A Quick Hunt
(Word Count: 2165)
POV: Omaren
Date: May 367 Ac (3 and a half years ago)
Location: Near Omaren's Home village
"Watch out!" I said, pointing at a green and golden snake passing near Loharen. He quickly looked down at his feet and side-steped it. The snake briefly hissed at my brother before slithering pass him and behind some ferns along the path. "Thanks, but i saw it" he said, a bit defensively. I rolled my eyes back at him. Clearly, he hadn't. "You saw it, but you were about to step on it?" I said, making it clear i didn't believe him. "Did you even realize that it was venomous?" Loharen simply looked down, visibly ashamed. I pinched the bridge of my nose and let out a sigh. "You're the one that wanted to do this in the first place, remember? It took me an hour to convince mom to let you come with me. I vouched for you. Don't make me regret it." "I know, i know. I won't!" He said, but i wasn't really satisfied with that. Does he think this is a joke or something? "Look, if something where to happens to you, the blame's gonna be on me, and i don't want that shit, alright? So stay focused!" "I promise that i will!" He said with a nod, which i gave back before we continued on our way. The path we followed made its way through wild forests. Tall trees, covered at their base with moss and with vines hanging lazily from their branches, lined up both sides of the path. They held a dense green canopee above us, which shaded the ground bellow and kept the forest in relatively dim light, despite it being mid-day. As we walked further along, the ground began to gently slope down, until we finally arrived at our first destination: A wide, slow-moving river. The path continued underwater, in the form of a shallow ford connected to the other shore. I turned to Loharen, who arrived beside me. "This river" i said, pointing at its muddy water, "is the limit between our village's land, and the territory beyond. That territory is much more dangerous since its full of wild and dangerous animals, who know this place better than us, you understand?" He nodded back, gaze fixed on the other shore, eyes sparkling with curiosity. Looking at him, i couldn't help but feel nostalgic. This is his first time this far outside the village, so no wonder he's so curious. I was probably the same with dad 3 years ago too... "Keep your bow at the ready, alright?" I continued. "And stay close to me." He nodded again and we began slowly crossing the river. Despite the water being slow and relatively shallow, we had to be careful. The rocks underneath were slippery, and especially for Loharen who was smaller than me, slipping was very much a possibility. Thankfully, we made it across just fine, and continued along the path which continued beyond the river. Almost immediately, i could feel the change in the environment. The trees grew closer together here, making the forest even darker. Through the foliage, only thin streaks of light illuminated the misty air, which was filled to the brim with the sounds of countless animals. "So..." I heard Loharen talk behind me. "Dad told me the news" "What are you talking about?" I asked without turning back. "About Noamarù. You're going there to train soon, right?" "Oh that..." I stopped and turned towards him. "In a few weeks, yeah. I was supposed to tell you tonight actually" i said, rubbing my neck. I let out a deep sigh before i continued. "To be honest, i don't really want to go. I've spent the last few weeks trying to not think about it too much, or trying to come up with ways to not go. "You don't want to join the legion? They would train your fire and you'd have a nice place to stay in the city!" He sounded so excited for me as he talked, but i just shook my head. "I'd rather stay here and help you guys and the rest of the village, you know?" I turned to look off to the side, kicking a rock jutting out of the well beaten path. "I don't really get why i even need to go there" i said, shrugging. "Dad says its my duty as a fire mage, and that its gonna bring honour to the family, but to me, it just kinda sucks." "Oh... Well, when you say it like that, i get it" Loha said, before shrugging as well. "At least you'll be able to visit us, right? "Sure. I'll try to come as often as i can" "You know, i heard that there's a giant jaguar statue in the city thats completly made of gold! Solid gold! I wish i could see that!" "What? There's no way that's real" I said, scoffing at him. "I bet there's not enough gold in the whole world just for the head! "Dad believes it, though..." "Well, i don't! Its probably j-... Wait, i