1.2

The lump lifted his shoulders, turned around and disappeared like someone who doesn't want conflict.

"He walks away, he doesn't seem to want to come back. I have won..."

Rey watched the black lump leave.

"Now I'm alone. Everything feels far away, like it's falling... a new, less complicated world. A place where there are no reasons for me to worry. I can be vulnerable... sit, rest and close my eyes. The world where I am not a monster, a devastator!"

Rey closed his eyes and could not open them again, but thousands of white dots, those that were once suspended and formed paths, fell on him. A rain of stars that pushed away the smell of water, the scent of wet earth and other sensations that accompanied being awake.

"Ohhh! No! I've crossed the line without realizing it. I will not let their assumptions become my reality. They are wrong, I will show them. But, for that, I must leave this false world. World that is not here and has no form, I must leave it behind."

Using his fingernails and fingers, Rey tried to force his eyes open, even if it meant tearing off his eyelids.

"I'll go out into the colorless darkness!... From here! From my rest, I have no time to rest, it is not allowed... I must fight, fall in order to rise again and again. To show them not what I am, but what I can become, until the red liquid pouring out of me snatches my grip on my spear, even then I will not be defeated, even then I will not surrender."

...

On the outskirts of the cave, amidst the pouring rain that was so dedicated in its task was falling non-stop, footsteps were gradually becoming distinguishable. The ears of the furry watchman at the entrance located the alarming footsteps of a quadruped approaching the rustic cavern. In response to the sound, the animal emitted a characteristic immature roar, typical of its undeveloped throat, but with the same purpose as the adults of its species roared. To warn the invader, also to prevent him from continuing to rest, who had fallen to the ground and was writhing from side to side as if his back was itching.

After having taken all the air he could, as well as if of will, the little one stopped writhing and opened his eyes reflecting in them the purpose of facing the danger once again, whatever it was, victory would be the only one that would keep him alive.

"So that's sleep? Ha-ha-ha! I managed to escape, I did it!... What can't I do?"

Rey said arrogantly to himself, still agitated, gritting his teeth as much as he could, trying to stop them from continuing to crash in the frantic way they were doing, as well as shaking every bone in his body.

"Pain, sweat, blood and victory will keep me alive. They will keep me from the shadows. I have returned. I'm here... What more do I need to keep moving forward!" The answers came to his mind. "Food to fill my belly and clothing to cover my body...."

The floor of the cave was not only covered by the mud that had seeped stuck to the infant's body, but it was also painted with blood and other fluids. The red liquid that was still coming out of the little one's open wounds, as if it were a good inspired artist, was spreading around the place without seeming to want to stop.

Tired, hungry and badly wounded, the unwanted puppy between a werewolf and a vampire, repeated in his mind another mantra as a last resort:

"Surrender is not allowed" over and over again. "I may not have a last name, but I will fight to the end, until I can't move, and even then, I'm not giving up. Life is about fighting, giving up is not a way out, I know what I am and I'm going to show him what I can become, what situations I can face. I, Rey Of-Heavens. For me... Surrender is not allowed!"

Rey could no longer ignore that his body was about to break, but also that it was crucial to make himself look strong when he was weak. Between tremors and much effort, the infant stood up using his two legs and one of his hands, while in the remaining limb he held his rustic spear and pointed forward. Angry with everything that stood in his way, Rey let out a warning roar, but, unlike that of his companion, the frequency of his vocal cords could not make much difference. The sound he could emit was not intimidating at all, but the firing of energy and causing an abrupt change in his body's features, resembling more like flesh-eating beasts, was.

"A guardian of Paradise, how is that possible? I waited until everyone was asleep before entering the forest, precisely so I wouldn't have to encounter any of them. Ummn. This one is different..."

Aloud, Rey added.

"He smells blood," said the infant, ready to attack with all his might.

"I wonder if it's just as desperate as we are?" he thought. "A badly wounded beast, one that didn't get food and doesn't have a hole like this is an easy target. It could be devoured by the earth if it stopped moving. Just like us. This is all or nothing...whoever wins gets the cave and gets the loser's head as a reward."

