"Okay Dino, climb on."

The little raccoon leapt onto Joshua's arm, climbing beneath the prince's cloak until he reached Joshua's shoulder, where Dino stayed hidden under his prince's hood. 

Wonwoo appeared by them, his own deep navy cloak draped over his shoulders. North of their original home, humanity's empire was still rather cold in early spring. Joshua, with the help of Dino, was redressed in his stiff formal apparel, every little fold smooth and neat. The thin body chains of gold dotted with gemstones as big as heath berries ran daintly along Joshua's arms, neck, chest, waist, legs and ankles. 

"Alright sire, best to stay close from now on," Wonwoo hushed, pulling up Joshua's hood to cover his tiger ears. On their way to the city entrance Joshua found it difficult to keep up with Wonwoo's pace, the man's efficient walk had the boy nearly running to not get left behind.

"Halt. State your name and purpose of entry into the city," a guard by the city gate ordered. Wonwoo pulled off his hood, handing the guard a medallion of some sorts, almost the size of Joshua's palm. The guard took one look at the gold medallion in his hand, and he automatically stood up straighter. 

"My mistake, I didn't realize you were from the King's special guard. However, I'm afraid it's still necessary for us to know your purpose before we can allow you to go any further," the guard answered, his eyes then moving to Joshua, who dipped his head down, squeezing his hand onto Wonwoo's cloak.

"No matter. I'm to the Terranian's prince to his royal highness," Wonwoo pulled back Joshua's hood, just enough so only the guard could see. The guard's eyes widened at Joshua's pale and dark hair, even wider when he saw his fluffy ears. Dino poked his head out from beneath Joshua's cloak but then hurriedly went back under at the sight of the guard. Thinking that the man had seen enough, Wonwoo threw the hood back on,  "We'll deal with any legal issues later on today."

"Of course sir, we'll disturb you no more," the guard threw his arm up, signaling guards at the top of the stone gate to open the heavy wooded doors. Slowly, the path creaked open. 

"Enjoy your day."

"You too," Wonwoo waved back, guiding Joshua into the city. "You do your job well, soldier."

As the door closed behind them, Joshua took one last glance at the guard, who was smiling triumphantly from the praise of his commander. 

Tweet*TWEET*

"WHOA!" Joshua yelled in surprise as he quickly dove away from a large horse carriage, which left behind a trail of dust after sliding to a stop. 

"Watch where you're going, ya' dumb brat!" The coachman spat before snapping his reigns and continuing his way.

"What part of "stay close" did you not understand? Come along now," Wonwoo hopelessly grumbled, but his words did not mirror his actions, taking Joshua's hand as they moved into the bustling city. 

The two stayed out of the main road where horse carriages, automobiles, and other strange mechanisms moved down the stone streets, along with the occasional pedestrian. After arriving in Patrophia, Joshua had noticed a few very obvious things about the human race. There were lots of people, and they were noisy while they worked.

Joshua? 

Dino? What's the matter? 

Where's that banging sound coming from? It's really loud. 

Joshua's ears twitched at the loud echo of hammering, where the tiger saw a group of men dangerously climb around wooden posts to nail things down. Ever curious, Dino popped up from the folds of Joshua's cloak. He then tumbled down into Joshua's arms to get a better view.

"Wonwoo, what's happening over there?"

"They're rebuilding a tavern. Before I left to bring you to Patrophia, there was a little incident that left the thing in pieces. Good to see that the construction is going well."

Joshua kept his eyes attentively on the workers. While some men directed the builders or yelled for more lumber, many workers bore a brown-tinged metal circle around their necks. Joshua tugged on Wonwoo's hand.

"Those men up there, what are those things around their necks?"

Wonwoo merely stopped in his tracks. The heat from his hands drained away while gloved fingers clutched stiffly onto Joshua's small hand. 

"Let's move on. Make sure to keep your hood up."

They walked block after block, Joshua absorbing all the new sights. "What were those", he would ask, and Wonwoo would briefly explain in words that Joshua understood. Of course, "what does that mean" was another common question that Joshua asked, and the answers from Wonwoo grew less frequent. 

"Hey Dino, look over there!" Joshua exclaimed. The little raccoon in his arm turned his whole upper body to follow his prince's view. They were in a marketplace, busy like the streets but with less wheels and more people. Wonwoo sighed, "Alright, but this is the last time," seemingly defeated while the young child dragged the tall man over to a strange stand.

From the large range of items, it wad probably ran by a merchant of some sort. Despite the bizarre display of masks, metal ware, puzzling blades of some sort, Joshua and Dino stared intensely at the small creature in the far corner. It's scaley skin gleamed like blue silver as it walked around its small pedastal, occasionally flapping its translucent webbed wings.

Dino hopped out of Joshua's arms, climbing over the strange artifacts laid out on the table and hopping onto an hourglass, resting on his hind legs while he looked up at the mysterious creature with his dark round eyes. 

