Surrounded by the lush green forest of Jakara, secluded within the lofty mountains of the west was a small village settlement of Silvon. The home of humble lumberjacks and peddlers that would come for trade in the mountains once or twice a year.
It was a close-knit community of people that tried their best to survive in the mountains. Winters were very harsh as the rocky mountains would be layered with a white coat of snow. Hence, they could only get through by working together.
However, in the summer, the snow caps would melt, running cold refreshing water streams throughout the forest. The woodland fauna would emerge from hibernation and the eerie quiet forest would liven up again.
The hustle and bustle of the forest would always prompt hunters to scavenge for food and resources. This cycle would rinse and repeat every single year without fail.
One such hunt was currently taking place. A furious wild boar with crooked tusks could be seen charging into a boy barely around 14. It was a peculiar scene as the boy neither dodged nor ran.
Instead, with a mischievous smile on his face, he stood his ground. Suddenly, with the boar in striking distance, the boy leapt with vicious speed. He had planned to directly confront the furry beast from the start.
He twisted his fingers and grappled the tusks of the boar. Shifting his body to the side he wrestled the massive beast to the ground. But this fight was not over.
A feral growl echoed in the forest as the beast flung him backwards. It was fully enraged. This was no normal boar, but a creature that could use mana to strengthen itself. The boy was no stranger to it, he too had used mana to match the boar's vigorous tackle.
Naturally, this adept hunter was Jacob. Tasked with procuring food for the villagers, he regularly hunted magical beasts in the forest. Although he was only 14, Jacob was naturally gifted at hunting. He had a knack for mana, his instincts were sharp, and his body strong. This was all he had ever needed.
"Tch, Uncle Ed told me I gotta come back early today".
Despite the intimidation by the boar, Jacob wasn't afraid but rather calm. He stretched his arms a bit and got ready to tussle once again. Instead of using weapons, he preferred using his body to wrestle wild beasts.
It was a very peculiar style of hunting, one that required immense physical strength and talent. As such, in his whole village, only he dared to hunt without weapons.
Albeit dangerous, this had many advantages. He didn't need to carry longbows or spears that would slow him down. Instead, he moved freely like a predator searching for prey.
As Jacob took a stance, the boar already eager to pummel him into the ground galloped forward for a quick strike.
However, this time instead of the tusks, Jacob struck towards its legs. As the boar rushed in, he easily toppled it over. Before the beast could recuperate, He struck with precision, a single blow to the heart ...
[Krck]
The power of the blow was immense, immediately crushing its heart and ribs. The boar squealed as the last embers of life drained out of it.
Jacob let out an exhausted sigh,
"Hnghhh.....I guess I should carry it back fast or Uncle Ed might yell at me for being late"
He could already hear his uncle nagging him to death no matter how he fast he showed up. It was a helpless situation.
With this thought, he quickly hurled the massive carcass over his shoulder and started running back home.
A hysterical sight could be seen as Jacob hurried back home with a carcass about five times his size on his back. However, just as he reached the village gate, he saw some weird carriages with a caravan pulling into the village.
Jacob was confused and could not understand why.. The village would rarely ever get visitors not to mention carriages or caravans. The only time this would happen..... Ah! The trade merchants. So it was today.
Jacob had completely forgotten about it and hence was shocked to see some carriages. He had spent his whole life in the mountains and never really got to understand how they built those huge wheels.
After staring at them for a while, Jacob felt mesmerized. Almost forgetting he had to deliver the meat to Uncle Ed's shop.
After 10 minutes...
"Ah shit shit, I can't believe I was lost in thought.... I am really getting scolded today"
Jacob ran towards a small house with an oak sign hanging on top. The sign had "Ed's Butchery" carved into it, presumably with a dull knife. As Jacob stepped on the wooden porch he dropped the boar and walked towards the door.
However, just as he was about to open it, he could faintly hear his uncle talking with someone. As he sneakily peeked through the windows, he caught a glimpse of a boy about his age with white hair and relatively posh clothes arguing with his uncle.
A customer?....
Jacob could see that both people were lost in thought but just as he was about to enter through the door....
His uncle spotted him peeking through the windows....
"Oh shit!"
Jacob had been caught red-handed and was preparing himself for a stern lecture, surprisingly, his uncle instead had a smile on his face as he pointed at him while talking to the boy.
He couldn't quite make out what they were saying and was still clueless to their conversation. Nevertheless, he opened the door to deliver the meat for the butchery.
He meekly said
"Uh... Uncle Ed I brought the meat you asked for"
Jacob walked in holding the carcass. Although the carcass was massive (about 250 kg!) he easily lifted and hung it in the back of the house. The white-haired stared at him curiously as he performed these tasks.
Once he finished storing the boar, Jacob was called by his uncle.
