"Co on," Tharun tried once more, his voice slightly pleading but still loud. "He’s one of us. Anyone. Who’s willing to give him a place? Just temporarily. At least until his mory returns."
Silence.
The ape-n looked at one another, then returned to their conversations, back to their roasted at, back to their bonfire. As if Leonard didn’t exist. As if Tharun hadn’t been speaking at all.
A young man said lazily, "I don’t want the trouble, Chief. He’s weak. Just a burden."
Another chid in, "Yeah. If he follows around, it’ll be embarrassing."
Leonard heard everything. Every word. Every laugh. Every sneer.
And inside his chest, sothing nearly shattered.
His hands clenched at his sides, nails almost piercing his palms. His jaw tightened until the muscles in his cheeks bulged. His breaths ca short and hot.
He wanted to beat them all. One by one. He wanted to prove he wasn’t trash. He wanted to—
But he knew.
He knew that if he moved now, if he tried to fight back, they would crush him easily. His thin body, his minimal strength—he could do nothing against beastkin who were, even at their weakest, many tis stronger than him.
They were right. He was weak. He had lost to Lily in a single kick. He had no fur, no muscles, no use.
"They’re right."
The thought felt like a knife stabbing into his own heart.
Tharun let out a long sigh. He looked at Leonard with pity in his eyes.
"I’ve tried, Leo," he said quietly, ant only for Leonard. "But you’ve seen it yourself. They don’t want to."
Leonard stayed silent.
Tharun patted his shoulder again, lighter this ti. "You’ll have to look on your own, Leo. Talk to them one by one. Maybe soone will help you. Maybe you can convince them."
Leonard heard those words and felt sothing bitter rise in his throat.
"Look on my own? Talk to them one by one? You an... beg?"
His face didn’t change, but inside, anger burned.
"You just humiliated in front of everyone. And now you’re telling to go beg from one person to another?"
He looked at Tharun. The large man had already returned to his conversation with the other hunters, as if Leonard were no longer his concern.
"Yeah, of course. It’s not your problem."
Leonard took a deep breath. Then he bit his lip hard until it bled.
The salty taste of blood on his tongue pulled him back to reality. He felt that pain—better than the pain in his chest he couldn’t touch.
Leonard nodded.
Then he turned and walked away.
"Hey, the loser’s leaving!" soone shouted from behind. "Going to beg sowhere else?"
"Poor hairless ape!"
"Go back to the forest and beco animal food!"
"Better off dead, embarrassing freak!"
Their laughter followed his steps. Leonard didn’t turn around. He didn’t stop. He kept walking away from the bright bonfire and the people who mocked him.
He passed the tents, passed the groups still feasting, passed the edge of the ape settlent. His feet carried him sowhere—he didn’t know where. Just away. Away from them. Away from all of it.
"I won’t," he muttered inwardly. "I won’t beg. I won’t plead with them. I won’t lower myself any further than this."
His lip was still bleeding. He licked it, tasting iron.
Better to die than do sothing like that.
The forest beyond the settlent was dark, but the moonlight was bright enough to illuminate the path. Leonard kept walking, past towering trees, past bushes whispering in the night wind. His eyes began to burn, but he held it in.
After walking for who knew how long, he arrived at a river.
The water was clear, reflecting the full moon. On its surface, the moon’s reflection swayed gently with the current. Large stones lay scattered along the bank—so the size of chairs, others as big as cars. The surrounding trees ford a natural canopy that occasionally let thin beams of moonlight pass through.
Leonard stopped. He stared at the water for a mont. Then slowly, he crouched at the river’s edge, leaned forward, and looked at his own reflection.
For the first ti in this world, he saw his face.
Short black hair, slightly curly, ssy from the wind. Blue eyes—the sa blue as in his old world, but under the moonlight they seed deeper now, almost like liquid sapphire. Pale white skin under the cold glow. A sharp nose, thin lips pressed tightly together. Eyes that looked... tired. Frustrated. Angry. Yet behind all that, there was sothing else. Sothing that refused to give up.
Leonard stared at the reflection for a long ti.
His face wasn’t bad. Actually, quite handso. In his old world, with a face like this and a height of 186 centiters, he might have drawn won’s attention. But here? In a world that valued brute strength and thick fur?
"Pathetic trash," he muttered to his reflection.
His stomach suddenly growled loudly, a long rumble echoing in the quiet night.
Leonard sighed. Hunger. He had almost forgotten about it because of his anger.
He cupped his hands, scooped up river water, and drank. It was cold, fresh—far cleaner than the tap water in his old city.
"Hope this is hygienic," he muttered sarcastically, then drank again. And again. And again.
He drank until his stomach felt full, until the rumbling subsided. Water wasn’t food, but at least it filled him for now.
When he finished, Leonard sat on a large rock by the river. The night wind blew stronger, striking his body. He shivered. His breath ford thin vapor in the cold air.
He looked up. The moon shone brightly in the star-filled sky. Beautiful. But beauty ant nothing when his body trembled from the cold.
Leonard lay down on a relatively flat boulder. The stone was cold, biting into his back, but he was too exhausted to care. He stared at the perfectly round moon above.
"My life is really a ss."
His thoughts drifted.
"How did it co to this? If I had to be reincarnated, why not as a noble in a dieval world? Or thrown into a ga world as so extra character? Or as a cool villain in one of those isekai novels? Why ? Why the Stone Age? Why like this?"
He clenched his fists.
"No one. Nothing. Insulted, belittled, treated like trash. This... this is insane."
The question kept circling in his mind.
"Why ? Out of the millions who die every day, why am I the one stranded here? In this primitive world with nothing?"
"Damn it."
The anger he had been holding back surged again.
Leonard sat up, fists clenched. With all his strength, he punched the large rock beside him.
BUMP!
The rock didn’t move.
Pain shot through his knuckles. His skin split open, blood flowing. But he didn’t care.
He wanted to scream, but the sound caught in his throat. Only a low growl escaped.
After a few seconds, he slumped down. His breathing was ragged. His hand bled, but the physical pain strangely cald him.
"Calm down. Calm down."
He closed his eyes. Took a deep breath. Slowly let it out.
"Complaining is useless. None of this will change just by whining."
He opened his eyes.
The wound on his hand had already healed.
The dried blood was still there on his skin. But beneath it, smooth new skin had ford. No wound. No scar.
"Regeneration," he thought. "At least there’s that."
Leonard stood up. His body was still shivering from the cold, arms crossed over his chest to warm himself. He started walking—without knowing where, just walking.
But after a few steps, he stopped.
"Where am I even going?"
The question hung in his mind.
He looked around. Forest on both sides. River behind him. Sky above. The sa moon lighting his path.
"Purpose. What’s my purpose?"
He had no one in this world. No friends. No family. No ho. Even the beastkin who were supposedly his own kind mocked him, belittled him, and rejected him.
"Then why am I still walking?"
He stood in the middle of the path. The night wind blew again, striking his body. He shivered harder.
"Should I just stop now?"
Leonard looked up at the sky. The moon was perfectly round, shining coldly. The stars flickered in silence.
The sky did not answer.
Reviews
All reviews (0)