Hi, I'm Dino. What's your name?

...

Um...I'm from the Southern Terran Mountains, where are you from? 

...

The creature stared at Dino with equal intensity, but the rumble from the blue stranger's throat didn't seem so friendly. That's when Dino got a response, in the form of a fire ball.

EEEEK! I'm on fire, I'm on Fire!! He just set me on FIRE!!

"Dino, relax! It's just your tail!" Joshua tried to calm Dino down, but the little raccoon was in too much of a panic to even notice the woman who had already pinched off the little ember. 

"Sorry about Rosé, she's a feisty little girl. That's how she says"hi"." 

"Hi?" Wonwoo's eye twitched while Joshua quickly picked Dino up before his friend could bump and knock over some other weirdly shaped vases. Dino finally came to a stop, looking at the tips of fur that crumbled into cinders. Joshua put Dino back behind his cloak, where the little raccoon sobbed in chitters while he cradled his tail. 

My tail...my beautiful tail...sniff*...OH Fox whiskers! It's a bald spot!

Dino, it's not good to curse. 

Wonwoo gave the trembling ball behind Joshua's cloak a hard eye. "Fox...whiskers?"

The stand owner the chin of Rosé. She was a beautiful lady, her blond hair cut neatly with some beads weaved in some strands, her round dark eyes reflected the sunlight like copper and her painted red lips curved into a mischievous smile. Her leather hide gloves were covered in claw imprints, possibly from the blue beast that flew to her hand.

"What is she?"

The merchant smiled while Rosé was perched on her arm. "Rosé is a South-eastern Sky salamander, you people here in the north would call her a dragon. Quite a beauty, isn't she?"

"A dragon?" Wonwoo muttered; the woman the base of Rosé's neck.

Joshua leaned in, watching the intriguing lizard saunter along the woman's arms. Dino, who didn't share Joshua's enthusiasm, tried to hide deeper into Joshua's cloak. The trader took notice, and teasingly poked the little raccoon's forehead.

"Welcome to the Dara's place, Mr. Raccoon. I'm Lisa, and Rosé was being very polite today. Her usual hello is a good blast of fire, not a little spitball."

Wonwoo couldn't help staring as well. "I've only been on a few expeditions before where I've bumped into a few dragons, but they definitely didn't fly."

Lisa gave Wonwoo and Joshua a good run down while they observed her dragon. A tall man with a stoic face and a lean looking figure beneath a military uniform, along with a boy in strange clothing, chains that smelled like gold, and a raccoon for a pet. What intrigued her the most had to be the boy's eyes; big and round, curved like a cat's, and the diamond icy blue complete with pupils that looked a bit too narrow.

"What's the occasion for you two? Spending a day with your little brother here?" Lisa asked, setting Rosé back on her little pedestal. She looked at Joshua, smiling as she leaned over her goods, getting a close look at the boy's eyes. "You look like a strange one, little boy. May I ask how old are you?"

Joshua momentarily looked away from Lisa's dragon, "I just turned sixteen last winter."

"S-sixteen?" It was just meant to be an innocent question, but Lisa nearly knocked over one of her displays of trade items. 

Wonwoo gave Joshua his usual tired look, "Can't you ever lie and make my life easier for once?" Joshua only shrugged before he began to watch Rosé flapping her wings again.

A howling wind suddenly ripped through the marketplace, picking up dust in blinding swirls. People screamed in surprise, trying to keep their rickety stands in place. When the wind died down, Lisa opened eyes and lost her breath.

"!" Wonwoo muttered, quickly pulling Joshua's hood back over his head, but the damage couldn't be undone. 

"A beast, but wait, then where did his collar go?"

"A collar?" Joshua looked to Wonwoo, but the man pulled Joshua against his ribcage, hiding the boy from any other passersbys.

"He's here for an audience with the king; he won't be needing a collar."

Lisa sighed in relief, giving a Joshua a friendly smile, "Oh...that explains why you look so small at sixteen. Well I'll be, a little vistor for his royal highness? You must be very special."

Joshua frowned at Lisa, "What do you mean by "I look small"?"

"Alright, that enough for now. We'll come by again sometime," Wonwoo quickly interrupted, quickly grabbing onto Joshua's wrist. The two were soon out of Lisa's sight. 

"Lisa! What are you doing? I could almost see gold falling off of those two, you could've at least gotten that soldier to buy something!" Another gorgeous woman stepped out from the back; small gold rings hanging modestly from her ears, her thick black hair cascading down her back like a waterfall, a red cutlass was hanging from the edge of her hip.

"I know Jisoo, but you need to here this; we might've just found ourselves a new job."

"Hello young sire. We've been expecting you," the maid greeted. Behind her, the guards stood in two lines, forming a path led to the castle's entrance. 