"Hmmm.... Nice job on the boar today, as for the reason I called you, this young man here is looking for a place to stay.. As you already know, the merchants have fully booked the inns.... there is no place available."
Jacob instantly understood the boy's dilemma, having no place to live while in the mountains was rough. He was an orphan before his uncle took him in. So he was quite used to living rough.
"Jacob, I know you have some room in your house up the mountains, why don't you let the boy stay there tonight?"
Uncle Ed was naturally talking about the hunting cabin, a log cabin Jacob had built from old oak trees with stone as a foundation. Jacob would always sleep there whenever he wanted to explore the forest deeper. To him, that place was a safehouse.
After some thought, Jacob agreed; he couldn't let someone spend their night alone in a forest full of ferocious beasts.
" Sure, I can put out two beds there and stay the night with him too"
With Jacob's permission, the young lad felt quite happy, a house to sleep in was all he had wanted for the night.
"Great, why don't you go show the boy around town while I set up shop for the merchants, today's a big trading day so I am sure the meat is gonna sell like mad Haahahhaha"
Uncle ed gave a burst of vicious laughter, Jacob was certain he was going to rip off those merchants for the meat, a sly smile spread across his face. More money for the shop meant more pocket money he could get..... maybe ripping off merchants wasn't such a bad idea after all....
"Hehehhehehhehe" Jacob and his uncle were both laughing maniacally thinking of the profit... they had both forgotten about the boy still in front of them....
A few minutes later....
Jacob and the boy left the shop to go do some sightseeing, as they were walking around they could see massive tents being set up for the trading caravans, it was clear the mountains had a lot of valuables, otherwise the merchants wouldn't make such an effort.
"Thanks for letting me stay the night.... By the way, my name is Elijah, nice to meet you"
The boy extended his hand towards Jacob.
"Ah... Nice to meet you too, I'm Jacob"
He had almost forgotten to introduce himself.....
As he shook Elijah's hands he felt strange, a certain smell had piqued his interest. It was a rustic metallic scent that he picked up from his hands. But he concluded it was nothing special, anyone working with knives or blades for awhile would smell a bit metallic to him.
He had an excellent sense of smell, almost extraordinary, and he had smelled a similar scent from his uncle's hands.
Hence, he paid no extra attention to it.
As Jacob and Elijah toured the town's main attractions, which generally consisted of small animals scuttering around town, gigantic trees that almost covered the horizon and mountains with erratic boulders, It was almost evening.
As they saw the beautiful sunset from the mountain top, the boys had retreated to the log cabin in the highland. Elijah was quite impressed when saw the quality of the house, it probably hadn't been easy to build.
"This oak wood is amazing, who built this?"
He thought some carpenter of some sort had managed to somehow get all the materials up here and construct this but was shocked to hear that Jacob had built it himself.
"Haaa... That's nice, it seems you've got some skill with your hands"
Jacob was quite flustered at the unexpected compliment.
"Ah...thank you... it wasn't that hard I just cut up some tree's around here and put this together.. hahaha..."
Jacob began preparing the bedding for the night since the cabin was too small, he decided he would just set up two hammocks on the roof so both of them had room.
As they both climbed to the roof, the were in awe of the beautiful starry night. It seemed as if the stars connected the endless horizons and vast oceans of the world. Jacob was mesmerized; although he had lived here for a while, such a sight was rare to see.
It seemed today was a really special night.
Jacob and Elijah laid comfortably, staring into the brilliant stars covering the sky. As they were both near sleep, Elijah asked a peculiar question..
"Jacob, what do you want to be in the future?"
Elijah was quite curious, Jacob had shown signs of being really talented, so why was he still staying in a small village? Such questions were running through his mind. As they were about to sleep, he figured he would ask in hopes of an answer.
Jacob, who felt really drowsy was perplexed, he had never really considered that far into the future. He never really wanted to become something, rather he was very satisfied living a humble life in the mountains. But he had a dream.. One day he would definitely adventure around the whole world.
"I – I don't know.... maybe I will try to travel around when I grew up..., What about you Elijah? What do you wanna be?".
Elijah had a gleeful smirk on his face, he had obviously travelled this far with a single goal in his mind.
"You see...I want to become a strong magician in the future, someone who can do whatever he wants... that's why I am travelling towards the Reneva Dukedom, I heard the magic aptitude exams for the universities will take place there.... I will definitely pass and get in"
Elijah clutched his fist; he had come this far and would surely succeed. As Jacob saw his determination, he felt respect rising in his heart for him. He too wanted to be as determined for something.
Although he had no goal in mind... Jacob wanted to work towards his own future too..
What I want to do in the future huh.... as he was lost in thought they both slowly drifted asleep. Unaware, of the hurdles before them, the two boys slept peacefully as the night passed ever so sweetly.