Buried under a mountain of earth and rocks, Rou together with the tiger cubs, organized by Tsuki the eldest of all the tigers, made their way to the exit after the roars from outside disappeared for a few hours.
"Little ones, do you know what that was?", Rou asked the tiger cubs.
Perhaps it was because of the heat or because Rou hadn't had a drink of water since the day before, but at one point he thought the cubs could understand him as if it were another person like him.
Reaching the outside of the cave that functioned as their shelter, Rou remained silent as the tigers scanned the surroundings with their fur bristling.
Clouds of dirt were still falling to the ground, making it difficult to see in general, where Rou covered his nose so as not to breathe in the particles that could be dangerous to him.
The earth around him was burning, on the ground there were large holes filled with scorched earth and molten rocks. The creatures that left that place had destroyed everything in their path, with no rock pillar left in Rou's sight.
One of the smaller tigers, ran out from among a pile of rocks and began to howl like a small cat calling everyone's attention.
"What did you find little one," said Rou followed by the tigers.
After walking a few yards, Rou caught his first glimpse of a large bird, about 10 feet in wingspan fully cooked by the flames still burning on its feathers. The tigers tasted their lips at the sight of such a large prey ready to be devoured, but none dared to step forward and looked expectantly at Rou.
"This appears to be a magic bird," Rou said as he noticed the feathers, not yet consumed by the flames, radiated an energy that attracted Rou's attention.
Listening to the hungry stomachs of the tigers, and his own. Rou made sure there were no other dangers around before ordering, "Let's take it to the shelter, then we can devour it at leisure."
Following his orders, half of the tigers took a portion of the food with their jaws, while the other group widened the shelter which was surrounded by a large amount of earth.
After only a few minutes, Rou put away the multicolored feathers that gave him a strange feeling, and taking a large piece of cooked meat, began to fill his stomach.
In just a few seconds, the baby tigers began to devour the bird that was at least 20 times their own size.
"Where can they store so much food"; thought Rou after one of the hatchlings quickly devoured a piece of meat twice its own size.
As the group finished their feast, Rou continued to look outward, searching for the path to the sky tower that had been hidden by the earthen clouds.
"They are satisfied," Rou said as some of the hatchlings settled in beside him. "But this is no time to rest, finish devouring everything before we continue, the road is still long," he added stroking the fur of the hatchlings.
When the tower was seen in the distance, Rou gathered all the feathers he had obtained and tied them to his back, although he had thought of making a coat out of them, the showy color of the feathers could reveal their location if another dangerous creature took flight over them.
Making sure that the feathers were covered by a large amount of black earth, Rou continued to advance towards the tower, while the tigers, their bellies bulging after eating their fill, followed a few meters behind.
The situation around him did not change after Rou advanced more than 10 miles.
The colossal creatures, had reduced everything to ashes and every so often the group found corpses of giant birds charred on the ground, most of them had lost much of their body and there was a slimy liquid in their wounds that gave Rou a bad feeling.
"How much longer will it be?" wondered Rou. The hours continued to tick by, but the tower looked quite far away and the pain over his body spread quickly as one of the wounds on his feet was ripped open.
The tiger cubs ran in fright to Rou as he knelt on the ground unable to support his own weight as a stream of blood stained the ground.
"Damn, it's infected," Rou said as he saw a stream of green pus come out along with the blood. An infection could be deadly in his situation, but Rou had no way to heal it.
"Little ones, let's rest for a moment," sitting down next to a large rock, Rou laid the feathers at his side and checked the wound on his foot that didn't look good.
Unable to continue in that state, Rou decided to rest for a moment as he noticed his vision becoming blurry. "Tsuki, if you see a dangerous creature near us you must wake me up," Rou said before closing his eyes.
The tiger cubs settled around Rou, under the shadow of the rock they were still safe, for the moment they could only bide their time before moving on.
...
"What scent is this, can it be...captain?" thought Rou trying to open his eyes.
"Don't move, you're still weak," a soft and delicate voice reached Rou's ears.
"That voice is too young to be the captain," thought Rou, who felt that his face seemed to be covered by a wet cloth with a soothing scent to his body.
A moment later, Rou felt a fur ball settle next to him, trying to get Rou to stroke his head.
"Your master is recovering, this is no time to disturb him little one," the young girl who seemed to be caring for Rou in charge of one of the tiger cubs entered the room.
"Tsuki?", Rou said noticing that her voice was exhausted.
Rou got no answer, every now and then he heard some footsteps around him, while some women conversed in low voices, naming every now and then a stranger who came to their home.
"Latisha, how is our guest," a more mature voice, with an authoritative aura reached Rou's ears that reminded him of the angel he encountered during the winter night.
Latisha was one of the young girls living in Gali's village, being in charge of taking care of the wounded along with the girls her age who had not yet killed for the first time. " Master, he is still weak, the bone eater couldn't reach his spine, otherwise by now he would be dead," Latisha said with some indifference in her voice.
"It doesn't matter, the master of an earth king cannot die", Gine, the master of Gali village, and the most powerful woman of that earth region, affirmed her prayer lifting little Tsuki in her hands. "I will take this little one along with the others, make sure that our guest recovers soon, I will send the others when they return from the outside.
"Earth King?" asked Rou forcing his voice as he heard Tsuki's crying.
"If you want to talk I won't stop you, but if you relapse from the Bone Eater's poison again, I'll have to use a healing method, which I think you won't like," Latisha changed the wet cloth over Rou's face and resumed reading the leather book in her hands.
Using his hearing to the fullest, Rou noticed that besides Latisha, there were two people near him who seemed to be standing still. Although their breathing was almost undetectable, the stench of the two strangers could not escape Rou's perception.
About two hours had passed, Latisha every so often made him drink a bitter elixir that made his blood boil on several occasions. For a moment Rou imagined that the person who prepared the elixir must have zero knowledge about cooking because of its bad taste.
"Airi, Erina, Lysiah. How did your hunt go, were there too many injured?" said Latisha as three girls her age, between 15 and 17, entered the mud room, their faces covered by a bone mask.
"Half of the slayers were injured, but we suffered no casualties on the expedition," said Lysiah, a black-haired girl who removed the bone mask.
Latisha squeezed one of her arms looking towards her companions, hesitating whether to ask the question that was hovering in the back of her mind.
"Don't worry, she's fine. Your sister is a strong warrior, you must trust her more so her hunt will never end," Airi said. She was wearing a smaller leather outfit than her companions, where her blonde hair was tied in two pigtails, which her friends considered childish for someone like her.
"How is he, is it true the words I heard from the others," Erina asked as she approached Rou who pretended to be asleep as he listened to the women's conversation.
"He won't die, but the bone eater's poison is still in his system," Latisha said a little calmer as she listened to Erina's words.
"I understand...Latisha, you must be tired, if you want, I can fill in for you while the others accompany you," Erina approached Latisha and handed her a fist sized shard of ice. "This is my gain, but I think your sister will need it more than I will," she added.
Latisha felt the warmth of the crystal run through her hands and felt lighter. "Thank you friend, when I can leave with you I will return this favor," Latisha hugged Erina after receiving the crystal in her hands.
Lysiah walked over to Erina and whispered, "Even if you are curious about him, don't make a mistake you will regret, I hope you understand me." Lysiah was like the older sister of the four, leaving her words, she walked to the outside of the room looking for a moment at Rou's body that was completely bandaged, "I hope you are not a disgrace to my friends, if not...", a dark thought crossed Lysiah's mind that went unnoticed by all present, except for Rou, who could feel the murderous intent on her body.