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“It is time” spoke King Ash.
Today is the day he's been waiting for since the mere age of ten.
The day he can finally kill the flesh-eating manticore that murdered his parents.
The same creature who has been terrorizing his village ever since.
Many have tried to slay the beast but all failed.
But today he was finally old enough to attempt to kill the wretched thing and he was not going down without a fight.
He packed his bags, grabbed his men and was on his way.
It would be a long and hard journey but it would be worth it when he finally got revenge.
After hours of marching they decide to take a quick break.
King Ash made sure everyone got their rations and decided to sit alone by this little river.
Across the river was a fox, porcupine, and a bunny.
“What an odd sight” thought King Ash.
He decided to slowly approach the animals and much to his surprise they didn't run.
Instead the porcupine stood proudly in front of the other two as if to protect them.
“I'm not going to hurt you,” cooed Ash.
The porcupine backed down and moved to the side allowing King ash to see the other animals.
King Ash began to reach down in an attempt to pet the animals when a call from one of his men reminded him of the task at hand.
He rushed over to his men to see everything already packed and with a slight nod the men were on their way again.
After more marching the men had finally arrived.
With Ash's approval they all charge towards the beast.
The fight lasts hours before most of Ash's men are down but the manticore is still standing.
“This can't be, I wanted nothing more than to avenge my parents. Why must the ghastly beast still be standing” weeped King Ash.
Suddenly Ash hears a noise coming from a bush.
He looks up through clouded eyes to see the three animals from earlier.
“Run along little things, it's not safe here” he said waving them off.
They must have followed him, he assumed feeling slightly guilty.
He expected them to run off but instead, those very animals morphed into human-like creatures.
Frightened, King Ash slowly backed away.
“Dont worry” one spoke.
“We are here to help you slay the beast” spoke another one.
The third one helped Ash up and with that they charged once again.
They fought for a few more hours until King Ash finally delivered the final blow.
But before the manticore died it landed a critical hit on ash leaving him bloody and unconscious.
Ash wakes up to an unfamiliar voice.
“You can't splash him. Shorter he was really hurt, let him sleep” spoke a voice.
“Well he's taking too long I'm bored” spoke a different voice.
“Look, he's awake” Ash looks up to see the voices belonging to the three animals.
Ash looks down at himself and sees he is no longer human but instead a lynx.
The bunny notices his confusion and explains.
“You got seriously hurt and there was no one around to help but we thought you deserved a second chance at life so we helped you be reincarnated”.
“What about my village, how am I supposed to help them plus a lynx can not be friends with a bunny” Ash spoke panicking.
“Why can't they be silly, i mean look at us, plus we could always watch over your kingdom in our spare time”.
“We?” Asher spoke curiously.
“Yes we silly, by the way i'm eiji , the fox is Shorter, and the porcupines name is Skipper”
“Um im Ash” spoke the king.
“Well asher lets go check on that village of yours” said eiji .
And with that they were on their way.