to the owner of this place: It was probably the girl by the counter. I actually wasn't sure though. 

Sigh. 

My lovely bunny wunny- was no more. 

I reached the bottom floor, there was an old hag lying there- namely, my former bunny. She was covered in debris and that ragged cloth, pretending to be dead. Unfortunately, it was already dead. 

Some of the staff were trying to figure out what just happened. 

"Really sorry about this." I really was. "I'll pay the damage fees."

But more importantly, I just wanted to forget about all this. Couldn't I just run away?

The girl behind the counter came towards us. "It's okay. The repairs won't cost much anyway. But are you sure- that's your bunny and not some random hag pretending?" She was curious. 

I was curious too until I saw those big luscious eyes and those fluffy ears. 

There was no doubt about it, this was my bunny alright. I sighed again. "Yes, unfortunately." I grabbed her, wrapped the cloth a bit tight, so she wouldn't be able to move around, and held her like a potato sack. She was definitely awake and trying to break free: so much for pretending to be dead. "If you bite me, no meat for you, for the next three months." And I meant that too. 

"Hmpf!" She pouted. That almost sounded like a voice. 

"Please don't ever start talking." I'd be too devastated.  I cleared my throat. "Thank you for everything, we have to get back to the castle- manor-building?" I wasn't sure anymore.

The bunny didn't move and just stayed like that. This thing could literally understand me and was definitely sentient. Then why the hell did it end up like this? Couldn't it have stayed a lovely bunny forever?

The girl by the counter giggled. "Why don't you have breakfast here?"

"Didn't we already promise the earl?" I whispered to Alisa. 

"Don't worry, I don't think he'll be that worried about food of all things after our introduction."

Considering how much these two traumatized them? Yeah I didn't think so.

I almost wanted to chuckle but I was kind of hungry too. "Alright. Let's eat then."

***

The food was good. It was good last night too, but those were more like snacks to go along with the drinks. But this breakfast menu was quite extensive and not to mention very, very delicious. I always liked the food of inns like these. 

They even provided me with a cup of hot almost purple liquid, this stuff was like coffee: looked terrible, smelled great. Finally! I actually wanted to buy their whole stock and keep it in my ring, but in the end, they only gave me a handful of beans and called it a day: enough for five, or perhaps six brews. They had a business to run too, after all. They did tell me about a place in the capital where I could have bought more, and I needed to buy some weapons too, namely a sword. So I guess, running around in the capital was a must now. 

The beans were similar to red grams rather than coffee. Oh well, as long as it tasted nice, nothing else mattered. On second thought, maybe looks did matter, cause this stuff was reminding me of the rotten blood. 'Better find me an edible dye first.'

The food at the castles and palaces were good, smelled great but they lacked something. I didn't know what, but l really liked food like this, where I could get my hands dirty and have fun while eating, with my friends. 

I still mostly ate with forks though. 

Though technically, I didn't know if these three were my friends or not. One was a few millennia-old princess and looked like she was thirteen while the other was a part dragon and just as old if not older, and definitely looked like a beautiful man: almost totally flat. And the last one was a bunny but currently, a hag. I really didn't know if they considered me their friends or not. 

"Say, what am I, to you guys?" Only after asking that did I notice, how stupid that sounded. 

Every single one of them looked at me and stopped eating, even my former bunny. 

I really kind of made this awkward, didn't I? 'Please don't look at me like that.' I couldn't say it out loud though. 

They exchanged glances and after a while, Ve cleared her throat. "What say you, if we give our consensus at a later date?"

Why the hell did she start sounding all formal?

I didn't know why but I felt a little vexed. Just what the hell did they think of me, that they couldn't tell me on the spot? But yeah, this was for the better. At least, it was better than this thing being way too awkward. Not that it made any difference, after all, this whole thing got plenty awkward already. 

With a long breath, I just continued eating. I guess I was the only one who thought of them as friends. 

Meanwhile, the former bunny was right next to me, and patted my shoulder with a purr: I was glad it didn't start talking. It was small and it was cute, but it was old! Like seriously old! Even my grandma wasn't this old before she passed away!

But then again, I had issues with my grandma and old women in general, so maybe that was why I felt uncomfortable around them?

Well, at least she was comforting me. 

I felt a bit better. 

"Do, we have any idea what happened to her?"

My question was mostly aimed at Alisa, after all, she was probably the most knowledgeable among us: keyword, probably. 

"For the time being, no. I have some theories but I need some time to be completely sure."

Well, at least she had some idea. But more importantly- "Is it reversible!"

"Calm down, let's wait and see." Ve drank her coffee-like drink. 

'Easy for you to say!' These two had limitless patience. I didn't. 

But they were right, I had to be at least a little patient

And so, breakfast was over and after paying the owner and exchanging some small talk, we headed back for the manor-castle thingy. I didn't even know what I was referring to anymore. 

Needless to say, I still had to carry Biteria like a potato bag.