The opening of the forest was taken into account, the plethora of hunters gathered at the common entry point in which Representative Uremel gathered the people one last time, a member of the hunting party hauled a bag over his shoulder, dropping it against the dirtied ground. He untied it and opened the top to reveal multiple leathery waterskins, revealing it to the crowd and handed it respectfully to the Representative who removed the wooden cap, taking a short swig before passing it to his guard.

  It was passed equally among the crowd, each taking swigs and replacing the waterskin's if they were emptied. Once reaching Qorel, he shook his head after taking the taste. It was handed off to me, I cautiously sipped the liquid, revealing it to be a strong wine. I enjoyed the flavor briefly, it was quite nice, though soon enough the fellow beside me extended a hand, I extended my own and gifted it to the next. Eventually the wine made its way back to the originator, as he took a swig of his own, before setting that specific one back in the bag.

  "Now, allow us to begin." Once the traditional wine-sipping or whatever the hell was finished we continued onward down the trail into the forest. I made sure to approach my newfound friend Jorael to ask about it.

  "It is a basic showing of faith which is based around the story of the Prophet Iruvar."

  "Iruvar? Can you explain?" I asked, leaving Jorael to sigh slightly.

  "You really know nothing. . . I suppose it comes down to the tale of Iruvar's passing through the Talisman Jungle where he left his sobriety behind on a retrieval mission for our Divine Lady to get back Rykard's Omen. It goes that he told his entire crew with him while stumbling wildly that his life would be protected by our goddess as long as he had faith. He was one of seven out of thirty to leave, unscathed at that. The hunt for Rykard's Omen was attributed to hunting as a whole, considering his success at getting it back. Now we follow that standard." I looked at him with incredible confusion, of course it seemed the tradition was dumbed down over time to a simple swig, though it was incredibly absurd, getting drunk to hunt.

  "What is Rykard's Omen?"

  "It was an ancient tome, one that accounted for great power." Jorael shrugged at my expression, I was still baffled by the prior. "You should meet my father."

  "The same goes for you." I laughed. Jorael eyed the way I handled the bow in my hand, truthfully, I'd never handled one, how hard could it be?

  "Hello, sir." I dipped my head, leaving Jorael's father to uplift it. He smiled at me kindly, his cheeks raising nearly to his eyes.

  "It is good to put a face on the one my son met, I hear you two wanted to team up on this?" He was quick to inquire on my intents, to which I affirmed with a careful nod. His voice was gruffer comparatively to Qorel's soft and pleasant voice.

  "Well, unfortunately teams may at most be four, we seem to have met the maximum now." Jorael's father soon continued. "My name is Kiren."

  "A Woemar name, or Wild Elf." Jorael pitched in somewhat proudly.

  "Very diverse names, good to meet you, Kiren." This time I didn't dare raise a hand for shaking, lest it cause further confusion.

  "Of course, I know your father, great man." Kiren smacked his arm, allowing Qorel to do the same, evidently a sign of mild affection or friendliness.

  "Yes, the greatest." Qorel gloated jokingly, forcing a snicker from Kiren. We left the greetings in the past and conversed meagerly, simple small talk. Once we reached a further point, everyone's conversing was over, and the teams split. There was the soft rustling of leaves from the warm breeze which passed evenly through the forest. Soon a small rabbit leapt away from a bush it was near, making Kiren flinch and raise his bow, fingers on his string.

  "That won't do, we'll need something far bigger." Kiren grumbled almost disappointedly that it wasn't a massive monster.

  "Yes, we should continue onward." Qoren murmured, fingers coiled around the handle of his dagger. The trees rose upwards like little spires, one of such we approached was twisted and spiraled awkwardly. something that was rather interesting, this world held many interests. With our trek deeper into the foliage, the forest opened into a small clearing where a stag resided, grazing on the grass beneath him. Two crunches resounded beneath Jorael's boot, a twig that had snapped alongside a leaf. The stag was quick to raise its head and charge off, an arrow whizzed by, pushing through the air, piercing a tree ahead.

  "ALFAYIQ!" Shouted an elf near the clearing, three elves outstepped into the clearing as one began to attempt to track where the stag had gone. With this, the nearest raised his bow and aimed in our direction as Qorel forced me to duck. There was an audible shout from the nearest in an indescribable dialect, Kiren raised from behind a bush and stretched his hands upwards.

  "Mistake! Mistake!" Kiren apologized, leaving the three to scoff angrily and rush off back onto the stag's trail. There was a certain intensity to this situation which brought me a little fear, though luckily it was settled quickly considering their want to continue. We followed after them momentarily to figure out where to go next, then separating as we went westward.

