Chapter 4 : "Welcome To The Family"

When the sun started to claim the night sky, as I was still sleeping, most of the Gigas in the warm cave were already awake.

Some of them had spotted me laying down next to Enna as they pass by, confused.

They got called to gather outside. I was still sleeping when I heard a female voice calling.

"Wake up you lazy head!" to which I slowly started to wake up.

I raised my head slowly opening my still sleepy eyes. I saw a face close to me.

This scared me greatly. I quickly pulled myself back and lowered my head to the ground.

"Don't be scared, and come with me already!" said the same female voice in front of me.

That was Orchid. She looked at me with her piercing and curious eyes.

As I was too frozen in fear to answer the young adult, she spoke up again, with a little bit of reassurance in her voice.

"Come on. Rest of the family wants to know you."

I was surprised. I expected her to tell me to leave the den, because as Enna said, 'I will stay here for at least one night'.

I was still just looking at Orchid not moveing a muscle, she rolled her eyes and growled.

"Come with me now. You are testing my patience!" I could hear how irritated she was by my actions. So I swiftly pulled myself up from the ground, still limping a bit. I carefully made my way over to the female.

"Finally, now follow me outside. My mom already told the others about you" Orchid informed me with a monotone voice.

"You are quite lucky that my mom found you. If that was my father he would kill you in the spot without hesitation" added Orchid. I was busy keeping up with her fast walking pace.

"Believe me or not, but when I saw your mother I was sure that I would die any second" I mumbled staring at the ground.

"How did you even end up like this?" she asked me as she stopped to inspect me.

"Oh. Well it's a long story" I answered trying to avoid her sharp eyes to hide how scared I was.

"Go on." Orchid insisted that I explain how I ended up looking like I got trampled by a herd of Triceratops.

"Well when I was just a youngling I had to run away from a rex. Running, I fell down to the quarry, and now I just stumbled over a rock and knocked myself out after I fell down a small hill" I answered, staring at my feet, ashamed by how dumb I was, to trip over a rock.

"Then you are indeed very lucky that my mom found you that night. My father is often going next to that stream after hunting. He was on a night hunt just yesterday. You should be greatful that my mom not only spared you, but also brought you here. You would've died otherwise ... most likely" Orchid blurted walking out of the cave.

When she noticed I was not following her anymore, but had stopped at the cave enterance, she growled.

"Hey you coming?!".

"Y-yes I am" I answered with a stutter, scared.

We had walked towards the others. I saw how Maugrim was playing with his younger brother Roody. I also spotted those adolescents as they stood there waiting for me to come closer. When I arrived to a hearing distance, I heard Enna talking with two other adult females and two adult males.

"You didn't see her anywhere?" asked Enna.

"No Enna. Last time i saw her was when we parted ouer ways close to canyon to have bigger chances of getting any pray" replid one of the males.

"Have you checked the canyon? She could be stuck." Enna asked.

"Checked. She was not in the area." replied the male.

"I just hope she will be back soon. Anyway, thank you for bringing the prey here Baltier" Enna hummed, trying to organize everything.

"We are here mom!" Orchid hollered.

"Oh great! We are still missing two hunters, but I'm sure they will come back soon." Enna replied calmly.

"Everyone! This is Skylen Xander. He will stay with us for the time being! He is under my protection! Think of him as of a new family member. When the others come back, we will vote if he can stay or not" explained Enna.

"Sky, you've already met my kids Orchid, Maugrim and Roody" Enna stated, introducing me to the her family.

"This is Haute" Enna said, pointing at an adult female. She was light brown in color, with a white underbelly and blue stripes across her face and back.

"This is Chaos" pointing at an another adult female. She was dark brown in general with black spots on tail and head.

"That's Jaiden, Haute's mate" said Enna looking at black and white adult male. Bottom half of his body was white and top was black. He also had bright yellow stripes going across his head and tail.

"And this is Baltier, Maddie's mate, but she hasn't returned back from the hunt yet" Enna explained looking at an adult male that she talking with before. He was mostly black but there was an orange stripe travelling up his under jaw to the tip of his tail.

"This is Calista, Haute's daughter" continued Enna looking at an adolescent female. She was mostly light brown with some black on upper parts of her face and back, with yellow stripes across her head and tail.

"This is Lynx, Chaos' son" He was a young adult, I believe the same age as Orchid. He looked oddly familiar. He was mostly brown with black spots on his back and chest. For some reason he looked just like that younger giga I met in the quarry.

I lost that thought in the back of my mind, as Enna continued the introduction.

"And this is John, he is a son of Maddie" He was whole ebony black with yellow stripes across his head and tail.

"Nice to mee-" I tried to speak up, but Enna wasn't done talking.

"There is also my mate who hasn't come back from the night hunt yet, he is named Kalash."

My heart sunk down to my stomach. My lungs forgot how to breathe.

"D-d-did you say ... Kalash ..?" I asked shaking in fear as memories from the past clouded my vision.

