I run up the tower, into the throne room, and head right to Megan. Megan is still sitting on her pillow by the table eating some more fruit. Grizzlyon, the chubby human-bear isn’t in the tower anymore, same with Tigeron, the human muscular orange tiger. I look around to see if I can find Faron, the white good-looking werewolf. I notice him sleeping on the bed in Feeon’s Bed Room. I feel very excited. I sit by Megan. I can’t wait to show her the book that Veeule gave to me. But I do not want to tell her about the many voices in my head that I just heard in Veeule’s hut. I don’t know if I ever want to tell her that at all. I tap on Megan’s left shoulder.

“Hey Megan,” I say.

Megan turns to me. I take a deep breath and reveal the book to her.

“Megan, take a look at this,” I say.

She turns her head and sees the book that I’m holding in my hands. She gasps quietly.

“Would you like to hold it?” I ask.

She nods and gently grabs the book. She tries to open it, but it seems like it’s locked.

“This book won’t open. It has a lock on it,” says Megan.

“Really?” I ask.

“Really. Did you not notice?” asks Megan.

I now notice the lock on the book. It is in the middle of the binding. It looks golden with a keyhole shape. I grab the book from Megan and try to open it, but it is no use without the key. Megan taps my right shoulder.

“Maybe we should ask Feeon about this book,” suggested Megan.

I turn to Megan and shake my head. “Megan, Veeule told me not to put this book into the wrong hands,” I warn.

“Who’s Veeule?” asks Megan.

“He is a very old human McCaw. He gave me this book and my magic potion bottle, which I could have sworn I shattered on my closet door. But I have it with me now. Veeule told me that someone very important should have this book,” I say.

Megan shakes her head a little. “Wait a minute. I thought you said that the door appeared in your room after you shattered the potion?” asks Megan.

“I did say that,” I say.

I grab the magic potion bottle out of my pants pocket and reveal it to Megan. Megan grabs the magic potion from me and stares at it.

“There are no crack marks on it. It looks brand new,” says Megan.

I take the magic potion from her and put it back in my pants pocket.

“I know. I know. It’s just strange,” I say.

“Did Veeule say who to give the book to?” asks Megan.

“All he said is look at your reflection in the water and you will find out,” I answer.

Megan nods as if she understands what Veeule meant.

“Reflection, I understand what Veeule said,” says Megan.

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“Daniel, what do you see when you look in a mirror?” asks Megan.

“Myself,” I answer.

Megan slowly nods with a proud smile on her face. She just stares at me. I shake my head like flies are bothering me.

“No. No. No. No. It can’t be my book. I’ve never seen it before,” I say.

Suddenly I feel a little rumble in my left pocket.

“Oh. It’s my cell phone,” I say.

I put my hand in my left pocket and grab my dark blue cell phone. Megan seems surprised. Her face seems confused and she gently shakes her head.

“That thing still gets reception here? That’s impossible,” says Megan.

“Why do you not believe in the impossible?” I ask.

“I never said I don’t believe in the impossible, who says that?” asks Megan.

“Veeule,” I answer.

I pull my cell phone out of my pocket. I open it and put it by my right ear.

“Hello,” I say.

The phone is making a static sound. I cannot understand it. I shake my cell phone and hit it. Then put it back on my ear.

“Who is it?” I ask.

“I-its D-Diana,” says the phone.

I feel very surprised and very emotional. “It’s my mom,” I say.

Megan gasps a little. “How can she make any contact with us?” asks Megan.

“I don’t know, but I am glad to hear her voice,” I answer.

I feel happy and continue talking to my mom on my cell phone.

“Hey Mom, guess what, you won’t believe what Megan and I found, we found a…” but before I can finish the sentence, my mom interrupts me.

“Listen, Daniel, your f-father is…” says my mom.

I hear my mom whimpering and gasping for air. She sounds like she is nervous to tell me something. Whatever she’s going to tell me, it can’t be good. I hope it isn’t bad news.

