As I cross the threshold to my bedroom, mother and father are already at my bedside waiting to tuck me into bed. For as long as I can remember, this has been our routine. Mother used to tell me stories of how I would need to be held constantly as a baby, lest I cry and wake the entire village. Every night they would tuck me into bed, kiss me goodnight, and mother would lull me to sleep with a song or my personal favorite, a story. She would tell many different types of stories, but adventuring stories were always my favorite. My father would sit in on story nights as well, offering up his knowledge as a hunter to chime in when a particular beast or creature was mentioned. The stories were supposed to put me to sleep, but they did the exact opposite. I’d always ask for another and another until my parents would finally force me to head to sleep. As I sat in the dark, empty room waiting for sleep to take me however, I would often imagine myself the hero in these grand tales of adventure.
“Is it really time for bed? Can’t I stay awake just a little longer? Please?”
Seemingly unfazed by my pleading, my mother looked to my father and he spoke.
“Now Eiras, tomorrow is an important day for you, it is your tenth birthday. You’ll need all your energy tomorrow.”
“It's not like I have to complete The Rite as soon as I wake up dad, once I turn 10 I can take it whenever I’m ready, that's what YOU told me”
My mother snickered, and my father playfully slapped her knee.
“If you’ve got enough energy to talk back, perhaps you’ve got enough energy to practice your knife throwing like I’ve been trying to teach you? Hrmm? What do you have to say now, mister smart mouth?”
As the words finish leaving his lips I rush for the covers and take refuge in their warmth. Pulling them to my chin and closing my eyes; making sure to ham up a few soft snores for good measure.
“Ah, that's what I thought, looks like you were tired after all”
My mother and father are now sitting on opposite sides of me in bed. The air shifts, looks like the time for jokes is over. The look on their faces seems far more serious than a moment ago, the creases on my fathers brow noticeable in the candlelight that is illuminating my room.
“Eiras dear, you’ll be 10 tomorrow. Which means certain things will be expected of you now”
“I know mother” Father’s teachings rang throughout my head, the past month has been nothing but what to expect now that I'm almost an adult. He was always so serious when it came to The Rite. Which always seemed strange considering we don’t even worship the All-Father like the rest of the village.
“In 6 years time, you’ll be considered an adult Eiras, and while I think you are very mature for your age, I need you to understand that 6 years is not as far away as it seems. Being 10 means you can undertake The Rite, that is what I have been trying to prepare you for. However, After tonight my help must cease. It is up to you to prepare for The Rite yourself. You must do all your training, learning, and practicing all by yourself. Your mother and I will only be here to feed you and cloth you, you cannot ask us for assistance, and we cannot help you; no matter how much we want to”
“I know father, you’ve already explained this to me a thousand times before, trust me I wi-”
“Eiras”
My fathers face hardened, he did not look at me like a father would his son. The eyes staring back at me were the eyes of a member of The Hunter’s Circle. I hated that stare, it seemed so different from my fathers usually jovial tone.
“If you succeed at The Rite, you will become a hunter of this village, and it will be your job, your responsibility to help provide for the village. You will help me and all the other hunters protect and care for Lachia, This is very important”
“I Know!” I could feel the heat rising from my belly to my chest. “I know I can’t get help, I know I have to do The Rite on my own, I get it. I’m not a child anymore, I will take The Rite seriously” I look my mother and father in the eyes. “You have my word, both of you”
Their eyes soften, and they both pull me in and hold me in their arms. The warmth of their bodies is soothing as I wrap an arm around each of them.
“I love you, mom and dad. I’ll succeed The Rite, you’ll see”
“We know dear, your father and I love you too”
I wriggle free from the hug, and look towards my mother and father. Still wrapped around each other partially, they don’t have enough time to react before I can utter my next words.
“Since you both are already here, and It IS my birthday, can I have one last story?”
My parents look to one another, share a moment of contemplation and loom back at me.
