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Kevin used to live in a town, in a house. He remembers earth floors and stone walls, and the red glow of fire at night. He remembers his mother. Then one day, she was gone. The town was gone. Kevin found himself in the woods, befriended by animals. And he's lived among them ever since.
It is always night in the woods, and there he finds others like him: children different from the animals of the forest -- not completely covered in hair or feathers. Children who walk upright, and babble conversationally. Not many of them. Some are younger than him and some older, some playful and friendly, others territorial. Some travel with him, for a time, but they always go their own way eventually.
There is no day and night to keep time, but Kevin rests when he's tired and eats when he's hungry. He uses the changing shape of the moon to keep track of weeks and months. Even when he can't see the moon, he can tell it's still there, watching over him.
Then one night, an adult comes, a giant compared to him and also the other animals of the forest. The clothes he wears alone seem bigger and heavier than Kevin is. Maybe bigger than he'll ever be.
"You survived," the man says to him.
Kevin doesn't know what to say in response. The great man has hair much like his: long and straight, strands flaring out like the leaves of a dragon tree. Much like his except... more grey.
"Perhaps you have the heart of a Beastman after all," the man says. He gives a jerk of his head. "Come."
Kevin takes a few hesitant steps forward, then stops. "Father...?" he wonders.
The Beastman turns to look at him but doesn't reply.
Kevin follows behind him, his feet hardly making a sound on the forest floor.
It turns out the Beast King is his father -- others say so, and the special training he receives is another sign of that.
And yet to Kevin, the imposing, distant, heavily-adorned man remains "the Beast King."
But Kevin trains, night after night. It is a great honor, people tell him. He excels at it. At mealtime, Beastmen gather in halls and eat and share stories: bragging about recent glories, telling stories of the distant past. The Beast King frowns whenever people talk of the past. Kevin knows that expression well from the training -- it means dissatisfaction.
And then the castle goes to sleep and the next night is much the same as the last: he fights in duels and the Beast King makes his comments, and when he's done, Kevin runs off into the forest to spend time away from the stone walls of the castle. In the forest, he wanders aimlessly, sits on tree branches and stares out into the night, thinking on this life, the relentless quest to get stronger. Pleased at his progress and yet wondering: Is this all that there is?