“Mom, what is it?” I ask.

“W-where are you? Your father is,” my mom is trying to tell me something, but the static on the phone is bad.

“Mom, Mom, Mom! Hello mom!” I shout.

Then the signal slowly fades into endless static. I lower my cell phone down and just stare into space.

“Daniel, what’s wrong?” asks Megan.

I still hear my phone as it slowly fades into silence. I feel shocked and very worried. I drop my cell phone and it falls to the ground.

“Daniel?” says Megan.

She is trying to get my attention, but I am thinking of nothing but my mom and dad. Megan puts her hand on my right shoulder to comfort me. I reach down to pick up my phone. It seems undamaged.

“Maybe we should ask Feeon to help us get home, or contact home,” says Megan.

I turn to Megan, still feeling very worried. I swallow.

“What if my mom and dad are in some sort of trouble?” I ask.

“That is why we should get help,” says Megan.

I look away from her. “Megan, we are in a place where these creatures don’t know anything about our world,” I say.

“I don’t think that’s true,” says Megan.

I roll my eyes. “What do you mean?” I ask.

“Do you remember what you said before we entered this Kingdom?” asks Megan.

“I said a lot of things. I can’t remember,” I answer.

Megan quietly sighs. “You said that these Humanimals might know your name when we entered Azent Kingdom. If that’s true, then won’t they know about our world? I mean Grizzlyon called us Earthlings,” asks Megan.

“We can’t be sure if these Humanimals know things about our world,” I answer.

“Well, now is the time to tell them about our world,” says Megan.

I gently shake my head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. Remember when the brown human bull asked us about our world, he got angry because of the food we eat. I don’t know if I can tell anyone else about our home anymore. What if they get angry? I most certainly do not want to upset a Humanimal. You’ve seen them, they’re bigger and taller than us and most certainly stronger too,” I say.

“We need to gain some trust in this world. I mean, Grizzlyon and Tigeron trusted us. Now we need to gain Feeon’s trust,” says Megan.

I finally agree with Megan.

“I’ll ask Feeon alone. Don’t worry about me. I have a feeling that he will trust me,” I say.

Megan nods. I walk up to Feeon’s bedroom door.

“Feeon,” I say.

There is no answer.

“Feeon,” I say again.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

I step in and look around the bedroom. Feeon is not in the bedroom. I walk in and look around and still there is no sign of Feeon, only Faron sleeping on Feeon’s queen size bed. I notice that Faron doesn’t have his white towel loin cloth on him. Then I hear a howling noise. I turn to Faron and it isn’t him that is howling.

I look around to see who or what is howling. I hear the howling coming from outside the bedroom. I walk to the window. The light blue long curtains flutter as the cold night wind blows in the room. I look through the window and see Feeon on a large balcony with strong stone railings. I see him without any clothes, just thick blue fur. I walk out of the window and onto the balcony.

“Feeon?” I ask quietly.

Feeon stops howling and turn around to me. “Oh, hi kid,” says Feeon nervously.

I notice Feeon blushing. “Am I interrupting your howling?” I ask.

“Oh no, not at all,” answers Feeon.

The tall muscular blue werewolf sits down on the edge of the balcony.

“Would you like to talk?” asks Feeon.

“Sure.” I sit down by him.

We both just sit quietly and awkwardly on the balcony. The sound of the wind is all I am hearing. There are no sounds of crickets like I thought there would be. I turn to Feeon and I see a tear coming down his face. Feeon sniffs and wipes his nose.

“Can I ask a question?” I ask.

“Sure kid,” answers Feeon.

I take a deep breath. “Why are you sad?” I whisper.

I don’t expect Feeon to answer right away. Feeon hesitates as he seems rather scared to answer me. “Because I…” says Feeon very nervously. “Because…I …” Feeon tries to answer but he can’t.

