At dawn I woke up to someone shaking me. It was a soft feeling, until I opened my eyes to see a person in a costume. Like the one Theadus and Mei wore on my first day here. I tried to make my mind work a little—enough to know who's the person shaking me—but I was still half asleep. So, it didn't work. The costume person stood at my head for a while before saying:
"Wake up, you lazy brat."
How stupid I am. Who else would it be if it's not Ms. Supervisor?
I cursed under my breath before standing up, rubbing my eyes, trying to wake myself up. I stopped when a thud was heard. I looked down to see a costume like the one he was wearing in the bed.
"Change. I'm outside," he said and went outside.
I wore the costume as fast as I could before following him.
We walked in a tunnel inside the mountain for 10 minutes.
Before we were out of the camp, we kept walking in silence until we reached the woods.
"Climb that tree."
He spoke. I looked at him confused, but neither my face nor his were showing, so it was useless. I went to the tree he talked about and climbed it. It wasn't a hard task. He climbed the one next to mine and started speaking:
"You should always be careful. Those animals can smell even your aura. Stay hidden and always attack their back."
He said in a serious voice. As he glanced around, I tried to do the same, though I didn't know how the animals here look like. We were doing so for a few minutes, and my mind got distracted.
Before a loud voice was heard—it was the sound of a heavy body running. A huge creature was soon visible. It was like a wild pig, but somehow seemed better in shape and look. I was standing in the tree, clearly visible to it. And the stupid pig hurried toward my tree and hit it hard. It shook. I lost balance. And... well, I closed my eyes, waiting for my death.
But to my surprise, I didn't feel myself neither fall nor get killed. Instead, I felt a tight grip on my waist. I opened my eyes to see a hand covered with black metal around it. And I was still in the tree, for sure.
Theadus's loud voice was heard: "Fuck, can't you be careful?"
I was going to say I didn't do anything, but he spoke again. His voice held worry somehow: "If you fall, you would be dead in a mere second."
His voice was still loud and his hand never left my waist. I looked down to check if the animal was still there or if Theadus scared it with his loud voice. I was right—poor thing must have run from fear. I felt the warmth on my waist disappear, and I saw him jump back to where he originally was. Theadus spoke again, but his voice was calmer now:
"You stood there glaring at it, lost in your stupid daydreams. You should focus and stay awake at all times or death will find its way to you easily."
I nodded and decided to take his words seriously for once. The day was long. We didn't do much, though. It was hiding around and watching the weird creatures of this place. My dear supervisor kept talking about it, filling me with important details.
The moment we reached the camp, he disappeared and I was walking alone. I went to Auntie Anna for some food and water. The moment I entered, she greeted me with a warm smile. I tried to match the energy she gave but failed miserably. She let out a giggle and started to pack me some food.
"Oh darling, poor you. After all, being a hunter isn't an easy task," she said with a soft voice. What a nice person.
"The problem isn't about being a hunter. It's having Theadus to teach me—that's the problem."
She laughed as she gave me the food.
"Dear, that child is a sweet soul. He doesn't like to show that part of him. Don't despise him," she defended.
I only nodded before taking my leave. The cottage wasn't far away, so in a few minutes, I was in my new home. Home sweet home. Well, I always wanted to say that and feel it. It may be weird that I felt at home now more than the time I was on Earth. But I had no home back then. I was trapped in a prison.
I always wanted to run but found no way out. Each time my mind would overwork itself, but no use. Because I was young, and I feared running—or maybe I wished for them to change, and for that place to be my home. Not some house that I see in my nightmares now. But for a fact, all of these were useless. Thinking about it wouldn't change the past, and I was far away from them now. They couldn't harm me. None of them could. Even my street buddies. Funny.
I took off the heavy metal costume and sat in my bed, eating the bit of food I got. My mind seemed to find its way to Theadus's behavior today. He seemed upset all day. He kept being angry because of me being too unfocused and reckless. That stinky jerk really liked shouting at me, didn't he? He literally didn't even give me a chance to explain myself. Such a jerk. I was snapped out of my thoughts as my hands searched for food but found nothing. Well, seems like I was so hungry. I went to sleep right after that.
