Hooves trampled the snow as a single deer wove through the thick forest to get away from his hunters. The long brown ear of the young stag twitched and he sprang to the side, dodging the sharp tip of an arrow by a hair's breadth.
The young stag continued to dart between the trees, dodging projectile after projectile thrown his way. He could see the exit of the forest in front of him, where he knew the hunters couldn't chase him, and he sped up.
"CONNER, HURRY UP! IT'S GONNA GET AWAY!!!!" a young voice called out from behind the stag, where a group of hooded people gave chase.
Not paying the humans any mind, said stag hastened for the exit.
Yet, just as hope was finally at his doorstep, it was cruelly snatched away by the heavy leather net thrown over him. The stag fell to the ground from the sudden weight, struggling to get up, kicking and bellowing.
His expressive dark eyes roamed around wildly, looking for a way to get free until they landed on the fur boots of the one that had captured him.
Breathing heavily, the young stag watched as the human kneeled beside him with a small knife raised up in the air.
"Fíor bhuíoch díot" the human whispered and the deer knew no more.
The sound of heavy footsteps neared their location and the human turned to look up at his fellow tribesman.
Smiling, the hunter pulled down his hood to reveal the youthful face of a child. His skin was pale in the winter sun, yet his red eyes gleamed under the sun. His face, still round with baby fat, was framed by locks of long navy blue hair.
The child grinned impishly at the latecomers.
"You guys are late!!"
"Connor! You caught it!"
One of the others cried out as they collectively took off their hoods to reveal locks of the same colored hair and ruby red eyes alongside the still young face.
A child with a big body, wearing his hair short, approached the deer. He was named Finn.
"Let's get back to the camp now," he said, picking up the stag with ease. Connor nodded, laughing as the rest of the boys swarmed him.
"With this we can participate in the Ceremony!!" The shortest of the bunch cheered, eliciting the others to cheer as well.
"We are finally gonna become adults, Liam!!"
Connor agreed with the kid. Cheering one last time, they headed back home, with their heads held high and a skip in their step.
It didn't take the seven boys long to reach the clearing where the tribe had settled for the winter. Several yurts had been set up around the large field, almost invisible against the white snow if not for the brown patches of the road that peeked through here and there.
Throughout the camp, people of similar coloring moved about their day until they finally noticed the boys alongside the large stag that Finn carried.
Silently, adults and kids parted to make way for them to pass by, before following after them as they headed towards the biggest yurt in the center of the tribe.
Finn placed the deer on the ground in front of the Chief's home, then took his place by the rest of his friends.
A graying man, holding a wooden staff, emerged from the yurt. He took a look at the stag presented to him and the seven boys who knelt with their heads held high. The chief of the tribe smiled.
"A splendid hunt." He praised them. "Liam, Finn, Gael, Nolan, Sean, Owen and Conner."
The mentioned boys stood, alert.
"You have proven yourself worthy to become Fasta! And tonight, this deer will be our feast!" the chief shouted, eliciting shouts of joy from the people who quickly swarmed the boys with congratulations.
Watching his people, the graying man let out a roaring laugh full of life. He instructed his people to begin preparing for the feast and headed back inside his yurt, leaving his clan to get things ready.
Conner bid goodbye to the people before he headed for home to deliver the good news to his mother and little sister Maella. His home resided near the east edge of the forest, a small yurt barely big enough for three.
Excited, Conner threw open the door, exclaiming- "I'M GONNA CELEBRATE FASTA!!"
The short woman, who had braided blue hair, jumped in surprise and turned around to look at her son with a scolding ready on her lips, when she finally processed the news. Instantly, her reddish pink eyes twinkled in delight. She wrapped her hands around Connor, hugging him tightly.
"My son is gonna become an adult!!" she squealed happily. Not one to be left out, the six year old Maella joined the hug.
"Brother is gonna be a grown up!!"
Conner nodded, proud of himself for making his family happy. The thirteen year old knelt down to pick up Maella and held her in his arms.
"Yep! And I'm gonna be the best hunter in our tribe!!" He grinned.
"Chief said we'll have a feast tonight!"
Little Maella cheered, "Yayyy!!!! More food!" She squirmed out of Connor's arms in favor of dancing around the warm yurt.
Connor laughed a little at his sister and turned around to see his mother fiddling with her hands worriedly. She murmured softly.
"We... We don't have anything to bring," she began, looking apologetic, but Conner cut her off before she finished.
"Don't worry, Mom! I'll go catch some fish for you to fry." He grinned at her, doing his best to reassure her.
His mother nodded and stroked his hair gently. "You grew up to be a fine man," she whispered to him.
