Sett Keidum skipped up the stairs to his house. School had been boring today. There had been only classes, with no sports. Though, he did learn more about how the Great Ancestor Krakar had expanded his empire, which was fun. Sett liked learning about the Great Ancestor. He wanted to go play with the Throh twins, but they went straight to their farms. Sett also wanted to join his parents in their farm but they were on a hunt today. He hoped they caught some Elk, he loved Elk meat. His brother had gone to some friend’s house because he had a day off, which meant Sett was alone at home.

He unlocked the door to their apartment and threw his bag on the futon. He collapsed onto a bolster pillow, rolling around on it. His parent’s had promised to take him hunting with them when he turned 13, and he couldn’t wait. His father was the captain of a hunting party which had a few of Sett’s neighbours, and local farmers. They’d go into the Woods around once or twice a month, spending a whole day catching game. His mother had already taught him how to prepare an animal after it’s been hunted, but he wanted to experience it himself.

Sett was bored of his thoughts in just a few minutes. He ran to his room and took out a ball the size of his head, kicking it around the house, knowing his dad can’t complain if he isn’t here. He was good enough at border ball to not hit anything breakable in the house, and cared enough to not try even when an occasional thought said it might be funny. He spent the better part of an hour playing around before collapsing on the futon, exhausted. He quickly drifted asleep.

Sett awoke to the sound of the front door opening. His father walked in looking devastated, with blood on his clothes. Uncle Bana followed behind with a hand on his shoulder. He, too, had a distraught expression. Sett knew something was wrong when his mom didn’t come in with them, and their expressions worried him more. He stared at his dad confusedly, hoping for an explanation.

Sapp leapt forward and tightly embraced Sett, squeezing the air out of him. He’d never been hugged this hard before.

“Sett I’m sorry! I’m so, so sorry”

His father was crying, his tears streaming down Sett’s shoulder. He’d never seen an adult cry before, it felt so odd. This whole evening felt odd, like something didn’t fall into place in the universe but Sett didn’t know what.

“I can’t breathe!” Sett gasped. He liked hugs, but not this one. Another odd thing.

His father pulled out of the hug but still held Sett by the shoulders. His face was twisted in agony, loud sobs bringing tears and snot down his face. Sapp’s expression was so vivid, Sett began to cry himself. He didn’t know what was going on, but the despair in the air was getting to him.

“Sett, I'm so sorry! Your mother, she… I couldn’t stop it, it attacked so suddenly, I couldn’t..”

Uncle Bana put a hand on his father’s shoulder and kneeled next to him. His father looked at the ground, his whole body trembling.

“Sett, your mother was attacked by a dangerous creature when we went to hunt. I’m so sorry, we tried our best, but we couldn’t help her,” Uncle Bana tried to explain but Sett didn’t understand. Is she hurt? Is she in the hospital?

“I want to see her,” he demanded, assuming she was in the hospital. If she was hurt, he had to see her. He felt himself getting angry at everyone else for not taking him to her.

Uncle Bana sighed, and Sapp’s sobs grew louder.

“I’m sorry, but you can’t see her. She is with the Ether now.”

Sett knew what that meant, and he hated it. He hated Uncle Bana for saying something so cruel when it wasn’t true.

“NO!” He screamed. “DON’T LIE! WHERE IS MOM?!”

Sett’s dad held him tightly as Sett screamed with despair and rage. All he could see was red, and he felt like nothing short of extinction of all Rainat would satisfy him.

Sett wanted to do something. He wanted to tear the creature that took his mom from him limb from limb, tear down anyone who dares stop him. He tried to pull himself loose from his dad’s embrace and run, but Sapp was too strong. Sett pounded his father’s back, screaming and clawing until he was released. He bolted for the door, deftly sidestepping Uncle Bana who leapt after him. Outside, two more of his father’s hunting group were waiting, their faces grim. Sett bolted for the stairs before they noticed, barrelling down the steps without a thought. He tripped on a step and fell, tumbling down a whole flight and falling on his back onto the landing. His body barely registered the pain, all senses dulled by the indescribable fury he felt.

He jumped up and moved towards the stairs again, but the adults had caught up with him. His father and two more people Sett barely registered caught him and held him up, carrying him back up kicking and screaming. He screamed until his throat hurt and then screamed some more. Neighbours who lived in building 4-6 came out of their houses, concerned. All the uncles and aunties who raised Sett were concerned but Sett barely noticed them. The adults took him home, and left him in his room with his father to process his emotions and calm down.

