Krieg Burhan was dead …

  … and he was delicious.

  Crunch Crunch Crunch

  Regulus feasted on Krieg’s head. The skull was crunchy, the brain was juicy, they were nutritious, and Regulus savored every bite.

  What a shame that humans only had one head and one brain. Regulus ate them so fast, he’s not satisfied. Luckily he hunted a lot of humans today. There were still a lot of heads … He could even share it with his new younglings. If they did not want them, the Molrrets would appreciate it.

  Oh what a bountiful hunt.

  The rest of the large humans already ran away as soon as Krieg was dead. He could hunt them, but he already hunted more than enough. It was also good hunting etiquette to not over hunt. You wanted them to repopulate so the other creatures could hunt them.

  Regulus plunged his hand into Krieg’s headless torso.

  He pulled out the heart.

  Still beating, still full of mana.

  The heart was Regulus’ second favorite part, but Regulus was a responsible Molrret. He should give the healthiest part to the youngling who needed it the most. He should give it to Azali.

  Regulus approached the unconscious Azali … But D’aka stood between them. Pieces of metals in his hands, aimed at Regulus.

  Oh, was he hungry? He could have it. Plenty of Brains and hearts to go around. There’s enough corpses that everyone can get one.

  *******

  When Regulus was busy eating Krieg, D’aka moved down and stood in front of the unconscious Azali. He had to, after all, he was these kids' protectors. He could not let a monster such as Regulus harm any of them, even though he was clearly outmatched. He might die, but at least he’ll die trying to protect what’s important to him — Just like how his parents died.

  Once Regulus was done with eating Krieg’s head, he proceeded to pull out his heart from his lifeless body. He looked like he was considering eating it, but he decided to approach Azali instead. D’aka raised his blades, preparing for his last stand.

  “D’aka, put down your blades. Don’t do anything stupid.” John tried to get D’aka to back off. He could not afford losing D’aka or pissing off Regulus. That’ll be the death of all of them. “I can’t John. I just can’t.”

  Cooper was watching the confrontation from the second floor. He did not want to be in the crossfire when things got physical. Eda and Grigori hurried downstairs through the stair, they were slowed by the crushed body of Krieg’s right-hand man. They did not want to slip and fall.

  Regulus thrust his hand forward.

  D’aka got in position, ready to strike as soon Regulus got into his range. John stepped back, gaining distance while aiming his flintlock pistol at Regulus. Cooper trembled in fear. Eda and Grigori jumped as soon as they got past the crushed body.

  “D’aka.Hungry?”

  Regulus offered Krieg’s heart to D’aka. His face looked content, like a kid that was proud he did a good thing. D’aka face on the other hand… it looked befuddled.

  “Wait, Wait, Wait. D’aka, Regulus meant no harm.” said Grigori who managed to get in between them. “He just… he…”

  “He just eat everything.” Eda managed to catch up. She tried to explain Regulus’ cannibalistic tendency. “He won’t eat us though.”

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  D’aka could not believe what he just heard. How could these kids trust a human who casually ate another human being?

  “How are you guys sure? How can you guarantee he won’t kill us and eat us!?” It was a reasonable concern from D’aka. Eda and Grigori couldn’t answer that.

  D’aka was agitated. Eda and Grigori were tongue tied. John was observing the situation, hoping it did not escalate. Cooper was nowhere to be found. He decided to find his clique members that were captured and bailed. Regulus was confused. Was D’aka hungry or not?

  Then Azali woke up, still a bit dizzy. She saw a black kid.

  “Regulus?” Azali wasn’t sure, she never saw Regulus with short hair before.

  “Azali.Eat?” asked Regulus casually, as he walked without hesitation towards her.

  D’aka was in between them, but as Regulus walked towards Azali, he reflexively backed down, pressured by Regulus’ small figure. He was aware that he was betraying his own belief, but he could not stop his body from moving away from Regulus.

  Regulus was now in front of the newly awakened Azali, Krieg’s heart in hand. He offered it to Azali.

  “Eat?”

  Azali looked at the heart in Regulus' hand curiously. She never saw a heart before, she didn’t know what kind of meat Regulus was holding.

  “Uuuhm, Eda, can you cook it?” Azali did not want to eat raw meat. Regulus turned towards Eda.

  “Eda.Eat?”

