"Zavid!" The cry resonated in the young boys ears.

"Mama!" He looked around frantically in his hiding spot, hoping that they had slipped in without him knowing. But he had little light to work with, and he was panicking. "Nathan! Anie! Where are you?" His bicolored eyes darted around, still searching. "Mama!"

His mothers face appeared in front of him. Her chest was heaving and she was covered in red blood. "Mon amour," She gasped.

"Mama. What's going on?" Zavid asked, his single blue, single brown eye both opened wide in fear. "Mama. What's happening?"

His mother seemed not to hear his words. She reached out and caressed Zavid's cheek gently. "Mon amour," She said again. "Always know that we loved you with all our hearts."

"Mama, I'm scared." Zavid said, now crying. His mom smiled softly at him and rubbed his cheek.

"Don't be, mon amour." She said. A plea for mercy came from behind her, cut short by a loud bang. Zavid's mother turned to face it quickly before her attention went back to her son. "Promise me that you'll stay strong, no matter what."

The seven year old boy finally caught on. "No!" he cried. "Mama! You can't leave me!" He reached out his hands, trying to grab onto her, but she evaded.

"Mon amour," His mother said softly. "You need to. For me. No matter what happens, you need to stay strong for me. Promise me you'll do this."

Zavid was choking on his tears now, but he managed to choke out the words his mother wanted to hear. "I-I promise." More cries for mercy were being cut short, but no longer by loud bangs.

Zavids mother smiled. She leaned forward and kissed the young boy's forehead softly."Merci." She said. She leaned back out of his hiding spot. The screams behind her had ceased, and the whole world was eerily silent as the crunch crunch of gravel being disturbed sounded, drawing near. A look of defeat crossed the young boys' mother's face and her shoulders slumped forward as a shadow appeared.

"I love you, mon cher." she said before she jerked forward. The colored tip of a bronze sword, glowing softly, appeared, poking out of her chest where her heart was.

"Mama!" Zavid cried. He watched in horror as she was noticeably kicked to un-impale her from the sword. She fell to the ground, where some of her blood leaked, before she crumpled away to dust.

"Mama!" Zavid cried again, springing forward to try and prevent her ashes from leaving him. But a wind came and carried them away, as it did when all of his kind died.

A large hand grabbed the back of Zavid's shirt, heaving him up off of his hands and legs and leaving him dangling in the air. Desperate and being choked, Zavid made his form change, showing the owner of the hand his true form.

In the place of the young boy was another creature. It had the body of a lion, but except for having short gold fur on it's last half, it had gray and green scales, protecting it from blunt force. It's scorpion tail was waving in the air, uncoordinated as it tried to stab the man's hand that was holding it up by it's scruff. Overall, the creature was about the size of a lion cub, although the tail added an extra foot and a half in length.

"Ah..." The man said who was holding the creature Zavid. "You're one of those mutt manticores. No human face," he observed dully. "And no goat legs, either." He lifted Zavid until their eyes were level. The beast stopped struggling and went still when he saw the man's face, heart skipping a beat in fear.

The man who was holding the monster was truly frightening. His face was one that could hold no emotion but anger and hatred. His eyes were so pale they were almost non-existent, and they had no pupil, either, and also lacked every emotion his face did, and even those his face had. His arms were covered in scars and scabs, and the occasional still-fresh wounds still leaked a deep, crimson red, so deep it looked almost black.

Zavid let out a small whimper and curled his tail between his legs as his neighborhood's murderer observed the manticore with his pale orbs. "Hm... I guess you'll do." The man said. Then he smiled maliciously, carefully hiding his teeth. "Not like I get to pick and choose. The rest of your lot is already well on it's way to Tartarus."

Zavid let out a small mewl of protest. "Let me go!" he cried.

The man clicked his tongue and shook his head. "Now now. Ghotsbe can't do that quite yet. Ghotsbe needs to take you to the gods first to receive his full payment. If I let you go now, then I don't get paid for completing their quest. And an unpaid Ghotsbe is a very, very, very unhappy Ghotsbe."

Zavid let out another whimper but otherwise remained silent.

Ghotsbe smiled toothily, and Zavid's heart nearly stopped when he caught sight of what his mouth hid from sight. Ghotsbe had four perfect rows of teeth, two on the top, and two more on the bottom of his mouth. They glistened with an inhuman-like white color, and they all appeared to be filed to a razor sharp point, ready to tear the throats out of anybody who dared to oppose the man. "Good little monster," Ghotsbe purred. "I think that I will like you very much."

The man turned around and, with Zavid stil ldangling by his scruff in his hand, walked away from the emptied and bloodied neighborhood and towards a large, black semi, that had attached to it an even larger cargo box. Ghotsbe opened the cargo box and threw Zavid into it. Upon impact with the aluminum ground, Zavid turned back into a human.

The young boy scrambled to the far wall of the box, turning around to make sure that Ghotsbe wasn't clambering in after him. Zavid pressed himself against the wall, trying to be as small as he possibly could be.

"Now you be a good little monster and stay quiet, okay?" Ghotsbe asked. Without waiting for a reply, he closed the cargo box door, leaving Zavid alone in complete darkness. The click of a lock sounded, signifying the boy that Ghotsbe had locked him in.

Zavid let out a soft whimper. Sinking to the floor, the young boy brought his knees up to his chest and buried his face in them. Mama... he thought. Tears rushed forth to his eyes and he began to cry once more.

...

Originally, all the dialogue between Zavid and his mother was in French... You're welcome for changing it to English (although I'm sure that yo uall could have figured out what they were saying by the context... XD)

I just have to say... I feel really sorry for my poor baby Zavid.