Sa:cryd ZERO

Chapter 3

“It always bothered me how you always retain your human form after transforming”, the man said with a serious look on his face. “I guess you want to come home with a few bruises. Fine by me, I’ll indulge you!”, the man shouted as he also transformed. However, his form was like that of a true monster that had just crawled its way from the very pits of hell. It had pitched black wings and sharp claws and a body clad in steel like dark scales. Its red eyes peered at Lexus as it said, “Come at me”. Lexus roared defiantly as he launched himself at the monster with incredible speed. Lexus threw several blazingly fast punches as the monster blocked some and got hit by a few. Lexus' movements were somewhat unpredictable as he kept attacking from weird angles, but somehow the monster was able to tell where he would attack from. “I guess you haven’t forgotten everything after all”, the monster spoke as it counterattacked with a heavy punch to Lexus’ head, which firmly planted his face deep into the ground. If it was an ordinary human, their head would’ve been turned to jelly by that attack. The monster didn’t stop there but continued to pulverize Lexus without mercy. The monster stopped abruptly and picked up Lexus’ body by holding his face and looked at him with a sorry expression. “I can’t believe how weak you’ve become after you came here. When we go home, I’ll be sure to give you more gruelsome training to make up for all the time you’ve wasted here”, the monster said, but before it could do anything else, a sword pierced clean through its chest as the monster coughed up blood. “What?!”, several thoughts went through the monster’s mind as it dropped Lexus who fell down with a thud. The monster stumbled backwards but before he could try pulling the sword out, the sword itself forced its way out and sheathed itself at the back of a man who was kneeling down beside Vanessa. “Sheesh, what did you do to get beat up like that? Here drink this, you’ll feel better”, the young man said as he made Vanessa drink some sort of potion as her wounds started to heal. The young man then got up and looked at the monster which was still alive. “I didn’t think I’d be able to kill you with that surprise attack. You’re a tough one after all. But even you can’t ignore a wound like that”, the young man said. “Indeed, I am and you’re right. As much as I’d like to murder you right now, I have to take my leave. Hold onto the boy for me, I’ll be sure to come pick up my son later”, the monster said as it spread its four wings and took off. “Son?”, the young man repeated as he looked at Lexus who was still lying on the ground. The transformation had worn off now as he coughed up blood. “You have got to be kidding me”, the young man said as he rushed to his side and gave him some of the potion too. However, the young man was given quite the shock as Lexus’ wounds healed instantly as he then stood up like nothing had happened. “Thanks for saving us”, Lexus said. “Yeah, don’t mention it. You have a lot of explaining to give kids, but that can wait. For now, go home. We’ll talk more tomorrow”, the young man said as he took Vanessa and left.

“He’s late”, Alice kept looking outside the car window as she waited for Lexus to arrive. The students pouring out of the school building were gradually getting smaller as Alice still waited, almost losing her patience. Just when she was about to exit the car to go look for him, she saw Lexus running towards the car. He quickly got into the car as Alice looked at him with a face that said OKAY spill it. “I’m so sorry for coming late. I had to take care of a few things before I was able to go, you know how things are for newcomers right, haha”, Lexus apologized with an awkward laughter. “Okay let’s just go, we’re behind time as it is”, Alice said as she started the car and they took off.

Lexus couldn’t help to recall the fight with the monster as well as Vanessa and the young man, which made him think about several things at once. Alice could clearly sense that something was troubling the child as she looked at him through the rear mirror. “Bullies? Well, I guess he’ll tell me when he’s ready”, Alice thought. They finally reached home as Alice immediately prepared dinner. Lexus had a very big appetite tonight as he ate a lot, which surprised Alice. “Maybe he was just very hungry, haha”, Alice laughed at her own thoughts in the car earlier as she cleared the dishes. The next day, Alice took Lexus to school but before he could exit the car, she stopped him. “You know if there’s anything troubling you know you can talk to me, right?”, Alice gently asked. “Yeah, I know, also can you not come pick me up from now on? I’d like to come home on my own if that’s okay”, Lexus asked. “Yeah, sure. But will you be okay coming home by yourself?”, Alice asked with a worried look on her face. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. Love you and see you soon”, Lexus said, and left the car. “Love you too and be safe, okay”, Alice shouted out of the car as she watched Lexus disappear into the school building, then drove off.