Chapter 6
Before meeting the master, all Viosus knew of then was cold and hunger. He was abandoned by his mother, never knowing of any animal of his own kind. He barely survived by eating sc.r.a.ps and little mice but one day he was surrounded by a pack of wolves for hunting on their territory.
Little Viosus was backed up into a mountain when the master appeared and rescued him. The Master was in his human form, holding a tree branch with fire in one end, scaring the wolves away.
After rescuing Viosus, the master took him to his home, fed him fresh, tender rabbit meat and gave him a warm hay bed. From that day on out, Viosus never left his side again.
But that night, Viosus ran and ran, trying to trace the master but he couldn't find him, the rain has washed away all any scent he left behind. At the break of dawn Viosus returned to the house, exhausted and he fell asleep in his little hay bed right when he touched it.
A heavy stepping is coming closer and closer to him. His beast instinct tells him to get up right away.
It was the Master! He came back with a little white ball in his mouth. But he didn't come into the house, he laid down on the yard, curling up that little white ball, hiding it with his own fur.
The sky was pitched black, Viosus was feeling strange because he knew he didn't sleep for that long for the day to be over.
When Viosus looked up onto the sky, the sun was covered with black, only showing a rim of light.
Little Viosus was terrified but he still went to check on his master. He got close and took a sniff at the little white ball, it smelled like the master and his spouse and also blood. But it also smelled like a new life force, strong and fresh.
Suddenly the Master moved in his sleep, scarring little Viosus that he took a few steps back.
The master was still asleep, but now the little ball is uncovered by his fur and revealed to be a newborn cub.
The cub was precious, it's fur was pure white like the snow, it's nose and paws were pink and so were the rim of its eyes. Little Viosus has never seen a little cub this cute, he thinks to himself this must be the most precious thing in the world.
..
Viosus subconsciously stares at Yilas. She is still soundly asleep, without a care in the world.
This scar is gonna be bad for her, Viosus worries himself. Even though females are precious and greatly outnumbered by males, Viosus has seen that less attractive females usually have less mates and her mates are weaker.
In the beast world, the ratio between females and males is about 1 to a few hundreds. It is the norm for a female to have more than one partner. The most beautiful females usually have more choices. Males will go to great length to get her attention, therefore, only the stronger males will have a better lead and better chance at success.
The prophecy has already made beasts scared of Yilas, now this scar is going to scare males away from her. It doesn't matter if Viosus still thinks of Yilas as the most beautiful female in the entire beast world, it might be tough for her if it was just Viosus and her.
Viosus has always been with Yilas, and he plans to stay with her for the rest of his life. Even if they didn't become mates, he already made up his mind to stay by her side.
Viosus hate to admit that he is weak, but his clan is clearly outnumbered by others. And for his Master life to be secured, she will need a lot of protection. The Boar's attack has made Viosus' worst nightmare come to life. He alone can't keep his Master safe.
Right after the late Master died, Viosus and others tried to get more animals to live with them and stayed on their territory but since they are a small clan, that means hardly any protection for the animals who stayed. Moreover, once they found out Yilas was the head clan, they avoided them like a plague.
Viosus has been thinking about rescuing little Chichi and little Guigui from the Boar clan, but thinking about their current situation, the chance of success is less than none. What more is that the little pair of sisters might have already settled in and started their new life with the Boar clan. After all, they would have a better life there than here.
There are so many things that Viosus wants to shelter his Master from, but since she is close to come of age, her journey ahead might get tougher from now on.
"Wake up Yilly" Viosus gently sweeps the hair out of Yilas's face, tugging it behind her ear. "It's getting dark soon, we need to get back soon."
"A little longer.." Yilas talks in her sleepy voice, not wanting to wake up.
*CAW..! CAW..!* Suddenly the crow's voice tore up the sky.
Viosus recognizes it right away. It's little crow's territory sound, it's a warning for all of us.
Beasts are coming...
Viosus quickly grabs Yilas small body, waking her up in the process.
"What is going on Vio? Why are we running?" Yilas is confused, just a moment ago she was
"The crow warned us of danger, Milady, I am not taking another chance. First, we have to hide it out."
"Is it the boar clan again?" Yilas was right to be scared of the doctor letting the word out. But didn't he just leave not too long ago? It must not be him.
"We don't know yet, Milady." Viosus carries Yilas in his arms, making long, wide steps, tearing through the forest as fast as he can.
"What about the other Viosus? Lyth and Berth and Mert? They might get hurt if we leave them." Yilas thinks to herself, she needs to help them, they were the only friends she had. Even though the time she spent with them is not long, she cares for them deeply.
"They are just going to hide away Milady.."
"Yilly!" Yilas interrupted.
"Right, Yilly, Milady. They will know when to hide, we will find them in a day or two. Your safety is at most important right now."
"Stop, Viosus! Just Stop!!" Yilas screamed, pinching Viosus arms with all of her 10 little fingers.
Viosus slows down to a walking pace, looks into Yilas eyes with surprise.
"We need to go back, Viosus! We can't leave them there." Yilas eyes are filled with concern.
"We can't Yilly, it is very dangerous there, we don't know what they want."
"That's right, we don't know what they want or even who they are. They might be harmless, you are just too cautious Vio."
The crow's warning might just mean somebody is coming, there is no way to confirm unless we come to see for ourselves.
Viosus is worried that it might be the Boar's clan again, he didn't want to risk it. But this time he is here with his Master, and if he finds Berth and the others, they might stand a chance.
"Besides, Vio. Mert doesn't seem like the type to just run and hide." Out of all the few interactions they had with each other, Yilas noted that Mert is a young, hot-tempered fox, he would be too arrogant to run away in time like this.
