Kai smiled behind his dragon mask and strode toward the rightmost cage, toward the raven—the sound of his boots with every step was drowned out by the chaos unfolding on the other Star Beasts.
But to the raven, his footsteps were the only thing it could hear.
He halted before the cage and squatted down, and tilted his head.
For a suspended moment, he stared into the raven's eyes, and the raven stared back.
Its feathers were black as pitch, and its eyes were not the hollow, animal gaze of a lesser beast. They were sharp. Intelligence. The sclera was black, similar to Kai's—and the iris was a deep, burning crimson.
Not too long ago, Kai realized that the Pegasi and Griffins were scared of him.
Every time he passed them during nighttime, they would recoil and stare at him with fear.
Like something inside Kai stirred the primordial instinct of fear in them.
Across the last few months, he hadn't met a single Pegasus or Griffin that wasn't afraid of him.
