They, an animal that reminds me of a fox, stare at me; their eyes are so dark that I can’t see their pupils.

Oh, wait… that’s a fox! I thought their tribe went extinct.

He grips his tail, snarling pathetically. Pathetic isn’t enough– he falls flat onto the floor, curls up like a baby, and begins to cry. “Can’t believe I found a mean… mean cub! Get your teeth out of my tail.”

I sigh and drop my shoulders. Who is this guy, and why is he making fun of me being a kid? Does he even know I’m the prince of the Lion Tribe, son of Lagravis?

Such ignorance is unacceptable, telepathic words from Dad sprout in my mind, his deeply angered voice sends chills down my spine.

I won’t let that slide. Even if I sound brittle…

“Tell me your name. Present yourself before—”

My vocal chords crack.

That pesky fox stares at me again, then opens his jaws wide to burst out laughing. An act of absolute disrespect towards the Royal Family.

“Name’s Furtivo. Or Furty, but you’re not my friend. Shoo!”

Furtivo regains his upright posture the moment I start to pick up my sheets of paper– the orange shadow runs around, and my project disappears from my sight.

While flipping over the pages with swift fingers, following the text in his mind, he pauses everything and instead fixes attention at a specific part of my survey, as he sticks his snout up close to it.

Furty’s muddy iris turns up and down, diverging between the paper and I. The animal squints at me.

He hisses, “What do you have against the wolves, huh?”

I hop at his hands, but he lifts my project out of my reach.

“First you bite me, then you ask others if they hate wolves. What’s wrong with you? Coward!”

How audacious! You were the one to start this whole mess, mocking me unashamedly!

“Targeting the young lion prince is the cowardly action here. Return it to me, or I’ll call the guards.”

An interesting turn of events happens; Furtivo is caught off guard, surprised by the reveal– his cynicism gets shut down, tail between his legs.

He hands back my possessions, then he reaches closer to me, whispering in my ear, “Let me work for you as your secret agent– I got deep connections with the Wolf Tribe, and they might help you sleuth the truth.”

Humph… Snarky attitude aside, his emotion attachment towards the wolves seems quite strong. Might as well test him out, but I am not too fond of belittling jokes.

I nod. “Let’s meet up here later. Grab as much information as you can about this. We can’t let this slaughter continue.”

Cragger and I tussle on the soft, moist dirt, leaving depth marks on the ground. I push his body aside, though he grabs my arm, tugs me forth and puts his mouth on my face. As he pulls me around, I place my paw on his head and tap him, before he wiggles his head and takes it off me. After wiggling around for a bit, sending friendly kicks, I manage to nip his tiny tail– he cries loud in reaction, but not in pain.

“I told you to not grab my tail!”

His crispy and brittle voice catches me off guard; I’m unable to hide my sudden giggles, even if I cover my muzzle.

“Ah… Sorry, Cragger. It’s just that…”

“Just what?”, he cracks his voice.

Ah– haha… He’s so adorable. Can’t say that straight to him, though!

“You’re funny. That’s it”

He growls, stomping on the ground as he gets up. Moist dirt gets all over his toes.

“If you think that’s funny, then watch this!”, he kicks a ball of mud onto my chest, in a pitiful tantrum.

The ball splatters all over my already dirty tunic. It spreads a moist, musty smell that makes the swamp’s humid atmosphere even more unbearable.

We sprint at each other; the moment I pounce on the air, Cragger dodges my jump, and I fall down. He cackles, making fun of me, as he hops around uncontrollably.

Amusing for him, but I don’t find that funny. The mild pain aches a bit everywhere; I hit the floor with my entire body, and the impact hurts. Agh!

As awkward as the pain is, I can’t take my attention away from the sky. The sun was setting the entire time we were playing; now, a moon rises from below, while radiating the horizon with a violet tint– it seems to block something else — a bright satellite — behind its shadow. Before the light disappears, a glimpse of shine reflects itself onto the muddy water, mirroring the image from above us.

Every bit of heat turns by itself into light; Cragger’s eyes become ghastly in contrast to his cold, pale scales, between the masses of spectre terrain.

This entire scenery sends chills down my spine, the manifestation of a déjà-vú, an omen of horror. However, it’s a warning I can fully understand: the purple moon.

Grimey footsteps echo splashing sounds– unnerving, for sure, but the anxiety still remains, sprouting as sweat from my skin.

A feminine voice emerges in the middle of the noise, screeching, “Your dad has been calling you for an hour, Cragger!”

From amidst the hanging vines and crooked trees, a small crocodile marches up to us, her dark green scutes blending in with the background, as her pink eyeshadow stands out.

“I don’t get it”, she whines, “you want to be attacked or something? You act as if you’re five.”

Cragger groans, “B- but I’m playing, aight! Stop butting in my life.”

“Our parents babied you for long enough, and not for you to almost die again! Ungrateful brat!”

She picks up her brother by the tail, pulling him through the dirt. He slaps the ground in anger, shouting and screaming, in vain.

Somehow, he manages to break the clinch by throwing himself at Crooler, making her lose her grip. She crashes onto the mud and screams in shock.

Her long pink dress, raggedy from overuse, is now covered in dirt and moss. She stares at the pink trail of makeup smeared in front of her, as her anger spills, leaving only sadness to be felt.

Cragger frowns, arms crossed, wagging his tiny tail.

