The following weeks, William first spent his time on the beach and near the river, fruitlessly searching for Joss. Alas, he never found him… So, he began to head out with a heavy heart. Following one of the many upper streams in hopes of finding other humans like him.

He and the dinosaur still couldn’t communicate fluently, but at least they tolerated any misgivings whenever there was a misunderstanding.

*Rraaw?*, the little white cub said. “No… I’m not hungry, Lucifer… Are you?”. William had temporarily given this (owned?) dinosaur a name. He thought it fitted it perfectly, for although it looked as sweet as an angel, it knew how to torture him well!

Like the time he tried to take a drink from the river and it decided to nestle on his head, making him almost drown again! Or perhaps all those mornings he woke up covered in dead animals, could that be considered cute or did this dinosaur just want him to die quickly?... It even dared to rip his backpack into pieces because it was curious as to what was inside it and it couldn’t unfasten all the knots. So now William walked around in a mini skirt since he needed the fabric to fix his bag!...

Amidst William’s raving thoughts, Lucifer’s eyes turned into slits as it chomped down on his calf. “OW!”, he yelped. For even if the cub tried not to use its teeth, it still made some marks.

“Grr! What are you-!?”, William was about to scold it but noticed how still it was. It even had his full attention now, but it didn’t give him as much as a glance. Instead, it stared fervently at the rocky thickets ahead of them. Seeing how it never let its gaze leave the area, William stopped up to spot any alarming signs.

They both stared ahead at the rocks that made small tunnels between them. All of this fine natural architecture continued over the river, that chirped as their only backdrop.

They waited for what felt like an hour but nothing happened. So William carelessly took a step forward as being scared all the time wouldn’t gain him anything but stress. However, this time he really regretted walking ahead with pride. Because beneath those former lumpy shadows, something stirred.

It wasn’t in a hurry. The figure that seemed to be a meter tall initially, lazily walked out of one of the tunnels. Its face was like a bear’s, except it didn’t have any fur at all. The more of this creature that entered the sunlight, the more William got the urge to faint.

This thing was monstrous! Yes, it looked like a naked bear, but with far longer limbs and a resting height at 2 meters! If it could stand it would probably reach 3! The naked-bear-thing took some deep sniffs from its surroundings. With each sniff, its docile eyes grew darker…

William was shocked blank. What should he do!? Run!?... This thing looked like it could overtake him in a heartbeat! Should he hide then!? Or just take the good ol’ river-ride back down?

While he churned his brain for ideas, Lucifer began to growl menacingly. The agitating hum made William glare down at the dinosaur, who clearly didn’t know when it had met its match. He thought: Heck! This docile cub has only hunted down things that were equal to its size and now it wants to take on this freakish monster? You can think again, Lucifer!

He went down and tried to lift the dinosaur so that they could flee together, but it didn’t want his protection. Instead, it snapped after his hand in a snobbish manner, telling him a clear ‘No!’. William withdrew his hand and lamented: Why do you have to be so violent!? First, you bite my calf and now you snap after my fingers? The name ‘Lucifer’ really suits you well!...

Said devilish creature wanted to stay and become the monster’s snack. William, however, wasn’t of the same mind. So he slowly tried to retreat without getting the attention of the carnivore. *SNAP!*, William’s heart froze as cold pearls of sweat drenched his body. Like any good horror, he just happened to step onto a dead branch.

The crisp sound made two black orbits stare back at him. Causing shivers to erupt in its targeted prey. And then, after it had instilled fear throughout William’s vessel, what little light its eyes had left disappeared. William felt his jaw grow slack when he saw the giant flung itself at him. Its massive weight getting flung made the ground beneath it tremble and shake. Seeing the naked-bear-thing’s fierce launch caused a shrill call to escape from William’s throat. Adrenaline filled his legs and he ran, almost as hazardously when he chased after Joss’ figure.  

Once he had picked up speed, enough to make him feel like he soared, he felt more confident that he would be able to outrun this thing. But he was wrong. For although the bear was bigger and not as nimble as he, it was persistent enough to crash through the wood as if rocks and trees weren’t an obstacle to it. William knew that is was gaining on him but he could do nothing but pray while he felt his legs become noodles!

Once he felt it breathe down his neck, he knew he wouldn’t be able to escape it running in a straight line. So he made a split change in direction with his arm clinging to a tree; using it as his center, he was allowed to make a sharp turn to the right. Which made him miss the naked-bear-thing’s first attack, but doing so in a rush also made him lose his balance.

He fumbled down into the dirt and baby-moss without much choice, sprawling around he desperately tried to come back up on his feet. Alas, the monster that chased him didn’t allow such luxuries, like William it used its front paws to stomp on the side of a tree; making it easier for it to maneuver over to him. The force of its impetus was even enough to tilt the ancient giant, uprooting it half-way!

It grunted and stomped its way over to the easy meal. As its black soulless eyes approached him, William clumsily tried to pull out his sword, which he now laid on. It would be a miracle if he could get it out in time and stab the creature. But these kinds of miracles seldom tend to happen to him…

The creature’s claw made a silver strike meant to disembowel the human beneath it. It simply knew of nothing better than a warm meal of succulent guts. However, this dream of food was soon shattered by the flash of a bright being. Something had redirected its paw and with a *THUMP* its killer weapon landed beside William’s stomach; missing its target by a small margin.

The emaciated, carnivorous bear-head, that dominated William soon got distracted by something far worse than itself. William vividly looked around to understand the situation, and could finally spot that it was the little cub who had been his savior. The little dinosaur looked grimmer than ever, showing off all of its razor-sharp teeth. And then with a deep terrorizing growl, he saw Lucifer assault the monster’s face.

William saw it jump as fast as a flea, up and down across the head. Or rather, he could spot the after-image of Lucifer’s white coat twinkling in the air. With each flash of its body, a chunk of flesh went missing from the naked-bear-thing’s face. Some of it flew on the ground in clumps, while the rest got eaten.

Only about 6 seconds passed and the naked-bear-thing’s face was picked clean, with only the bones remaining as a memory to what once was.

William was astonished! He had never seen anything move this fast before. And not only that, but this little dinosaur also had the strength to tear the flesh off of its bones as if it was frosting on a cake! To think! Lucifer turned out to be the perfect little killing machine, that thankfully hadn’t categorized William as food yet!

The giant creature’s body collapsed and William hurriedly scampered away. He didn’t want to get trapped beneath this behemoth!... While he pathetically evaded the falling dead bear’s body. Lucifer sat in the treetops, licking its bloody face from any leftover juices. Normally it wouldn’t hunt this kind of prey as it was too big to carry and finish in one sitting. But since it dared to threaten the energy’s source, it put that bastard in its place!