Father and son stayed in the room for 4 days, barely sleeping or eating. Mitt had come back too and cried with them, but he was taken away by Auntie Fen when she noticed Sapp wasn’t in any condition to take care of him. The duo barely ate for the first few days, though the adults around them had left them food in the room. Sapp had slowly begun eating again and talking to his son, but Sett barely registered anything. His emotions hadn’t calmed in these days, his only sleep coming when he passed out from exhaustion. Doctors had come to check up on him but he screamed and demanded to be allowed to hunt the beast that took his mother.

Two days later, when Sett was wrapped up in a blanket in his room glaring at nothing in particular, his father walked in. Sett prepared to scream at him, but his father raised a hand and spoke with conviction and eyes of steel.

“Sett, I have decided.”

“What?!”

“I’ve spoken with our party and a few others. We’ve decided to hunt the Rainat.”

Sett opened his mouth to demand his coming along, but his father stopped him again with a raised hand.

“A Rainat is a very dangerous animal. Our rifles can’t penetrate its skin. It also runs away if it’s spooked, and it scares easily. Babb Horn, from the farm next to the Throhs, has a piercing rifle. Uncle Tecc is coming along as well, with his Military Corps rifle. We’ll be going with the eight, I mean seven, of our party, Babb and two of his party, and uncle Tecc. I can take you along, but there are some conditions.”

Sett’s eyes lit up at his father’s words. He never thought his father would agree.

“One, we’ll be setting off in two days and you need to eat and sleep until then. See the doctor too. If I feel like you’re too exhausted or sick on the day, I'll keep you out.” Sett nodded along as his father continued.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“Two, you will not participate in the hunt. You won’t be given any weapons, and you’ll always be surrounded by at least two adults, if not more. When we’re traversing the Woods, you’ll be in the centre of our formation.” Sett wanted to argue but he knew this condition was absolute. He had logically considered what he wanted over the past few days, and he knew he was completely out of his depth in a hunt, especially of such a dangerous creature.

“Three, my orders are absolute. If I’m not around, the orders of the adults around you. If someone tells you to run, you run. To stay back, you stay back. You will not argue or hesitate to follow. If you do, we call it off immediately and go back. Am I clear, Sett Keidum?”

“Yes dad.”

“Then eat something and sleep. We’ll see the doctor tomorrow.”

Two days later, on the morning of the hunt, Sett followed the group to the Mupnal Woods. His father led the party at the front, with uncle Babb and uncle Bana behind him. Sett was at the very back with uncle Tecc and uncle Resk, one of his dad’s regular party members, at his sides. When they enter the woods, Sett would be moved to the centre so that he’d be surrounded by skilled adults and safe from ambush. His father had given him his hunting knife to hold on to, despite saying he wouldn’t be given any weapons. Sett’s heart beat loudly, not with the excitement of his first ever hunt but with the fury of losing his mother. He gripped his knife tightly and stared ahead.

The plan was to move eastward into the Woods, following the route they had taken when Saecca died. Once they’ve reached the area, half the group, the half with the highest perception stats, would branch out and scout around, looking for traces of Rainat. The spot where they had encountered it was a long 7 hour trek into the wilderness, something Sett hadn’t done before. Since tracking such a recluse animal would take a long time, they had packed camping gear and enough supplies to last at least 5 days. The thought brought up memories of when he had gone camping with his family, and the barely suppressed emotions started bubbling again.

The hours melded into each other as they marched, more cautious than usual because of their young guest. Sett felt like they were marching too slowly, but he had no way to verify the time. His legs hurt, and he had a slight headache from being alert for so long, but he didn’t utter a word of complaint as his eyes carefully scanned the forest around him. The fatigue barely registered in his mind. The company came to a sudden stop. His father spoke something to Babb and the two of them set out ahead alone.

“We’re near the spot,” uncle Resk informed him. “They’re going ahead to scout.”

The duo returned half an hour later, and the company continued moving. They couldn’t find any easily visible Rainat tracks around the place where they were attacked, so they decided to set up camp in a clearing nearby. The group hunkered down in an hour, by which point the sun was already beginning its slumber. They had surveyed the area for nearly a whole square kilometer, looking for ambush predators that could cause them problems. Sett helped with setting up tents, though he obviously wasn’t given a spot in the watch rotation. The plan was to begin the hunt the next day.

Sett found himself under a thick oak tree the following day, his guards from before at either side. There were 3 more guards around the area, all tasked with protecting the youngest of their group. The rest had set out to look for Rainat tracks.

“Keep your weapon where you can draw it, kid”

“What?”

“Keep your weapon where you can draw it quickly. Don’t just hold it randomly. And stay alert. Always stay alert in hostile territory, even if you’re protected,” uncle Tecc instructed sternly. Sett gripped the sheathe in his right hand, ready to be drawn by its left when needed.

