I awoke that morning with a start.

Where am I? What's happening? Do I-... Oh...

My hammering heart slowed as I mentally went through everything that had taken place the last few weeks. I relaxed slightly before a new realization struck me. It was the day of the hunt. I had to succeed; failure would not be an option in this scenario.

And even if I do succeed, what's the point? What do I get out of this... I don't even know what to do next. And that's even assuming I can do it.... I shook myself trying to rid myself of the negative thoughts that threatened to overwhelm me. I couldn't let myself think like this. If it impacted my performance even slightly then that may be enough to end up with me as nothing more than a commodity to be sold.

I took a deep breath and stood. At this point the Shé had stopped controlling my every move and let me freely wander their village finally. It wasn't the biggest place and I got stares wherever I went but it was better than always being trapped in the hut. Thankfully I was treated well by them, even if it was out of pity after watching my brutal training with Artemis.

I casually grabbed some water from the rain catcher. I sat by the training grounds while sipping on the fresh water from an earthenware cup. A familiar nervous anxiety sat in my chest, however just because it was familiar it didn't make it any less uncomfortable. I stood quickly downing the remaining water.

Let's get this started. Begone thoughts…. God I should not try to make jokes...

I went through a quick morning workout taking care not to push myself too far, so I was still ready for the hunt. As I finished up a familiar figure approached.

"Morning Artemis, todays the day isn’t it."

She gave me a simple nod and gazed at me quietly for a moment before speaking.

“I know it’s not my place to say this, but make sure not to die out there. If it gets too dangerous you can always run.”

“I know you mean well. But I won’t be running.”

After all, I can't afford it…

I met her eyes with a sharp look as I clenched my fist by my side.

“Hmph, if you can still talk like that then I don’t need to worry.” she responded with an amused grin, before continuing in a more serious tone.

“The rules are simple, the beast you encountered on your first day here, you need to hunt one of them. We call them Mavra. You need to hunt one and bring back proof of your conquest. If you succeed, you’ll earn your freedom and have a place among our people.”

I nodded and took a deep breath to steady my breathing.

“I got this. I’ll see you in a bit.”

With that I set off into the forest at a quick pace. Deftly moving while keeping my eyes peeled for any signs of the Mavra. My current plan was to head to the small stream to find either the beast itself or some way to track it.

I stared down from my vantage point in the canopy at the slowly flowing water with narrowed eyes. The only current wildlife in my sight was a bird with a large blue beak slowly drinking the water between paranoid glances around.

Expand my awareness and focus on the area around me. Alright, I can do this.

I slowly engulfed myself into my senses. The soft calls of a bird deeper within the forest. The stream slowly trickled past. The warmth emanates from the soft glow of the crystals above. Snap, I heard the crack of a nearby branch. I whipped my focus to the target below.

There on the ground was a large creature. It was a fairly strange creature with a pair of crystalline horns on its long head. Hooved and four legged it faintly reminded me of a giraffe with its disproportionately long neck. Yet it was nowhere near a giraffe’s size and combined with its thick brown hide and no fur, it was a strange looking creature. Yet it was an incredibly helpful find.

A cara huh, they’re prey for the Mavras. Perfect, I’ll follow it. This maaay take a while.

I idly sat in the crook of a tree; night was beginning to fall as I observed the creature. It was beginning to settle down for the night as the crystal roof slowly dimmed. Its home was a small dense collection of foliage. Looking at the crystals I was lost in thought.

I wonder how that works… If nothing else, it’s pretty, I guess.

A pained screech from below broke me from my thoughts as I jumped slightly at the sound. A large black shape had the creature pinned. Its massive jaws creaked around its neck before a loud crunch echoed as the animal's pained cries stopped.

My heart pounded in my chest as I felt a grin stretch its way across my face. A sick feeling in my stomach formed but it was overwhelmed by the beating of my heart.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

Time for some revenge.

I took a deep breath as quietly as I could. Relaxing my suddenly tense body. It picked up the corpse of its prey and set off without so much as a glance in my direction. I smoothly slid to the ground level and sneaked after the beast.

Easily moving through the jungle with a new familiarity I easily kept up with it. Ensuring I was downwind had become second nature as I crept after it. Distributing my weight evenly on my feet and keeping a low profile.

We eventually arrived at a somewhat familiar set of cliffs. A set of smaller caves littered them, and the Mavra quickly climbed up one of them with a set of agile leaps. It arrived at a cave entrance about halfway up and disappeared inside. A trail of dark red blood lined the way it had gone.

I wonder if that place I came out of is near here. But wait… huh this could actually work. Let’s get this idea started.

I quickly began to work. I gathered a small collection of vines and braided a makeshift rope. Climbing up the tree closest to the cliff’s edge I attached it as firmly as I could to the top. I tested my weight on it before climbing back down and tying it around my chest as a makeshift harness.

It had just enough distance to miss the ground and hopefully enough to climb the cliffside. Artemis had told me off from using weapons as it went against the Shé people’s hunting ideology. Warfare was a different story but for hunting they considered it sacred and of the utmost honor to use hunting as a pure battle of bodies and wits.

