Quietly, Quiggly stepped into the darkness as he stealthily approached and steeled himself to what he was about to do. "The master wants to make sure you have your fill of meat before I leave..." "What..." "It's okay boy...just go and fill your belly..." Quiggly watched as the beast gulped down the contents of its plate...its tongue making slurping noises as it did so. Quiggly smiled as he turned back around to the other side and stood at attention. "You're quite a nice boy and I'm sure someone will be nice to you some day. Go now." "What about me?" he asked. "Aren't I important?" "It's time to go home boy...the master wants me to leave and not you. I've got my orders..." He nodded and walked back to the beast. "I love you too sweetie..." "Yup..." He held out a hand to help the beast up and it leaned in and gently nuzzled his palm. It didn't appear to notice as it lumbered over to the exit and out into the main hall. It was quite a distance and Quiggly had to run to catch up with it. "Just like running home huh?" He smiled and shrugged. "It's okay...I haven't run home in a long time..." He walked as it moved around the main hall looking for the exit to wherever it came from. They passed a few other creatures looking for their way home. Some of them nodded or made clicking noises as they went past. The doors opened up and it stepped outside. "Home sweet home..." Quiggly smiled. The air was warm and he could tell the beginning of summer was in the air. The air felt nice and moist, which meant that rain was coming and it felt good. "I haven't run in these lands for quite some time..." "You can run faster though...the master really likes you..." "But I want to leave too..." "You'll leave...just like all the others do. Just like your sisters. I'm sorry sweetie..." He slowed as they passed the creature he liked best. The creature had been brought up in his care and was the first one he befriended. "I'm sorry too...you deserve to have a good home. But I guess we both have to leave..." Quiggly stopped and sat down and held out his hand. The creature sniffed it before stepping in and hugging him. "There..." "I love you too..." "Why did I have to leave..." "You didn't leave...you are going home...and you are better off there..." "I feel like I'm leaving home..." "No...you're going home and you'll live with Mom and Dad...your sisters too..." "I miss them..." Quiggly got up and sat next to him. "Don't feel bad...you get to see all of us at least once every day. I love you and I'll see you again real soon..." "Hey...you ran away from home too...you're the only one that didn't run away..." Quiggly bit his lip. "I know...but I want to go home...I want my family..." "Then get on...but why did you leave?" Quiggly looked up at him and sighed. "I was looking for something...and then someone hurt my family...they hurt Mom and Dad and my sisters...I had to leave...I want to go home...I love you...and I have to go..." He hugged the beast and got to his feet. "I love you too..." The creature let go of his hand and followed him. "Don't you miss playing with your friends?" Quiggly rolled his eyes. "Yup...but we made up so we don't have to worry about that anymore. Now...I have to go and not you. Wait for me here...and I'll be back for you as soon as I can..." The creature didn't say a word and it seemed indifferent to what Quiggly wanted. Quiggly sighed. "I'm sorry buddy...just a part of nature and it's always been this way. Why don't you play with some of your new friends in there...good boy..." He walked to the door and opened it and stepped out into the main room. "Don't forget to let me know when you're going to start telling the others about me." He looked over at him. "I won't forget sweetie...I promise..." He walked to the edge of the room and looked down. He could see the great sea with white crested waves and a sky filled with orange and red clouds. "It's looking quite wonderful." He turned around and followed the path as it disappeared from view. The path was a great way of travel but it was treacherous too. People would fall and sometimes they got injured or died because of it. It was a good way of traveling though...it was more than a hundred feet up to the top of a small mountain. He saw a small stream that wound its way through the valley and eventually joined the sea. As he walked up the path he thought of how much he was going to miss his family and friends. He would no longer have that luxury...he would just be an animal in a cage and would only be able to roam the cages and play with the other animals. He sighed. As he walked up the hill the clouds started to darken and the wind picked up. He looked down and saw lightning and a strange creature flying through the clouds. He looked at him and wondered if he was in some sort of danger...was he going to be attacked by the other animals? He held out his hand and moved toward the creature to see it better. It let out a screeching sound and flew past him and crashed into one of the cages. The top of the cage snapped off and the keeper was thrown into the air and crashed into another cage. He got to his feet as he watched. A few of the other keepers looked at him with curiosity. "Did you do that?" He shrugged. "It flew into the cage and got the keeper...if I could do that, then I might as well try to take over." One of the keepers looked at him. "It's very dangerous! You're supposed to just make sure the animals behave and don't harm each other...not that thing..." "Well I do...what's a keeper if he can't fix things?" He looked at the injured keeper in the other cage. "See what you've done to my keeper..." "Hey...this is not my keeper...you are the one that put me in here..." "Oh yeah...well the master has told me to get rid of you...go on!" He sighed and walked up to the cage and grabbed the keeper by his collar and dragged him to the top of the cage and threw him out into the great sea. He looked back at the keepers and sighed. "I guess it's not going to take too long until the master calls me to come back in. I just have to make sure there is a keeper there that I can trust...and hope he doesn't come along too." He walked back and looked at the keeper. "You don't have to stay in here...you can run around in the cages and play with the other animals. You just have to make sure you treat them well and don't cause them any trouble...that's the best way you can help me...maybe you'll learn a thing or two." "I think I can do that...and why does the master want me to come back...I thought he was going to leave me here...do I have to go home?" Quiggly looked up at the keeper. "He can't stay here...he's too mean. If he stays here, he's going to make trouble for us...and he'll do the same thing to other creatures if we allow him to." "Oh...well in that case, I'll stay here until someone decides to take me home..." "Good boy...well what are you going to call yourself?" "I don't know...what's that supposed to mean?" "Well...that's your name...that's what you're going to be called. Make sure you remember that...everyone else will too...I don't know how many names you've been given...well most people aren't named anymore..." "That's funny...I was a slave and I've been told many things..." "Well those things are just things and not names...you're going to be called something new and you're going to like it. Just be patient and someone will tell you what it is eventually..." "Oh yeah...I'm not all that patient and all that smart..." Quiggly laughed. "I know sweetie...that's why you're here and you're going to become a really good keeper because you think outside of the box. It won't hurt you though if you start thinking as I'm doing right now and figure it out." He nodded. "I guess so...can I ask how old you are?" "Me? I'm...a hundred and twenty one years old. I was young when I first