"Um. Yes, Kalash. I there something wrong Sky?" Enna asked asked, worried. I wasn't sure if I was able to talk.

"I-I think I-I met him be-before" I stuttered my voice getting quieter by the moment.

"Nonsense!" Orchid exclaimed.

"You would not be here with us now if you had met Kalash" she added after short pause.

"How did he look like?" asked Enna trying to comfort me, as I was nearly crying on the ground.

"W-well ... he was whole ebony black with red stripes across his upper jaw back and tail" I answered trying my best to calm myself down.

Enna turned to look at Orchid, the young adult looked stunned.

"That sounds like Kalash."

"But don't worry you are safe here. He won't harm you" She added, but I could hear hesitation in her voice.

After I tried my best to calm down and stand up, I noticed how the apexes looked at me with care. Only Balthier was looking at me wearily.

"So Sky! How did you survive running into my father?" asked Orchid with a curious and excited tone.

"Umm well ... It all started one night when my pack got attacked by rexes. I was a youngling at that time. While I was running away from the monster who attacked my family, I fell down to the bottom of Quarry and after I woke up and tried to find a way up, I heard stomps and a terrifying roar. I hid down in the quarry. After a while this Kalash and one younger giga that looks to be Lynx, came down, and found me. Kalash was scaring me about 'how delicious I looked' and stuff like that. I was sure I was going to die there! But after a while they just left. After I had I climbed to the top of quarry I found out they were waiting for me up there. I was once again terrified. He just looked at me and let me go with this evil look on his face as he told me to 'go now before I change my mind'. So yeah, that was my encounter with Kalash" as I finished up the story. The Giga pack looked surprised I was still in one piece.

"And you say you were a youngling at that time?" Asked Jaiden.

"Ummm yes. Yes I was" I answered confused.

"Why are you asking?" I added after a pause.

"Oh well ... There is a reason we called him a youngling devourer" Baltier chuckled smiling in almost the same way that Kalash did when he found me.

"Stop scaring him!" Enna commanded as she stood close to me.

"I-Is this true?" I asked Enna, shaking all over from fear.

"Ummm well ... It.., is true but you don't have to worry about it" Enna replied nuzzling me to try and comfort me.

I started to be calm enough to stand on my own, without leaning on Enna. Then the air around me changed.

Time slowed down when my heart began to race.

I could smell blood flowing in the soft breeze. I was about to ask if Enna heard the heavy footsteps as well, but I started to see what was making the sound and shut my mouth.

It was no one else but Kalash, holding a body of a young adult triceratops. The corpse was obviously heavy, but the Giganotosaurus male kept it above the ground. His jaws had a strong grip on the herbivore.

I sat down and started to breathe heavy, tears of fear building in the corners of my eyes.

"What is it Sky?" she asked, as she got closer to me.

"K-K-Kalash !" I yelped, my eyes fixated on him.

"Sorry for being late. I had a small tussle with a Rex..." He said monotonely as he dropped the dead herbivore on the ground. Kalash turned his head to look straight at me. I thought he hadn't seen me yet.

"Oh well, look who has joined our feast" Kalash chuckled while he looked at me smiling, showing his bloody teeth.

"Kalash..." Enna interrupted.

"What ?! I'm only surprised that I met him again" Kalash answered, with a mockingly innocent voice.

"I know ... you are scaring him more, can't you see?!"Enna questioned strictly.

As Kalash and Enna both looked at me, I wasn't sure how to feel. At the same time I was sure I was safe with Enna, but I was deeply afraid of Kalash and the fact that he was the mate of the only Giga I trusted here, complicated things.

"Come on little one, don't make a scene" Kalash sighed.

"Xander" I replied.

"Excuse me ?" Kalash said, surprised.

"My name is Skylen Xander" I stated, trying to hide my fear as best as I could.

"So Skylen, can you please stop acting like a child. You came here, You showed you can be brave, so don't be scared and relax a little" he said his words a bit muffled as he dragged the kill closer to the pack.

"So who is hungry?" He asked and there were already adolescents running to the kill.

My stomach growled loudly. I hadn't eaten for the past three days. But I did not dare to come closer to the meat while the large apexes eat.

Orchid noticed and turned to her mother.

"Mom, look at Sky. He must be really hungry, but it looks like he is too scared to come and eat with us."

Not long until Enna had dropped a big chunk of flesh in front of me.

Enna pushed the food closer to me, right to my snout.

"Th-thank you very much" was all I could say before I dug my teeth into the meat and tore it to pieces. I swallowed the food quickly as if someone would snatch the meal from me any second.

At this Enna just smiled.

"Slow down Sky. No one will take it from you." I slowed down and felt the still warm blood on my face.

'That must have looked embarrassing' I thought as Enna laughed a bit at my reaction.

"You can relax Skylen" Kalash mumbled. He was eating a large piece of the kill to my right.

"Welcome to the family" Enna said, fondly.

I was surprised. I never thought I'd have a family again.

I wanted to truly be a part of this family.