Chapter 98 – Rebran

“A human who can transform into a beast… don’t tell me, is he actually a Beast Emperor!?”

Laris suddenly exclaimed out loud, as she tightly gripped onto the bark of the tree next to her.

But that’s impossible! If there was another Beast Emperor within the Desolate Mountains, then the current Emperor have already detected him. Ev-

Before Laris could finish her train of thought, she was interrupted by another familiar voice.

Girl, it is not good to try to spy on others. Leave now, before the little birdy notices your presence.

A calm and gentle voice echoed within Laris’s mind. The voice contained a profound level of wisdom and soothed the heart of any that listened to it.

This was the real voice of her master and teacher, the second Elder of the city, Tarnila.

“Teacher, who is he really? Weir wants to talk to him…”

Laris started, but was once again stopped by Tarnila.

Weir will be fine on his own. If that brat would ever stop rejecting his own draconic heritage, then the city would not even be in this mess. This human boy is interesting, but even more interesting is the little wolf pup that he carries with him. Tell Weir that I will keep my promise and bring the golden bird to him once he is ready.

Tarnila firmly stated and broke off the mental connection with her pupil.

Although many thought Tarnila was crazy and acted irrationally, Laris knew that her master was actually one of the most powerful beings throughout the entirety of the Desolate Mountains except for the Emperor himself. Even the first Elder would not be able to defeat her once she brought out the full powers of her fearsome lightning.

During the beginning of her training with Tarnila, Laris had once asked her why she behaved like a “crazy lady”, and her master had simply laughed while petting her hair.

“Why? Because it’s fun!”

Thinking back to her fond memories, Laris unknowingly had a wide smile plastered on her face. Tarnila was always a fun teacher, and was more of an ‘aunt’ figure for her than an actual master.

“Sigh… you say that, master, but you know that Weir would never bring out the power that was left to him by his father…”

Laris sadly exhaled, and slowly turned around to depart from her master’s home.

…………………

Meanwhile, Avi had her tongue sticking out as she barked in delight when the air rushed into her open mouth.

With the warm and furry raccoon seated behind her, Avi felt a lot more comfortable flying on Calron’s back and started to enjoy the feeling of being in the sky.

“Gahaha, you are really enjoying this aren’t you?”

Tarnila chuckled while securely clutching the energetic little beast, and ruffling the fur under her soft neck.

Avi’s throat thrummed in pleasure as she leaned back against the raccoon.

*SCREEEEE*

When Calron had previously glanced back to make sure that Avi was alright, he had unexpectedly found the wolf pup cheerfully playing with the annoying raccoon. It appeared that Avi was simply afraid of being alone on his back.

Hmm, I need to figure out a way for Avi to be more comfortable while I’m flying. Teacher, any suggestions?

.

.

.

Teacher?

Calron called out again.

Careful kid, someone is coming!

…………………………..

“King Xardoth, the troops are ready.”

A humanoid figure with a black lion’s head solemnly conveyed, as he knelt down on one knee.

A colossal beast slowly stood up on its two powerful front claws along with the two muscular feline legs on the back of its body. With his two wings raising a torrent of gust around the series of tents, Xardoth let out a mighty roar that elicited an equally loud cheer from the thousands of beasts camping in the area.

With the lower half of the body of a giant lion and the upper body of a towering eagle, Xardoth belonged to the extremely rare species of the Griffin beastline. Although, his cultivation was slightly lower than that of Weir, with just the special abilities of his beast heritage alone, Xardoth was more than a match for the Dragon King.

“Excellent! I have been itching to bring down that arrogant dragon ever since we clashed in the last war. What is the report from the scouts?”

Xardoth inquired, as he smoothly folded his wings and glanced towards the direction of the distant city.

“The scouts reported that King Weir had actually left the palace quite recently. However, he quickly returned within a few hours. As for where he went, the scouts couldn’t discover without risking entering the city, so they left.”

The black humanoid beast replied in a deep husky voice.

“Where is Rebran? I did not see him return with you.”

Xardoth asked with a frown on his face.

“He…he decided to enter the city, your highness.”

Drops of sweat began forming on the black lion’s face, as he answered with a trembling voice.

“You let him leave?”

The Beast King asked in a frosty tone.

“He told me he was going to take a piss, but before we knew it, he had already left our camp area.”

The warrior lion shivered as he felt the cold gaze of the king on the top of his head.

“Take the royal guards with you and bring him back to me at once! If you return without Rebran, then I will annihilate you and your entire family.”

Xardoth whispered in a deathly voice, as his sharp avian face bore into the depths of the black lion’s soul.

“Y-yes, your highness.”

The lion quickly nodded his head and rushed to a tent of armored beasts and rapidly yelled out a string of commands.

“Rebran… my foolish son…”

Xardoth sighed, as he looked up into the sky and lamented.

…………………………….

“Hmm, interesting shape and texture… what is this used for?”

A small four foot lion asked the shop vendor, as he slowly rubbed the object with his soft white paws.

“Uhh… that is just a toy for kids. It’s called a ball and kids just bounce it around.”

The canine vendor awkwardly replied while scratching his head.

He was just about to close his shop and go home to celebrate his wife’s birthday, when suddenly this strange little white lion popped up in front of his toy shop.

“A ball… an exquisite name for such a wonderful marvel of a creation!”

The little lion exclaimed with an excited glint in his eyes.

What the heck is wrong with this kid, getting so excited over a ball? And, where did he learn those words for his age?

The vendor thought, while observing the bizarre fascination of the young beast with the ball.

“Hey, little whitey, I have to close the shop early today, so you can just keep that ball and go nuts with it.”

The vendor shooed away the white lion out of the shop, and quickly locked the entrance behind him while rushing off into the distance.

“Heh, this dummy left me a treasure!”

The lion said cheerfully, as he grasped the ball between his jaws and scurried off to an empty alley.

“How fun would it be to bounce this ball in air?”

A strange flash of light darted through the white lion’s emerald eyes, as he glanced at the blue sky above. With a slight smile tugging his lips, two large wings suddenly extended from his back.

Unlike his father, Rebran only had the pair of wings which signified his connection to the bloodline of the legendary Griffins, but the rest of his body was completely that of a lion.

Matching the pure white of his fur, the feathers on the pair of wings were equally as divine.

“Let’s see how long I have before father takes me back.”

Rebran grinned as he took off into the air with the ball in his mouth.