heard something" I raissed my hand and picked an arrow before looking around. I definetly heard something. Was it to the left? No, behind us? I turned just in time to see an occomor sneaking its way behind my brother, readying itself to jump at him. "Duck!" I yelled at Loha just as the large reptile leaped towards him. Thankfully, he was quick enough so that the Occomor narrowly missed him, instead landing heavely between us. I took a step back and drew my bow as it snarled and hissed at me. "Oh shit" Loharen said, taking a few steps back. "Its a fucking Occomor!" "He's wild! Don't turn your back to it!" I yelled, and he gave a quick nod. "What do we do, then?" He asked with a nervous voice. "Do we try to get away?" "It won't let us." I said. "We'll have to fight it." I ran all of the possible things we could do in my head. Could we actualy run away? No, its faster than us. Even if we reach the river before it, it can also swim better than us, and that would just bring it to the village anyways. Fight it? We could win, but probably not with these flint arrows. Occomor scales are too hard for then to do much of anything. Magic? My fire could do some good damage, provided i can blast it directly... The occomor snarled at me again, but then turned around to face my brother, who's eyes widened as he realised he was the target once again. He had drawn his bow as well and was now pointing it squarely at the beast, waiting for my instruction. I took another step back to make sure i avoided its blade-covered tail lashing the air before me. "Om! What do i do?!" Loharen said, looking at me with barely concealed panic in his eyes. Not that i could blame him for that. We were supposed to catch a few junglefowl, nothing more. Yet he we were, facing off with one of the most dangerous animal in the land. "Shoot!" The occomor jumped just as both of our arrows left our bows. They both hit their targets; his hit the beast straight on the head, while mine hit its left hind leg, but as i expected, both slid off its scales and planted themselves in the ground instead. However, thier impacts were apparently enough to distract the occomor, so much so that it stepped back and stayed put for a second, allowing Loharen to run by it and reach me. "Nice shot!" I said as he arrived beside me. He smiled nervously at me, before turning to the beast again as it let out its loudest hiss yet as it wipped around to face us. He grabbed another arrow, but i didn't. We need something more potent than those... I hanged my bow onto my back and let my mana flow down to my right hand, until a bright flame ignited itself and began dancing in my palm. Both Loharen and the Occomor turned to look at me, and my hand. "Magic?" Loharen asked me with half a breath. I nodded. "Arrows won't do shit against it." I said, before using my other arm to push my brother behind me so i could protect him from what i was about to do. The Occomor meanwhile, wasn't distracted by my flaming hand anymore, and decided to resume its attack. It prowled, then ran towards me, and i began pooling as much mana as i could, as quickly as i could, right into the little flame in my hand. It rapidaly grew into a large fire ball, which i held until the beast was close enough to shoot it at. It made direct contact, exploding into an even bigger ball of scattered flames that seemed to fully engulf the occomor, at least for a brief moment. However, when the flames cleared, i saw that it was still standing, defiantly shaking its head from side to side, as if to rid itself of the shock of the impact. It had retreated, but it still looked largely unarmed, say for some smoke coming out of its head and upper body. Those fucking scales... i need to hit it again, maybe 1 or 2 times... "Damn..." Loharen said behind me. "How did that not work?" "Trust me. It did." I pointed at the beast. "I rosted it's head a bit." The beast roared and began to march towards us again. Fuck, i need to wait a little bit more until i can hit it again. As i though about a way to stall for time, Loharen stepped beside me, bow drawn and loaded with another arrow, ready to shoot at it again. "It won't do much, but you need time to shoot again, right?" He asked, and let loose before i could respond. The arrow once again bounced off the Occomor's scales, this time near its eyes, which gave me an idea. "Loha, use your light!" I said. "Use it to blind it!" I added when i saw his confusion. His eyes widened and a smile spread on his face as he nodded at me. He held out his hand in front of the beast and an intense light began to bloom from his