"Help!"
A desperate cry echoed through the cave in the middle of the night, accompanied by the snarls of wild beasts.
"Master! Human! Edwin! Help!"
"What the hell is going on? Is that Kelo?" Edwin jolted awake. He jumped off his bed and rushed into the wide chamber.
Kelo's bedding was near the fire pit.
"What the hell!" When he arrived, he saw a clan of hyenas attacking her. The fire pit had gone out, and the torches on the walls had been extinguished before everyone went to sleep.
Edwin could still see clearly; the hanging moon lit the wide chamber through the cracks above the fire pit.
"Brat, what's going on here?" Half asleep, Azazel came out of his room. "Oh, hyenas!" He woke from his half-asleep state. The passage to his room connected to the corridor that led to Edwin's.
"Brat, fire! Hurry, get the torch from the corridor!" He grabbed a spear leaning against the wall. Edwin rushed for the nearest torch.
The cave had spears slanted against the walls every ten steps. Living inside a mountain range surrounded by dangerous creatures meant one always had to be prepared.
After grabbing the torch from the corridor, Edwin raced back.
Kelo leapt onto a hyena's head, smashing it down with her full body weight. White matter mixed with broken skull bones and thick blood splattered across the stone floor.
Azazel tried to stab another hyena, but a third one jumped on him.
About seven hyenas were present.
He swung the flaming torch to draw the pack's attention. He tried to make them slip, but the ability only worked on a single target, and he had already run dry of Myrr. He would need at least a full day for it to replenish.
He swung the flaming torch again. The hyenas that lunged at him seemed frightened by the fire and began backing off.
"Lad, here!" Azazel had grabbed another torch from the wall and lit it from Edwin's.
"Lad, move left. Let's flank them out!"
Edwin rushed forward, forming a line with Azazel and driving the hyenas toward the exit.
"Stupid human, you want to kill me!" Kelo raged. One hyena had sunk its fangs through the fluffy fur covering her body. Blood oozed from the torn skin.
"What do you mean, stupid rabbit? I was dead asleep!" Edwin fought back. He was furious at being wrongly accused. He didn't even understand how he tried to kill the aberrant.
"Human, you brought the antelope and rabbits here. The blood from the hunt you didn't clean led those disgusting creatures here." Azazel pointed.
"How was I supposed to know that, old man?" Edwin was a homesick brat from Earth. Old Edwin was a bullied kid, treated as an outcast by the village. His grandfather, after he returned from his five-year-long pilgrimage, spoiled him much to fix his past mistakes, yet he worsened the matter.
"Don't look at me. Go clean your mess. Be glad it wasn't an aberrant or worse, a maledict."
"Edwin, my boy, look around you. You're in the middle of a mountain range surrounded by terrifying creatures. And the night is like a day to these abominations."
"If you want to have a peaceful sleep, learn to always cover your tracks."
Edwin picked up a broom with a long handle and went outside to clean the traces near the cave entrance.
The hyenas had already left. Hyenas were known as cowards. They didn't force themselves on an enemy they had little understanding of.
---
As the sun hung in the clear blue sky, an elderly man and a young boy both covered in animal fur, with boots made of animal skin, were resting under the canopy of a huge tree.
"Brat, you're getting good at this."
"I didn't want to come here, old man. Where the hell did that aberrant of yours go? I don't want to stay here any longer. Who knows what creepy things might be wandering around."
"Haha, relax, brat." Azazel chuckled. "You can say that, but flooding this elderly man with your worries is a crime before the gods."
Edwin looked at Azazel. Something sparked inside him.
"What? Should I say anyone in my cave has that habit?"
A memory of old Edwin slapped current Edwin: the morning of the academy opening, sitting with Grandpa Zu after breakfast.
"Everyone in this house has that habit. Can't ask a single question, but floods you with several of them," old Edwin said to Grandpa Zu.
How did he know that? Current Edwin asked himself, but no answer came.
"Wait, should I say I can't count your blabbering?"
Another memory flashed: current Edwin and Zara basking in the afternoon sun on the veranda after his first class at the academy.
He snapped back to reality.
"Old man, I don't remember sharing that with you. Are you reading my memories? Wait, is that your awakened ability?"
"Fool, I thought I said you were blabbering this shit the day I saved your sorry self. You talked too much that day. Though it was dark, it was only a few hours past midnight."
"Old man, I didn't ask for your long speeches."
"You should also mind your words. An old man like you spouting uncultured words?"
"Brat, you're getting rude. I guess the cinder is getting into your head."
"What do you..."
Just then a huge, fluffy rabbit burst out of the bushes.
"They're coming this way," Kelo reported to Azazel.
"Good job. Quick, climb the tree." Before he could finish, Azazel had already jumped onto Kelo's back. Her claws sank into the tree trunk. She climbed higher in a few breaths.
"Edwin, my boy." Azazel threw a spear down; his laughter was over the top. The spear's iron head sank into the soil. Edwin already had a spear in his hand.
"What the hell are you guys doing?" Just as he spoke, three huge wolves burst out of the bushes in the direction Kelo had come from.
"Shit! Old man! You dare set me up. Curse you!" Edwin understood Azazel's intentions.
"Haha!" Azazel laughed from Kelo's back. "These three are old, clumpy, weak wolves. They were kicked out of their pack. If you can't take them down, then you're just a useless little rat, unworthy of living."
The three wolves lunged, saliva dripping from their fangs. Edwin gripped his spear tight as he swung it against the approaching wolves.
"My boy, Edwin, I forgot to warn you, these weak, pathetic fellows are damn hungry."
"Hahaha!" Azazel was enjoying himself.
"My boy, Edwin, don't let your pathetic self be a juicy meal."