A sewer king climbed out of the sewer. It was tired from swimming and planned to rest, until it saw a giant hole on the sewer wall, large enough for small humans to walk through it. Curious, it decided to put its rest on hold and explore the giant hole.

  The beast lumbered forward into the hole, into a tunnel corridor, it felt a faint breeze, there was air flowing through the tunnel. It lumbered only for a few steps before it saw what looked like an exit — what a short tunnel. But the mighty Sewer King must stop its march. There were two Molrrets hanging around the tunnel exit. If it was underwater, the sewer king had the advantage against Molrret. But it was on land, underground even. Molrrets had the advantage.

  The Sewer King decided to turn back, but the tunnel was too tight for its long body to turn around, so it had to walk backward ever slowly. Seeing the lumbering beast backing away slowly, the two Molrrets approached it slowly. The sewer king was now under danger.

  It had the option to lunge forward, but it was risky. Against their claws, its gaping jaw could easily be ripped apart. It might be able to swallow one of them, but without devastating injury to itself. So it chose to back away, readying itself to lunge forward as a last option.

  Rumble Rumble

  Before it heard the rumble, it felt the vibration. The Sewer King did not know what the rumbling meant. It was not an underground creature.

  BAM

  Molrrets burst out of the earth, from its sides, and from above. The sewer king was surrounded by three more Molrrets. Those three thrust their claws towards the sewer king, piercing its body.

  Pain.

  Unbearable pain.

  The sewer king thrashed around from the pain, the movement of its body made it easy for the claws to rip it apart. The two Molrrets on the front, seeing an opportunity, charged the sewer king.

  It wanted to charge back, but it knew the moment it did so, the claws in his body would kill it. So it can only open its jaw, hoping that was enough to scare the charging Molrrets — it did; it stopped them.

  Rumble Rumble

  BAM

  More Molrrets burst from the earth. This time from below it. Their claws pierced its belly and lower jaws. The sewer king was losing consciousness. The last thing it saw was the two Molrrets resuming their charge.

  **********

  “What was that sound?”

  Ana, a young girl, thirteen years of age but only eight in size, wondered what the sound she heard was.

  She and the other street urchins were currently inside a freshly dug cavern, large enough to host the entire members of the street urchins, all eighty of them. It was an amazing structure with earthen pillars holding the roof of the cave and a few holes on top that allowed air from above to come. Regulus and the Molrrets had dug the cave for the children, as a place to store their recently stolen crates of loot and a place to hide.

  “What’s wrong, Ana?” asked Kisara, one of the leaders of the street urchin. Ana’s idol.

  “Did you hear something, Kisara?” Ana pointed at the mouth of the tunnel, where she believed the source of the sound was coming from.

  Kisara wondered. There was currently a lot of noise inside the cavern, so she couldn’t tell. But Ana always had a very sharp hearing, so there was no harm in checking. “I don’t know. Let me check…”

  Kisara was about to pull her pistol and check, until she saw two Molrret casually waddle out of the mouth of the tunnel— both of them bathed in blood, and they looked full. Once they saw that, both Ana and Kisara came to the same conclusion.

  “I guess they just ate something.”

  “Do you think it’s humans? Or Sewer Kings?” asked Ana. Kisara thought about it for a second before she decided,

  “I’ll bet 10 Coppers Azul on Sewer King.” Kisara thought that sewer king was a good bet. The tunnel was too small for adult humans and the Molrrets would not harm any child humans.

  “Ah, not fair. I want to bet on the Sewer King too.” Complained Ana who did not know they were betting the answer.

  “He he, the early bird getst the worm, Ana.”

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Rumble Rumble

  Pop bruk

  Regulus popped out from above them and landed perfectly near them. The dirt from the freshly dug ground fell on top of them.

  Kisara and Ana wiped the dirt away. As soon as the dirt cleared, they wanted to greet Regulus, but they were surprised by what Regulus had stuck in his mouth… a bird, a black bird…probably a crow… they were not sure; its head was inside Regulus mouth.

  “Uhmm… Hi Regulus.” greeted Kisara.

  Hearing her greeting, Regulus took out the bird from his mouth. Surprisingly, its head was still intact, probably still alive.

  “Hi, Kisara. Hi, Ana.” greeted Regulus back, while he waved the crows in his hand violently. “Kisara, what is this?” asked Regulus. He was curious what the thing in his hand was called.

  “That’s a crow, Regulus. It’s a black bird, a creature capable of flying. They usually eat corpses and trash.” Kisara tried her best to explain to Regulus what a crow was, but her knowledge of birds was limited. She shot a glance at Ana, asking for her help in explaining things. So the both of them struggled and stuttered explaining what a crow was to Regulus.

  Regulus heard their miserable attempt at an explanation. But something was off. Regulus knew what a crow was. The description they gave him fit the creatures that helped him eat his mother. Those things, they were crows. The thing in Regulus' hand — was not.

  “What are you?” Regulus asked the creature.

  The creature looked at Regulus… and it started cawing and struggling. Desperately trying to escape Regulus' grasp.

  Seeing the creature’s desperate struggle, Kisara and Ana felt a bit of pity.

  “Regulus, can’t you just let the crow go?” Asked Ana, hoping Regulus would spare the poor crow.

  Regulus thought about it for a second. The crow stopped cawing, hoping that Regulus would give it mercy.

  Crunch

  But Regulus decided to ate it instead. Kisara and Ana winced at the sight. It was not their first time witnessing Regulus eat. But they’ll never get used to it.