I get up and walk away. “Then forget it. You never tell me anything. I thought I could trust you,” I complain.

Feeon sigh’s a deep breath. “Because I feel so alone!” snaps Feeon.

I gasp and turn back to Feeon. The sad bluish werewolf covers his mouth and pants.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have yelled,” sobs Feeon.

Feeon kneels and covers his eyes with his hands. I cannot see his face because his long bluish hair is covering it. He continues sobbing as I walk up to him. I slowly move my right hand to his left shoulder. Feeon gasps and looks up at me.

“You ok?” I ask.

Feeon sniffs three times and sits back on his behind. “I feel so alone. All of the Humanimals do,” answers Feeon.

It seems like he doesn’t like the question that I asked. I look at him and stare into his light blue eyes.

“Why do the Humanimals feel so sad?” I ask.

Feeon lets out a loud sigh and looks up at the full moon. “Because we lost a few people long ago,” Feeon looks at his blue furry hands with sadness in his eyes.

I look down at his blue furry hands too. “What did you lose?” I ask.

Feeon turns to me, shuts his eyes, and nods. I look up at his sad cute wolf face. The image makes me feel sad for him. Feeon sighs.

“It was years ago in this kingdom,” says Feeon.

“Feeon, who did you lose? Did you all lose some people in a battle?” I ask.

Feeon closes his eyes and looks like he is remembering something very terrible that happened many years ago. He begins to explain what happened.

“I remember it like it was yesterday. I remember that I was arguing with my wife. She said that I was too violent and angry. Like animals are in the human world. I would sometimes get angry at her when she would tell me what to do. Then she would tell me that I need to calm my inner beast,” says Feeon.

My eyes widen. “Inner beast?” I ask.

Feeon nods.

“What does that mean, inner beast?” I ask.

“We are part animals. Sometimes our inner beast would pop out. We would growl, snarl, and roar. Our fangs and claws would pop out and we would be wild. Like animals in the human world. I was not the only one that had an inner beast. All Humanimals have inner beasts. All of our wives, daughters, and other women are humans. After my wife and I argued, all of our women left. My wife left with all of our wives, daughters, mothers, and women. They all left us alone in Azent Kingdom.” Feeon opens his eyes.

“So…your wife left you and the Humanimals because you guys were going wild like the Beast in Beauty and the Beast?” I ask.

Feeon looks down at me. “What is Beauty and the Beast?” he asks.

“It’s a story about a man that turns into a beast and a girl. The girl has to fall in love with the beast for the Beast to become human again. But the Beast keeps on releasing his bad temper,” I answer.

“How does the story end?” asks Feeon.

“The girl and the Beast fell in love and the Beast became human again. You guys were never humans, were you?” I ask.

“No. We Humanimals have always been what we are. Whenever we marry a female, our children are different. If we have a daughter it would be a human girl. If we had a son it would be a Humanimal. But only if a woman marries a Humanimal, not a man,” answers Feeon.

I nod, showing that I understand what Feeon is saying.

“So…what happened to you and the Humanimals?” I ask.

“We are miserable. We miss our females. I wish we could see them again, but I am afraid that we might hurt them because of our inner beasts,” says Feeon.

I could not believe what happened to Feeon and his Kingdom.

“Did you or any of the Humanimals ever try finding the women?” I ask.

“We know where they are. They went to the kingdom that is next to our kingdom, Advee Kingdom,” answers Feeon.

“Why didn’t you guys go after the women, or go to Advee Kingdom?” I ask.

“Because we are afraid of our inner beasts. We fear that we might throw a temper or hurt our women,” answers Feeon.

“So your wife left you because of a few bad tempers?” I ask.

Feeon rubs the back of his head. “Yeah, that’s pretty much it,” he says.

I scoff. “Humans in the human world have lost their tempers. There are a lot of men in my world that learn how to control themselves whenever they get mad. Sometimes it’s their wives that help them,” I say.