Nodding, Conner hugged his mother, ruffled Maella's hair, and exited the yurt to do as he said. From beside the door, he grabbed a sharp wooden spear for fishing. Afterwards, the long haired boy walked down the forest path, towards the river. Hopefully, he could catch some fish and not end up empty handed.
Soon enough, he arrived at the riverside. Conner threw his thick coat off and removed his shoes. He also rolled up his pant legs and jumped into the cold water to begin his hunt.
The dark haired teen stood still, crouched down with his hands holding the spear up. He watched as the fish swam up the stream ready to strike. Just as the fish neared his range, Conner reacted and impaled the fish with his spear, catching his prey.
Just like that, he repeated this process a few more times until he was satisfied by the amount of fish impaled on his spear and got out of the river. The boy shook the water from his feet and put his boots back on, sighing as warmth encased his freezing legs.
Conner then moved to pick up his coat, only to pause in surprise at the sight that greeted him. On the top of his coat lay a small white puppy, staring at him (or more specifically his spear) with wide silver eyes.
"Ruff!" the puppy barked, stumbling over its short legs to sniff the spear.
Conner carefully plucked one of the smaller fishes off his spear and threw it to the side. The puppy got off his coat and darted towards the fish. He picked up his coat and quickly put it on.
Red eyes observed the puppy as it dug into the fish, obviously hungry from how fervently it ate.
"Are you lost?" he wondered. "What's a dog doing in the forest anyway…," he mumbled as an afterthought.
Meanwhile, the puppy finished its meal and trotted back to where it had found the warm, warm fur only to see that the big human had put it on. The fur was hers! How dare he!
The puppy barked at Conner for the theft. Raising an eyebrow, the teen picked the puppy up by the scruff, causing it to go limp on instinct.
"You're a girl," he noted. "Maybe you were left here because of that."
He placed the indignant puppy in his coat to help her keep warm. "I'll show you to Mom first and ask if we can keep you," he decided and started the trek back home. The puppy whined for a moment at the sudden movement before settling in and dozing off inside the jacket.
The sun had almost fully set by the time they finally came close enough to the camp to see the fire and hear the shouting of the people.
'They must have already begun the feast…' Conner thought, worried that he was late and hastened his steps.
However, the puppy, who had woken up from the noise, reacted differently. She recognized the loud distressed sound of the humans and began barking. Rolling out of the coat, she barked and darted off towards the clearing.
Now alerted, Conner followed after the puppy. He wove through the trees and finally burst into the campground to see, not a bonfire but the entire village being burned to the ground. Left and right, people dressed in foreign clothing dragged and killed his brethren all the while yelling gibberish to each other.
Most, if not all of them, were retreating from the clearing, leaving behind a mountain of corpses to burn alongside the camp. The blue haired teen ran towards his home, hoping and praying that his family was safe, only to see one of the foreign men muttering fervently on the ground right above his struggling mother.
Conner screamed and lunged at the foreigners, stabbing his spear right into the man's jugular. The man dropped to the side and revealed the most gruesome sight he had ever seen. There his mother laid with her clothes ruined by blood, dirt and whatever else the man had done to her. In her gut stood a hilt of a dagger, that held the bright red stone his mother treasured so much.
The teen immediately dropped to his knees and lifted his mother into his arms.
"MOM! MOM!!!"
Weakly, the woman turned to see Conner. She shakily made a grabbing motion towards him resulting in the boy taking her hand in his.
"...t-t…-took-!" she mumbled.
"Mom, please! Took what!? What happened!?"
"M-Ma..M-Mae- cough!!" She coughed out blood.
Connor felt a bile rise up his throat as he figured out what she was saying. The boy swallowed down the tears. 'Now is not the time to be weak!' He trembled.
"O-okay! Okay! I'll get her back mom! I'll get her back! So please-" he choked over the words.
"Please… stay with me…" he begged the pale woman with his eyes shut when he felt a gentle caress on his cheek.
" l-live…" his mother whispered hoarsely to him.
Conner opened his eyes to gaze at his mother as she smiled so serenely, so lovingly at him. He nodded, grasping her hand once again.
"I-I will, Mom. I… I will." He promised, pursing his lips. His mother closed her eyes with the same smile still on her face, satisfied by his response.
Conner opened his mouth to say something else yet no words came out as his mother's hand slipped out of his hold.
The tears that he had been holding back finally broke free and the boy, not quite an adult, bawled. Overwhelmed with grief, Connor cried as his whole world burned around him, with his mother's cooling body still held close to his chest.
That night, a single boy mourned for everything he had lost in the span of a single day. Unaware that the whole forest mourned with him.
That night, he changed. But that is a story of another day.