2 Little brat. (1/2)

I opened my eyes with the first light of morning but didn't let my curiosity wander, patiently waiting for the human kid to wake up and do something. I was sure he wouldn't spend another day crying but still decided to send a silent prayer to the Almighty Father to bless my luck. With the warmth from the sun chasing away the chill of the night, he started to stir and wake up.

He looked no different than a beggar, his tear-stained face was smeared with dust on the left, which quickly spread to other parts while he groggily rubbed his face. 'He must be feeling like beggars too ', I thought. Which was quickly proven true by his growling stomach against the quiet of the morn.

Then a lot of time was spent, me sitting on the tree and watching the kid and he, struggling between the fear of unknown and pangs of hunger. I was distraught to notice that he was about to cry another round due to his own indecisiveness. I kept cursing my luck while he fought hard to suppress his sobs.

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Chiyo kept reminding himself that, he is strong, he is all grown up and father will be disappointed to see a young man like him cry due to hunger. He eventually convinced himself to move, which he did very slowly. Inching out of the old gates of the castle, looking all around to check for any presence. When he was sure there was no one around, he ran up to the nearest tree and began peeking inside the forest from behind it. Looking all around he spotted a tree which had red berries hanging from its branches.

Gathering his courage for a moment, he ran up to the berry tree only to find that he couldn't reach the berries nor the branches. For a moment he was reminded of his mother who would help him gather strawberries whenever they visited his grandfather's farm.

Another moment was spent struggling against the sadness and fear before Chiyo went deeper into the jungle in search of shorter trees and bushes.

His progress was not easy, it was piled high with obstacles and enemies. Spider webs so strong that he had to use both his hands to clear a path, insects so scary that the poor boy was huffing and puffing from running around all morning.

Suddenly Chiyo was caught off guard with a booming boisterous laughter, ” Ha ha ha, we are sure to teach those Rock Bears a lesson this time, I bet we could even take down the bear king today.” Which was followed by other people speaking but much more softly. Though Chiyo couldn't understand what was said but he was sure it was a big man speaking. He was happy to find signs of people for the first time in this forest. Forgetting all about his mother's teachings about being cautious of strangers, he began sprinting towards the voices.

Almost reaching his destination he had to stop because he couldn't hear the voices speaking anymore. It was as if his ears were abruptly covered, Chiyo was confused, should he go straight or to the right where there was still some faint noises barely audible. While he was thinking about it something very shocking happened, shocking enough that the little boy wasn't even able to shout and directly fell on his butt and lost control of his bladder.

A huge grey monster, a hulking giant which looked similar to the wolves Chiyo has seen on TV, but many times bigger and scarier. Standing above the fallen Chiyo, it looked down upon him and growled loudly. Everything faded from Chiyo's senses and what remained was those devil-like red eyes and large yellowish teeth.

”Hey Bowser, what happened, why'd you stop?”, shouted someone with the same loud voice.

”Boss, let's go and check it out, there are no beasts in this area anyway.”, spoke another man.

After a bunch of 'yeah', 'let us go' and 'ok' footsteps was heard until a dozen men and women appeared. All of them were astonished to see a naked child so deep in the forest.

”Boss, is he be a lost child?”, asked one.

”Look he pissed himself after seeing Bowser, where will he have the courage to come in the forest? forget about getting lost after.” retorted another.

”Shut up, I know stupid. He's a kid, obviously he won't come here alone, someone must have brought him along.”, snapped back the first man.

The big burly man looked at Chiyo closely, upon making sure he's just a kid, he waved and called back the wolf.

”What's your name?”, the big man asked Chiyo, who was too stunned to notice his inquisitive look. ”Looks like he can't speak, anyway leave him alone. Can't waste time here, we have a bear king to hunt, let's go. ”, the big man turned around after saying that. The wolf and people followed after him.