The next morning went exactly like yesterday. Him coming, shaking my soul out of my poor body. Then leaving to wait for me outside as I put on the stupid costume. We walked toward the woods and stopped in the middle of it. I guessed, as it seemed too large for me to be sure.
He kneeled down and looked through the branches. I looked too, and a white rabbit stood there. When the rabbit turned around, I was sure it wasn't one anymore. That thing is scary. Hollow black eyes, big fangs. It was out of a horror movie for sure. Theadus whispered in a very low voice:
"Kill it. It's pretty fast, so you should attack by surprise."
What bad deed did I ever do? Could I even kill that thing?
"How do I even do it?" I said in a whisper.
He turned to face me and said:
"They're blind. Be careful of the sounds and stab the neck."
His voice was calm as he handed me a knife. He's crazy, isn't he? It seems like I had no choice. I need to kill that thing... I took the knife and went out, walking quietly and slowly as I approached it. It didn't seem to sense me. I got closer and closer, and then my hand was on the back of its neck. And the knife I was holding stuck deep in its throat.
It took me a few minutes to realize that I did it. And the moment I did, happiness took over me. Nice, I wouldn't be shouted at today. I saw him approach me, then he stood near me a few minutes before turning around and walking away.
I followed behind only to find myself back at the camp. That's odd. I cleared my voice before I spoke: "Hey, why are we back at the camp?"
He didn't answer, just kept walking until we were at Auntie Anna's building. After we went in, she greeted us with a smile. After ignoring me, he finally spoke—jerk:
"Auntie Anna, that's the victim of today," and signaled at me. Does he mean me or the rabbit? Must be the rabbit, yeah. I went to where they stood hesitantly and gave Auntie Anna the rabbit. She took it and went to a room at the back. He started walking again, but this time he spoke, saying that we're going back to the woods. The rabbit was the victim, I reassured myself.
I was trying not to fall back as I dragged a heavy corpse of an animal I just killed. To say the least, my days got harder, and that jerk decided that horror movie rabbits weren't enough. So, the size of the animals I needed to kill became bigger each day—and more savage too. Somehow, I would spend my day running around trying to catch them without dying. And if I made any kind of mistake or had even a tiny scratch on my costume, he would spend a whole hour nagging the shit out of me.
Saying how I'm reckless and not careful enough and that I need to open my fucking eyes. And see where I am going and be careful of the animal's movement too. Even a robot wouldn't be able to do that, would it?
Anyway, that's not all of it. He also would force me to follow a longer way to the camp—not the short way we already know—and each day I would return home with a sore body, exhausted limbs. But somehow, I felt fine and at ease.
It was nice to return to the cottage each day to hear nothing—no screams, no loud voice calling for me, no fear. But instead, I felt safe. I had no worries, as even if Theadus was a big jerk, he never really tried to hurt me. Instead, each time I was in danger, he would be there saving me from my own clumsiness.
And deep down, I was grateful for him. I would never admit that out loud, though. Returning to where we started—the corpse got heavier with every step, and my body started to give up. I looked to my side, wishing for some mercy, but unlike me, he was fine. Though the corpse he dragged was absolutely heavier...
Is he even human? Even though I tried my hardest to make him pity me—as I sent tired looks—I was like a child who wanted candy. I think he hates babies because he snapped with a cruel voice:
"No way, don't even dream about it."
I moved my lips to speak, but he spoke again, stopping my complaints before they even started:
"You're taking it to the storehouse, no arguing."
We weren't far from it anyway, but man—I dragged this thing for a long distance, really.
Finally, I was there. At the entrance of the storehouse, I threw the rope away and sat down, taking my breath back. I'm dying for sure. My hands were red and swollen. Even the thought of touching them was painful. I lifted my head and saw Theadus coming my way. Automatically, my mind prepared itself for a nagging session—but he didn't.
