Pretty intense - and grim!

The setting gave me Blade Runner vibes; and while I obviously don't know where this is going, the interaction between the wolf family and the humans suggested a nascent Planet of the Apes story arc. Not that it's derivative - those are just my points of visual reference; and since I liked those franchises, I'm stoked to see how it develops!

I'm so glad I'm hearing Blade Runner comments because that's precisely what I was aiming for, especially in this opening scene. Thanks for the feedback!

I'm curious to see where this goes! I already wanna send hugs to the wolf cub! ;_;

Thanks! I will be posting Chapters 2 and 3 in the coming weeks. But, after that, you'll have to wait for the publication to read the rest. :)

I just re-read the Prologue. I had forgotten your explanation of "yamal", which is used in Chapter 1; but the meaning of the word was still perfectly clear from the context (and the sound).

It also reminded me of something IRL. In 2015 I took the train up to Churchill, Manitoba, on Hudson Bay; and wrote an overly lengthy "Arctic Travelogue", which included over 100 photographs taken by myself and a fellow traveler. There doesn't seem to be a way to attach an image in a post, and I can't give you a link because it's simply on my laptop; but the narrative will sound familiar.

This is a true story.
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"The unexpectedly lush scenery of picture 099 is all that remains at the site of "Dene Village". The Dene were native people of the area - what we in the States call "Native Americans", though in Canada the term is "First Nations". (The Inuit live farther north, in the high Arctic.) The Government of Canada, like many governments, thought the natives would do better to adopt a more "civilized" Western lifestyle - and in some cases, just wanted them out of the way; Canada also failed to understand native culture and survival, and thought (for instance) that the Dene were wantonly slaughtering large numbers of caribou, when in fact they did so only in the fall, preserved the meat, and lived off of it all winter.

So the government moved them to settlements which might have been passable for a European, but were all wrong for the Dene. People who were used to living off of the caribou herds when they migrated through, were relocated to lakeside settlements where there were no caribou, where they lacked the skills for surviving in that kind of environment, and where polar bears might be wandering around. With their lives and livelihoods taken away, they became depressed, lost interest in things, turned to alcohol; fires in the settlements destroyed homes, and some people froze to death trying to walk to their old camps or to other settlements. Rather late in the game, Manitoba began to appreciate its screw-up, and built Dene Village within walking distance of Churchill - barring a bad storm - so that the Dene could interact with the town and access its services; but it was too late at that point, and the Dene abandoned the village and moved elsewhere."

The poor cub! This is really good, an absolute emotional gut punch of an opening. I agree about the Blade Runner parallels, and as a fan of the cyberpunk genre I’m excited.

Perfect! Thank you!