  The wind was heavier in the western bits of the forest, along the way was a few mild critters not worth our time, it became increasingly evident that there wasn't much here, yet we continued, nonetheless.

  "There has to be some sort of creature here." Kiren grumbled, Qoren held a doubtful look, though he nodded in agreement.

  "Surely, if we stick to the path we'll find something." The shrubbery soon cleared a bit, opening to a little shack off to the side, we approached cautiously.

  "Hello?" Kiren asked suspiciously, letting his questionable greeting linger in the air, after five seconds passed there was a dulled thud that reached into our ears, then another. An old woman stepped out, her back bent horribly, this elf had age to her, probably close to death. With reduced fear, we made our approach as Jorael waved mildly.

  "I cannot see you, children of the high." Her legs wobbled as she sat on a log outside of her shack, once poking it and checking where it was of course.

  "Blind?" Kiren asked, there was an aimless nod that she gave soon after. "Do you perhaps know of any beasts around here?"

  "Yes, I suppose I do." She smiled, her stare not even in our direction. Suddenly another scramble of footsteps came with a noisier thud, another elf who was probably her husband stepped out, he spoke loudly, a sign of near deafness.

  "What? Who are you talking to?"

  "The villagers!" She shouted, forcing Jorael to extend a hand to his ear, he reached his pinky-finger in and wiggled it around. "They are on a hunt!" The old elven male groaned, his cane hitting her back as she swung her arm wildly to slap it away. "Move your damn cane!"

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  "Sorry!" He tittered, sitting down on an actual chair which was beside her own. "You can-"

  "I'll do the talking!" The elven lady interrupted, motioning us to sit. We followed along, wanting to be ahead of the others with valuable information, I was a bit skeptical though. "You see, ahem." She coughed madly for a moment, with that me and Jorael exchanged glances riddled with doubt. "Do you perhaps have any wine?" She raised a hand, waving over to herself with her wrist.

  "We aren't the ones carrying wine." Qoren acknowledged with a sad voice as to know discourage the woman of telling us what we needed.

  "Yes. . . Yes, alright. You will find a great beast in this direction." She raised a finger and pointed to the north, her husband leaning to the side to listen better.

  "And how would you know of this beast, being blind and all?" I inquired as gently as possible, though my voice betrayed me to a certain extent. Her blank eyes rested onto my chest, right where my heart rest.

  "You do not have the heart of an Emar." She spoke illy, directing my words elsewhere.

  "I am Emar, am I not?"

  "There are many kinds of heart, the physical you do. Believe me if you will, though the words of a woman are commonly disregarded in this age." This brought a sort of believability to her words, I was not elvish, she sees something the others do not, no matter her blindness to physical things, maybe she has inner sight of some sort.

  "What kind of beast?" I asked, taking lead of the conversation, this brought an eye from Kiren.

  "Bear." Is all she said, her husband filled in for her.

  "She grows tired of this, I believe we should go inside. I wish the four of you great success, we will surely pray." The husband helped his wife up, and with that, we left, though not without a few glances back at them.

  "What was that?" Kiren questioned with a shake of his head.

  "Unsure, though we have no other lead." Qoren responded, diverting his gaze to me and Jorael. "If the wife does not lie, then it'll be too dangerous for the few of you." He raised a hand and grabbed the back of my robes to stop me from walking, Kiren motioned over his son who soon trotted back over.

  "Qoren speaks the truth, we will handle the bear. You two will return to the main hunters, surely they will offer some fun." Qoren chuckled in response, assuming that we'd annoy them senseless. I was quick to nod in agreement, we were no bear hunters, we were essentially fifteen-year-olds with crappy bows.

  "Of course, father, we will return." Jorael agreed with a soft smile, Kiren viewed him suspiciously, though nonetheless they departed. It felt stupid, to risk your life for a fun competitive hunt, no matter. "We are not following their commands, are we?" Jorael inquired the immediate moment they left; I nodded for a moment before catching what he said.

  "What? No, no." I shook my head fearfully; this kid was insane.

  "Come on! A bear, this would be a challenge fit for a true Iremar, unless the old Emar speaks the truth of you not having the heart of us?" Jorael teased, unknowing of the truth he spoke.

  "I. . . We can't."

  "We can." Jorael grabbed my arm forcefully, pulling me along. This peer pressure was slowly wrapping around me; I wasn't a strong man by any means, no matter my intention to own a company. . . I was more a part of the herd than being a herder.

  "Jorael, we don't have the equipment for it, what'll these bows do?"

  "Then we'll use our hands!" Jorael roared crazily, pushing me forward, unfortunately no matter the fact I knew I'd probably die, I took the risk due to not wanting to be alone going back. Maybe Qoren and Kiren would handle it before we arrived, or they'll save us, surely. We made our way along the leafy pathway we imagined to where the bear surely awaited.