This isn’t the first time I’ve seen them together, but she has changed quite a lot since then… Resentment is in the air, strangling the relationship between the twins. They’re fighting with their sharp tongues, each word at a time pinning on one’s weaknesses.

Crooler holds her breath, claws clenched, before she starts to sob, “Why are you like… this? Why do you always need to make things hard for me?”

“If you stopped crying, ‘nd saw the animals around you, maybe things would get easier…”

Her eyes shrink in fury. She tries to say something, but her words hide themselves behind her teeth, so she storms out of the woods.

I grab Cragger’s hand.

“I think it’s best for you to see your dad.”

In this swamp rests a kingdom, one so small yet so lively, where crocodiles are constantly fishing, building, training, and overall living their lives. It’s almost like the embodiment of the Chi Market, except it’s only crocodiles. However, what strikes me the most out of everything here is that they embrace a state of being ephemeral, as they live in function of the swamp’s natural cycle. They possess barely anything, because they already have happiness, whereas my homeland is covered in gold, but very closed up when you get to know my people.

The trees around here are scattered sparingly, enough to create a comforting shade on the landscape. No wonder everyone here is so peaceful.

I… I feel like this was where the Legend Beasts lived— surrounded, and shaped by, pure nature, with no concrete walls to hide behind. The varying shades of green blend with the dark dirt into a soothing mix of colors.

From the corner of my eye, I see a crocodile merchant selling toys. How interesting! Maybe should I check his products out? It won’t hurt to explore a bit. Unfortunately, there is a huge influx of crocodiles scuttering across the thick mud. I’m too small to be noticed and I get pushed around by the crowd. After finding a breach, I stick out from the masses.

As I get closer to the seller, his charismatic voice grows louder, shouting tempting words like: “Bones to chew on for cheap! Better than those you see for sale in the Chi Market! Come and buy them!”

I look at the sky and notice the sun has changed position.

“Thank you very much, but I now have to take my leave!”, I say in a hurry.

I dash across the migration herd of crocodiles, mud splatting at my toes with every step. As they get farther away from me, I brake my run and stop to breathe.

What exactly was I waiting for? I don’t remember having a specific schedule for today— Oh. Cragger!

I begin sprinting in the direction of the village’s castle.

At the castle’s entrance, I lean myself. My panting is too loud, it’s not good etiquette to enter royal property like this! Even worse, my blue tunic has been muddied into oblivion.

After a few minutes of recovering my breath, I observe my surroundings. It seems that there are no guards around here. Strange.

I enter the castle and notice Crominus holding his golden cane and gently tapping it on the floor. His children are starting at him. Maybe they haven’t noticed me yet, or did I just come here late?

By making noise with his cane, the crocodile king reignites what looks like his kids’ already exhausted attention.

“My children…“, he sighs, “Even if I explained everything, I can’t expect you to take extreme safety measures, in the way I’d hope.”

The twins glance at each other, seemingly tense because of whatever conversation the three had while I was late. They stiffen up, gazing at their father and paying attention to his words.

He adds, “It’s hard to take care of you all by myself. Please understand where I’m coming from.”

Crooler tilts her head and freezes her tail, in an almost state of shock. I peek a bit more from behind the cave’s walls; I can sense that the princess is distraught, as her eyes twitch up and down at Crominus. She’s paralyzed.

Cragger looks at her while beginning to itch the palm of his hand. She, however, doesn’t even look back. It feels like sympathy isn’t enough to calm her down. They’re concerned, anxious, silent, holding themselves back and waiting for the right phrase to come. But it doesn’t.

“…What about my mother?”

She stares at the floor, head low.

My mouth falls open wide. I… don’t think I should be here…

Crominus hugs his daughter during the blink of an eye, then curls her inside his arms. The thick eyebrows on his face furrow down the eyelids. He’s not ready to let go. She did not hug back. Instead, her entire body collapses onto his grasp– waves of uncontrollable emotions take control over her, drying her eyes up until the last tear she can drop.

“She won’t change, Crooler, at least not soon. I’ve also been waiting for her, just like you, but only time will tell.”

Though, the crocodile princess refuses to listen. She’s revolted, angry, holding herself to not burst into flames; it’s all made transparent through her snarl. Beneath her aggressive posture, my eyes can’t stop noticing some kind of jealousy…

She bawls, her desperate screeches echo across the cave, “Cragger always gets everything, but I can’t even have my mother! My pain is never understood!”

Crooler pushes Crominus away— I dive backwards as she dashes all the way outside the cave. The noise of my fall got muffled by her incoherent words. Those sobs echo around the room. Her relatives have been left behind, worried in silence.

She took off so suddenly… and left behind dust. Nothing else is there to do. They both return to wherever, but not to where she went.

I can’t believe… I never knew Cragger had personal issues in his life. He doesn’t look like the type of animal to—

I sigh. Guess his family also has their own problems to deal with…

This revelation is too sudden. For me, at least… Maybe he’s already used to it? What about his mother?.. To be honest, I don’t recall much about my own mother either.

The hall has been emptied. It hurts to be alone. But I don’t know how it is to be consumed by resentment, the way Crooler was. Every single piece of tasty crumb we leave for those we love, fulfilling and sweet affection, disappears without a trace, they’re devoured by the feeling resentment. It blinded Crooler. It might blind someone else as well.

They stuck to me; the devastating cries and weepings of a lost child blinded by rage. I think I have to leave now. Ah… If hopes and wishes could—