UNTAMED (The True Color of Adventure)

Chapter 2

Ever since we lost my dad, Uncle Tom had been around. He requested for a three-month leave from the castle as Aunt Bianca had not been so healthy. Despite their personal challenges, they stood by me. Uncle Tom would be returning to Japetus next week, so we were all enjoying each other's company as much as we could. Aunt Bianca left for work early that morning and would return in a few minutes, so Uncle Tom and I were making sure dinner was set before she arrived.

The news headline caught our attention from the kitchen as the newscaster said clearly
“End of the world? Allenfield is on fire as a mysterious monster is on the
loose…” Allenfield was the first thing that caught our attention from the kitchen.
Aunt Bianca's workplace was at Allenfield. We rushed to the sitting room to see what was showing on the television screen. The familiar figure of the gigantic beast that disappeared with my dad appeared on the
television; another thing was the shaky video the reporters were taking as they also struggled for their lives. The disappearance of my dad came to mind, where is my dad?
Fear gripped me as I began to hiccup. Uncle Tom rushed to find himself a coat, put it on and dashed towards the door to go look for Aunt Bianca. Opening the door, there
she was standing without an attempt to knock or open the door.
“Hey” Uncle Tom whispered as he looked closely at her. She looked weak and pale, the sound of her breath loud. As I rushed to the door, Uncle Tom went on his knees weeping, roaring loud into the sky tearfully. Aunty Bianca had collapsed to the floor. I saw a big scratch on her arm which had turned purple with big brown pores, which could only have been caused by the beast probably when she was struggling for her life at Allenfield.
Uncle Tom's eyes were red as coal, he kept roaring like a mad lion, and as a frightened child who witnessed all these terrible things, I could not stop crying.

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As circumstances led to another, I found myself in Japetus. Uncle Tom, being the only family I had left had to bring me with him after two weeks of mourning Aunt Bianca. Life had been tough for us as we had both lost persons dear to us. Uncle Tom buried himself in his training and battles with the recent invaders of the castle, and I had been watching soldiers train day and night. I
thought little of Ruby as it brought back sad memories. The training of the soldiers in sword fights and tests of explosives helped in distracting me.
Secretly, without the knowledge of Uncle Tom, I began to learn swordsmanship with one of my favourite soldiers –Second Lieutenant Joe.
Uncle Tom buried himself most of the nights in the palace's library, trying to find information about the beast. He saw ancient books which contained the history of many ancient species of beasts. There were books dated back to when dinosaurs, dragons and other unimaginable beasts inhabited the earth. He then used the description he had on this particular beast; the size and figure as he had seen in the news, the mark, and colours on Aunt Bianca's arm to search for it.
After a week of his research, he found a book in a crest, beneath a shelf, the front page indicated the book itself was over a century old. He cleaned the dust and cobwebs covering it, opened it and his jaw dropped at the first picture he saw. It was a picture that matched all the descriptions of the beast he was looking for. Beside the
picture was a name – Zara. History had it that Zara was about a thousand-year-old whose species had gone into extinction about five hundred years ago. Before time, they were the guardians of a particular kingdom in the Middle East; Phrygia.
Zara guarded the kingdom until its female mate was killed by a squad of hunters who came from another kingdom about two hundred years ago. Zara raged and destroyed the whole kingdom, and spread its tentacles. It found its habitat called the Dark Zone, deep into the heart of Sallem Forest, hundred miles from Ruby.
A different page highlighting the separate parts of Zara's body was what he opened next, where all its body parts were indicated in detail. He saw a separate picture where Zara's tail was drawn. He looked closely at the highlighted part stating that its tail was poisonous and coming in contact with it alone would mean death, supporting it with pictures.
Uncle Tom gasped as he saw the picture carrying the same marks, pores, and colours Aunt Bianca's arm had when she died. He held his mouth tight with his hand swallowing hard to prevent tears from falling and hurried out of the library. Throughout the night, Uncle Tom could not sleep as bitterness and revenge clouded his thoughts