Hellstinger

8. Goat..?

"Ugh! Grr hmgh..!" Marcus grunts with effort as he climbs out of the cavern onto the leveled ground of the dark cave. "Argh!"

He sighed and exhaled heavily, taking in a lungful of oxygen only to exhale more heavily as he crawled to rest his back on the cave wall.

"Damn..." He huffed heavily, panting and aching. His fingers had blistered, aching, and bleeding, his back felt at its breaking point, his muscles could hardly respond to him anymore, and his stomach groaned relentlessly for food.

He had collected the bow from the stream of luminous fluid, strapped it to his back, and climbed out of the cavern. Marcus had never been so out of his elements before, and climbing had never been an imagination much less doing it fatigued and hungry.

Marcus laughed, who knew he could ever go this hungry and still climb several meters out of an underground cave? No one. Although he has no idea how long ago he had left his hotel room or how far he had walked to the forest, he knows he will have to do it all over again.

"Ah fuck." Marcus groaned. He pushed himself up with great effort and limped out of the cave.

The light blinded him even though the sun was already setting, but he didn't bother shielding his eyes as he raced for the flowing steam to dip his head inside the water again. He drank until he could no longer help himself.

"Oh my God!" He gasped and fell back on his buttocks, panting and laughing. "I'm fucking Marc C Hellstinger. Hahaha. Oh my God, I'm so tired, haha."

"You should go now." Marcus jumped at the voice and fell back into the stream, startled. It was the Old man and behind him, standing three feet taller, was a four-eyed horse-like beast.

"What the....are you trying to scare me to death?" Marcus yelled with a high-pitched hoarse voice. "And what the hell is that thing behind you?"

"This here is a Fra'r, a mystical and noble beast. Hunted to extinction a long time ago and now live under glamour. Every mundane human would look at it and see a horse or a donkey, but an extraterrestrial will see it for what it is." The Fra'r snotted and strouted towards Marcus.

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Marcus stumbled back tripping and falling into the stream and splashing around to get away from the beast. "Stay stay, stay the...oh my God, stay!"

The Fra'r listened. It turned around as though showing off its perfect muscles and its six legs; four in front and two at the back. Marcus pushed himself back up and he had to admit, as terrifying as the Fra'r is, it is a magnificent beast.

"When you give it a name, it will become yours to command and protect." The Old man said.

"So all I have to do is name it?"

"Yes, choose a name within you and keep it secret." The Old man replied. Marcus did as told and the Fra'r went down on its knees.

The Old man continued; "it will only listen to you and will protect you with its life. And of course, take you anywhere you want to go."

"Are you kidding me right now?" Marcus laughed. "I own bikes and cars that can go at least 200 miles per hour, I own two private jets, and a yacht. And you want me to go around on a horse that can't go more than 30 kilometers per hour?"

The Old man is gone, the cave is gone, and the stream he was standing in just a second ago is gone. Marcus turned every which way, surprised. The only reason he could not write off the events of the last hour as another hallucination is the Fra'r kneeling before him and the Hellstinger bow strapped to his back.

"The f..." Marcus sighed. At least he wouldn't have to walk around the forest for days looking for his way home on foot, that is if this Fra'r wouldn't throw him off and stomp him to death.

"Okay....whops, okay now." He stepped close to the kneeling Fra'r, "Stand up, Goat." The Fra'r stood up snorting but calm;

"Okay... that's good boy, good boy," Marcus said with a chuckle. " Now turn around." It obeys with what feels like excitement.

"Okay, okay Goat, I'm going to climb on now. Do not throw me off, got it?" Goat snorted as though in understanding. Marcus climbed on awkwardly, and without a saddle or reins on the Fra'r, it only made riding it a lot harder.

"Now remember I am your bro, okay? And I like gentle things. Promise to always be gentle?" Goat snorted again. "Right. Now, let's find our way home."

It took all night, or maybe it didn't, but by the time Marcus snapped out of his sleep, Goat was standing before the front door of a manor.

'Shit, when did I fall asleep?'

He thought to himself as he tried to identify anything around him. But all he could see was one massive manor sitting on a massive compound with a clean-mowed lawn and a sculpture fountain of a naked woman taking her bath.

'That can't be appropriate, can it?'

He jumped off his Fra'r with aching thighs, bruised body, and a bare chest. He knows he must look like a homeless man, but his only hope is that the butler of the manor recognizes him as Marc C before throwing him out.

The door opened, and Marcus put on his best smile only to see Alexander standing in a white shirt and bootcut trousers.

"Lexy?" Marcus could not believe his eyes. "Was I gone for so long that you got yourself another job, you lousy bodyguard."

"Oh Pumpkin," Alexander said, stepping out of the manor to hug Marcus, "where have you been?"

"Mmm," Marcus cooed like a baby with tears threatening his eyes, "Lexy!" He sniffed.

The pair stood in an embrace for a few seconds before Alexander noticed the beast standing patiently behind Marcus.

"Ah," Alexander let go of Marcus and stepped toward Goat, "I see you got yourself a Fra'r."

"Wha...what?" Marcus looked from Alexander to Goat. "You can see Goat for what he is? You know what a Fra'r is?"

"You named him Goat?"

"I...ma..it was the first thing that came to my mind," Marcus said with a mock frown, defending himself with a stutter.

"How is Goat the first thing that came to your mind?" Alexander said with a laugh, stroking the Fra'r's mane. She looked at Marcus and she could see there was no telling what he had been through. Born into comfort and raised with a silver spoon, it's a miracle he didn't die from his ordeal.

"You have been through hell, eh?" Marcus' pouted his lips and slurped his shoulders to tell of his fatigue, nodding positive and spreading out his arms for a hug;

"Come on in, you look like shit."