In the midst of a forest a young boy moved stealthily through the woods. His jet black eyes attentively scanned a pair of tracks in the soft forest floor while he was sniffing the air, always alert.
Ari liked to hunt. It was a legitimate way for him to get out of the other villagers' eyes and be productive at the same time. While the other villagers and even his own sister Mary strongly disliked him due to his heritage they couldn't deny his achievements as a hunter. In fact Ari didn't get why people thought hunting was so hard in the first place. You just had to find some tracks, follow them and then melt into the shadows until you got a clear shot. It was quite easy for him really but he knew better than to brag about it or even more people would start to dislike him if that was even possible by now.
Ten years ago his foster father picked him up in this very forest and due to his success as a hunter his family didn't have to worry about food anymore. It was still clear however that he was an outcast in the village. In the beginning his parents tried all kinds of things to get him to socialise but they all failed in the end and the other kids kept their distance from him which he preferred anyway.
Ari was different from the other kids and this didn't only concern his looks but his whole character was alien to the villagers. Since the day Dave found him in the woods he didn't cry even a single tear. He never asked for toys or other playthings and didn't show a trace of happiness when he got some. Most of the time he didn't express any emotions and yet he is looking back happily to the day he got into a fight with another boy two years older than him who tried to bully him for his looks.
The look of terror in the other boys eyes when he broke his fingers and his desperate attempts to shield his face from Aris merciless punches is something that has been etched into Arris mind.
He knew that he was somehow different from the other villagers but he came to terms with that and just avoided the other villagers if he could do so. The only reason he hasn't abandoned them yet and left the village is that he has nowhere to go in this world. The villagers may make fun of him but who knows what would happen to him in the bigger cities where it needed just one influential man to brand him as a monster and get rid of him.
Ari found out why everybody was so wary of his heritage when he sneaked into the village elders house four years ago. There he read in a history book that the cursed ones are actually called dark elves an ancient race of murderers and evil monsters that declared war on the whole of humanity 10000 years ago. Only after a long and bitter war the humans were with the help of various races able to push the dark elves back and finally crush them.
Since then they were only found in small groups or tribes at the edges of the known world, hardly ever seen by anyone.
Despite his young age Ari understood that history was always written by the victor so he naturally had his doubts about the authenticity of these stories. Not about the fact that the dark elves could be especially cruel at times, in one story for example a dark elven general burned down a thriving city with everybody trapped inside not letting a single one escape because they refused to surrender when they had the chance. Ari could kind of understand this generals way of thinking, few cities refused to surrender to this general after the incident and he advanced quickly until he was eventually defeated.
What Ari doubted was the reason the war broke out in the first place but these were all speculations, speculations that could get you killed for voicing them out loud. Ari shook his head. He had to concentrate; he was here to hunt after all. After following the tracks through the forest for about half an hour he saw his prey. A lone deer stood there in the bushes next to a small clearing. It was exhausted and seemed to have lost its pack. It was an easy game for Ari who silently drew his bow and knocked an arrow. He calmed his breath, took aim and shot the arrow while slowly exhaling the air in his lungs. The deer was hit square between the eyes and fell down dead the next second.
Ari liked hunting, liked to stealthily approach his victims and liked to be victorious when he killed them. They lost, they're dead, he won, he lives. It was simple really but it was one of the rare occasions when Ari was able to feel something in his heart. An excitement and anticipation for more. It was an intoxicating feeling that Ari couldn't get enough from.
When Ari approached his dead prey he heard a rustling in the bushes at the opposite side of the clearing and was instantly alert when a small wolf strode out of the thicket. What made Ari nervous however was that this wolf wasn't an ordinary wolf. Green venom tickled down his fangs and he watched Ari hungrily ready to pounce at him any moment.