A Monstrous Heart

chapter 1

Through a completely clear blue sky, the morning sun's rays shone down upon Radiant Garden, the City of Light. As its white buildings illuminated in the sunshine, the people began to wake up, and of course, trouble began to brew as kids started to roam the streets, their joyful giggles and laughter echoing through the city.

"Look, look! I bet you couldn't ever do this, Isa!" said a redhead kid, as he used his hands and feet to stick to a wall, climbing up with some work.

"You better be careful, Lea. You're gonna fall, and when you do I'm gonna laugh. It's already happened a million times." Isa smiled to himself, watching as his friend climbed. He eyed the nonhuman, reptile-like limbs that allowed him to stick to the wall even if it was almost completely smooth.

"Tch, don't be such a buzzkill! I'm getting better, see!" He climbed a bit more, now being about a meter and a half up. His thin and flimsy arms were trembling a bit, unable to hold up this exercise.

"Lea, you're gonna fall, seriously. Look at yourself, you're--" The redhead slipped, falling on his side with a tiny scream. "...Told you so"

"Ooowwww- Hey, don't laugh, you asshole! It hurts!" He looked at a chuckling Isa with a frown, tears filling his eyes already, even though he was doing his best to hold them back. He sat up, rubbing his side. "Seriously, stop making fun of me! Asshole."

"Okay, okay, sorry." He held out his arm, grabbing Lea's arm to help him stand up. Lea sighed, wiping tears off of his face. "Anyway, turn back. Your mom's gonna get mad if she discovers you've been climbing random houses."

"Uuugh, fiiiiine" The red kid dragged his voice, as he extended his arms to the side dramatically, making his limbs shine and turn back into normal human hands and feet, shoes included. "Better? And don'tcha dare go tell her!"

What Lea was doing was something no regular human could do. In fact, it was something no human at all could do, since he wasn't really human: he was what is known as a monster. Creatures just as intelligent as humans, but with some unique magical abilities and much more animal-like appearances. Humans feared monsters because of these things, and as a result, most monsters had to hide their true nature as Lea did, trying to blend in with humans.

"Ugh, this is going to hurt like hell tomorrow." Said Lea, rubbing the side he'd fallen on. "Ezra is gonna laugh at me so much"

Isa made a weird face. Ezra was Lea's older brother, and he usually wasn't exactly the kindest guy. "Well, next time get down by yourself before having to fall off the wall. Or work on your muscles first before trying to climb at all. Trying the same thing over and over again and expecting different results doesn't work."

"Know-it-all... Shut up, I'm working on it." Lea crossed his arms, puffing his cheeks. "You'll see, I'll be climbing whole buildings in no time. And you'll thank me when it comes useful in getting into the castle."

Isa quickly put a hand over Lea's mouth. "Shh! Lea, don't go saying that kinda stuff out in the open!"

"Ugh- Okay, okay, I got it! Get off my face!" Lea pushed the other's hand away with his own. "I get it, I get it. It's not even like there's anyone nearby listening. Seriously, you're too paranoid with these things sometimes- no, all times."

Isa chuckled. "Well, you'd just go and tell everyone and their mom if I wasn't around to stop you. And then the guards would just be waiting right there for us. No wall climbing is going to get you out of that one."

"Tch, whatever. Let's talk about something else, this is boring." Lea turned to the side, trying to look at anything but Isa's eyes. His eyes found something way more interesting: An ice cream stand. Now that's something worth looking at. "Oh, hey! How about we go get some ice cream, huh? Way less boring."

Isa raised an eyebrow. "Ice cream? Didn't your mom say you'd been eating way too much sugar?"

"It's fine, Is'! She won't know. And I mean, it's just one ice cream! Almost nothin'. It's fiiiine. C'mon, race you there!" And just like that, Lea was off running toward the stand.

"Hey, no fair! Ugh, you always do this..." Isa ran behind his redhead friend with a smile.