“But what if we snap, let our inner beasts make us mad?” asks Feeon.

“How often does your inner beast snap?” I ask.

“Whenever we fight, argue, or feel sad,” answers Feeon.

“Don’t worry, you can learn to calm your inner beast,” I say.

I put my right hand on Feeon’s left knee. “Feeon, there is something I need to ask you,” I say.

Feeon turns his head to me and waits for my question.

“Do you know how I can get home?” I ask.

“Where is your home?” asks Feeon.

“It is very, very, very far away,” I answer.

“Are you from Advee kingdom?” asks Feeon.

“No, I am not,” I answer.

“I thought you might say that. I know you are different,” says Feeon.

I look at Feeon and he smiles at me.

“You know about my world?” I ask.

“Yes. I know about your world. Remember when I asked about your world during the feast?” asks Feeon.

“Yes, I do. I assumed that you knew that I am from my world because of the way I dressed.” I say.

“Not really. We haven’t seen any human men for a long time. When I saw you in my throne room for the very first time I knew that you were not from this world. You looked curious and lost,” says Feeon.

I nod. “How do you know about my world? I’m sure Grizzlyon didn’t tell you. Or Tigeron,” I ask.

“There is an old man that tells us stories about your world kid,” answers Feeon.

“What old man? You mean the old McCaw?” I ask.

Feeon gets off the ground and turns to me. “This old man is from your world. It can’t be Veeule, he is a Humanimal remember?” answers Feeon.

I nod. I was about to ask him more about the old man. Then I notice the necklace around Feeon’s neck. It has a small golden circle with a black plus sign in the middle of it.

“Is that sacred?” I point at Feeon’s necklace.

Feeon looks down at his necklace and holds it in his right hand.

“Oh, this thing? Nah, it's from my wife. She gave it to me when I went to war with the Screaming Meanies. We had a war with Horror and his army a long time ago, probably way before you were born. Horror used to have flesh and blood way before I was born. We won the war and banished Horror and his army. I came to Azent kingdom to become king. My daughter was not in Azent when I returned home. I haven’t seen her in a long time,” says Feeon.

After Feeon explained it all, I feel speechless and a little sad for him. “Can’t you guys control your inner beasts?” I ask.

Feeon shakes his head. “No, we can’t. At least we don’t know how. Or if it’s even possible,” answers Feeon.

“Is this Horror the king of the screaming Meanies?” I ask.

“Yes and he’s someone you do not want to mess with.” Feeon shakes his right hand.

Feeon walks and goes into his room from the balcony and I follow him. He walks to a wooden dresser. He opens it and takes out a map that kind of looks like a pirate map. The map has names of the places in this world. The map is dark tan, old wrinkly, and has a few cracks on the sides. I smile and reach my right hand towards the map.

“Is that a map of this world?” I ask.

I feel very excited to see the map. Maybe there is a way home. Feeon hands me the map.

“Yes, this is a map of this world and it belongs to you,” says Feeon.

“I don’t remember this map,” I say.

Feeon sighs. “Just as I thought, I knew that you would not remember this world.” Feeon lowers his head.

After I hear him say those words, I cannot believe it. I run to the exit door and am about to open it when I remember what Veeule said to me.

“Oh, Veeule said that you know about this book and everything in it. Is that true?” I ask.

Feeon gets something else out of his drawer. He holds a golden key in his right hand. He walks up to me. “Does this look familiar?” asks Feeon.

I stare at the key and it does not seem familiar to me. I feel scared and nervous to answer him, but I feel like I need to be honest.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think that key looks familiar to me,” I say.

“It goes with your book.” Feeon throws the golden key and I catch it.

“Thanks. Feeon is there any way that I can help you and your kingdom,” I ask.

Feeon points at the map. “Well, you can find the old man here,” says Feeon.

He points at words on the map that say Toy Town. “Toy Town is just East from here,” says Feeon.

