Leaving the Forest

Thunder looked at him, blankly. However, the next moment his eyes showed endless hope, stars shown in his eyes. This was his chance, a chance to leave this damn place.

"Yes, I do!" Thunder cried, his sadness and loneliness replaced with joy in an instant, standing with two legs, he ran to Leon and hugged him.

"Hold on!" Leon shouted. "Before we come to an arrangement, let's make some things clear."

Thunder was a demonic beast, which kind, he didn't know. This world was filled with greed, and he wanted to make sure that they don't get into trouble.

'I must make sure no one finds out, if he talks in crowded places, then we are doomed.'

"Let's decide the rules first." Leon said.

Thunder was discontented, he did not like being ordered around, but he endured it and nodded.

"You can't talk in front of other people." Leon said.

"Why?" Thunder asked. "I don't agree with this one."

"Do you know, what will happen if other humans saw you talking?" Leon asked in a serious tone.

"No," Thunder replied.

"They will catch you, torture you, put you in jail, and last but not least, you will become a pet of some renowned prestigious person." Leon said. "You will lose your free will, You will not be allowed to go anywhere as you please, and they might even put you in a collar."

Leon wanted to frighten him, if this loose cat went on the rampage, he might get into some trouble. His situation was already grim, one or two sects were probably looking for him, if he drew their attention because of some stupid deeds are done by this cat, he will be doomed.

Despite Leon's persuasion, the cat didn't want to compromise and kept arguing. He would not give up just because there is a risk, lastly, he could run away if someone comes.

Finally, he came to compromise, thunder would not speak in crowded places, however, he would speak if there is no stranger around.

After that, they talked about other rules. To Thunder, some were easy and some were hard, but the temptation of the outside world made him lower the head, and he accepted them, at least for now.

Leon asked about the nearest human city, and Thunder told him what he knew, although he hasn't gone to a city, he knew some stories from other ferocious beasts, he knew that there was a big human city on the west, and it crowded a lot of people.

Before leaving, Leon searched for large leaves and made clothing enough to hide is lower body, finally, they headed to the west.

'click-clack'

"This place is really filled with a lot of shrubs."

"Hum! What do you know? There are places deep in the forest where you might get entangled in twisted tree branches and may not be able to break free, finally, losing your life altogether."

*tuck*

Suddenly, Leon heard a sound, before he turns aside, a big claw arrived, font of his face, hitting him hard, He backed off a couple of steps and saw a large wolf staring and him, it was two meters in size and looked completely black, it's ferocious eyes stared at him.

Though attack landed on Leon face, it could not hurt him, in fact, he was now angry and wanted to rip this daring wolf apart.

After looking at him, wolf shifted his gaze and it landed on Thunder. Immediately, wolf ferocious expression replaced by panic, and without even looking at its surroundings, it turned and run away.

Suddenly, a large tree trunk greeted him, and the wolf accidentally crashed on it, wolf went dizzy and fell down.

"Eh?" Thunder looked at the wolf and said. "Isn't that little blackie?"

"Little blackie, where you have been all this time, I was looking for you." Thunder said.

Wolf finally came to senses, he wanted to run away but caught by the Thunder. Wolf did not struggle and surrendered against Thunder immediately.

Leon knew, there was some story behind between these two, so he asked thunder out of curiosity.

"About Little blackie and me?" Thunder said. "Let me guess, this little blackie was the king here, when I came here in the past, and asked him to surrender, he refused. So I gave him quite a beating and made him my mount. A few days ago, it somehow ran away."

Thunder stared at the wolf and gave him a sinister look, it made wolf tremble in fear.

"OK, now you are here, lead us to outside the forest," Thunder said to the wolf.

Wolf submissively nodded, it already accepted his fate. Thunder jumped at the back of the wolf and hinted Leon to do the same. Leon immediately followed the suit and jumped on the wolf back.

Finally, they started their journey again. On the way, they did not meet any trouble as the current king and former king were escorting the way. After traveling for some time, they finally arrived at outskirts of the jungle.

Forest was already thin here, and only a few shrubs scattered here and there, and thick trees had already disappeared from the sight.

A young man, a cat, and a wolf came out from the deeper area of the jungle.

"We are finally about to leave the forest, it was too tiring." Thunder said.

The wolf looked at him and made a face as if inwardly cursing him. This whole time, he was the one who was tired, and there two bastards were simply sitting on his back and complaining every now and then.

"Hm?" Leon frowned.

All of a sudden, five people came out and surrounded them. One of them who looked like their leader said to Leon.

"Hand over your beasts and we will let you live."

'Bandits?'