That all in mind I decided to completely ignore it as I forged myself a makeshift spear with a fairly sharp rock I had picked up earlier and a sturdy, long stick.

My life is way more important than following some stupid rules. And it’s still au naturale like they want alright? I mean, at least kind of.

Since I had no talent or technique in making this I just sharpened the wooden point with the pointy rock as much as I could. As I finished my preparations I took a deep breath and hefted the spear in my hands.

A grin crept on my face as I thought of the insanity of what I was about to pull. My heart raced as adrenaline flooded my body.

This is stupid as hell… Honestly I’m impressed by how idiotic it is. Well maybe that’s what I need to get through this. Let’s get this show on the road.

The climb was a bit rougher than I anticipated, apparently it was kind of hard to climb with a spear and your hands and all that. Eventually though I made it up and stared into the mouth of the cave. Readying my spear I heard a deep growl from within.

Fuck it definitely heard my climbing up. Next time let's make a sling or something.

I quickly cut off my thoughts, turning all my focus to the cave. My eyes having adapted to the darkness somewhat it looked like it was time for the fight to begin.

The beast stepped out of the darkness and my breath caught as I stared at the familiar yet terrifying beast. Its fur was jet black with bright yellow eyes faintly glowing in the darkness with an ominous light. Its body was thickly muscled, and the creature's dual tails were covered in bonelike armor with terrifyingly sharp points. The three pairs of legs as well as its full body was half covered in a similar chitin. The last one I had fought was suddenly seeming a lot less scary.

The Mavra took the first strike, launching itself at me with incredible speed. I flung myself to the left to avoid the pounce. I felt a sharp slash across my right arm as I avoided the blow. Its tail had slashed across it preventing me from getting out unscathed.

I tightened my grip on the spear as I closely watched for its next move. Slowly prowling towards me with its tails swishing left and right I mentally filed away the new knowledge. I lurched forwards dashing at the Mavra.

It stepped back, swiping its massive, clawed paw towards my chest.

swish

I spun sideways, converting my momentum into a quick stab with the spear aiming at its unarmored chest.

It stabbed into it, and I felt an uncomfortable grating as the spear rubbed against its ribs. It launched itself forwards with a terrifying bite and I pulled with all my strength, freeing the spear from its side and tumbling backwards a loud snap echoed through the air as its teeth bit where I was at just a second ago.

It flew after me and I threw myself into a backwards roll to avoid the follow up. I stumbled to my feet as it whiffed. Yet before I could gain my bearings it swung its tails towards me aiming at my legs and chest with each of its tails.

I raised my spear to block, and the tails sunk into the wood. I pulled with all my might in an attempt to free the weapon, but it tore the weapon from my hands with a casual flick and launched the spear off the cliff.

A satisfied growl echoed from its throat, and I could swear it was mocking me. I slowly backed up towards the cliff fear building in my chest.

Clearly confident in its win it stalked forward tails swishing, seeing it had cornered me. At that moment it was time. It pounced, aiming to finish the fight in one blow. I kicked off the cliff into a free fall as it followed. A look of shock on its face as I yelled in excitement.

“HELL YEAH!!!”

My fall was interrupted by the makeshift harness, and it pulled me backwards at ridiculous speeds as I fell in a clean arc. Yet before I could properly celebrate, I felt my back slam into a nearby tree.

My breath hitched as the shock stunned me. My back felt as if it were lit aflame.

“Eguhh…f… fuck”

I slowly regained my breathing as I recovered hanging idly. The Mavra was laying at the bottom of the cliff slowly struggling to stand. Some of its legs were bent in clearly wrong directions but it seemed the fight was still unfinished. I slowly pulled myself up before biting through the vine as a means of freeing myself.

I tried to climb down from the branch I was on, but my legs failed to respond properly, and I tumbled unceremoniously to the soft floor beneath. I struggled to my feet, slowly inching towards the spear I had just spotted.

Finally grabbing it I glared at the Mavra.

“Let's end this…”

Step by painful step I made my way towards it aiming to finish it off. Raising my spear, I filled the attack with all my strength and plunged down aiming at its head. It sank into it with a disgusting sound and a pained yowl filled the clearing.

Yet before I could finish the job a loud swing sounded throughout the jungle. A slash I couldn’t follow with a beautiful arc easily decapitated the beast. The sound was clean and elegant.

I turned to where the slash came from raising my spear with my heart racing.

There stood a small feminine figure. Dressed in almost all black and wearing a mask that covered the lower half of her face she idly stared at me with piercing blue eyes. Her mask seemed reminiscent of the oni masks in Japanese culture. She wore a hood and had a large black horn above her right eye which clearly marked her as inhuman. Her outfit clearly eastern in influence she casually remarked.

“Don’t make it suffer. It’s in poor taste.” as she casually swung her blade, ridding it of the dark blood coating it.

What is even happening anymore… Well let's find out.