Sometimes, Tao didn’t really feel like going home. He sometimes found himself wandering off the road, maybe even walking a bit away from the small village where he lived. At that very time, some time after he had finished his duties at the old woman’s house, he was lying in the middle of a wide, green field. He enjoyed lying there, where he would be hidden by the way too tall grass surrounding him, waving a bit back and forth in the calm wind right above him. Tao was thankful that he wasn’t allergic to pollen or anything like that, because he really loved the nature, more than a guy at his age probably should.

Not that he actually cared about that at all.

He just couldn’t help but smile at the nature, feeling completely safe in its embrace. He knew, that he should feel a bit ashamed at being such a horrible brother, that he didn’t go home to look after his dad and his little sister, though he knew that his father wasn’t awake yet, even though it was in the middle of the afternoon. His father usually only woke up in the evening, before wandering off to some inn or bar, where he could drink the rest of Tao’s money away.

“I hate him,” Tao groaned a bit to himself, before he decided to close his eyes, focusing on something else than his father at that time. He just wanted to dream himself away, he wanted, and wished, that he were somewhere else, since he was honestly sick of doing the same every single day. He hadn’t been able to do anything special for years, really. His life consisted of working, working and some more working. He couldn’t even attend the school at his village, because the money he should use to pay for it was the money that his father took away from his every single evening.

And you could guess, that he didn’t have time to hang out with his “friends”, either. Because of his work, he couldn’t hang out with them in the day, and he was too scared to let his sister be alone with his father in the evening. Oh, and he couldn’t bring his sister with him, because her lack of strength couldn’t handle it. She had never really felt well, like all the other small girls in the village.

The young errand boy took a few deep breaths without thinking about his father as well as his sister, who was his responsibility. He just emptied his head for some minutes, until a weak smile came onto his lips as he could finally rest.

As the minutes went by, a rest consisting of a few minutes turned into a slumber of about an hour, as Tao dreamt himself away, into a reality that would actually be much better. A reality, where his mother would still be by their side, where his father wouldn’t be an alcoholic, and where his sister would be able to get treatment for her illness. They would be living in a proper house, too, where the rain wouldn’t leak down through the roof. In that reality, he would even be able to attend his school, so he could get an education and have a brighter future than he had at that time.

Tao might be stronger than the most guys around town because of his hard work, but his knowledge was limited. He might be able to hunt and fight wolves and the like, but he wasn’t able to solve the mysteries of life.

A small sigh escaped his lips, as he started picturing himself with his family, in front of their beautiful, big house. They would all be smiling, in the other reality. They would all love each other to heaven and back. It would just be so perfect, so ideal.

And Tao would actually have someone special, just like he wished he had, maybe a beautiful girl waiting for him, right within his grasp. She would love him, just as much as he loved her, and one day, they would make their own family.

However, fairytales are meant to remain in the minds of the miserable people wanting it to be their reality, because just as Tao pictured himself about to hug this beautiful girl, something interrupted his daydreaming, as a loud roar sounded through his head, waking him up. Pulling him out from his mind.

“W-What the…!” Tao gasped in shock as he immediately sat up, finding himself in the middle of the large, green field, still. He was completely alone, surrounded by the tall grass, though he was sure that he could still hear that loud, strange roar inside his head. It wasn’t a roar he had ever heard before! It wasn’t coming from a bear near by, or a wolf – it was a roar way louder than any known creature would ever be able to make.

It was a horrifying, yet beautiful roar.

“That was… Weird…” Tao murmured to himself as he struggled a bit to stand. He was quite surprised to see, that the sun was about to set, meaning that he should probably head home before his father would wake up.

However, he still took a small look around just to make sure, that there was no evil or strong creature waiting for him just around the corner.

“I should probably head home…” he sighed, mentally preparing himself for his father’s, as usual, rough awakening. The young boy still had some bruises from the evenings before, where he tried to keep his money, fighting against his father’s big, strong body, but without success. Tao was sometimes able to hide some of the money - just enough to buy some food for him and his sister, but it was very difficult to hide a small bag of coins without his father seeing where he hid it.

He had literally tried everything already, hiding the money outside, too. But even there, his father would still find them, and if he didn’t, he would just threaten Tao with hurting his little sister, until he brought him the money. Which meant, that Tao could never keep them.

Maybe he was just really bad at hiding things?

“Tao gege!” Tao immediately heard his little sister call just as he had returned to his father’s house. He hadn’t even gotten inside yet, and his sister could still hear him coming, so he just smiled a bit to himself before walking inside.

“Bao, why aren’t you in your bed?” Tao asked as he saw his little sister, jumping around in her light brown dress – the same dress she wore every day. She just giggled at her brother.

“Because I wanted to welcome my gege home!” she exclaimed, making her older brother sigh a bit as he picked her small, thin frame up from the floor, carrying her to her bed in their shared room.

“Bao, you don’t have the energy for this,” Tao mumbled in a carrying, worrying tone as he sat his little sister down again, earning a small pout from her plump lips. Bao was one very beautiful girl, just like their mother was. She had long, black, silky hair, and dark eyes. Her skin was bright, but not too bright, though it never had a single bruise, mostly because of Tao’s protection against their father.

Bao’s lips were never dry either. Her hands were never cold.

