When morning came, the boy woke up to an empty cave. He got up and looked around until he found a piece of paper near the entrance that read:
"I'm off to the city for a while, so take care of the farm while i'm gone! I'll give you a surprise later!
- Aunt Teresa"
He sighed and shook his head before heading off to the farm to complete the work assigned to him by his aunt.
After a grueling session of tag with the cannon pigs and hide and seek with the chickens, he finally took care of feeding and tending to the farm.
It was not perfect, but it would do for now. Then, he walked back to the cave, prepared himself a basic, raw soup, hardly comparable to the one Aunt Teresa made, and ate it in silence.
He then walked out to the forest, picking up sticks and using them to practice for a while.
***************************************
A rhino walked through the forest, looking around for any animals it could hunt. It spotted a few lions, tigers and wolves but directly ignored them. It was not interested in these weak beings! It wanted to fight strong farm animals like....That!
It spotted a chicken practicing its kicks in an open field. The rhino rushed towards it, ready to stab it to death, while the chicken continued to kick, unaware of the approaching danger.
The rhino lunged at the chicken, the chicken clucked loudly and tried to scramble away, but it was too late....or was it?
A clawed hand blocked the rhino's charge. The rhino, shocked, backed away warily and glared at the newcomer. The red beast also looked at the white rhino, similarly tense, but it was determined.
"Do not go any further. This animal is under my protection."
"What is a dragon doing protecting a chicken?"
"This chicken is a very close friend of mine, and we share a deep history, if you want to hurt it, you will have to get through me. Even if I die, I will bring you down with me."
"Tch"
The dragon was right. A Red Dragon was a strong mythical beast with a blood red body, gleaming gold horns, and giant black claws the size of a house. It had a battlepower compared to an armoured tank, or two, or three....you get the idea.
Even if the white rhino could fight it and had similar battlepower, it would be a very hard battle, and the dragon could really end both of their lives.
"Fine, I won't bother the chicken"
"Good. I'm glad we could settle this peacefully"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever"
The rhino walked away, upset that it could not eat its breakfast today. It then decided to continue its journey, eager to return as soon as possible.
The chicken sighed in relief and sat down for a while to rest. The dragon looked back at the chicken and heaved a sigh as well.
"Thank you for rescuing me"
"You would have done the same thing for me"
"Right. Of course hahaha"
"You would right?"
"Hehehe~"
"That does not give me confidence!"
*******************************************
"Hooo....hooo...hooo"
The little boy leaned against the wall in the back alley of the down of Edefen, preparing himself for the daring stunt he was about to pull. Two other boys stood in front of him.
"Hey, are you sure we have to do this? Are we sure that we can't just ask nicely? I'm sure that the people are not monsters. They would definitely-"
"Shut up."
The little boy with broken speactables, orange hair and green eyes immediately stopped talking. The boy leaning against the wall was glaring at him with his sparkling blue eyes that shone like sapphires.
"If the people in this place had even the slightest conscience, then we would not be suffering in the first place."
He used his dirty hands to brush his black hair to the side.
"We would not have had to suffer and steal just because we were unlucky enough to not have parents if the PEOPLE IN THIS HELLISH PLACE WERE NOT MONSTERS!"
Due to his raw emotions he started to shout at the little boy with glasses. The boy started tearing up and crying.
"Hey, hey, calm down would you, you made Trevor cry. There there Trevor, Alex is just nervous..."
"Sniff...sniff....ok..."
"Venting your anger on your friend is not the way to deal with this situation, Alex, apologise to Trevor."
"Haa....your right....sorry Trevor, I shouldn't have shouted at you"
"Its okay...."
Trevor continued to sniff while wiping his eyes and nose with his sleeves. The kid with brown hair and red eyes looked at Alex.
"So now that that's over, what's the plan captain?"
"So you reprimand me, and then you call me captain? You really are shameless, Sebastian."
"Haha, you know me too well"
"Haaa....anyway, back to the plan. We first make our way to the storefront. There, Sebastian, you will walk into the store and start chaos. Try to attract as many people as possible, the more the better."
"Yessir"
"Me and Trevor will go to the back, where Trevor can use his lock picking skills to get me in through the back door, right behind the counter."
Trevor raised his hand. Alex looked at him.
"You can just talk, you don't have to raise your hand."
"What if there are still people behind the counter?"
"Well, that's where I come in..."
He raised his hand. Lightning danced on his palm before dispersing through the air from his fingertips. He clenched his hand into a fist and stopped the electric currents.
"I'll knock them out with one punch"
Sebastian interrupted'
"Uhhh....I'm pretty sure one punch will not be enough to deal with them. They are adults and must have mastered self defence. After all, they are part of the Council of Edefen."
"Then I will punch them two times or three times, I will punch them repeatedly until they can no longer breathe!"
"Oh no...aaaaaah.....I'm scared"
Trevor began shaking, looking at Alex, terrified. His eyes gleamed with madness and his mouth was stretched in a wide grin. Sebastian's mouth twitched.
"Don't you think that's a bit excessive? Look, you've even scared Trevor. Just knock them out, would you?"
"Yeah, yeah"
They all looked at each other, their expressions turned serious. Alex walked toward the store, his eyes determined.
"Let's go guys."
"Our friend's life depends on us."