  “Poor bird. I think it’s fine to let it go, Regulus.” Kisara was hoping that Regulus could be a little bit merciful to the creatures he considered prey. Deep down, she feared the day would come when Regulus decided that they all were his prey.

  “It’s okay, Kisara. It still alive. There’s still a lot of it.” Said Regulus as he finished the rest of the crow’s body.

  Kisara and Ana were confused. But they decided not to pursue the topic further. After all, they did not want to ruin the mood… and Regulus had already left them, heading towards where Eda, Grigori, and Azali were seated.

  Ting Ting Ting

  The sound of metal hitting a bottle rang inside the cave. It was a signal for the thing all the street urchins had been waiting for, the reason they gathered inside the cave. Finally, John and the other boys had finished preparing.

  “Boys!!! … And girls.” John greeted the entire room cheerfully, a bottle of wine in one hand and a dagger in the other. He was standing in the middle of the room, on top of a crate. “Tonight, we are gathered here to celebrate our fifth successful robbery.”

  “YEAH”, all the kids in the room cheered. This was the first time in their life they were ever excited for something.

  “And thanks to Regulus and the Molrrets, we finally found something to celebrate with.” John dropped down from the crate. As soon as he dropped, D’aka opened the crate, showing that it was filled to the brim with bottles of wine. “Everyone!!! We found alcohol!!!” Proclaimed John loudly.

  “YEAAAAAAAH” Everyone burst into excitement. The sound was so loud it startled the Molrrets who were lazing about in the tunnel’s mouth.

  “Everyone get a wine!!! Everyone older than twelve got a bottle! Everyone younger than ten got a glass!” as soon as John announced it, everyone older than twelve cheered, while everyone younger booed.

  John, D’aka, Cooper, Brett, and some of the older kids started to pass around the wine. Kisara said her goodbye to Ana and joined the older kids in the middle.

  “As promised, we’re sharing.” John said to Kisara as he passed a bottle to her. Normally, Kisara found John to be reprehensible, but tonight, she could tolerate him. “Not drugged I assume?”

  Hearing that, John immediately gulped his bottle of wine. “Not drugged. And if it was, we all got drugged together.” John pointed the mouth of his bottle at Kisara. With a smile, Kisara tapped his bottle with hers, “Cheers to that.”

  Tonight was a joyful night. Where the entire street urchins were one big drunk family. Or it was supposed to be like that— before Cooper asked the question that slipped everyone's mind.

  “Do we give Regulus a bottle of wine too?”

  All the older kids were stunned silence. The implication of Cooper’s question was clear… What would happen if Regulus got drunk?

  ********

  All the kids were drunk. Most of them already drank more than what they were supposed to get. The urchins had extra, they purposefully raided a wine storehouse for their fifth raid. So without any hesitation, all the drunkard children took the extra wine. Most of them were already on their second or third bottles. Even the younger kids had drunk more than one glass.

  Everyone was drunk, except for five people. John, D’aka, Kisara, Cooper, and Regulus.

  “So… we should give him some wine no?” suggested Kisara. She and D’aka felt bad if they excluded Regulus. After all, all of this would not be possible without him.

  “But what if he is a violent drunk?” Cooper objected. And it was a reasonable concern. A sober Regulus was dangerous, but controlled. The urchins knew he would not harm them… but a drunk Regulus? That’s uncharted territory.

  Even D’aka and Kisara had to acknowledge Cooper’s worry. They knew what alcohol could do to people. They had experiences where a perfectly kind adult turned into a monster when drunk. If Regulus turned into one, they’re all as good as dead.

  “Well, what if we isolate him? We give him a drink, but somewhere where not all of us gathered. That way, if something happened… only a few of us…” John dragged his finger across his neck. The others gulped.

  “I’ll volunteer.” Kisara offered herself. It was her that wanted to share the wine with Regulus. It should be her to bear the risk. “Me too.” D’aka had the same line of thought.

  “Ok, grab a bottle and invite Reg… oh shit.” John was looking at Regulus’ direction. The other kids, absolutely hammered, shared a lot of wine with Regulus, encouraging him to drink … and he chugged them like its water. Empty bottles scattered around them.

  The four older kids looked at the scene with bathed breath. Cold sweat poured over them.

  “It’s fine right? He doesn’t seem aggressive?” asked Cooper, unsure of himself.

  Kisara braced herself and did something that scared the other three shitless. “Regulus~ Come here!”

  Hearing her, Regulus gently moved around the crowds of kids that surrounded him and leapt towards Kisara, perfectly landing in front of the older kids.

  “What’s wrong Kisara?”

  “Regulus… are you drunk?”

  “I drunk” answered Regulus innocently. He thought Kisara was asking if he had already drunk.

  “No, no. I meant, do you feel tipsy. Your body losing balance?”

  Kisara’s question confused Regulus. Regulus did not know what feeling tipsy meant. Nor what it was like to lose balance.

  Judging from his silence and confused face, the older kids could assume he did not feel tipsy at all. So Kisara asked the question that worried them the most.

  “Regulus… do you feel angry? Like you want to destroy everything around you?”

  Regulus became more confused. He never felt angry before. He could not picture what Kisara was saying. So he just shook his head to Kisara’s question.

  “Nope. Regulus fine.”

  Hearing Regulus’ answers, the older kids looked at each other. They all chose to trust Regulus at his word's value.

  “John, grab a bottle. Regulus… let’s celebrate.” Kisara ordered John to grab more bottles while she offered Regulus her bottle.

  Regulus did not quite understand any of Kisara’s question. But he enjoyed this thing the kids called celebration.