Two children, one annoying and one annoyed were walking through the lovely garden. While my mood was sour, it had become fairly better ever since I entered the garden. My eyes were greeted with lush green trees and small plants with blooming flowers. Their fragrances tickled my nose as my heart felt at ease. The wet grass beneath my feet felt friendly while the cool breeze gently touched my dry face.

“It’s beautiful…” Words escaped my mouth on their own as I tried to grasp the heavenly view within my eyes.

“Right? My father was the one who planted all these when he was a child.”

“Lord Frye himself?” That stone cold statue with a nauseatingly loud voice is gentle? Very surprising.

I relished the scenery while walking through it. I noticed a small pathway across the small stable door that turned towards the right. We opened the small door before following the pathway.

I noticed, after walking quite a distance, that terrain had become a bit rocky. We had been walking for a couple of hours now and it felt like we had come far away from any sort of civilization.

“Oi, are you sure we’re on the right path?”

I asked while tugging at Sirius’ sleeve. If any stranger saw us now, he would assume Sirius was the more mature of us two as he walked unhindered by any negative emotion. While I noticed every minute thing around us, Sirius was moving confidently without even taking his time to look around. The area had become a bit dark due to the canopy that trees created overhead. The ground was damp and any sort of beauty had escaped a while ago from the surroundings.

Sirius turned his head towards me without stopping his legs and said while smiling, “Not long now. We’re very close. They will also be very happy to see you.”

What sort of his friends does this guy have? Ghouls?

I couldn’t imagine any human living in parts like these. Just the discomfort was enough to give me goosebumps. I was nervous because I knew how weak I was. If something happened, I wouldn’t even be able to run away. But I decided to trust this dumb bird that was walking in front of me.

Not long after that, we had reached an opening to a fairly big cave. It was eerily silent inside, and from what I could see, there were claw marks on the walls as big as my body. I felt a chill run down my spine as I felt eyes in the darkness creeping up on my body. I thought I saw something move inside the cave, but I couldn’t be sure.

I wanted to get out of this place as soon as I could. I urged Sirius to go back just before hearing a loud growl from within the cave. I turned to look inside the cave and my eyes bulged, threatening to come out of the sockets.

My eyes had fallen upon the giant stature of a beast, whom I could only describe as amalgamation of horrors. While its body was serpentine, its head seemed like it was full of ulcers upon which countless eyes were present. The strange and disgusting beast came close to me and I noticed that my entire body only amounted to one of its eyes.

I got ready with my fighting stance in place, ready to jump in at any given moment. I would go down only after puncturing at least a few of its eyes. While I loved my life, I wouldn’t run away in the face of a dire situation. Fighting against this beast might get me killed but turning around to run away, surely would.

While I was hyper focused on the beast in front of me, I failed to notice how Sirius had run ahead towards the serpentine beast. I jumped out of my reverie as soon as I noticed Sirius and saw the beast pounce on him.

“WAI-” Before I could stop what was happening, the beast had already coiled the small body of Sirius.

MOVE! DAMN IT!

I implored my body to move as I watched Sirius getting drowned in that pool of muscles. My body didn’t move at all. I was desperate. If something happened to him, I would most likely die. I needed that child alive. However, I just stood there….

Am I scared enough to just freeze? No. Have I become this useless? Why would I not move?

I couldn’t understand what was happening with my body. Before I could introspect further though, I heard Sirius laughing. I turned my head to look at the baffling scene I couldn’t quite believe. Sirius was within the coiled tail of the serpentine beast, and was being licked by its grotesque slimy tongue.

I noticed that two more beasts, smaller in comparison, jumped from behind the serpentine. One had a serpentine body as well, while the other had claws and walked on four legs. They looked tiny in comparison to the first beast but they were still far larger than Sirius and I. Surprisingly though, even those two jumped on Sirius as they licked him relentlessly.

“Ahahaha… Stop it Kurr, Grau. It tickles.”

I had never seen something like this before. These were horrors straight out of someone’s nightmare and they were being docile to a little child. I couldn’t keep it inside me as I unwittingly blurted it out.

“What…..”

“These are my friends! They are Kurr and Grau. And she is their mother, Boo.”

Sirius replied while sitting on the head of the biggest beast. He looked quite happy with a genuine smile on his face.

Did he say…. friends?

I just stood there like an idiot as I gazed at the three beasts and a human child playing with each other. I was content standing a bit far but then Sirius suddenly shouted.

“Mehr! Come say hello to them!”

Um, No. And also fuck you.

However, before I could say anything, one of the smaller beasts, the one with the claws, had already pounced on me and started licking me.

This is…… disgusting.

I could hear Sirius’s laughter from the side as I was being assaulted(?) by a nightmarish beast. I struggled as I tried to push the beast aside and get up. Sirius came up to me, held my hand and pulled me upwards to help me get up.

“Looks like they like you too!”

Sirius looked at me with that same stupid grin on his face. His face was dripping with the beast’s saliva, and yet he stood unbothered by it. It was honestly disturbing how calm he was.

“I wonder what your father would say if he looked at your Un-lordly look?”

“Hehe, he doesn’t mind when I play with them.”

Sirius answered without missing a beat. I looked at this child and then turned my eyes to the beasts.

“I thought you would take me to humans when you said ‘friends’.”

“I don’t have any human friends. I’ve never been outside the barrier and there is no human of my age inside.”

“.......”

Damn, that’s actually pretty sad. What kind of parents would cage their child to this degree?