The hunt.

'Fuck me!' Lee's eyes widened in realization.

It was probably his stepmother's influence, but fortunately he cursed to himself and not out loud. He made the mistake of calling her mom a month ago, and after a slight shock, Tess's attitude towards him changed significantly.

Of course, Alan tried to persuade that her Lee only had made a sound resembling the simple word 'mom', but she ignored him and from then on conversed with their son as if he was a grownup, except more playfully.

Lee finally understood why Tess was certain the hunt was going to turn out to be a complete fiasco. As the crew members continued to row toward the shore, the dinghies grew smaller and smaller in size and when they finally got to the rocky beach, from the distance Lee could barely discern the tiny figures jumping out of the boats. The distance, which he initially judged to be a couple hundred yards at most, turned out to be closer to a mile.

As it turned, out those were not rocks on the shore but cliffs, and the sleeping sea lions Tess called leoramus were not like the sea lions Lee had seen in the zoo. Those things were at least in the size of a two, if not three-story buildings!

In his previous, life Lee and his family were mostly hunting regular deer and mountain goats. His grandfather told stories about humongous beasts with magical abilities, but Lee always took those for fairy tales.

When the soldiers from the royal cavalry began displaying superhuman abilities, he had a thought that if humans were capable of wielding such powers, it was likely that beasts also could. But then he died soon after and mostly forgot about the passed events.

Tess explanation forced Lee to change his worldview completely.

She said, "Among the beasts capable of igniting a water spark, leoramus are relatively easy to hunt. The problem is – that retard Freewon has no clue how to and will loose a bunch of men in the process, that is – if they succeed. Technically, despite his lack of brains, his idea isn't half bad – at least a couple of beasts in that pack over there could have sparks, but I doubt the sailors stand a chance."

"Tess, you realize he won't remember anything you tell him, right?" Alan said, but his sad eyes didn't leave the bunch of sailors on the shore.

"Piss off! Our child is a genius and knows what I'm talking about!" She proudly stated. To tease her a bit, Lee gave a barely visible nod, and she happily continued, "He has right to know why his parents are so amazing, doesn't he? Your mom actually has a high quality spark from a fucking leoramus, that's why she's so knowledgeable! The problem is – your damned father's spark came from a waletaur. Those motherfuckers are harder to hunt than several packs of leoramuses at the same time. Back then, the king organized an expedition to kill one so your father could become his personal healer! That's why he's so arrogant!"

"Tess …" Alan had an impulse to object, but as always, could only give up.

His wife proudly looked at him, caressed his cheek, and said, "But don't get me wrong. Your father was already incredible. It's just that the waletaur's spark turned him into a healing god! That's the reason that son of a bitch keeps us around."

Alan was long used to her manner of speech and never really noticed the curses, but badmouthing the king always had consequences, even for her. In fact, that was the reason he forbade her to open her mouth during the Royal Council meetings. Fortunately, after throwing a quick glance around, he verified they were the only three people left on the ship and heaved a sigh of relief.

Lee tensed up though. At that moment, the crowd on the shore rushed towards the five hill-sized beasts. Of course, it was hard to discern them, Let alone hear them, but he imagined how the crew members roared and waved their spears. To his great surprise the beasts actually tried to escape to the water.

Most of the people pretended to chase after them, but six or seven managed to split one of the beasts from the group. In confusion caused by the sudden ruckus, the beast tried to escape in the opposite direction, towards the cliffs. By the time it realized it had cornered itself, the beast was already surrounded by the hunters.

"Those idiots!" It was rare for Alan to curse, and both Lee and Tess looked at him in surprise. He immediately explained, "They split the cow from the pack! Why in the world they would do that? This is going to be really bad …"

"See? I told you they were a bunch of morons!" Tess said to Lee with a wide grin, but her trembling voice betrayed the fake facade she had put on.

Lee didn't really care about the people or the beast and continued to curiously observe the events on the shore.

From what it looked like, the captain really had a plan. Few sailors remained close to the shore and continued to wave their spears, probably trying to look mighty and scary so the escaped beasts wouldn't come back, but the rest joined the group that had cornered the remaining beast.

For a while, there was kind of a stalemate, at least it seemed so from a distance. But then several humans attacked at the same time, poking the beast with their spears. To Lee's disappointment there were no flashy moves nor fire – clearly the group didn't have any superhumans among them.

Of course, that also explained why the captain was set on killing the beast. If it was as Tess said and the beast sparks were the source of superhuman abilities, they surely were worth a lot. And who knows, maybe the captain wanted to get one for himself.

Lee could only inwardly kick himself. He was positive that not only he had seen the sparks before, and several at that, he even held them in his hand. If, at the time, he knew what they were, neither he nor Lisa would have died, and maybe the two of them would've become the new-age superman and supergirl. Unfortunately it was too late for regrets.

Captain Freewon didn't intend to miss his chance, though. The group of people pressed on and it seemed that the beast was struggling to keep them away. Fortunately for it, sailors had a hard time inflicting damage, and for a while, the whole endeavor seemed pointless.

"Why are those fuckers playing around?" Tess voiced her confusion.

"My guess is that Freewon intends to kill it in one hit." Alan said, "It's also possible he realized the cow doesn't have a spark and is trying to think of a way to fall back. Maybe it won't end as badly …"

On any other occasion, it would've been funny to see that, right as Alan said it, the beast tried to charge out from the encirclement and trampled a couple of people in the process. The group managed to regain control of the fight right after, but Lee was certain there were fewer sailors standing.

They seemed to be angry, though. Judging from the furious manner in which sailors poked and slashed at the beast, the plan to instantly kill the leoramus was likely dropped, and from what it looked like, no one cared for preserving it's skin as a trophy.

Humans were glad to deliver death by thousand cuts to the one who killed their mates, but as Alan expected, it was a huge mistake. Realizing it wouldn't be able to hold on, the grand beast howled to the sky, and its roar, full of pain, was even heard by the trio on the ship.

At first, apart from the hunters attacking more actively, nothing happened. But then cries of agony forced them to look back at the shore, only to see the previous five beasts they earlier chased into the sea trampling their crew members. There were no tactics, no skill involved. Males came to save the cow, and the process was extremely direct.

What Lee couldn't see from the ship were the deadly streams of water that two of the males occasionally shot from their mouths. And every time it happened, a sailor died. Seeing their friends fall one after another, the remaining people scattered in panic, but leoramuses, including the cow, began to chase them.

Lee glanced at Alan, who stood there with watery eyes that didn't fit his aged, manly face. This guy had probably seen quite a bit in his day and clearly knew how the hunt was going to end. Lee was even certain that earlier stepfather did his best to stop the drunkard captain and his crew, but was ignored.

The man's biggest problem was that he gave up too easily – maybe it was his character or maybe he was too used to give in to his wife's corks.

In the end, it led to a tragedy, but it obviously wasn't Alan's fault.

Neither of the three could watch the events on the shore, and Lee already intended to pretend to be asleep, when to his great shock he noticed in the distance a pillar of fire blooming to the sky.