  Eda looked a bit disgusted, but she could not exactly make the situation more awkward. “Sure.” She was about to accept Krieg’s heart…

  “Wait.” D’aka interrupted Regulus. He braced himself and physically stopped Regulus by grabbing him in his arm. “Regulus… We… we’re human. And humans don’t eat other humans.”

  So humans were not a species to eat each other after all… so why were the large humans captured youngling humans then? Well, it did not matter. More food for him.

  “Ok.”

  Regulus gulped Krieg’s heart. Then he went to the closest corpse to start eating them.

  “Situation solved?” asked Grigori. Unsure if D’aka was still angry.

  “Situation solved.” answered John. “Don’t do that again D’aka. Regulus is not normal. Don’t pick a fight with him.” John reprimanded.

  D’aka was quiet. He always believed that he would do the right thing when the situation demanded it. That he would make the heroic sacrifice if needed — just like his late father.

  Today he realized he was just a fraud. D’aka started sobbing, he tried his best to hold it, but he couldn’t. His entire self-identity was destroyed today. John, Eda, Grigori, and Azali were surprised. They never saw D’aka be vulnerable.

  They all panicked, they wanted to console him, but they did not know what to say.

  As he was eating, Regulus smelled sadness from D’aka. So he grabbed a fresh head and went to D’aka. Then he remembered that humans don’t eat other humans. So he scalped the top of the head, scraped the brain and ate it, then pissed inside the empty skull.

  He offered the skull-filled piss to D’aka. That’ll cheer him up.

  “D’aka.Drink?’

  D’aka just stood there, looking at the head-filled piss that was offered to him. All he could do was sob.

  John could not believe what he saw. What the hell is Regulus?

  “Ah, piss is a good thing for Molrret…and Regulus.” Eda tried to explain the bizarre situation. Grigori and Azali nodded in agreement.

  D’aka and John could only look at them in befuddlement. D’aka was too tired to do anything else, so he accepted Regulus’ offer and drank his piss from the head.

  “Sweet.” It was sweet, warm, and tasty. D’aka stopped sobbing, he felt calmer. Regulus nodded in approval. Eda, Grigori, and Azali were happy that D’aka felt better.

  “What the fuck!?” John’s brain could no longer process the situation logically.

  *********

  Cooper was walking around the abandoned hideout, checking every room, looking for his captured members, taking a mental note for every room that looked like it might contain valuables, in case he could return later to loot the place. His search was made easy with the set of keys he found from the crushed right-hand man.

  Click.

  Cooper unlocked the door of the last room in the third floor hallway, there he found his captured members, bound and gagged. As soon as they saw Cooper’s face, all of their faces lit up.

  “Uhhhm, Uhhhm” all of them acting impatient, wanting to be the first one to be freed.

  “Yeah, Yeah,” Cooper pulled his knife, he cut one their tie loose, then he handed them his spare knife, to speed up the process. “Alright , let’s get the hell out of here.”

  “Did you came alone Cooper?” one his clique member asked. “No, I came with John, D’aka, and…” Cooper was wondering whether he should mention Regulus at all. His clique members were confused by the sudden pause.

  Cooper then heard footsteps coming near. He became jumpy and reflexively pulled out his flintlock pistol. Seeing Cooper wary, the other clique members were on guard. They were worried that a Burhan gangster found out their escape.

  “There you are Cooper.” It was John. Seeing his face, the other members calmed down… But not Cooper. “Is… Is Regulus and D’aka?”

  The other members were puzzled by Cooper’s question, but John understood immediately. “They’re fine. They made up… I think. D’aka’s drinking Regulus’ piss.”

  The other members became more confused, so was Cooper. “Yeah, it’s better to look for yourself. And you don’t need to worry Cooper. I think Regulus is friendly… for now.” John said, trying to calm Cooper’s nerves, but honestly he understood why Cooper was so scared. Whatever Regulus was, he was a bigger problem than the Burhan gang, or any gangs in the entirety of Hazen.

  John motioned Cooper to follow him and get out of the now abandoned hideout. “Oh, and sorry for asking all of you this. But I need you to gather all of our members… we have an important issue to discuss.” Ordered John to Cooper and all his clique members.

  Cooper understood the importance of John’s request, the other though, they wished they could catch a break after being kidnapped for almost an entire day, stressing out about their fate.

  Once they reached the ground level though, they understood immediately why they needed to hold a group wide meeting.