The Path of a Black Sheep in a Fantasy World (BL)

Chapter 71

Feeling Blaze struggling in his arms, Adam put him down with a curious tilt of his head.

The fox jumped the last few centimeters down, making a pitter-patter sound as he hurried toward the sobbing child.

"Don't worry! My dad and my father are really strong, they will beat the evil snake down!" The fox said, taking the boy's face in his hands and whipping away the tears rolling down. Just like he had seen Evan do to Adam, he pushed the kid's cheeks together, making him do a duck face. Even though the child was clearly starving, he still had some baby fat on his cheeks and full lips, making anyone looking at him want to pinch them.

"Oh! You have pretty eyes!" Blaze exclaimed as his move made the bangs covering the child's face fall back. Adam and Evan froze, looking in amazement at the now revealed face of the boy. He had a cute face, speaking of strong genetics, and he would surely turn handsome in the future. However, that wasn't what shocked them.

It was the bright grey eyes looking back at them in fright, a single long bright gold slit in the middle of it. The irises were pale, like a full moon as they shone with the sun's rays reflected. Those were clearly snake's eyes.

Because of the shock of having his face revealed, the boy's mouth hung open, letting the two men see a splitted tongue and pointy fangs peeking in between his cracked lips.

"N-no! Don't look!" The child tried to run away but he tripped, falling down on his butt. He took on a stunned look before his face scrunched up as his lower lip quivered. Before anyone could react, the child started to wail, a cute but slim scaled tail slipping from under his toga and pointy scaled ears showing from in between his bangs. Some scales looked like they had been torn off by force, dried blood covering the broken skin. It appeared that the scales had not been taken care of well, even for those with no knowledge about snakes.

The tail also seemed too thin, like it was supposed to be chubby and full, but hadn't been able to because of the lack of nutrients.

"H-hush, hush now." Blaze anxiously said, not understanding what he had done wrong to make his new friend cry. He tried to mimic Adam's gestures when he was himself crying, patting the boy's back as he tried to wipe his tears.

The two lovers woke up from their stupor, not having expected the child to be a snake shifter.

It did make sense, however. Blaze surely couldn't be the only shifter left in the world, and it would explain why the snake was offended by the offering. While it may not be human, and the boy wasn't a full snake, it could recognize some of the snake's blood in the child's body. It must have felt insulted.

After a few minutes of letting out all his sadness, the kid calmed down, his wailing turning into small hiccups. He rubbed his eyes to wipe away the tears as a small yawn escaped him. He was interrupted by Adam taking away his fist from his eyes. The boy blinked before looking up at the adult towering above him. Remembering scary memories, the boy's eyes filled with tears again, but the warrior didn't let him cry his heart out anymore as he stuffed a tissue in his face.

The surprise of having something thrown in the middle of his face cut the kid's cries short.

"Don't rub dirt in your eyes. Here, blow." Adam went on full mama bear mode as he helped the boy wipe away his tears and blow his nose. He took him in his arms, sitting down cross-legged with the child on him.

"What's your name?" The warrior asked gently, rocking the boy from side to side. The sleepy child yawned again, all his energy gone with the previous tears and running, before shrugging his shoulders. His masters didn't give him any name, only calling him Slave. His first memories were of him being sold to his first master, sitting inside a cage, he couldn't recall anyone giving him a name.

"You don't have one? Hum... What do you think of Ash?" Adam asked, not bothered by the child's lack of answer. He knew that it was to be expected from such a young slave. The shifter blinked, before looking up at the warrior, surprised that this stranger was giving him a name. Hearing the other child besides him exclaiming, he looked to the side. There, the fox had taken off his hat and was showing off his tail too.

"Dad gave me my name too, it's Blaze! Just like the color of my eyes and fur!" The shifter shouted, ecstatic that this cute kid was getting a name from his dad too. He liked this new friend a lot and was happy for him.

"Y-you are a f-fox?" Ash looked stunned as he uttered those words, his attention much more captivated by the fluffy tail behind the kid's back, and the floppy ears on his head, than by his new name. His fingers twitched with the need to touch the soft looking fur.

"Yes! I'm a fox-shifter!" Blaze proudly said, puffing out his chest as he put his fist on his hips. The snake-shifter looked the boy up and down but didn't see any mark of abuse, nor a slave collar. He titled his head in confusion, before glancing up at the man holding him as he felt him rub his back. The dark-skinned man looked scary, but he had a soft look in his eyes, far from the one of disgust and hatred he was accustomed to see in other's eyes. Even the huge bear-looking man a few feet away only looked at him with curiosity and no ill-intents.

"Ash, we don't care if you are a shifter. In our family, being special isn't wrong." Adam said as softly as he could, not wanting to scare the snake away. He truly felt bad for the kid, it was apparent that he had been abused all his life because of his scaly nature, which was of course a wrong treatment from others. Adam now wanted more than anything to bring this boy into their small group of three. He could see that he would fit well with them.

Still, he would respect the child's choice.

He also needed Evan's approbation, Blaze's having been obtained already with how sparkly his orange iris were when he looked at the other shifter.

Hey dear readers, what do you think of Ash?

Don't forget to:

Like!

Comment!

And subscribe!

See ya next update :)

(1 109 words)