"Well sire, this is as far as I take you."

Joshua his heels, big blue eyes almost teary. "You're leaving now?" Dino also didn't want the man to leave, his small head protruding from Joshua's cloak to take another look at Wonwoo.

The soldier kneeled down to face the young prince, "I was to only you to the palace, I must report to my other duties now. Don't worry, I met with the king often so I'll see you again."

And with that, Wonwoo turned around, disappearing out the castle walls. With only Dino in his arms, Joshua followed the maid into the large castle. The maid's black shoes clicked along the large hallways while Joshua's softly padded footsteps barely made a sound. The empty echo from the cold furnished walls sent shivers down Joshua's spine.

Dino nudged at Joshua's arm.

I don't like this place Joshua.

Joshua held his friend a little tighter. 

Neither do I.

Wonwoo yawned as he finally headed out the palace boundaries. Not too far away, loud noises from some workers and the cargo that they carelessly took off a moving cart caught the man's attention. He narrowed his eyes, frisking out a few men who were flipping through the cargo. 

"Hello gentlemen, may I ask what you are doing?" Wonwoo asked, freezing every worker in place. 

One man walked over while the others went back to whatever they visited themselves with, "G'day sir, just taking out some baggage. We were asked by his royal highness just this morning."

Something about the luggage irked Wonwoo. He watched another man toss another bag off the cart, a large wicker basket rolling onto the ground. Out spilled what looked like a mound of clothing, along with rolls of ribbons in different colors and oddly formless robes. 

"Stop what you are doing now!"

The men backed away while Wonwoo quickly flipped through the robes, eventually picking up a roll of ribbon that, unlike the others, looked used. It was a thick fabric, a deep purple, and although faint, smelled like iron and black tar.

Just a few hours ago, these wraps had been on Wonwoo's hands, after he had stolen them off of Joshua. 

"Did the king ever tell you whom these items belonged to?!" Wonwoo was furious. He didn't want to accept the grim idea that was storming around his head, but he needed to know for sure.

"He said they were the belongings of a war prisoner, and that we were to burn everything except for whatever we wanted to take."

Guilt crashed onto Wonwoo like an ocean wave. Some guest Joshua was, the king didn't order Wonwoo to bring the Terranian prince for a good time at the palace; Joshua was now a hostage, a prisoner of a war he had no part in. 

"You are all dismissed for the day," Wonwoo hissed, his eyes murderous while the workers receded. "I'll tell the king that I told you so, now drop everything and leave."

"Coups...what the hell is this supposed to be?"

"Umm...Lunchtime?"

A black panther answered, his eyes round and innocent-looking while he munched on some kind of roast meat. The entire fortress was lively and festive, humans and beasts talking among each other like siblings. Mingyu asked Aron to pinch him, the warrior gripped onto his captain's cheek and tugged to the side, and Mingyu elbowed him in the stomach.

"Oh hey Mingyu! Haven't seen you in a while?!" A man in armor walked forward, a big grin pasted right on his face. 

"Prince Baekho? Why are you fighting at the front lines," Mingyu gawked at the sturdy man, astounded to see the human king's eldest son, the first prince, standing before him.

Coups managed to mutter past his stuffed mouth, "Cuz' the old man found him banging Ren in the royal library. Very ."

Baekho mustered a bashful smile, "Well, I ended up getting booted off the throne nearly a year ago, so my little brother's the heir to the throne now."

Mingyu's jaw hung open for a moment, before quickly pulling himself back together. "For some reason, I'm honestly not surprised at all. If I remember, you've been chasing him for ages-Wait no! That's not the issue! If you two have been buddy-buddy for so long, why did you ask for reinforcements Coups?! We didn't travel a week to join you two for a little bonfire picnic!"

Coups frowned, and that was all Mingyu needed to know that something had gone wrong. 

"Whoa there. Since when have I ever asked Kris for reinforcements? We've been stationed here for almost a year, and never did I rely on you or the chief for back-up."

Mingyu face palmed, letting out an exasperated and very irritated growl. "So you're telling me that chief sent the entire lupin troupe all the way up here for nothing?"

Coups chucked what looked like meat bones into the campfire before him, sarcastically shrugging his shoulders, "It's probably so that he could send Joshua to the Patrophians without a wolf making a mess out of everything."

"WHAT?!"

Mingyu's roar echoed into the open distance. Down on the camp grounds, some soldiers turned their heads to the fortress tower by the loud voice.

Okay, quick note!

Terranian- beast

Patrophian- human

(Demons will come into the story soon.)

Oohhhh Mingyu found out, 's finally gonna start XD

Happy Announcement: got accepted into college! Now it's time for senioritis to kick in.

Song recommendation:

sayonara by tiara (it's a japanese song with two versions. One with hatsune miku, the other sung by tiara herself. Feel free to give it a try on YouTube ;)