"And Lyth is too small, do you think she can outrun them?" Yilas pats on Viosus shoulder, moving her head to signal him to let her down.
Viosus stopped walking, he was worried about Lyth and Berth and Mert after all.
After a while of thinking things carefully, Viosus looked at Yilas and sighs.
"Let's head back Yilly!" Viosus quickly turned around and made a leap back the way they just went.
"But if I sense any danger, we must run right away Yilly." in Viosus's arms, Yilas smiled and nodded her head.
After what seems like 15 minutes running, they reach the backside of the main house. The main house was shaped similar to a cave, so the front view of the house was mostly covered from where they stand.
Viosus let Yilas down to her feet and point to the ground, telling her to stay right here and wait for him. Yilas nodded and hid herself behind a tree.
Viosus takes a few steps closer, from here he could smell how many beast-men he should be expecting. Viosus's senses are normally sharper than several beast men so they might not spot him from this distance yet.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5! There must be around 5 of them here in front of the house, they seemed to be bunching up in a group so their scents mixed together making it hard for Viosus to tell them apart.
He hasn't picked up the scents of the others either, maybe they ran away already.
Viosus didn't sense any ill intent from the beast-men gathered here, so he made a move to be closer in order to keep watch on them.
*Kee-eeeeee-arr* A brown hawk flying in the sky pointing out Viosus sneaky behavior.
Viosus must make a run, for now, he can't run towards Yilas either, they must not know that she is here. He ran towards the little stream. Although Viosus is young and agile, running isn't his strongest point. Soon he could already hear their footsteps cutting close. Moreover the brown Hawk in the sky has a sight on him so no matter how fast he runs, the beasts will catch up eventually.
Viosus has been running up the stream for a while, it must be far enough away from Yilas. He slowed down and braced himself for the encounter.
Not long after, a black boar walks into Viosus's sight, along with a tiger and a leopard. They all turned into their Civil form, all of them are Second-civils.
The Boar is the highest level, only showing his tusks. The other has their full ears and tails, especially the leopard still has whiskers on his face.
"Why stops running you a fox?" The Boar seems to be quite younger than the other but he speaks up first.
"Why did you beasts chase after me?" Keeping a safe distance, Viosus knows he can't win against 3 second-civil beastmen but if he keeps an eye out, he will not die fighting them.
"Why did you beasts come to our territory?" Viosus throws another question at the Boar.
The Boar strikes out one of his arms to tell the other two to stand down.
"Our clan men said there is still unfinished business here, so we were just on our way to clean it up." The Boar crossed his arms, moved his chin up while looking at Viosus carefully from side to side.
"I heard there is a rare female here, if you are smart you will show us where you hide her."
"Not in a million years you filthy boar!" Viosus takes no time to respond to that absurd threat.
*ROAR..* The tiger was quick to respond. The loud roar could be heard from all the way Yilas was hiding. She saw Viosus ran out and a few animals were chasing after him. She was worried but she knew Viosus ran in a different way to distract them away from her so she didn't make a move then.
But now, hearing that paralyzing roar, Viosus must be in danger. Yilas can't stand still, she must find Viosus. Yilas finally stood up and started to run toward the loud noise. Even without her bare feet slowing her down, her stamina is not very good either. After only a few minutes of running, she was already out of breath.
"You got this Yilas! You are almost there, just a little more.." Yilas ran slowly while cheering herself up.
Just about now that Yilas started to realize that she is running without any direction. The only thing she heard was one loud roar from a while ago and now she is completely lost.
Keeping it a straight-line run, Yilas finally reached the little stream. She stopped to take a water break, she was so tired that she laid on her back immediately.
But in the corner of her right eyes, she sees a little bird in the sky. She couldn't make it out if it is a little crow or not but Viosus must be close, she is sure.
Yilas take another gulp of water before following the direction of the bird.
Meanwhile, after the loud roar, the Board silenced the tiger immediately with just a look.
Viosus is now sure that the Boar is their leader. Maybe he can trick the Boar into fighting him one on one.
"Be wise of your next word little fox! We can kill you right here and take your female away easily little fox. Why don't you save us the ha.s.sle and tell me where she is. We might even let her keep you in the house."
So they must want to take her away this time, Viosus thinks to himself.
"Spare me with the nonsense, if you really wanted to take her, your beast-men wouldn't have hurted her the last time they were here." Viosus is angry now. He is not afraid to show his fangs and grunt at the beasts.
"My Master home is here, she will never abandon this place!"
Even the Boar was shocked by Viosus's response. Such a thing like hurting a female is considered a crime in the Boar clan, there is no way they would do such a thing.
"Hurting a female? There is no such beast in the Boar clan who would dare." The Boar voice shows genuine disbelief.
Viosus thoroughly looked at the Boar and also the tiger and leopard. Surprisingly they didn't give off any malicious intent. However, wanting to take his Master away is still unforgivable, just even the thought of them doing so makes Viosus so mad he gave away the fact that Yilas is still alive and near here.
"What is your motive, Boar?" Viosus is cautious with his move.
"We just want to see what this female looks like, maybe if she looks the part we will take her with us, giving her a good position in our clan." The Boar smirked and looked at Viosus. What he said is completely true, their mission today was to find more females to take back to their clan.
This young Boar in his human form is a tall, lean, muscular man with a light, pinky healthy complexion. His hair is short and close to his head like a buzz cut. Opposite to his hair color, his small, long eyes are deep blue. The piercing eyes and the 2 small tusks protruding out from his mouth make him look extremely cool and dangerous.
To match his impressive looks, he is the second son of the Boar's head clan. He has been raised to be a warrior for his people and now at only 19 years old, he has already made a name for himself, racking up dozens of kills and success missions.
Even the elders and his father, the head clan, have to recognize his power at such a young age.