palm, illuminating our surrounding. I squinted and shielded my eyes while the beast let out a pained grunt as it turned away and took a few steps back, trying to get away from the blinding light. Its working! However, the light soon began to falter, and i could hear Loharen groaning and panting beside me as it dimed and flickered. He's running out of mana, just in time. I tapped his shoulder to let him know he could stop, and the light immediatly stopped shining. "Good job" I said as he stepped behind me. The Occomor veared its head towards us. Time to finish this. A flame flickered to life in my hand again, and grew to a large ball in less than a second as the Occomor ran at us. I held until i was sure of my throw, begore i flicked it directly onto the face of the beast. It let out a pained moan, stopped dead in its track, and for a moment, i could see that quite a few scales on its face, neck and shoulders were missing, exposing some rather burnt looking flesh beneath. The Occomor looked at both of us for a moment, before finaly turning around and escaping through the thick brush. * * * * * We found mom doing laundry in the backyard. We she saw us come out of the back door, she immediatly dropped everything and came towards us. We'd agree, Loharen and i, to NOT talk about what we'd gone through. We both knew that she wouldn't have let go outside ever again if she found out. So instead, we lied. "How did it go?" She demanded. "You didn't see anything dangerous?" My brother and i exchanged a brief look before i spoke up. "No, it was pretty calm out there." I said, shrugging. "Didn't see many animals at all, not even a single fowl for dinner..." At least not all of that was a lie... Mom turned to Loha, and i felt a spike of anxiety. Loharen was always pretty bad at lying. "How far did you go?" Mom asked him. "Oh, about half-an-hour pass the river? It was hard to tell..." He said, and thankfully, she believed him. "Well alright. Your dad isn't gonna be happy about the lack of game, but i'm just glad your first hunt went well anyways." She leaned in to kiss him on the forehead and then did the same to me. "Ah mom!" Loharen complained, but i was just happy she believed us. As she went back to her laundry chore, we looked at each other, smiling.
Date: May 367 Ac (3 and a half years ago)
Location: Near Omaren's Home village
"Watch out!" I said, pointing at a green and golden snake passing near Loharen. He quickly looked down at his feet and side-steped it. The snake briefly hissed at my brother before slithering pass him and behind some ferns along the path. "Thanks, but i saw it" he said, a bit defensively. I rolled my eyes back at him. Clearly, he hadn't. "You saw it, but you were about to step on it?" I said, making it clear i didn't believe him. "Did you even realize that it was venomous?" Loharen simply looked down, visibly ashamed. I pinched the bridge of my nose and let out a sigh. "You're the one that wanted to do this in the first place, remember? It took me an hour to convince mom to let you come with me. I vouched for you. Don't make me regret it." "I know, i know. I won't!" He said, but i wasn't really satisfied with that. Does he think this is a joke or something? "Look, if something where to happens to you, the blame's gonna be on me, and i don't want that shit, alright? So stay focused!" "I promise that i will!" He said with a nod, which i gave back before we continued on our way. The path we followed made its way through wild forests. Tall trees, covered at their base with moss and with vines hanging lazily from their branches, lined up both sides of the path. They held a dense green canopee above us, which shaded the ground bellow and kept the forest in relatively dim light, despite it being mid-day. As we walked further along, the ground began to gently slope down, until we finally arrived at our first destination: A wide, slow-moving river. The path continued underwater, in the form of a shallow ford connected to the other shore. I turned to Loharen, who arrived beside me. "This river" i said, pointing at its muddy water, "is the limit between our village's land, and the territory beyond. That territory is much more dangerous since its full of wild and dangerous animals, who know this place better than us, you understand?" He nodded back, gaze fixed on the other shore, eyes sparkling with curiosity. Looking at him, i couldn't help but feel nostalgic. This is his first time this far outside the village, so no wonder he's so curious. I was probably the same with dad 3 years ago too... "Keep your bow at the ready, alright?" I