The map looks very complicated to follow. “I have no idea how to follow this map,” I say.

“Well I bet a Humanimal can lead you to Toy Town,” says Feeon.

I am thinking of who should guide Megan and me to Toy Town. Maybe Grizzlyon can lead us, maybe Tigeron can lead us, or both.

“I think that you should go with us,” I say to Feeon.

Feeon chuckles a little. “I am a king. It is my responsibility to watch my kingdom,” answers Feeon.

“That’s ok. I’ll find someone else.” I say.

Feeon places both hands on my shoulders and stares at my face. “Be very careful. There are more dangerous creatures in this world, on land, in the air, and the water. Just be a very caring kid,” says Feeon.

I nod. “I will,” I say.

I walk out of the bedroom and close the door behind me. I notice Megan praying near the table. I walk up to her.

“I don’t think a prayer can help us in this new world,” I say.

Megan opens her eyes and turns to me. “It doesn’t hurt to pray anywhere. Even in another world,” says Megan.

I sit down by Megan and show her the map. Megan still has the book by her.

“Hand me the book,” I gently ask.

Megan hands me the book, I grab it and put the golden key in the keyhole. I open the book and the book has everything about this new world. It looks like an encyclopedia. It has pictures of the creatures in this world. The colorful pictures look like oil paintings. All of the pages are light tan and a bit dusty. The words in the book are in English and describe the creatures. There are at least three hundred pages in this book.

“Daniel this is incredible,” says Megan.

“I wonder if this book has any information about Artemis the Dragon,” I say.

One of the pages begins to glow. The light is dark yellow. Kind of like the sunrise on a tan beach. I turn the pages to find the glowing page. The light on the page fades away.

“Wow. This is so cool,” says Megan.

When I look at the picture of Artemis I remember seeing him at the training ground. Megan and I stare at the picture of Artemis.

“Why do you want to know about Artemis?” asks Megan.

“Maybe he knows how to get us home,” I answer.

“Are they sick?” asks Megan.

I am turning the pages of the book as I am admiring them.

“No. They just miss their females. They fled to Advee Kingdom and never came back,” I answer.

“What can we do about this?” asks Megan.

“Feeon told me that an old man told him stories about our world. But we don’t know his name, all we know is that he might help us get home,” I answer.

I show Megan the map that Feeon gave to me. I point at the place where we need to go to find the old man.

“We need to go to Toy Town and find him,” I say.

Megan turns to the window. She looks at the night sky.

“Daniel this is not exactly familiar territory. How can we get to toy town?” asks Megan.

“We’ll find a guide,” I answer her.

I close the book and put it in my turquoise backpack. I roll up the map and put it on my backpack too. Megan and I walk out of the tower and into the village. All of the Humanimals are in the village, except for the young ones. I assume they are all in bed asleep.

“Hello! Can anybody help us find a guide to toy town?” I ask.

All of the Humanimals are sitting down looking depressed and sad.

Megan scoffs. “What is wrong with all of you, aren’t you all supposed to be great warriors?” she asks.

The Humanimals don’t even look at Megan and me. They just sit and drink their wine.

I hear a grunting in the distance. I turn my head around to see who is grunting. Then I hear pounding and banging. I follow the sound and it is getting closer and closer. I finally find the noise. It is coming from the Training Ground.

Megan and I run out of the Azent Kingdom doors. We run to the Training ground. We run under the entrance arch. Tigeron and another Humanimal are in the training ground field. The other Humanimal is wearing a dark red loincloth. The Humanimal has dark grey skin and looks like a buff old wrinkly human rhino. The Human rhino is just as chubby as Grizzlyon. Except the human rhino has thick dark grey skin instead of fur. He wears white bandages around his belly. Megan and I sit in the front row of seats. Tigeron and the human rhino don’t even notice us.

“How come all Humanimals are muscular? I mean, do they work out?” asks Megan.