"Twenty one, twenty two...twenty five." A tall muscular beastman with a long scar across his face spoke as he counted the group of children hurdled in a corner, with terrified expressions.
"That would be all, five strong male cubs each, from the five main beast tribes."
"How long do you think they will survive?another beastman inquired as he approached the children, tension quickly rose as the children backed away in fear some began crying outright and others sniffled silently with tears and snot running down their faces.
"Shut up!" The scary looking beastman roared. Immediately the crying children fell silent. Eyes wide with fear, body trembling.
"You are all male beastmen! Yet you weep like females. Utterly disgraceful. The earlier you all stop embarrassing us males by making those annoying crying noises and start using your brains to think on survival strategies, the higher your chances at leaving this place will be."
He crouched down on one knee beside the children and lifted the arm of a noticeable plump child with striking golden hair. The boy appeared to be about seven years old he looked soft and squishy, like a pampered young master. The beastman clicked his tongue in disdain turning to face the other male who asked him the question.
"These batch of cubs appear to be more useless than the previous years. With no survival instincts with an even more disappointing physique. I think they wouldn't last a day out here. We should prepare ourselves in bringing another batch next year."
The adult beastmen laughed loudly as one of them pointed to the golden haired boy.
"That one is even more delicate than a female. I think the wild beasts will enjoy a boneless feast today."
"Hahaha... It's not only that one, look at these other cubs" another beastman pointed to four other children who stood out from the rest with outstanding looks at first glance. One had greenish blue hair and blue eyes, the others had black hair and golden eyes, silver hair and blue eyes, pink hair and pink eyes. They all looked healthy and pampered standing out from the rest of the plain looking cubs. They almost looked like children of royalty.
Immediately as this thought appeared in the minds of the beastmen, it was immediately shut down. Who were the cubs of the top five beast tribes? they couldn't even be seen on normal occasions, well protected in their luxurious stone castles and monitored every hour. It was impossible for them to appear here. These cubs must be from homes with doting beast parents. What a shame, feeding your male cub to become almost as delicate as a female, only to have them devoured by wild beasts.
"There's one over here who has a problem."
Another beastman pointed out a thin looking child, looking about five to six years old. He was covered in blood and mud his real appearance unrecognizable. He just sat staring blankly in to the air with dull violet eyes. If not for the rising and falling of the child's chest, they would have thought the child had already passed away.
"What's wrong with this one? How could he be hurt like this?"
"Who knows? The child might have been abused by his beast parents. There's always the case of sending an unfavored cub which is usually the norm. I'm surprised to see so many precious cubs this year. Afterall, the Dark forest is one of the three most dangerous places on the continent. Even adults think twice before stepping in to it." The scar faced beast man replied as he confirmed the child was still alive. Then he stood up completely ignoring the child's presence. Turning to his teammates he spoke. "No need to worry about useless things. We have more work to do. Afterall, it is certain that only a few children might survive. But looking at these disappointing batch of cubs, I doubt anyone would make it out alive. We are deep enough in the forest now, let's leave them here and return to prepare for the main ceremony."
All the beastmen agreed as they turned away from the children. Disappearing into the forest and out of sight.
Immediately as they left, the children began panicking all over again, some crying for their beast parents others hurdled together for comfort, some sat rigid in despair. Amongst the many children, a boy with black hair and golden eyes stood up. He scanned the area, seeing only towering trees and dense foliage the surroundings were eerily silent. With a hint of nervousness on his face he moved towards the Golden haired kid.
"Hey! What are you doing here? you don't belong here, You're a noble aren't you?" The golden haired boy turned to face the dark haired boy. He studied the other party for a while with skeptism before answering.
"How do you know that?"
The dark haired boy replied without a hint of hesitation. I was thought on how to recognize nobles from the five major clans, and especially the royal family descendants. You must be from the royal family of the golden dragon tribe your golden hair and golden eyes gave it away" he then pointed towards the other four kids.
"The snow wolf tribe," he pointed to the silver haired blue eyed boy.
"The nine tailed fox tribe " he pointed to the pink haired pink eyed boy.
"The mystic peacock tribe" he pointed to the bluish green hair and blue eyed boy.
"And myself from the black tiger tribe. You all were noticeable from your beast features and your auras. You don't look like average beasts. If I was older, I would have sensed your spiritual auras too."
The five children then came together studying each other.
The golden haired boy finally spoke "I was wondering why you could recognize me and the others, turns out you are from the black tiger tribe. Then I'm also guessing you are from the royal family. Black tigers are noted for their sharp minds and cunning nature easy to backstab others I've been told."
The black haired boy frowned but did not respond to the provocation. He knew that many tribes hated the black tiger tribe. So the hostility was expected.
"Hello my name is Franz nice to meet you all, I'm the third cub of the nine tailed fox king."
"Hah! foxes and tigers, a bunch of dimwits. You all should pay your respects to the first born cub of the golden dragon tribe. Seeing as you are all beneath me."
Franz didn't even frown, he just stared at the golden haired boy and said.
"I have heard about you, you must be Valad the insufferable cub of the self inflated dragons, you want me to bow to you? Hah! What's so special about scaly worms? You dragons love acting all high and mighty, if you were so powerful, why not lead us safely out of this forest? Stop barking with no bite it's embarrassing."
"Y-you how dare you say such to me are you asking for a beating, I'll show you now why a dragon should not be messed with." Valad lunged at Franz who evaded him immediately turning to escape.
"You stop right there let me catch you."
The atmosphere became less tense as the children all watched the dragon and fox cub scuffle around. No one noticed the small bloodied cub at the side slowly blinking it's eyes.