“ I don’t see why not, but only one though!”
“What kind of story do you want to hear about? Shall I play a giant Dire Wolf again?” My father places his palms together and clamps his fingers down repeatedly, mimicking the maw of a wolf.
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“Ooo, or what about a dashing prince who saves his betrothed from a fearsome bandit attack?” My mothers eyes widen in excitement as she speaks.
“What about…a real story? Like say…Father, can you tell the story of how you became a member of The Hunters Circle?”
My father for as long as I can remember has had very expressive eyes. No matter how he may speak, or act, his eyes will always give way to how he is truly feeling. Mother says it's his most endearing quality, his heart speaks through his eyes she says. However, when I finished asking my question, for the first time in my life, I saw what looked like fear in my fathers eyes. Or maybe it was regret.
My mother placed a hand on my fathers, concern filled her eyes as she did so.
My father waited a moment, the gleam in his eyes returning to its usual luster. The colour hadn’t yet returned to his face, but by the look in his eyes I think he had regained whatever composure had momentarily slipped away when I mentioned the story.
“I’m sorry for asking, You don’t have to if you don-”
“I’ll tell you about it, however, this story is something you must never repeat. And you must understand that at the time, I was a very different man than I am now” The look on his face was serious now, even more so than earlier when we spoke of my Rite.
“Of course! I’ll never tell anyone else! Not a soul! Not even a Nightkin could get me to tell them!”
He seemed satisfied with my answer, and after a deep breath, and a squeeze of my mothers hand, he began to speak”
“You already know that I don’t worship the All-Father, I don’t think I have ever hidden this from you. However, I have never explained to you why this is. You see, I was actually born in Olfren. There was a small village there named Gaia, and inside this village it was normal to worship the Sky-Mother. You might have seen her in the text of The Old Gods near the shrine by the old oak tree in the center of the village”
“I have! I’ve seen some other ones in their too, but their names were scratched out, I figured they were gods we don’t worship anymore”
“Yes, well being from this village, I was brought up on the Sky-Mothers teachings. The All-Father and The Sky-Mother I came to learn are rather similar in what they want from us mortals, they ask us to respect the lands, the sea, the sky, and all the creatures therein. This is why even in Lachia people pray for the lives we take during a hunt, and before every harvest. All of it is to give thanks to the Old Gods for providing us their gifts and watching over us.”
My father paused for a moment, It seemed as though something caught in his throat for a brief moment before he continued.
“Shortly after I turned 16 however, a great tragedy struck Gaia, and I was forced to flee for my life. Alone in the countryside, I learned to live off of the land. Hunting and traveling my way from village to village. For 4 years I wandered, until eventually I found myself at the outskirts of Lachia. Tired from that day's journey, I stumbled into town. However, as I drew closer to the village I could hear a commotion further within. I came to realize this commotion was the cries of the villagers within, a large brown bear, foaming from its maw had wandered into the village and began attacking the residents. I’m not sure what came over me at that exact moment, however, When I looked at the scene the bear had left in its wake I became filled with energy; I knew I had to try and help. In my time wandering from Olfren, I had killed many beasts, with many different tools, however, I had gotten extremely proficient with using a dagger I had picked up along my journey”
Yet again another pause, this time I could see a bead of sweat fall down my fathers brow, this memory vexed him in some way I did not understand.
“Dagger in hand, I crept up on the beast. My plan at the time was to sneak up as close as I could, and stealthily stab the bear near the nape of its neck; in my experience, most animals will perish right away as soon as their nape is pierced. However, just as I got close enough to the bear to feel its heat, the bear noticed my presence and attacked me. One swipe with its paw tore into my right arm and left it broken.”
He gestured to a scar I had seemingly always seen but never truly taken notice. 4 long scratches curved around his bicep. I stared at the scars and then met his eyes, which at this point were wet and wide.
