“Y-yes Father.” I immediately responded.

“Get changed. We will eat and then go to the spring in the forest to meditate.” Father said with authority.

“R-right away. F-father, …, i-isn't today a special day?” I asked him.

“Why would this day be so special? Is something happening today?” My Father asked as if he had completely forgotten that today was his son’s birthday.

“N-nevermind, I’ll get changed now.” I said.

I got changed into attire fitting for meditation and went downstairs to greet my family. What I didn’t expect was what I saw next.

“Happy birthday Regulus!” My Father and Brother said in unison as I stepped into the dining hall.

“I knew you wouldn’t forget, no wonder Father was acting a little different.” I said laughing.

“Happy birthday Brother. Here is your present.” Renfred, my Brother, said with a cheery smile.

“Thank you Renfred. Hey, it's the cloak I was looking at while I was walking through town the other day. How did you know I wanted it?” I said, hugging my older Brother.

“A proud Brother never tells his secrets haha.” Renfred said with a smirk.

“All right then don’t tell me.” I responded, acting as if I were mad.

“All right, so what’s for breakfast today Marella?” I asked our housemaid before anyone could say something else.

“On today’s menu we have; fish with a side of salad and a soup with noodles and meat. What will it be, Young Lord?” Marella answered with a warm smile on her face.

After I thought a bit I answered “I will take the fish and salad today. Thank you.”

“It would be better not to eat anything right now Regulus. We will hunt something in the forest later.” My Father suggested.

“Lord Ulric, not to be disrespectful but he is a growing boy so I would suggest he should eat now.” Marella cut in.

“ Father is right, I will eat with you later. Sorry, you can eat it with Brother instead if you want to.” I said as I stood up from the table.

I walked to our garden for my daily routine of training. As always I began with 25 push-ups then continued with 30 sit-ups. After those two things, I ran 1 and a half miles. After I was done with most of the things I continued with a few fighting movements my father had shown me last year.

When I was done with my training I went to take a bath. Ten minutes into my bath my father barged into the room and said “Regulus get ready. We are leaving for the forest soon. We will leave in fifteen minutes.”

“Y-yes Father. I will get changed into a fitting attire.” I responded.

After I got changed, I left the house to see Hojosa. My older cousin stood outside of it with what looked like a present for me.

“Hey Regulus. Happy birthday! I hope you like our present, this is from both Ryoto and me.” Hojosa said with a cheery smile.

“T-thank you Hojosa, it’s good to see you again. T-tell Ryoto I send my thanks.” I said as I got pulled into a hug.

“You seem to be in a rush. Are you going somewhere?” Hojosa asked curiously.

“M-my father and I are planning on going to the forest.” I told him as I struggled to get out of his hug.

I saw my Father step out of the mansion and in an instant, Hojosa let go of me. Well, it’s no wonder considering the authority my Father can have sometimes. Hojosa greeted my Father and left faster than I was able to follow.

“Let’s go.” Father said.

I wordlessly followed behind him as he walked ahead. After about twenty minutes of silence, we reached the forest.

“A bit faster please.” Father groaned. For a second I thought it wasn’t my father that spoke there. If it weren’t for his deep voice I wouldn’t have noticed it was him since he never groans.

“T-that didn’t sound quite like you Father. Is something the matter?” I asked.

“Ah, no nothing is the matter, don't worry. More importantly, what was the gift Hojosa gave you earlier?” He responded 

“I haven’t opened it yet. I wanted to do it later when we came home since I want to concentrate on meditating right now.” I said as if it were normal.

“That is my son, determined as always. But open it, I am quite curious too, especially since it comes from my Brother’s children.” Father said with a curiosity I have yet seen.

“A-all right, I’ll open it. I will go get it really quick.” I said going over to the backpack the present was in.

After I found it I opened it and found something quite surprising. “T-this is an artifact isn’t it?” I asked my Father.

“It is indeed one. And a quite special one as well give me that for a second will you?” My Father asked kindly.

“There you g-” I was cut off by something astonishing.

“Y-your ears and tail are gone. But how wh-wha how?.” I was so surprised I couldn’t speak anymore.

“That is the effect of that artifact. It hides them. Perfect for hiding your appearance for many different things. You would look exactly like a human if it wasn’t for your hair color.” My father smiled. “But why did they give you that?” He wondered.

“W-what are humans like father? ”I asked out of interest.

As soon as I asked that, there were some moments of silence, Father must have thought about what to say next.

“That question depends on the type of human you meet. There can be accepting humans that don’t care what race you are, that kind is the kind you want to meet. Then there is the worst kind of human, the kind of human that hunts our kin like we are beasts. I have never understood why they hunted us but it has to be because they think of us as inferior beings that don’t have minds of their own.” Father said thoughtfully.

“Either way I am curious about humans, what their customs are like, how they live and if they get along with others like we do.” I said with a cheery smile.

“All right, we can discuss this more later. Put down your stuff and let’s begin to meditate.” Father said.

There was a big stone in the middle of the spring where we would meditate. We sat down as always and he began to give me instructions.

