Clumsy Beast, Keep Your Paws Off

Yue Yue was completely stunned.

She quietly peeked through the torn hole in the cloth bag hanging from the old man’s shoulder, her little heart hammering against her ribs.

At first, she had thought the place was only an ordinary cave. But the moment she saw the ground, her little body stiffened into stone.

There were skulls.

Several strange-looking skulls were scattered across the rocky floor. Some were small, looking like tiny animal heads, while some were much larger.

A few didn’t even look like the skulls of any beasts she had ever seen in Dragon Beast City.

Yue Yue’s little face immediately turned pale as snow. She quickly pulled her head back into the safety of the dark bag, squeezing her eyes shut. She didn’t want to look anymore.

The old man continued walking deeper into the mountain. The farther they went, the darker and colder it became.

Soon, Yue Yue could barely see anything through the torn hole, and then even that faint sliver of light vanished entirely.

She was swallowed by complete blackness. She could only hear.

Scratch... Scratch...

The old man’s bare feet dragged softly against the cold stone floor. He was walking barefoot. His footsteps were light, but inside the enormous cavern, every tiny sound was strangely amplified.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Each slow footstep made Yue Yue’s heart beat faster. She curled herself into a tight, trembling little ball at the bottom of the bag.

She still couldn’t understand how this had happened. She had only been taking a nap! She had been sleeping so peacefully besides Lulu in the sunny garden, feeling warm and safe.

Then she had opened her eyes... and she was already trapped inside this dark cloth bag.

She hadn’t seen anyone take her. She hadn’t heard a single sound. She hadn’t even had the chance to fight back or cry for help.

Yue Yue’s little body trembled violently.

Would her mother find her? Would her Beast Fathers find her? Would they even know where she had gone?

She had already been inside this bag for so long... Surely she was very far from home by now.

Her stomach suddenly growled loudly in the dark silence.

Grrrr...

Yue Yue pressed her tiny head against her tummy. She was so hungry that she felt lightheaded, like she might faint. A sudden, regretful thought entered her mind.

Maybe... maybe she should have eaten that piece of meat earlier. Even if it had been cold and dirty. Even if it had been covered in mud. At least her tummy wouldn’t feel this painfully empty now.

Her stomach growled again, louder this time. Yue Yue swallowed nervously.

But another stubborn thought immediately pushed its way through. No! She would rather starve than eat something that had been thrown onto the filthy ground! She simply couldn’t stomach it!

She squeezed her eyes shut tightly, tears brimming in her gemstone blue eyes.

"Mother..." Her tiny voice was so quiet it was almost impossible to hear. "I want to go home..."

But no one answered. Only the old man’s rhythmic footsteps continued echoing through the vast darkness.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Yue Yue grew more and more frightened. She didn’t know where she was going, she didn’t know what this place was, and she didn’t know what that creepy old man wanted from her.

Then suddenly, the old man’s footsteps stopped.

Yue Yue froze, holding her breath. The bag stopped swinging.

She slowly lifted her head. Through the torn hole in the cloth, she suddenly saw light flickering! But it wasn’t warm sunlight... It was fire.

A massive fire was burning somewhere deep inside the hollow mountain, casting long, dancing shadows. The flames were so bright that they illuminated a massive cavern.

Yue Yue carefully peeked outside, her eyes widening.

There was a massive open space inside the mountain. The fire roared in the centre, surrounded by giant stone pillars and towering cavern walls.

And then... she heard them.

Voices. Many, many voices.

The old man suddenly spoke, his raspy voice echoing off the stone walls. "I’m back."

Yue Yue’s ears immediately perked up. Someone answered him from the dark, followed by another voice and another. There were many of them!

As Yue Yue listened carefully, she suddenly realised something astonishing. They were snake beastmen! She could understand their words clearly because she was a snake beast, too.

But what frightened her to her core was the sound of those voices. They were young. Very young. They sounded almost exactly like the voices of little cubs!

"Let us go!"

"Help!"

"Please, let me out!"

"I want to go home!"

Some were crying loudly. Some were screaming in anger. Some were whimpering and begging.

Yue Yue’s heart turned completely ice-cold. There were other cubs here...dozens of other snake beast cubs! And from the frantic sound of their cries, none of them were safe.

Yue Yue’s gemstone blue eyes widened in pure horror. Why were they here? Why were they crying? What had this awful old man done to them?!

Her little body began trembling even harder. She desperately wanted to look outside again. She wanted to see them, to count them, to figure out what was happening! But just as she slithered closer to the torn hole...

The old man casually shifted the weight of the bag on his shoulder. The cloth rolled, and Yue Yue tumbled inside.

"Ah!"

She quickly grabbed the fabric, but the torn hole had shifted. The small opening was now facing the old man’s back. She could no longer see outside. Darkness swallowed her once again.

Yue Yue’s heart pounded like a wild drum in her chest. She couldn’t see anything anymore. She could only listen as the desperate cries grew louder.

"Please let us go!"

"I don’t want to stay here!"

"Help us!"

And then... a tiny, frightened voice wailed out above the rest. "Mother!"

Yue Yue’s eyes filled with hot tears of terror. She couldn’t see the other cubs, and she couldn’t see the old man, but their panicked cries echoed mercilessly off the cold mountain walls.

And for the first time, little Yue Yue understood something deeply horrifying:

She wasn’t the only cub this old man had stolen. There were many others... and they were all trapped in the dark together.