“The man the bear had been attacking ran away to get help from the hunters in the village, and the bear had now turned all of its attention to me. I picked myself up off of the ground, barely able to stand and looked around for my knife. It seemed as though when the bear swiped at me, I had dropped the blade in response to the pain. So I stared down the bear, and it did the same to me. We sat for what seemed like an eternity staring into eachothers eyes, until finally it began to move forward. Beaten, broken and tired, I believed I was going to die. However, before I could accept my fate, a small cough had startled me from behind; a child. The child could not have been no more than 6 years old. He too had been attacked by the bear and bloodstains soaked through his shirt. It wasn’t until I locked eyes with the boy that I understood what I needed to do, why I was here, in this village in the middle of nowhere. I was going to save that boy, even if it meant getting killed in the process”
My mother had reached her arm around my father at this point, comforting him through his retelling.
“Before my mind could think of reasons not to, my body rushed into action. I turned back towards the bear, and began to run towards it. As it lifted its gargantuan arm to swipe at me, I slid underneath it to evade its strike. Once its deadly claws cleared my head I quickly sprang to my feet, slightly off center to the beast; I stood inches away from its face. Before it had any time to react, I took my left hand and grabbed hold of the bear's fur. I then took my right hand and, with all the might I could muster, plunged it as deep as I could into the bear's eye. My fist ripped through the bear's eyeball entirely and when I felt it could move no further, I used the leverage my left hand gave me and plunged it even deeper. It felt like an eternity the two of us stood there, until finally the bear fell with me alongside him. I awoke inside a home of one of the elders, they had bandaged my arm and used various ointments to prevent rot from setting in. The elder had explained to me that the bear had been killed, apparently it had taken two men to rip my arm free from the bear's skull, and with it came a chunk of flesh from the inside of its skull”
I looked on in awe, it took everything in me not to scream when he told me this. My father..MY FATHER had killed a bear with his hands, literally his BEAR hands. I would have sung his praises if it wasn’t for the solemn face he carried, and so I held my tongue.
“There are two things that are necessary for a hunter of Lachia to become apart of the Hunters Circle. The first is that they have been a hunter in the village for 15 years, as denoted by 3 bands tattooed on a hunters forearm; each band representing 5 years of service. The second is that the hunter in question is witnessed completing a feat of great hunting prowess, and is essentially appointed by the public. For me, The bear was my task of great prowess, all that was required was that I remain in the village until my time came. I had met your mother soon after I killed the bear, and was set on staying in the village for the foreseeable future. That is my story, the story of how I became a member of The Hunters Circle”
As I looked at my father, awestruck at the revelation that was just thrust upon me. I saw many things inside his wide eyes, a deep sadness and regret that I couldn’t explain, however, as he looked at me now I couldn’t bring myself to ask why he felt this way. Before I had the chance to think of something to break the deafening silence that had filled the room, my mother spoke.
“Well dear, I think it's getting rather late, and you’ve got important things to prepare for come morning”
My father, who seemed to have regained some composure, followed suit with mother, and as the two of them began to walk out of the room my mouth had moved before I had even thought.
“Thank you for the story dad. With my Rite coming up, I’ll try and do you proud as thanks, I’ll do you both proud”
“We know you will Eiras, Goodnight. We love you”
They both looked at me, flashed me a warm smile, and left my room.
Settling down into bed, I blew out the candle that sat next to my bedside, pulled the covers up a little higher, and closed my eyes. The story my father shared continued to play in my mind as I waited for sleep to take me.
I imagined the bear, large and menacing, and my father against it. The thought made my heart race, I couldn’t imagine what it would feel like to be wrapped up in such a crazy adventure. As I continued to let myself drift off, I recounted the story word for word, moment to moment, until I began to imagine myself as my father. I imagined what it would be like to face off against the bear, to come out battered but alive, to be so strong and fierce that even nature's largest beasts couldn't beat me. To become an adventurer, and travel the world; these thoughts finally whisked me away into sleep.