For every second, Rey felt the sound of the rain increase greatly until it almost became deafening. He didn't realize it, but both his sense of smell and hearing were amplified thanks to his lycanthrope transformation.

Time was dragging on and the little boy was getting impatient. Rey wanted everything to be over as soon as possible. So much so that he thought of shooting out with the intention of being the first to attack. But, after sensing his companion wanting to do the same, he added aloud:

"No!"

Putting hunger and desperation aside, aware of his lack of strength, he decided to reason.

"What am I thinking about? He's going to attack us sooner or later... Yes, he has no choice. As long as he's out there, he's in danger. We have the advantage, enough to make a difference... On the other hand, I'll have this spear in my hands and I witnessed the arts to defend myself against one of them, but I lack experience in a real combat against a guardian and I don't plan to run away like the wind as soon as I have a chance to escape."

With a clear mind, he decided to speak up so that his companion could hear him:

"Back off. Let him come into our territory...you'll have to give me the signal when he's close enough for me to attack him. Don't worry."

Step by step, ignoring the warnings, in the rain, the big cat beast approached the entrance to its own cave. It was enraged, perhaps because it was very hungry and had very little patience.

The small furry feline continued to shriek with all its might, at the same time retreating back into the cave as instructed by its smooth-furred companion. Although they did not share the same language, the two could understand each other which had made teamwork more efficient.

With its full head already inside the cave that belonged to it, the eyes of the guardian with a broken fang became imposing; the gigantic teeth designed to shred flesh vibrated with each powerful exhalation the weary creature made. Then, an overwhelming, razor-sharp claw invaded the floor of the place. Despite being covered in mud, it caused the roots and stones to cry out with its sharpening. Water trickled down the long, lush fur that promised to rival against the solidity of iron armor, to fall and nearly flood the site.

"Rey, she stopped screeching. The next sound would be the signal. The smell of wet skin intensifies, the ground shudders, the growl lengthens..." the infant repeated inwardly, but suddenly everything stopped. "Ahhh... Seeing in the dark would be so convenient at a time like this...", he thought.

Rey was petrified on the spot without even breathing. But he who could only feel his enemy getting closer and closer, had not remained catatonic, but held the spear even tighter and waited more and more eagerly for the perfect signal to kill. Committed to waiting for the signal, Rey planned to stay even if the beast took a bite out of him and tore his arm off, such was the trust he had placed in his companion.

"Paying better attention, so this is the scent of the night?" he kept thinking, he had nothing else to do, for time was dragging on and seemed not to end. "It is strange that now the scents camouflaged by the rain become more distinguishable to me. My nose has improved. But in spite of everything I feel, the color my eyes see does not change. As if looking into me, as if I were resting with my eyes open. In my ears do not stop the purring grunts of a hungry carnivore, tired and in agony. I could enter the cave, but it will never enter the inside of my head...".

Raising an arrogant look and baring his teeth, Rey continued to think:

"I pity you, nothing more. How does it feel to think you have the upper hand? I can feel you breathing on me. Maybe you think you have me cornered, that it's too late for me to escape, don't you... You're wrong, it's not me, it's you who's cornered and before long you won't be able to escape me. I have no motives left strong enough for me to oppose against the natural course of the death of such a being as you at my hands."

An idea flashed in the darkness of the little boy's thoughts, one that seemed to resemble another rock falling on his shoulders above the one he was already carrying.

"Oh, wait, you and she are the same species. Does this mean I'm losing the good in me? No, I've already lost it. Everything was lost the moment I made this spear to kill and not to defend myself. Umm? What would it be like if right now she, the closest being to me, found death at my hands? What would I feel in such a situation? I wonder if I would lose the only protection I have against loneliness. I am willing to take a life. But, now that I think of it this way, I am not prepared to do so if it means sacrificing her. Is this hesitation? Why am I hesitating in a fight when I should be moving forward? This approaching beast wants to kill me. What's the problem if I have the same intentions... that something doesn't go right. When I decided to fight in here, it was for my own good... but it is more convenient for it to fight outside... Why is it taking so long to give the signal? Why is it taking so long?".