Dark Beginnings ||Part I of the Dark World Series||

Chapter Eight

LIONBLAZE

Ho. Lee. Fuck.

Rohn gets annoying as hell once he gets hungry... and tired... and has to walk too long.

"Lion..."

"I dare you to say that you're hungry one more time, Rohn," I said with a hiss as I clenched my fists.

He'll get used to it. I had to.

Max was suffering in silence, adding no aid to his friend's complaints.

After a few more minutes, Max finally spoke. "Why don't we take a break? It's been a while since we've taken one."

I sighed, but paused and considered it for a moment. My legs burned with soreness, so I finally caved.

"Okay... fine. Let's take a couple hours before we keep going."

I glanced at the sun and saw that it was starting its decent.

"Fuck... it's gonna be cold when we get back up... but at least it'll be dark..." I mumbled before plopping down against a tree.

Max did the same across from me, and Rohn sat beside him.

"Food?" Rohn questioned quickly.

I tried to hide my smile, but failed. "Okay, but just a little bit. We don't know when we'll reach the next town."

Taking out a wrapped bread loaf from my bag, I passed half of it around before shoving the rest into my bag and taking a bite of my piece.

We sat in a comfortable silence as we ate, not really having anything to talk about.

After he finished his food, Rohn was the one to break it. "So... what's your story?"

I tensed. "What?"

"You know... your past? I mean—you don't have to if you don't want to... but I figured it'd be—"

I shook my head. "Not something I talk about. Sorry."

He hummed, but didn't say much else.

The silence stretched on.

"I was a foster kid," Max said honestly.  "Parents gave me up when I was a baby. Got adopted twice... but they weren't the... best homes."

I sighed. "My mom died when I was four. I was with her at the time, and we'd gotten caught up in a back alley. She was shot and died before the police got there."

"I thought you said there weren't laws?" Rohn asked.

"There aren't in the United States... but where I used to live had laws."

"Where was that?" Max asked.

I shrugged. "I don't remember. Somewhere in Latin America."

"Well, I could've guessed that," Max said with a chuckle.

I rolled my eyes, then glanced at Rohn. "What about you?"

He glanced up, then shrugged. "Father murdered my mother when I was a couple months old, then left me to die. I got found by my Dad, and he raised me for about thirteen years before I got kicked out."

I winced.

Max tapped his leg in thought. "So... what kind of mixed monster are you?"

Sighing, I replied, "Vathovine... Hybrid. You know what those are, right?"

Max snorted, and nodded. "Yeah. What animal?"

"Cat."

Rohn smirked. "Can you show us?"