The days passed by without any sign of a Rainat. They hadn’t found any tracks that day, so they moved further into the woods, closer to the Fidar mountain range. Sett was growing more and more impatient, but he held his tongue. The tents were cold, the sleeping bags uncomfortable, the marching strenuous. Sett hated it and a small part of him wanted to go back, but the pain and fury in his heart pushed him on.

On the fourth day, they found the first tracks. A scout hurried from further northeast, claiming he’d seen tracks of a large animal he was sure was a Rainat. They had begun moving up the mountainside by this point, and the hike there was gruelling. They waited for the other scouts, and Sett’s father returned from the north claiming to have seen tracks as well. The scouts returned to the spots where tracks were seen, and spent the rest of the day looking for more traces.

“I’m sure there’s only one,” Bana said when they gathered around the campfire that night. “Its prowling the area northeast of here”

“Yeah, that’s probably its territory. There were claw marks on the rocks leading up to the rock shelter we saw. It’s probably its hideout,” Sapp added.

“Did you approach it?,” uncle Tecc asked.

“The shelter? No. We did survey around it though. We found enough tracks going to and from it.”

“Didn’t it know you were there?” Sett asked, the first words he’d spoken without being spoken to, this whole expedition. All eyes turned to him.

“If it did, it didn’t make it known. It might not have been there, they’re daytime predators, it could’ve gone for a hunt,” his father answered him. Sett nodded and didn’t say anything for the rest of the night.

The hunting party had positioned themselves around the rock shelter the next morning as planned. Sett was positioned further to the north, between two inosculated trees. Jon and Resk stood by his side. His group was the furthest away from the action, and in the opposite direction of where they had planned to corral the beast. Babb had suggested that uncle Tecc be actively involved, or at least his rifle, and his father approved. The standard hunting rifles were enough to scare a Rainat away from Sett, which was all that was required.

Two men approached the cave from its north east and west, their rifles up and ready. When they got within 7 feet, a low growl emerged from the cave. The two looked towards the south, where Sapp was, and nodded. They aimed their rifles and fired into the rocks and gaps between the rocks around the shelter. A mighty roar resounded from the cave, and Sett could feel his body vibrate as he heard it. The shots of Ether paused for a moment, but continued again. Finally, the infuriated beast emerged from its domicile. An earthly brown feline at least 5 feet tall, with long fur and fangs the size of Sett’s fingers, glared at one of its assailants, its yellow eyes filled with violence. The hunter facing it flinched, and the beast leapt towards him, razor sharp claws primed to rip the man to shreds. A blast of Ether hit its side, causing it to stop for a moment, when another blast hit it almost face on, its prey fighting back. The blasts weren’t enough to do any damage, but it conveyed the message of pain. The creature quickly turned around, running southwest. A strong blast of Ether from that direction caused it to roar and change its course, finally moving southwards. Towards Sapp with the piercing rifle in his hand. From the distance, Sett could see his father raise his rifle, steadying his breath and waiting as the fearsome predator sprinted towards him. A red streak shot out from his rifle towards the Rainat’s shoulder, staggering its run as it wailed in pain. Another shot, another wound in its side, causing it to roar loudly, its agonized voice reverberating through the trees.

Then the reply came.

An equally loud roar tore through the air from behind Sett. He shot his head backwards to see an infuriated Rainat hurtling down the slope towards him, its face contorted in raw ferocity, eyes screaming rage. The others reacted immediately and opened fire, the blasts leaving painful welts on the predator’s body. But it wasn’t enough. The creature had lost its mind with rage, instincts fully forgotten. Sett met its eyes as it came for him and he saw himself reflected. He drew his knife and held it up at the beast with both hands, knowing full well it won’t do anything. Still, he stood his ground trembling with fear, ready to meet his mother.

A red blast shot out from somewhere behind him, hitting the beast in its leg as it prepared to pounce. The Rainat stumbled and slid across the slope, roaring in fury and pain. Another ether blast hit its body a second later. Sett turned and saw uncle Tecc aiming carefully at the animal. He was standing deathly still, his eyes calm as a lake and his expression like steel. He had rushed to Sett’s position and barely made it in time. Another shot struck the beast from the other side as his father made it up after quickly finishing off the other Rainat. The beast collapsed less than 5 feet away from Sett, its eyes locked onto him with hate. It swiped at him with claws sharper than his own blade, but another shot, to the neck this time, from uncle Tecc suppressed it.

“Kill it kid. Use your knife,” uncle Tecc said as he walked over. His father looked like he was going to protest, but instead he lifted his rifle, ready for the beast’s final struggle.

Sett steadied his breath and approached the creature, circling outside the range of its claws. It squirmed as it tried to get to him, but was met with a blast from a rifle. He gripped his blade tightly and plunged it into the wounded neck of the animal, lifted it and stabbed again. And again. And again. He let his tears flow, and he wept loudly as he stabbed his heart out.