In the snowy mountains.
At the top of a mountain, a pair of panthers stared at the distant mist-covered forest with awe and wonder in their eyes.
The forest was vast and spread over several kilometers of area, the entirety of which was covered by a thick mist giving it a mystical appearance under the dimly lit night sky.
“Hey Mom, are we going to be safe in that forest?” the baby Panther asked the question that had been haunting it from the moment it laid its eyes on the forest.
The forest was vast, yes, but that didn't mean it was safe and the baby Panther wanted to know if they were truly going to be ok once they entered the forest but it didn't get any answer from the large Panther instead she just stared back at him and stroked its head.
“Stop worrying about the future and rest” she said and pointed at the snoring wolves and the resting Crow in the distance.
The baby Wolf and the crow snuggled closely under the large wolf's fur and were sleeping soundly while the large Wolf hugged them and provided some much-needed warmth.
It was a splendid sight to behold but the baby Panther only felt unease from watching them like that.
“Say, are we all going to reach our destination safely?” it asked again while expecting to not receive any answer but to its surprise, it did receive one.
“I will make sure all the kids reach the destination unscathed” the large panther declared and turned back to the baby Panther who looked horrified at the possible implications of her statement.
“What do you mean kids? What about you and the pack leade-” the baby Panther tried to ask but the large Panther hugged him tight and stopped him from questioning.
“I am sorry, but we don't have much time left, this will be our last journey” she announced causing the baby beast to stiffen. It vehemently shook its head and begged its mother to stay and to live but reality was not on its side. The adults had not eaten anything from the start of the journey, which along with the intense cold weather made it impossible for them to survive the journey.
“Why? Why do you want to leave us? Why did you bring us here? What's so special about that Misty forest anyway?” the baby screamed in pain at the thought of losing her but she could only watch it suffer, powerless to do anything.
She hugged it tighter and let it vent all its frustration. After it was done crying she carefully moved away from the baby and sat at the edge of a cliff and stared at the distant forest.
“You asked what's so special about that forest right? Well, it's my birthplace” she said with a smile and continued
“We are different from all the other beasts, we are blessed with the ability to talk and that's because we are descendants of a named beast called Noir. Anyway, I was born in that forest but always wanted to see what the outside world was like so I and your father left the forest 10 years ago and entered the human territory. It was a mistake, the humans did everything they could to tame us and in the end, your father died protecting me. I escaped with many bruises all over my body and collapsed in the dark forest, it was the wolves who protected me and you were born soon after” She looked melancholically at the sleeping Wolf and with a sigh continued,
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“Anyway, you will be safe in that forest so I want you to protect them for me” She pointed at the sleeping kids and requested.
“What about you? What will happen now?”
She smiled at his question and let out a yawn.
“Now, I will sleep” she announced and after grabbing the kid like a stuffed toy she drifted to sleep. Worry was still etched on the baby panther's head but its mother's warm embrace helped it to relax.
The next morning the baby Panther woke up and saw the other kids staring at a few scribbles on the snow, curious it read the message along with them.
I and the other wolves are going to a wonderful place called Heaven. We wanted to take you with us but kids are not allowed to enter it so we are leaving you in my hometown. Don't cause too much trouble to the residents of that place and make sure to irritate the dungeon overseer as much as you can. We always love you. Oh, and we left two large chunks of meat for the last part of the journey, don't waste it> The message sent a chill down the Panther's spine as it stared at the two dead bodies in shock. It was difficult to connect the dots till then but now it was blatantly obvious. One of the large chunks of meat was like any other and had no head or fur on it but the second one was just the dead body of the mother Panther. The realisation that they were eating their own family struck the baby beasts like a truck causing both the wolf pup and the baby Panther to collapse. They wobbly walked towards their dead parents and hugged them. No sound came out of their mouth but inside they felt like their heart was violently crushed. They stayed like that for an hour until the baby Crow couldn't hold out any longer and collapsed in the snow. It had stayed away from them and let them weep but unlike the other two, it didn't have thick fur to protect it from the cold. The two babies rushed towards the baby crow and tried to wake it up but it was in deep slumber. Not knowing what else to do the wolf pup tore into the dead Wolf's flesh and covered the tiny bird in it. A few minutes later the crow regained consciousness and jumped away from the flesh on its body. The thought of using a dead family member as a tool to keep itself warm repulsed it, the other two argued that it was a way to survive but it refused to budge. Finally knowing that the temperature was going to fall even lower the baby Panther ordered the others to restart the journey. “We are going to eat the food and restart the journey” it announced and before the pup could protest it continued “They sacrificed everything to keep us alive, I don't want to make their death meaningless. We will survive even if it means we have to eat our own family” it announced and tried to bite into its mother's flesh but before it could the baby crow stopped it and after covering both of their eyes it fed them the food with its own beak. It made sure they didn't see which flesh they were eating and also to not feed them the flesh of their blood family. After they were done with that the group moved towards their destination and reached it in another 3 days. Back in the present. The large black panther stared at a tiny vampire girl with bloodshot eyes. She had caused pain to its last remaining family. Her objective was clear, to kill them and obtain the reward for it. She saw them as nothing but a stepping stone towards her inevitable goal and it infuriated the large cat to no end. Behind the vampire girl, Maya stared at the large Wolf taking care of the injured Crow and felt that they were doing something wrong. “Hey guys, are we really doing the right thing?” Arya paused at her question and glanced at the skull that was Peter. “Nobody ever sacrificed anything for me but my student did. There are very few people I care about and he is one of them. If it helps him recover his body then I will kill that overgrown cat ten times over or die trying” she announced and prepared herself for the fight. Maya couldn't find any faults in that and so became a silent observer. Outside the dungeon In the undead city-Altraud Kyouka the death knight and chief of the undead city Deimos, finally reached Altraud and was warmly welcomed by Arthur. “W-welcome, did you come to attend the newborn ceremony?” Arthur asked with sweat trickling down his forehead. ‘Wait do undead even sweat!?’ he thought but sweat was pouring down his forehead and the reason for that was the undead in front of him. She was giving him a cold stare that was somehow making him shudder. “I don't enjoy torturing kids” Kyouka said with an irritated Huff and dragged him to a secluded corner. “Now them care to tell me why a vampire is living in your city” “I-I have a perfectly good reason but right now I need to take care of the ceremony” Arthur mumbled and ran leaving a sighing kyouka alone.