continued. "And stay close to me." He nodded again and we began slowly crossing the river. Despite the water being slow and relatively shallow, we had to be careful. The rocks underneath were slippery, and especially for Loharen who was smaller than me, slipping was very much a possibility. Thankfully, we made it across just fine, and continued along the path which continued beyond the river. Almost immediately, i could feel the change in the environment. The trees grew closer together here, making the forest even darker. Through the foliage, only thin streaks of light illuminated the misty air, which was filled to the brim with the sounds of countless animals. "So..." I heard Loharen talk behind me. "Dad told me the news" "What are you talking about?" I asked without turning back. "About Noamarù. You're going there to train soon, right?" "Oh that..." I stopped and turned towards him. "In a few weeks, yeah. I was supposed to tell you tonight actually" i said, rubbing my neck. I let out a deep sigh before i continued. "To be honest, i don't really want to go. I've spent the last few weeks trying to not think about it too much, or trying to come up with ways to not go. "You don't want to join the legion? They would train your fire and you'd have a nice place to stay in the city!" He sounded so excited for me as he talked, but i just shook my head. "I'd rather stay here and help you guys and the rest of the village, you know?" I turned to look off to the side, kicking a rock jutting out of the well beaten path. "I don't really get why i even need to go there" i said, shrugging. "Dad says its my duty as a fire mage, and that its gonna bring honour to the family, but to me, it just kinda sucks." "Oh... Well, when you say it like that, i get it" Loha said, before shrugging as well. "At least you'll be able to visit us, right? "Sure. I'll try to come as often as i can" "You know, i heard that there's a giant jaguar statue in the city thats completly made of gold! Solid gold! I wish i could see that!" "What? There's no way that's real" I said, scoffing at him. "I bet there's not enough gold in the whole world just for the head! "Dad believes it, though..." "Well, i don't! Its probably j-... Wait, i heard something" I raissed my hand and picked an arrow before looking around. I definetly heard something. Was it to the left? No, behind us? I turned just in time to see an occomor sneaking its way behind my brother, readying itself to jump at him. "Duck!" I yelled at Loha just as the large reptile leaped towards him. Thankfully, he was quick enough so that the Occomor narrowly missed him, instead landing heavely between us. I took a step back and drew my bow as it snarled and hissed at me. "Oh shit" Loharen said, taking a few steps back. "Its a fucking Occomor!" "He's wild! Don't turn your back to it!" I yelled, and he gave a quick nod. "What do we do, then?" He asked with a nervous voice. "Do we try to get away?" "It won't let us." I said. "We'll have to fight it." I ran all of the possible things we could do in my head. Could we actualy run away? No, its faster than us. Even if we reach the river before it, it can also swim better than us, and that would just bring it to the village anyways. Fight it? We could win, but probably not with these flint arrows. Occomor scales are too hard for then to do much of anything. Magic? My fire could do some good damage, provided i can blast it directly... The occomor snarled at me again, but then turned around to face my brother, who's eyes widened as he realised he was the target once again. He had drawn his bow as well and was now pointing it squarely at the beast, waiting for my instruction. I took another step back to make sure i avoided its blade-covered tail lashing the air before me. "Om! What do i do?!" Loharen said, looking at me with barely concealed panic in his eyes. Not that i could blame him for that. We were supposed to catch a few junglefowl, nothing more. Yet he we were, facing off with one of the most dangerous animal in the land. "Shoot!" The occomor jumped just as both of our arrows left our bows. They both hit their targets; his hit the beast straight on the head, while mine hit its left hind leg, but as i expected, both slid off its scales and planted themselves in the ground instead. However, thier impacts were apparently enough to distract the occomor, so much so that it stepped back and stayed put for a second, allowing Loharen to run by it and reach me. "Nice shot!" I said as he arrived beside me. He smiled nervously at me, before turning to the beast again as it let out its