Chapter Text
Choi Sung-woon was a normal guy.
He lived alone and had his own job that paid enough to keep him afloat under normal circumstances.
So he was ok, although alone most of the time, having mostly distanced himself from his family that was always surrounded by drama.
That’s why he bought a house after saving the money from the came competitions be participated.
It was big, too big even for him alone.
And why did he buy such a big house?
Because he was planning on renting the rooms for other people.
Choi Sung-woon wanted the chance to live a leisurely life, one where he could just play his games and chill.
He was a world wide champion in all types of games, be it digital or board games, and that already provided him with a lot of money, but he got a job in a pet shop to silence his family’s constant nagging about jobs whenever he came to visit during the holidays.
But with the house, he could quit without having to worry about being nagged and having to worry about cleaning after anyone’s messes.
Yet, here he was, staring at a hissing, wounded, and clearly starved half-dead lizardman amidst the grass of the forest in the back of his house.
He had just gotten out for a night walk, a tad curious about the small forest behind the house, when he heard something on the ground.
There, he saw a lizardman as big as his hand.
Right, the guy who sold the property had said the forest sometimes could have some of these.
Choi Sung-woon, as a titan who used to work in a pet shop, was familiar with lizardman, a species that, like many other small species, lived in groups, but didn't like the cold, which usually meant their camps had torches or bonfires lighten up all night.
But this lizardman was alone, bleeding out from one shoulder and in the cold night.
That made him frown.
Why was it here like that?
Surely, the rest of the group couldn't be far away.
He saw a little red light in the distance, then, using a bit of power, he called one of his blue butterflies closer and guided it to where the light was.
Choi Sung-woon, like all Titans, had magic on him, which allowed him to do a few things, although very limited since he could only create and control insect related things, but it helped him find interesting things, so he was ok with it despite many finding the ability useless.
Through his butterfly, he saw a small group of blue scaled lizardmen, all sleeping together in small groups.
All of them looked malnourished, there were children and elderly, and some were a little less wounded then this one he had in front of him too.
A group of exiles, it seems, and a little outcast among them.
After seeing that, he connected to another butterfly, turning its gaze to the feisty lizardman still hissing, although much lower and far tenser than before.
He flew it closer to the lizardman and focused the butterfly’s gaze to its wound.
Claw marks, definitely infected, also deep, it will die of blood loss if nothing is done, if starvation doesn't get it first.
Breaking the connection to the butterfly and letting it flutter on its own, he sighed.
This was troublesome.
Yeah, he could leave it here, turn around and go back to where it came, it's not like it was his problem.
But then he made the worst mistake of his life.
He looked at its eyes.
There was a desperation in them, a will to live that made him hesitate, then make a resolve.
Slowly, he took out his hoodie, crouched on the ground while throwing the hoodie on it, wrapped around it on the hoodie and used it to lift the animal.
It squirmed, hissed and tried to bite, but he held it firmly while carefully getting up to not jolt it more than it was already doing by itself.
He then turned around and started to make his way to the hotel, unaware that a pair of eyes followed him.
***
Lakrak was in deep trouble, he could tell.
He and many others had been exiled from the main group with no supplies, they were attacked on the way to their current location and he was terribly wounded after sacrificing himself to save others.
Now, at night when it was cold and no one came closer to him to share some heat, he got up to follow a group of glowing blue butterflies.
He… didn't know what came to him when he saw it, just that he felt compelled to follow when he noticed that no one had noticed them even though there were suddenly so many of them in the area.
He never thought he'd see a Beast.
The Beasts were enormous creatures that roamed around the forest, being so big and powerful that their presence alone could shake the bravest of warriors to their core.
He had seen them before, coming to the forest to take away some of their people to never be seen again.
And here he was, staring at one of them.
It used strange coverings, and, instead of a face and hands, it had a mass of stars with two bluish white dots in the place of eyes.
It was staring down at him, its full attention on him.
Lakrak could only growl in response.
That beast could take him away, or maybe take him out of his misery, who knows?
Yet, its attention suddenly moved away as the butterflies around them fluttered louder, one of them moving towards the direction he came from.
Then the Beast was staring at the direction he came.
Then realization came.
The settlement.
It knew where the settlement was.
The others!
Before he could even process his findings, something approached him.
A butterfly, one of the many surrounding the Beast.
He felt something crawl under his scales as its eyes creepily focused on him, staying for a long time on him.
Then it set flight as a loud sigh reached his ears, getting his attention.
The beast was still staring at him, but he could see its eyes softening as he held its gaze.
Then it moved.
It took part of its upper coverings and, while crouching, threw it on Lakrak.
Surprised and unprepared, Lakrak could do nothing as the world darkened and something swept him from the ground.
He tried to fight back, to resist, but nothing seemed to work as the beast started to move, making him dizzy, which prevented him from fighting it.
It took a while and a lot of noise before it finally stopped and he was allowed to see again as the beast took the coverings from his face.
They were in a strange place, definitely its settlement, and he could smell a few strong things he did not recognize.
But, more importantly, it was full of bugs.
Giant butterflies and moths fluttering around the beast, equally big beetles and caterpillars crawling around the place.
Bugs this big shouldn’t exist, this must be the beast’s doing!
The beast walked towards a strange structure, sitting down while putting him down in front of it while bugs flew closer with strange objects big enough for the beast, manipulating them and making the objects interact among themselves.
Lakrak’s eyes kept darting around, trying to keep up with everything that was happening around him and missing the fact that the beast’s hand was reaching for him.
It pinned him down with a hand while the other reached for one of the objects, a long and shiny thing with a white material that had a strong smell.
He started to trash around more violently than before as the foul smelling object started to come his way, but he couldn’t do anything as it touched his wound and he could only scream in pain as the burning sensation spread through his body while the beast rubbed the material on the wound, unconcerned by his reaction.
It stayed doing that for a while, then the beast took away the material when it turned slightly red.
He thought that it was over and sighed, relaxing for a moment.
Then he saw it replace the dirtied material for a new one, dipping it in a strange looking jar before turning it in his direction.
‘Not again!’
This was going to be a long night…