Tarik pressed hard on Lumeo's tattoo on his arm. Fang stood tall and fluffed up his fur to make himself look bigger. The tall man in front of him glared coldly at both of them, the other villagers stared in alarm and fear.

"That's a nice kitty you have there, boy," the man slowly walked forward and scraped his dagger along the top of a table. "It would make a fine rug in my house."

Fang's growl was low, but still intimidating. Tarik placed a hand on his sword. "Leave us alone."

The man laughed wickedly at Tarik. "What's your name?"

"Why should I tell you?" Tarik spat.

The man stopped right in front of Fang. "I am a retired Greencloak," he said.

Tarik's back was pressed against the door. "I think you are lying."

A Zhongese woman with a mouse on her shoulder stepped forward. "That's enough Ryan."

"Xue, no one invited you," Ryan snapped back. "Go back to your pots."

With quick movements, Xue pulled out a pair of chopsticks and managed to get behind Ryan, smack him in the head really hard and kick him to the floor. Instantly after that, Fang roared and started to attack Ryan, biting and shaking the man around in his jaws. Ryan yelled in pain. People in the restaurant began screaming and running. Some had even grabbed brooms, shovels and other strange weapons they could find to defend themselves. Tarik froze.

"Greencloak boy!" Xue shouted. "You must leave this place and never come back," Xue moved passed the angered Fang, and pushed Tarik outside.

"Wait! I don't know my way back!" Tarik admitted. He was scared and without Fang, Tarik wouldn't know how he would get to the castle.

"Follow the road, read the signs, they will take you home," Xue turned away and many people began running outside, forcing Tarik to run too. He ran out of the village gates in fear, the screams could still be heard and the sound of guards shouting orders at each other rang out into the night.

After running in the darkness for some time, Tarik suddenly tripped over a tree root and fell down a hill. Many rocks and sticks had found the opportunity to scratch his skin or almost poke a hole in him. A harsh pain in his foot throbbed making Tarik suck in his breath and press on the pain.

"Damn! Damn!" Tarik cursed to himself. How could he be so silly? He was so scared that he didn't realise where he was going and stupidly fell down a hill. Light tears wobbled in his eyes. If only his team could see him now... they would most likely be disappointed.

Tarik summoned Lumeo for the first time in weeks, the otter looked around obviously unaware of what was happening. He looked at Tarik with a sad face and sat on his lap. Wrapping his arms around his spirit animal, he started to calm down, feeling the warmth in the otter's fur.

"I'm sorry Lumeo, I couldn't do anything and-"

Lumeo squeaked in forgiveness. Wiping his eyes, Tarik lay back in the grass with Lumeo next to his body. He stared up at the glowing moon, wondering if his friends or family were looking at it too. Pushing his negative thoughts aside, he drifted off to sleep.

~~~

Lumeo licked Tarik's face making him wake up. He weakly sat up and felt a stabbing pain in his foot and stomach. Lumeo sniffed at Tarik's boot, while he groaned in discomfort, wrapping his arms around his stomach. Lumeo squeaked at Tarik knowing that he was hungry.

"Lumeo... I can't..." Tarik lay back down. He was in too much pain to stay sitting up but he desperately wanted to take his boot off. It was probably sprained really badly. After closing his eyes for a few seconds, Tarik could feel short breaths from Lumeo on his face. He opened his eyes and saw the otter crouched in front of him. His amber eyes showed some kind of emotion: Belief.

He watched the otter leave his sight and in a few seconds he could feel Lumeo pressing on his hopefully-not-broken foot.
Tarik groaned and curled up on his side when he felt the pain. Lumeo let out a stressed squeak and padded up to Tarik's face. His stomach grumbled loudly in the need of food. He had no energy to do anything except lay like a useless child in the grass. At this rate, Tarik and Lumeo wouldn't be going anywhere.