Feeble and shivering, William tore himself up from the ground. He went into the grotto’s safety before he flung off his outer-clothes. With a loud angry smack, they decorated the floor. Lucifer rustled its feathers dry and scurried its way beside Willam’s bed.

Not long after William accompanied it. He was finished for the day and wanted nothing more but to warm up and rest.

Rapidly, he got what he wished for. While thrashing around he noticed how the moisture he was covered in was no longer just ocean water but sweat. He was heating up like a volcano so he had to ask Lucifer to leave. Dejected, the cub went over to Boros for some company, but it didn’t take long for William to change his mind. “... Urgh… I’m freezing…”, he muttered, annoyed at the quick turnover.

The second he needed the warmth Lucifer jumped over for some snuggles. However, before it began to dig its way inside of the tent it took a second to inspect William. Its head came close to sniff out an explanation. But it got nothing. “Raw?”, it cawed at Boros for help. The big dinosaur didn’t bother to get close to the other human. It lazily lifted its head to gander at the creature from afar, then it growled back, “Rroh…”.

Lucifer scribbled a question on the ground for William to see: Hurt?”.

William shook his head, “No… I just feel a bit uncomfortable… It’s nothing to worry about”. Lucifer stared down at the word, not fully complacent at William’s answer. So it went out to get Thalgar, after much jumping about and hollering at the obsessed human.

The atmosphere changed once his silhouette was cast into the cave. “Whether you want it or not, I want that beast dead-”, Thalgar began explaining, thinking that Lucifer had fetched him because its parent wanted to talk him out of his pursuit. Alas, he soon noticed that his attention was supposed to be spent elsewhere.

Without a fuss, he came over to feel the other’s temperature, observing that, “You seem to have gotten sick…”. Thalgar quickly retrieved his hand and stood up again, “I feel regretful, but there is nothing I can do about ailments… But do get some rest… And if you should need help ask Lucifer”. William nodded as he closed his eyes, ready to sleep off the weariness. Unfortunately, he remained tired and sore the next morning and this time he wasn’t only covered in sweat and seawater but blood as well.

“****… Can it get any worse?”, William remarked as he reluctantly checked out the damage the bleeding had caused. Apparently it could. Not an hour went by before he was attacked by strong stomach aches. Each one building up to the next wave of suffering. His fever didn’t go down either. And suddenly he couldn’t find comfort in his own body anymore, no matter how he stood, sat, or laid down.

Lucifer was distressed but still, it tried its best to be accommodating and caring. Fetching him some fresh water now and then but no food as it had grown scarce. Thalgar was nowhere to be seen before midnight as he dreaded the effect that a full-blown winter would have on his venture. When he observed that William was still bedridden he asked, “Still sick?”.

Thinking that he was merely experiencing what a normal period was for once, William quickly shut down the other’s worry with a, “No… Just tired…”.

William went on believing that his fever would subside by itself along with the blood, but it maintained its stay for another five days. Once the bleeding stopped his fever had grown from a drowsy headache into a flammable desert that rampaged throughout his skull. Even his sight was starting to get affected by the ‘fever’.

Somehow as he laid there the grotto seemed to lose light and heat. Dawn and dusk got abolished along with any structure he had had in his daily life. Now, the only thing that he could remember in between the blanks was Lucifer, who would come over holding a cup in its mouth filled with water. Cautiously it would tilt its head to let the liquid flow down into his mouth, but this act would often fail, leaving William drowsed in water. And yet, he still appreciated Lucifer’s clumsy care. For, in the end, it was better than no care at all...

Suddenly William could see Thalgar’s silhouette in the background. Unbeknownst to him, Thalgar had always been there, silent, watching on as William worsened, waiting for an answer, and today he had apparently found it…

Thalgar came over like a lifeless shadow, then he said, “This was not how I envisioned things to end… Although I am powerful, my power lies solely in death…”. He took in a deep breath and then with a predatory glint flitting across his eyes, he added, “Thus I can only wait for nature to take its course. And once it is done, you can rest easy, knowing that at least your energy did not go to waste……………. I will be here... Waiting...”.

William instantly turned blue in the face. For the man had just brazenly told him that he would wait for him to die and then take his energy once the dirty deed was done! Like it was the most normal thing in the world to do!

“Bastard!... Do you have no compassion at all!?”, William mustered to shout at the other, having grown apathetic to his own illness. Thalgar took a gander outside before he chuckled, “Compassion?... I have it. But do I need it?...”. It sounded like a joke, but to Thalgar, it was a profound question.

He soon stared at the angry girl, wondering why she was so upset? Clearly, it must be because Mirabelle was expecting too much from him. Because, who was he? A doctor? A God? No! Although he would like to be a god, Thalgar was nothing but a beast at the moment: A man-beast. And one could either fear it or leave it…

It didn’t take long for Thalgar to add, “... You are saying it as if compassion can heal you, Mirabelle… But we both know that is not true”.

William bit his tongue as he withheld himself from responding to such nonsense. Thalgar wasn’t much of a talker either, so he remained silent as well. Since things would persist being stale, the man-beast decided his time would be better spent on the hunt. Something that he found was still doable compared to William’s situation.

He went on his way, saying, “... Rest well, my friend... For this will be the last you see of me………….. If you should miraculously heal, you can find me on the eastern banks...”.

Like the disgruntled monster he was, Thalgar left with an unshakable heart but the second he caught a glimpse of the mess he was leaving behind, it came to suffer a small chip in its outer layers...

With Thalgar’s back turned against him, William let his tears flow. Never had he felt this pathetic before…

Lucifer had kept itself behaved during the whole conversation, but once the domineering presence left it quickly came over to nudge itself against William’s head. Gifting him some comfort to calm down with.

Another two days went by and William was now no longer hopeful that things would change. “At least I’m not going to die alone…”, he selfishly commented as he took in Lucifer’s adorable eyes one last time.

The fire was no longer fed leaving the grotto he was residing in without any charm whatsoever. The ocean waves played cheerfully in the background, but they too were starting to sound dull to Willam as he was slowly getting tuned out by the world.

The last thing he saw was the cute little face of his angel, that was getting distracted by somebody unknown…