“Close your eyes and concentrate on the sounds of your surroundings. Keep a steady breathing going as you do.” My Father instructed.

I continued to do what Father instructed for another 2 hours which took all of my concentration.

“All right. You can stop now Regulus, we will hunt for something to eat now.” My Father said calmly. 

“Y-yes Father.” I said, stretching.

I got off of the rock and prepared a fireplace where we would make our food.

“Come with me. I will show you how to hunt today.” Father told me as I finished the fireplace.

“I-i’m coming.” I responded.

“You have to make sure when you hit the animal it leads to instant death.” Father instructed.

“I-i understand.” I answered.

A little while after we set off to hunt my Father suddenly stopped and smelled the air.

“I-is something wrong?” I asked worriedly.

“I have to go back to the mansion. You stay away from the mansion.” Father said with an authority I usually couldn’t defy. This time it was different though, I knew something was going off, so I went back to the mansion too.

When I was about 20 minutes away from the mansion I smelled smoke, a fire? I thought. Then I heard something. The clang of metal objects hitting each other, swords? Is Father training with Renfred, but that wouldn’t explain the smoke. I couldn’t explain the things I heard and smelled. I saw the gates of the mansion meaning I wasn’t far away. But then I saw it, our mansion was on fire. W-what? Why is our mansion on fire? I thought, starting to run.

By the time I reached the gates I was able to make out disturbing things. There were bodies, bodies of humans and beastkin lying on the pavement. Just what is happening where are Father and my Brother I thought fearing for my life as well as theirs.

That’s when I saw the most horrifying thing in my entire life. My brother’s charred body lying next to the mansion. My Father was lying lifeless as he had a sword stabbing through him. A Human was standing above him with a sword covered in blood in his hand holding his neck which was bleeding profusely. Apparently, that was when his life ended. In the Human’s last moments he smirked at me with an expression that screamed I won.

As soon as the Human fell to the ground I broke down crying. That had to be the bad kind of Human Father told me about, it had to I thought sobbing. Not every Human is like that right? That is what Father said he has to know what he was talking about. I kept repeating the same thing to myself until I had no tears left to cry. I have to get away from here. I don’t think it’s safe here anymore. I need to go somewhere else…. But where? Should I try the Human kingdom? But the people there are harsh towards our people…. That was when it hit me. The artifact I got from Hojosa should still be in the forest right? 

As I reached the stream I thought of meditating one last time before leaving but I didn’t want to be held back.

Regulus POV:

I need to meditate, I thought to myself. I have lived in the Human Kingdom for a few years at this point. Whenever the memory of that horrifying day came to mind or I dreamt of it I would use the meditation technique my Father taught me to calm myself down and think straight. After I calmed down I stepped outside the little cottage I lived in for the past four years.

I silently entered the old man’s shop I worked at to get myself some money. Better try not to piss off that old man I thought to myself like times before that.

“Ah, it’s you again, kid. Tell me, what’s your name? I don’t think I ever asked for it.” The old shop owner asked.

“I-It’s R-regulus.” I stuttered.

“Regulus, huh. My name is Kharll. It’s very nice to meet you formally.” Kharll said with a warm smile.

I only nodded since I wasn’t good at talking to people.

“You mind taking this box and putting it in the back of the store for me?” Kharll asked me.

“Mhm, sure” I mumbled.

“Hey Regulus, here is your pay today, go and enjoy yourself, will you?” The old Kharll said to me with a smile.

“Ah, uhm thank you.” I managed to say.

After I left Kharll’s shop I went and looked for a quiet place to follow my daily routine I haven’t slacked off on since I left home. Though I changed it up a bit.

This should do, I thought to myself.

The place I took for today was really beautiful considering how the rest around it. It had a small tree and a little lake with rocks lying around it. This place really feels like home.

I first meditated for an hour or two, then continued with my push-ups that I changed to 35 instead of my old 25. After I was done with those I did my sit-ups and wrapped things up for today. This is kind of exhausting. I thought, wiping away a bead of sweat.

I’ll go home for today, I thought to myself.

2 Years Later:

“I seem to have a good amount.” I mumbled to myself as I counted my savings.

I recently heard of a place where I could study with people that are fairly talented but what was its name? I couldn’t figure out what it was. I tried figuring it out while walking down a street.

“Sac-, no that’s not it. Sati- no that’s not it either…. Was it Sactinty or?” I mumbled to myself.

“Did you just say something about Sanctity?” A boy that seemed about the same age as me suddenly asked me.

“Wh-why do you ask?” I ask confused.

“I just happened to pass by and heard you mumble about Sanctity. I was wondering if you may have had more information about it.” The boy asked.

“If you don’t have any information or don't want to tell me that's fine..” The boy named Zach apologized.

“Ah, uhm, uh, my name is Re-Regulus Ne-Nemea. Though I do not use that name very often anymore.” I said regaining my balance.

“Alright it’s nice to meet you Regulus. My name is Zach. Maybe I'll see you some other day.” Zach told me.

“That would be nice, thank you.” I mumbled.

“See you around, maybe we can talk again another day.” Zacharias said.

“Yeah, w-why not.” I responded quietly.