In spite of the loss of wood and food, Varik couldn’t help it as a massive grin stretched his face. That blast would have reduced a monster to ashes. Whatever this was, at last it was his opportunity to get out of the cave. A little practice would surely make all the difference.
“Did you see that?! This is our chance! If you get this magic, this… wytchfire too we can easily expand out of the cave. We can share this with the whole tribe!” Varik exclaimed, the words flowing out of him with almost as much force as the blast. Impatient, he grabbed half of what little he had left from his core and shoved it out of his mouth, this time taking care to keep hold of it after it exited. A small blue flame hung in the air, lighting their cave. It lit Salyn’s face who looked thoughtful.
“There are legends of the Makers coming to the tribes, bringing magical plants and hinting about bonds and magic. In the stories, the people accept the gift and revere the plants as a gift from the Makers, but fear the magic and the Makers too much to experiment. I think you finally found what they intended.”
Varik, still hyper with excitement, was only half listening. In the vision he had the fire was constantly changing shapes. He pictured Jok in his mind's eye. Nothing happened with the floating flame. Undaunted, he used the metaphysical grip he had on it to mold it. With some effort he formed a misshapen blob that somewhat resembled a person. If you squinted a little. All this meant was that he needed more practice! But what his family needed now was some food.
“Mom, give me some time to recharge, and let’s go hunting. I will still be slow with that blast but we can figure something out.” His eyes lit up. “The vine! If we lure something to the vine that should give me some time to draw the wytchfire out!”
Salyn, still somewhat dazzled by one revelation after another, simply nodded. Although she still felt a little afraid for her son, she knew what this could mean even more than he did. This marked the beginning of history for their entire race.
“I will go prepare some spears and ask Nyssa’s mother if she can take care of Dak again.” She paused, and in spite of her shock she smiled and hugged Varik. “You are going to be amazing.”
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While she was gone Varik continued to practice with his floating flame, shaping it into simpler shapes. A leaf, a branch, a stalagmite. As he practiced he could feel the warmth in his chest begin to increase, slowly returning to its original intensity. Throughout his practice, his grin never left his face.
Interlude
Jarl and his family were one of the families that dared to hunt. They knew the risks and keenly felt the loss of those who had given their lives on hunts. They knew their spirits hunted amidst the skies now. His living family members numbered himself, his daughter Rhyna and his son Shand. They stalked through the woods silently, spaced apart to cover the maximum ground, but careful to stay in each other's line of sight. Jarl and Shand carried spears, while Rhyna carried the only atlatl (that’s a stone age spear thrower btw) they had. Shand had found some deer tracks earlier, which were rare due to abundance of predators. They followed them now, occasionally finding droppings or a berry bush picked clean to guide them on their way.
Soon enough Shand waved his arms to get their attention and pointed out the deer. It was a decent sized buck, with 3 forks in its antlers. They silently surrounded it, Rhyna holding her position while the other two circled around to its other side. As soon as the others were in place Rhyna launched a spear at the deer. As the spear flew, the deer shifted and the spear took it in the hindquarters. It quickly began to bound away, but Shand was in place to cut its flight short. With a quick thrust of his spear the hunt was over. Smiles broke out on their face, though they dared not make any unnecessary sound yet. After severing an artery in its neck to drain it of blood, Shand hefted the deer on his shoulders, its legs on either side of him.
As they journeyed back Jarl heard a twig snap in the woods. He cried out a warning as the massive mutated wolf leapt towards Shand and the deer. He had heard about how this monster had poached from Salyn and Varik. Reacting quickly Shand set his spear at the same time that the freakishly long neck allowed the monster to tear out his throat while still in the air. Because Shand had set his spear before he died however, upon landing the wolf gored itself in the stomach. Jarl reacted quickly, leaping forward to finish off the beast. He thrust his spear forward, but the wolf batted it aside and ripped his torso open. Rhyna let out a scream and threw the spear she had loaded with all the rage and fury she had. It took the wolf straight through the head, passing halfway out the back. The monster flopped unceremoniously to the ground, anticlimactic for all the death it had caused. She fell to the ground, breathing hard in grief and shock. In less than thirty seconds her family died. She would trade all the meat in the world for them back. But she hefted the deer and headed back to the cave.