Chapter 3 – The Nonius monster is missing

(Warning! For the safety of readers, please be aware that this chapter could be relatable to child abuse. Read at your own risk.)

In a lit room, Thomas and his father sat on a huge bed with a terrified and uneasy look on their face. Senior Raynard however looked more terrified with a frown plastered on his face.

“Leo is getting more naughty every day, he’d never stay out this late.” The senior peeked through the opened shutter window that revealed the creepy darkness outside.

Thomas on the other hand sat still with an uneasy look on his face, “I think the caution is freaking him out, you and everybody else have been too harsh towards him.”

“Aah! This can’t happen.” Senior Raynard jumped up from the bed and stormed out of the room leaving Thomas to stare silently.

Over a minute later, he stood before a dozen of guards who all had burning touches on their grasp to lighten the dark surrounding.

“The twelve of you should split into two groups and search for my son, right from the village to the deepest part of the forest, don’t return if you don’t find him.” The tension in senior Raynard’s voice shook the guards who also felt compassion for his broken emotion.

Only if they hadn’t pampered him from birth, now he’s making the village, especially his father scared! Such a stubborn child.

These were the only thoughts that crossed the mind of the listening guards who felt Leo would either be parading the village or be in the forest.

“Leave immediately!” Senior Raynard commanded leaving the armored guards to flee in a different direction.

Meanwhile, in the dragon’s cave, Leo sat in a lotus position in front of Bel who was currently in his human shape also sitting in a similar posture.

“Now, will you do a favor and create the dragon.”

Leo reluctantly gave a nod and stretched his palm upwards, creating a small glow in the air that shaped itself into a dragon.

“Humm, can you do this without any dramatic movement?”

“I don’t get you?”

Bel rolled his eyes lazily and heaved a sigh, “I mean to ask if you can create the dragon without stretching your palm to the air.”

Leo sat numb for a couple of seconds while thinking for an answer but was eventually flooded with thoughts to the extent of diverting the conversation, “Why are you doing this, legendary beast like you are supposed to despise human, yet you kidnapped me as your child.”

“Don’t ask me silly questions and answer mine, else there will be a huge handprint on your cheek.”

Leo paused with a scared face for over a minute and subconsciously placed both of his palms on his cheeks, “I... I don’t know.”

“Why won’t you know!” Bel retorted with an angry frown and instantly threw his palm at Leo’s left cheek that was being guided by his palm. But unfortunately, the slap from Bel remained heavy in his cheeks like it was a direct contact, if not even more painful.

Leo immediately went into a loud sober cry that only triggered a wicked smirk on Bel’s face, “It's already dark, you will cry to slumber. But remember that tomorrow is another difficult day.”

“Damn you! My father will never hit me the way you do.” Leo immediately jumped up from the ground with bloodshot eyes, and at the same time rained curses at Bel who looked intrigued yet furious.

“How dare you, little devil!” Another slap resounded on Leo’s cheek to the extent of him staggering to the ground in pain.

“Do I look like your father, I will do with you whatever I please and you will do nothing about it. How old are you? Ten, and you want to challenge a creature that has lived for countless centuries.”

The irritated Bel began to kick on the little kid's abdomen like it was an unbreakable rock, not minding the piercing screams and shouts that resounded from the little boy’s mouth. After landing over thirty kicks on a particular part of the little boy’s body, his temper cooled as he immediately stormed into the darkest and deepest part of the cave.

****

The next day came like the snap of a finger and Leo still laid on the ground like a lifeless child. The lair was a little bit brighter than its unusual darkness as it was early morning.

A figure jumped into the lair while holding multiple dead creatures. The figure which was recognized to be Bel dropped over a dozen of dead creatures on the ground opposite Leo who was vividly wide awake but too weak to stand up. His abdominal region felt like they were on flames as he couldn’t even sit upright, but the look on Bel’s face had an effect like a remote control that forced him to sit upright in ignorance of the pain.

Trickles of transparent tears fell freely from the bloodshot eyes that had an ugly eye-bag.

“Obedient kid. Now try to form these creatures.” Leo’s eyes widened in sight of the pile of dead creatures.

“But… but I... I’m hungry.” Leo only received a death glare from Bel who transformed into his original monstrous size.

“I will not hesitate to crush a weakling like you.” One of Bel’s monstrous legs was already lifted in the air, threatening the little boy who looked like he was going to die of exhaustion. Out of fear, Leo weakly dragged one of the dead beasts towards him while carefully exploring the texture and shape of the bat-like creature he had never seen before.

He stretched his hand to the air after some minutes of inspection and a small glow slowly emanated from his palm before building a ball-sized glow that gradually shaped itself until it had a similar appearance to the bat-like creature excluding the fact that it was transparent.

“Can you give it that plain sand texture?” An evil smile crept into Bel’s face seeing the flawless gimmick of the creature. Leo on the other hand managed to pick a handful of dirt and sprayed it at the transparent creature with a heavy breath.

‘How long will I keep up with this.’ He couldn’t help but wonder as his energy level dropped to zero.

“I can see that you’re very tired and hungry. So you should stop for a while and eat this bread.”

Bel commanded with a sudden change of emotion as a huge loaf of bread appeared in front of Leo who could not help but grab the food with eagerness and began to chew on it within mere seconds.