“But I feel so much better today, gege,” she said with a small whine, wanting to go outside with her brother, “Can’t we go look at the horses? They’re so cute!”

Bao was really the symbol of all the good things in the whole world. She didn’t have any evil or mean thing in her, which was something Tao definitely thought their father could learn from.

“Another day, I promise,” he said with a smile as he messed her silky hair a bit, before he got up from the floor in front of her. He knew, that their father could wake up any minute now.

“Gege, will you promise me something?” Bao asked, looking up at her tall big brother.

“Of course. What do you want me to promise?” Tao smiled back at her.

“That you’ll never leave me! I don’t want to be without gege,” she giggled cutely, making Tao smile even wider as he gave her a small nod in agreement.

“I promise, Bao. I’ll always be by your side,” he said with a soft voice before kissing her forehead, “I’m just wondering… Did you hear some roar earlier?”

“A roar?” Bao asked, tilting her head slightly as she sent her older brother a confused stare.

“N-Never mind,” Tao smiled softly as he went into their living room, waiting and preparing for their father to wake up from his daylong slumber.

Even though he wasn’t able to prepare himself much. He never knew, what his father would do to him or his sister. So all he could really do was wait.

He sat down on their rather ruined couch, which mainly consisted of tree and some ruined pelts and leather. There had been many nights, where Tao would have to sleep on the couch, since his little sister was very often sick, and he didn’t want to catch her sickness – someone had to take care of their little money problem.

Tao didn’t get to sit on the couch for long, as the door to his father’s bedroom opened up, and his father stepped into the living room, looking like as usual. The little amount of hair he had left, looked like . His eyes were red, as well as his face. Years back, Tao’s father was a rather good-looking man, but after their mom died, he had become lazy, fat and violent. His stomach was huge from all those beverages he had had, and Tao knew, that he would never have a stomach like that.

Luckily for Tao, he had inherited a lot of genes from his beautiful mother, as well as her thick hair, just like Bao, and dark, beautiful eyes. However, the dark shadows under Tao’s eyes were something he had gotten from his father.

“Where’s my money?” Tao’s father asked with his dark, rusty voice. He sounded and looked like someone who had just been dragged through hell and back.

Tao wanted to tell his father, that he didn’t get any money, but he knew, that Bao would have to suffer, if he said that. His father knew Tao’s weak spots, and Bao was probably his weakest spot of all.

“Here…” Tao murmured as he sighed heavily before he pulled his coin purse out from under his shirt, not wanting to discuss anything with his father. He had lost all kinds of respect for the man. He barely wanted to call him his father – he didn’t even want to look at him. He thought that he was disgusting.

“Good boy,” the father said as he grabbed the coin purse, without saying much more to his son. Tao knew, that his father didn’t mean he was a good boy, because he could read the rage in his father’s eyes. His father was always ready to beat him up.

Maybe Tao was strong, but not that strong.

“Tsh… This isn’t really that much. Are you sure you don’t have more than this?” his father growled coldly, and Tao knew that it was too good to be true. He wouldn’t just go without at least cursing at him.

“They couldn’t pay me more… They don’t have that much money lately,” Tao said, still not looking at his father. He just hoped, that he couldn’t see he was lying. He got a lot of coins from the old lady, but he saved more than the half of it – or just tried – so that he and Bao could get some dinner.

“What brats… Don’t work for them anymore,” his father groaned coldly as he turned away from his one and only son.

“Just go,” Tao murmured, and it didn’t take long for his father to actually get out of the house. He probably didn’t even hear Tao’s words, because if he did, Tao wouldn’t be standing at that time.

So Tao just sat there for a few minutes, breathing heavily, but quietly. He didn’t know exactly what to do with this life of his. He really couldn’t stand it any longer, and he just wanted to get away.

More than anything, he wanted to get away.

“G-Gege, is baba gone?” Bao asked carefully as she looked into the small living room from their bedroom. Her eyes were bright, but slightly scared, making Tao sigh a bit. She was indeed scared of her father, but she was sure that it was just some illness he had, just like her own. She still loved their father – she was actually the only one who still loved him.

“Did he go get his medicine today, gege?” she asked as she slowly walked towards Tao, who was still sitting in the ruined couch. He didn’t even want to say anything to her, so he just nodded slightly, forcing a very faint smile.

“Yes…” Tao murmured as he hugged his little sister close into his chest. Mostly of all, he just wanted to cry. This life of his, was really pathetic. Why couldn’t someone just come and take him away from that nightmare of his? He didn’t honestly care whether he went to heaven or hell, because it couldn’t be any worse than this.

But then came the warning yells from the guards from the watchtower.

Then came the screams from the townspeople.

And then… The horrifying, shriek, the roar from above, sounded through the whole village. 

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A/N: 

... I had to re-write this chapter, because I didn't like it.. Which is why I updated so late. Sorry~ ;;n;; 

I like how the chapter turned out, though~ OuO'

And Tao's dad is an ... ~

TAO IS HANDSOME AS ALWAYYSSS~ *NOT BIASED, NO*

...

I really wanna know what you people think about it... So PLEASE leave me a comment~ Just a small one, so I know if you like it or not... ;; 

Comments are love and very appreciated~!