  There was an eerie silence, one that overcame us, no birds chirping, nor rustling of leaves, simply our own footsteps and uneven breaths. I walked uncertainly up a small uplift in the ground, suddenly slipping and sliding over a pile of wet leaves.

  "Shit!" I shouted, falling on my back, a small crack coming from my lower back.

  "You alright?" Jorael humorously laughed, though with this came an immediate silence. "You. . . You hear that?" Jorael asked, quieter now.

  "No?" Then I did, the soft cracking and crunching of leaves, then silence. I peered past Jorael off towards the tree where it came from, there was two bulbous eyes that stared intimidatingly towards us, a soulless vile intent spewing from its fuzzy facial features. Its snout extended outwards, and it was double the size of a grizzly, it was massive. My eyes focused awkwardly on it, fear seeping into my body as I froze.

  We had been the ones being hunted, the bear tracked us instead, it was ready to strike like that of a dangerous viper settled in the grass. How did it find us? We were barely behind Qoren and Kiren, it must've hidden from them for the much easier prey.

  Jorael turned around, facing it, before raising his bow immediately in action, forcing the bear to charge towards us, with the gargantuan beast barreling towards us, there was nearly no time to move. Jorael loosed an arrow, it struck the bear straight into the neck, though it did nothing of import to it. Jorael was quick to reach for my arm, as though surging with protectiveness, though he was immediately flung backwards, the beasts muzzle raising to his arm. The beast clenched down, snapping it like a little swig, as Jorael screamed wildly, clearly in agonizing pain. The bear went for his neck, attempting to maul, Kiren appeared, my eyes too focused on the bear too notice his approach.

  "JOR!" He screamed, clobbering the bear in its head, tossing it sideways, the bear diverted attention to Kiren, he raised his dagger and stabbed the beast in its flabby throat, there was an outroar as the beast clawed him, a rip and tear resounding as his robes were split and a massive gaping gash revealed on his chest and abdomen. Qoren loosed an arrow, striking the bear right in the snout, this caused much more damage than prior, though not enough.

  I stared at the bloodied and mangled mess of Jorael, and the nearly limp body of Kiren, the bear's eyes settled on me as it reeled and charged, I tried to stand, though it immediately throttled me, before grabbing ahold of my leg. I heard an audible snap, a warmth filling my body, I let out a shrill scream, a shriek following after once the bear tore my lower leg from my knee.

  "ALFAYIQ!" Kiren screamed, charging back into the fray, grabbing the bear by its leg and shockingly pulling it backwards, the bear smacked me in my face, blood spurting from my cheek once a claw dug in, the skin tearing off and ripping open many layers of skin. Kiren struggled with the hulking beast as I heaved violently, my body shaking in pain. Another arrow sprung from the trees, piercing the bears eye, only enraging it further. "HELP! HELP! HELP!" Kiren shouted crazily, calling out to anyone nearby as he throttled the bear to its side and smashed a fist into its belly.

  Another arrow flung, hitting in a similar spot to the snout, another to his ear, then finally a shot to the center of its head with more struggle from Kiren, the beast was slain, though I barely saw with the searing agony that pulsed through my body.

  "Boy!" Qoren shouted, rushing over, he had a terrified expression, I felt a sort of anger dwell within that he didn't help further, though the truth was that his patience and focus was the reason we survived, alongside Kiren's superhuman strength. "We'll get you to the healer, both of you, I swear it!" Qoren promised. Kiren cried near Jorael, though even now Qoren remained focused. He snapped Kiren from it, forcing him to stand, they lifted us, though Qoren made a short bit of time to retrieve the eye of the beast, and a part of its ear.

  "Is that truly important?" Kiren sniffled, rage brewing.

  "These boys will find the reward for their work; I will not let it be stolen by a thieving hunter." We passed by the elderly couple who watched us, it was as though they truly saw us. . . Did they? Did they send us here for this very scenario? They were for later; it did not matter. Parts of their robes and our own were torn to act as bandaging to restrict the bleeding.

  "MOVE!" Kiren yelled angrily, frightening a hunter in the way, who was even more frightened when he saw what had happened to us. Jorael awoke once more in a fit of cries and screams. We passed by another team who made an immediate effort to help, they helped haul the two of us back into the village, by the time we were there I felt absurdly drained, like there was no blood in my body, as if I was entirely empty. It was nearly nightfall already, and as the sun fell, as did my strength.

  "Make way, make way!" Qoren rushed, reaching the healers large house, mouths agape at the sight. There was a moment of silence as Lorea settled me down, her evident assistant taking charge of Jorael. Lorea exhaled while looking over us.

  "This is bad."