loudest hiss yet as it wipped around to face us. He grabbed another arrow, but i didn't. We need something more potent than those... I hanged my bow onto my back and let my mana flow down to my right hand, until a bright flame ignited itself and began dancing in my palm. Both Loharen and the Occomor turned to look at me, and my hand. "Magic?" Loharen asked me with half a breath. I nodded. "Arrows won't do shit against it." I said, before using my other arm to push my brother behind me so i could protect him from what i was about to do. The Occomor meanwhile, wasn't distracted by my flaming hand anymore, and decided to resume its attack. It prowled, then ran towards me, and i began pooling as much mana as i could, as quickly as i could, right into the little flame in my hand. It rapidaly grew into a large fire ball, which i held until the beast was close enough to shoot it at. It made direct contact, exploding into an even bigger ball of scattered flames that seemed to fully engulf the occomor, at least for a brief moment. However, when the flames cleared, i saw that it was still standing, defiantly shaking its head from side to side, as if to rid itself of the shock of the impact. It had retreated, but it still looked largely unarmed, say for some smoke coming out of its head and upper body. Those fucking scales... i need to hit it again, maybe 1 or 2 times... "Damn..." Loharen said behind me. "How did that not work?" "Trust me. It did." I pointed at the beast. "I rosted it's head a bit." The beast roared and began to march towards us again. Fuck, i need to wait a little bit more until i can hit it again. As i though about a way to stall for time, Loharen stepped beside me, bow drawn and loaded with another arrow, ready to shoot at it again. "It won't do much, but you need time to shoot again, right?" He asked, and let loose before i could respond. The arrow once again bounced off the Occomor's scales, this time near its eyes, which gave me an idea. "Loha, use your light!" I said. "Use it to blind it!" I added when i saw his confusion. His eyes widened and a smile spread on his face as he nodded at me. He held out his hand in front of the beast and an intense light began to bloom from his palm, illuminating our surrounding. I squinted and shielded my eyes while the beast let out a pained grunt as it turned away and took a few steps back, trying to get away from the blinding light. Its working! However, the light soon began to falter, and i could hear Loharen groaning and panting beside me as it dimed and flickered. He's running out of mana, just in time. I tapped his shoulder to let him know he could stop, and the light immediatly stopped shining. "Good job" I said as he stepped behind me. The Occomor veared its head towards us. Time to finish this. A flame flickered to life in my hand again, and grew to a large ball in less than a second as the Occomor ran at us. I held until i was sure of my throw, begore i flicked it directly onto the face of the beast. It let out a pained moan, stopped dead in its track, and for a moment, i could see that quite a few scales on its face, neck and shoulders were missing, exposing some rather burnt looking flesh beneath. The Occomor looked at both of us for a moment, before finaly turning around and escaping through the thick brush. * * * * * We found mom doing laundry in the backyard. We she saw us come out of the back door, she immediatly dropped everything and came towards us. We'd agree, Loharen and i, to NOT talk about what we'd gone through. We both knew that she wouldn't have let go outside ever again if she found out. So instead, we lied. "How did it go?" She demanded. "You didn't see anything dangerous?" My brother and i exchanged a brief look before i spoke up. "No, it was pretty calm out there." I said, shrugging. "Didn't see many animals at all, not even a single fowl for dinner..." At least not all of that was a lie... Mom turned to Loha, and i felt a spike of anxiety. Loharen was always pretty bad at lying. "How far did you go?" Mom asked him. "Oh, about half-an-hour pass the river? It was hard to tell..." He said, and thankfully, she believed him. "Well alright. Your dad isn't gonna be happy about the lack of game, but i'm just glad your first hunt went well anyways." She leaned in to kiss him on the forehead and then did the same to me. "Ah mom!" Loharen complained, but i was just happy she believed us. As she went back to her laundry chore, we looked at each other, smiling.
Such a cute little adventure! I love the relationship between the boys.
Thank you! Glad you liked the story!