The handcrafted spear hit the dummy and clung onto it as a tall, lean young man with a wild, almost feral look in his sharp green eyes stood up. He wiped his brow, brushing his deep dirt colored hair to the side. The sun beat down onto him with an intensity he had almost forgotten.
Arin stepped over and pulled the spear out with his left hand with ease and hit the end of the spear onto the ground with a thud. He let out another sight of relief.
"Well, well, well look at who we have here!" A squeaky voice spoke somewhere behind Arin. He didn't have to turn to know it was Goriath. The muscle-head stood tall with his large body and arms, tatted with many accomplishments which showed his dedication to protecting the village of Thornwood.
"Come to tell me I can't go hunting, again?" Arin asked, turning around. Goriath stood with a small group of newly adults around their age. They all snickered as they dawned their leather armor, spears, bows and arrows.
"Why would we want someone who wants to protect Beasts to come with us?" Vee, a crimson-haired girl, asked. "You would only get in our way."
"We'll just end up hunting the only one who is still a kid!" Goriath laughed. He pointed at Arin who didn't have a single tattoo to display proudly on his body. The rest of the group laughed. "The Hunter tells his own son to not hunt and deploys the rest to go in his stead! Surely, it's because he killed his own Mother!"
Arin's cheek twitched at the mention of his Mother. He didn't hesitate to lift the spear and toss it straight for Goriath. Everyone jumped backwards, letting out a scream as the spear landed just short of Goriath.
"What's this?" Arin smirked. "You fear the one without stories? Why would you fear someone who doesn't have anything to tell on his body?" He made his way over to the spear with a proud confidence and grabbed his spear.
Goriath stopped Arin, letting a low growl out. "You will never be anyone here, Drakhar. Your own father curses you for killing all those people including your Mother on that fateful day. It's a shame… You could've brought honor to the hunt if you weren't a jinx."
Arin's cheek twitched harder and something deep inside stirred within him. He could feel his body growing with his anger, but he stopped. He slapped Goriath's hand away and plucked his spear out of the ground and turned.
"Go and bring honor, then." Arin spoke coldly. "I will not stop you. Do you assigned jobs and play your roles like puppets. You wouldn't want to get yelled at, hm?"
Goriath and the others scowled as they all turned, leaving Goriath for last.
Goriath let out one last insult before he turned and left. "You should've died then. It's a shame the
Arin kept his back to them all. He waited until he could no longer hear their steps and let out a frustrated roar. He raised his spear and threw it at the dummy, piercing its head off.
The sun had made its way to the other side of the forest, slowly getting ready to set and let his lover appear in the sky. The skies were painted with oranges, reds and yellows. Soon, the night would paint the sky in black, purples and deep shades of sapphire.
Arin sat at the base of the Eldertree. It was a massive, ancient tree in the heart of Thornwood. The elders and Arin's father came here to do rituals when they needed wisdom for problems that occurred. Arin spent most of his time in and around the Eldertree. He felt the safest with the tree and his father never looked for him here.
He noticed the sun position and let out a sigh. "They should be back by now. I should head back to greet them or else Father will scold me."
Arin lifted himself up, holding onto the Eldertree for support when something strange shook him. He could hear cries. Familiar cries painted with shrieks of horror.
'What's this…?' Arin questioned. 'Is… something wrong?' He instinctively looked up to the Eldertree. It had been a source of power and wisdom for many centuries since the inception of Thornwood. The villagers all followed their ancestors' ways and the tree was never wrong. It was warning him of something horrible to come… or happening now.
He grabbed his spear and rushed off. The village blurred around him and he soon found himself at the entrance of the village.
Everyone stood at the gates, waiting for the young hunters to return. Arin spotted his father near the gate and quickly weaved himself through the crowd with ease, reaching the front.
"Father," he tugged on the tall man with graying hair. Arin's father glanced at his direction for a moment before returning it towards the gate. "I have a bad feeling about this."
"What do you mean?" Father whispered. "Were you slacking off again? I thought I told you to train harder so you can join the others."
Arin licked his lips, purposely ignoring his father's words. "No, the Eldertree showed me something."
"You went near the tree?!?" Father's words were louder than he expected them to be. The villagers' ears perked up. Father glanced at the villagers then pulled his son over to the side, speaking much lower. "I told you not to go to the tree. You know its forbidden. Were you ignoring my orders and slacking off, again?"
"Father, it's not the time for this. The tree definitely showed me something. No, it made me hear something." Arin shook his head.
"What nonsense are you saying? Only the Spiritualists are able to tune in with the tree. Go back home and wait for me there. I'll punish you once the hunters come back." Father motioned to the house and turned to stand back in place with the rest of the villagers.
Arin turned and spoke loudly for all to hear. "I'm not lying! The Eldertree made me hear the hunters! They're all going to die if we don't do something soon!"
The crowd began to mutter. What was the Hunter Leader's son saying?
Father moved quickly to grab Arin and pull him away before he could say anything else. "Come, boy… I told you not to spin your crazy tales. Go home now."
"If you aren't going to believe then I'll save them myself!" Arin pulled away from his father, displaying a strength unknown to either of them. He turned and quickly rushed out of the gates, leaving his father to yell for him.
Despite his Father's protest and constant punishments to stay inside Thornwood, Arin's senses were sharp. He rushed through the forest, passing the Eldergrove trees that surrounded the village.
'I'll look for signs of where they went and go from there!' Arin formulated his plan in his head. The sound of lightning cracked and rain began to pour. 'Where did the rain suddenly come from? There wasn't a cloud in the sky sinc—'
"AHHH!"
"Over there!" Arin turned left and rushed forward. The rain grew thick and soon the sunset light grew pitch black. "What's going on?" He slipped and fell, landing in mud as the storm grew louder.
Screams echoed off into the distance as Arin grabbed his spear and pushed himself up. It wasn't time for him to stop and wonder what was happening. If he did that, he would be too late!
As Arin moved through the darkness, a set of yellows eyes followed him. It followed Arin, standing just out of the human's detection range. It watched as the human ran through the darkness without fear of running into anything. It looked stupid as it almost ran into the trees, but each time the human stopped short of it.
It watched, impressed, by the human. The human didn't act like the other humans. It acted almost like a Beast out of… instinct. It was strange to see a human do such a thing. As it crept forward, the human began to act odd. It was as if… the human knew it was being followed.
No, that couldn't be.
It was great at hiding and sank into the shadows like it did hunting prey. The human stopped and turned, scanning their surroundings. The human did this for a while and It decided to wait. The shadows clung onto It and it would only be a matter of time before the human moved on.
"Nothing." Arin whispered, turning. He had thought someone or something was following him. The endless darkness was sudden and the rain was starting to ruin his hearing. He couldn't figure out where the screams were coming from now. "There or there?" He looked in two different directions.
He turned right and that's when he felt it — something was coming at him.