Stella looked to her left and saw a small, tight alleyway. The volley of lightning beams got closer and closer toward the gray wolf. She reached out her hand. The wolf jumped, and in the last second, she managed to grab the canine's fur and leaped into the alleyway, taking the crying kid with her.
The lightning beams penetrated through the wall, destroying building after building behind it. When the beams faded, a massive crater remained, the ground crushed inward and littered with shattered debris.
Stella lay on the wet concrete floor, panting, her chest rising and falling rapidly. After a moment, she got up and saw her spirit animal beside the child.
She walked over to her wolf and touched his fur.
"Thank you, Snowy. You're safer inside me." The wolf somehow understood Stella and looked down. The canine's shape began to break into many spirit orbs, and they all flowed into Stella's chest.
The kid watched as she returned her wolf to her chest, her eyes sparkling at the sight.