He just took the rope that fixed the corpse to the wooden piece and dragged it inside. I think the exhaustion took over his mind. I stayed in my place for a while before he came out again.
He stood in front of me and said:
"Go to Joila."
Before leaving.
Wow. Is he showing affection, or did the exhaustion take over his mind? I stood up, taking my sore body to Joila, who, thank God, was in the rescue cottage. I greeted her the moment I entered, and when she heard my voice, she stopped doing whatever she was doing and looked at me.
"Hello Yona, what brings you here?"
I sighed and lifted my hands to face her. I heard her sigh as she came forward and dragged me to one of the beds. I sat there, and she started to treat my hands.
"How did this happen?" she said in a sweet voice.
I tried to laugh it out as I said:
"Work. I'm fine, it's not a big deal."
She sighed again, and now I felt guilty:
"Be careful next time, okay? And don't take your gloves off even if they give you discomfort."
She said, and I was surprised. How did she know I took them off? Because of discomfort? She saw my confusion, so she explained:
"I treat a lot of hunters, and some of them did the same thing and got the same results."
I giggled lightly, apologizing for my stupid act. She was done soon with the treatment, and I was in my home with two bandaged hands. I guess Theadus knew that Joila would nag, so that's why he didn't.
It was the last week of my traineeship. I was now stronger and faster, and Theadus taught me how the woods work. Being a hunter mainly was about finding food for the camp—whether it was meat or fruits. And that's tiring, because the number of poisoned animals and plants was more than the edible ones. So, a lot to learn in a month. The other tasks were about checking the safety of the camp and all. Theadus said that we have other missions he will tell me about later.
I was waiting for him to enter as I sat on my bed with my costume on. He entered and froze when he saw me awake. Waking up early was worth it. He didn't say a word; instead, he left, and I followed with a proud smile on my face. No shouting at me today. We kept walking, but this time the direction was the woods. The trip was a half hour or so before we stopped near a cliff. I stopped in confusion because Theadus kept walking toward the cliff.
He even sat down with his feet hanging in the air. He's nuts. I gathered all my courage and went beside him, body shaking. I was right—the cliff stood 3 kilometers from the ground, and he was calmly sitting there. OMG. I gathered all my strength and sat far away from the cliff. The safe distance was needed. He looked back and saw me chickening out.
He stood and sat beside me this time:
"Safe distance, huh?"
He was acting sweet somehow.
Silence took over the place, and neither of us broke it. Not until he spoke:
"It's called Elysian Fields. They say those trees are blessed."
I hummed in response. The trees were still visible from this far. They were beautiful, as the fruit on them was pure golden and the leaves were white. It was like magic. Theadus stood up before looking at me and speaking:
"Want some?"
"Of the fruit?" I asked,
Just to make sure, and he responded in a confused voice:
"What else? Of course, the fruit."
I stood and followed him, and somehow, we were down at the golden fruit field. He went to one of the trees running and came back with the fruit in his hand and gave it to me. I took it, inspected it carefully before taking the helmet off and taking a bite. It was delicious. It wasn't sour nor sweet, but in between—a perfect taste.
I ate the whole thing. As I finished eating, he muttered:
"It tastes different for each person, in fact. It was sweet for me."
I was amazed. Like, it's magical. No wonder they called it blessed. We walked around the field for hours before leaving and going back to the camp.
The next few days, the tasks weren't hard. No animals needed to be killed. So, my days were peaceful, but Theadus threw the sweet act and returned to being a jerk. I wondered what the field day was about—was he forced to act nice? I didn't want to think about it a lot, so I dismissed the thought.
After all, today was my grand day. I moved through the alleys of the camp and toward the gathering arena. I entered and took my usual place. Everyone was there—but he wasn't, as Theadus's seat was empty. It was weird, but I got no time to think about it. As one young boy moved toward the leader and whispered something in her ear before leaving the arena, she finally spoke after that:
"We celebrate today the birth of a new hunter."
The cheers filled the place, but my mind kept thinking about one thing:
Why didn't he come today?