Thalgar pushed his foot against the miserable remains of the beast. His stomach growled and so he asked the other human, “Can you make that fire-thing again? I want to eat it burnt”.

William felt his own hand slap against his forehead and nose. Once the stinging slap subsided, he mumbled, “Sure… But just so you know, we don’t call it burnt. You should say: Cooked”. Thalgar silently agreed, then he hesitantly sat down, knowing that his only job now was to wait as William would ask Lucifer to gather the wood.

The now slightly bigger Lucifer, came over with some lively jumps before it made an abrupt halt in front of William. It cawed happily a big: “Raw!”. Then it used one of its claws to scratch in the dirt: Eat? William proudly nodded, “Yes, eat. But first: Wood sticks!”, he said while scribbling the words on the ground as well. Lucifer took a while staring at the symbols with a cocked head, then it darted into the forest.

William chuckled at its enthusiasm. It was a delightful thing to be able to communicate with Lucifer and hopefully one day they would be able to deepen that exchange to a whole other level.

Once the dinner commenced, Thalgar made sure to let William know that, “Your energy is very stable... Maybe hard to bend but that way it will also be more controlling of the energies you will get in the future... And that is a good thing”. William stared at his meal, not getting why Thalgar had to be so indirect when saying something nice.

****

With each day they came closer to the northern fringes of the land. This didn’t amuse William as he had hoped to bring Thalgar back on track, down south instead. Where they would have a higher chance of stumbling upon Julian the protagonist. But alas, Thalgar had begun to pick up signs of the one.

Summer had long since passed and they were now seeing the first signs of a much harsher winter. Both on the leaves and the silky waves of the sea. William was shocked to have reached the top of the continent. He took in the landscape and said, “Well, it seems we have reached the end of our means, Thalgar… Unless you want to travel by ship”. Said person was not listening. He was busy climbing up his dinosaur so that he could sit atop its head. Up there the view was much grander.

The two smaller beings looked up with jealous eyes, not saying a peep. Thalgar felt their gazes on his back and so naturally he took a curious glance downward. Their pathetic mugs immediately made him laugh out loud, “Come on up, both of you! Boros can handle it!”.

Cheerfully, William and Lucifer crawled their way up Boros’ long neck and as they had expected, the view was much better up there. Almost too good. “Wow!”, William exclaimed, “I think I just saw a whale or something, way out there!”. Thalgar crossed his arms before explaining, “That is no ‘whale’?... It is our next prey. It will be our final hunt”.

William gaped at how impossible the task seemed, “You must be insane!... It’s way out of our league!”. Thalgar huffed at the idea of something being too strong for him, saying, “Nonsense… Nothing can survive my conquest”.

William clenched his fists so as to not accidentally push Thalgar down to the creature he so dearly wanted. Through his teeth, he grumbled, “Then tell me, how are you going to kill something that can move way faster in the water than you, hit much harder, and see much better… Oh? And did I forget to mention the breathing part? Hm!?”.

Thalgar remained silent with his head buried between his hands. It would seem that he wept but in fact, it was his thinking-pose. William recognized it and left shortly after, knowing that the fellow would be out of contact for at least an hour or two…

Once Thalgar returned from his inner workings, he confronted William with his desire. He said, “There was a time I found my entertainment in watching some humans build what they called a ‘raft’. It looked fairly simple. So we are going to build one too. But better”. “A raft?”, William echoed, not quite buying Thalgar’s idea.

The man smiled confidently, then he said, “Yes and some spear-hook-thingies as well… But first, we must find shelter………………. I saw frost on a spider’s web this morning… Soon the cold will transform the ground into a spiky shield and the trees will be fully naked, with no warmth to find anywhere… No, only when summer returns will I-… Will we have more than enough time to thoroughly murder that which seems unreachable… So… Find some shelter. And get to practice, Maravel”.

William’s mouth twitched at how wrong Thalgar got his name. But then again...

This person only got to hear it once and that was amidst his nightly ritual of some kind, so… He let it slip and said without qualms, “Well, I still believe that we should head down south… The season will be gentler there and perhaps we could be lucky enough to find another more accessible prey to hunt? Instead of risking our health on one that doesn’t live in our own element? Oh and… My name is Mirabelle. Not Maravel”.

Thalgar scratched his scalp and chin before he growled, “No. This is the one. There will be no other… Mirabelle”.

With pinched eyes, William pierced Thalgar’s calm. Then after a long dramatic pause, he finally said the word: “Thanks”.

Thalgar was about to lose his cool during the wait as he could, contrary to his statement, find other candidates to hunt down. However fortunately for him, his deceit wasn’t the thing that stuck out.