Traveling is harder than it sounds.

I, Ulkriekh of the Mountain clan, first son of my father and adolescent Dhugrin, turned twenty three weeks ago. Twenty isn't very much of a mile-stone when it comes to my race, but it did have a personal impact.

When my father was twenty, he became lost in the forest for eight days and nights. When he eventually returned to the clan, he was covered in blood, dirt, and sweat. He wore a self-made necklace of claws, and carried nothing but a sharp piece of flint. He never told anyone, except mom, exactly what happened during his adventure in the forest. But he'd always have a far-away look in his eye, and a sharp smile.

Although he never revealed the details, he did extol the many things he learned while lost and alone.

First, that you must never leave yourself in a defenseless position. Even if things seem hopeless, the only way to lose is to give up.

Second, anything can be a weapon, including the enemy. If you simply allow yourself to open your eyes and look, you would be amazed by the things you never noticed before.

Third, don't look down. If you wait to see how far the drop is, you'll never jump. Instead, trust luck, trust fate, and trust yourself. If you never take the leap, you'll always be afraid.

Fourth, when things go wrong, don't wonder about how or why. Just make sure you fix it.

And fifth, don't bother bears. They'll eat you.

Although I can imagine some of the things my dad went through, I still wonder just how he did it. Here I am, walking as quietly as I can through an endless canopy of leaves. I tried to open my eyes, and see weapons. But all I see is twigs and dirt. I haven't come to any drops yet, and I can't tell if anything has gone wrong.

At least the fifth piece of advice is simple enough to follow. I mean, what kind of suicidal person would go up against an eight-foot monstrosity? That's four-times my size!

Perhaps the Elder doesn't realize this, but I listen closely to what he says. I don't know about other children, but I always found life to be easier when I followed the advice of people who knew more than me. Though, realizing that other people knew more than me was a struggle I never wish to repeat.

But, I learned. When someone I trust tells me something with surety, I can believe what they say.

Unless they're pranking me...

Still, it irritates me when I ask a question and the answer is, 'you're missing the point.'

I think I might be overreacting by taking off from all I know. I realize that going off alone is incredibly idiotic, and I'll probably end up dead somewhere. I don't know how much I don't know. But, that's the problem. If I don't see it for myself, if I don't experience with my own body, if I can't feel it with my hands, how am I supposed to understand?

And so I'm going to learn. I'm not going to learn everything, but I'll at least find out just how ignorant I am.

Then, when things go wrong, I'll fix it.

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My shoe made from tanned animal skin bumped into something. I had been looking upwards, at the leaves, while I walked. I'm somewhat surprised I didn't trip before now. I bumped into a bear.

...

I'm sorry father, I've failed you.

I backed up real fast. I didn't realize I could move so fast with such short legs. But I covered three meters in a fraction of a second, then started sprinting. Behind me, a loud roar probably woke up all of my dead, disappointed ancestors. I could hear their echoing voices.

"You had one job!"

Or maybe that was just my own conscious screaming at me. It was soon drowned out by the loud roars of the bear, and it's loud, heavy, thudding footsteps.

I was five meters away from it. But as fast as I am, it was gaining about a foot per second. If I know that one meter is approximately three feet, then if five times three equals fifteen, I have about fifteen seconds until I die.

I'm so grateful my mother took the time to teach me proper arithmetic. And gave birth to me. And dealt with all of my stupid stunts. I'd like to thank my father, who probably killed himself, just so he could turn in his grave. I'd like to apologize to the elder for my stupid questions and opinions, I'd like to thank my shoes, my shirt, the rocks, the dirt, the trees, and the earth. And I would thank the bear for teaching me just how stupid I am, but it probably doesn't care about that. I hope the meat on my corpse is thanks enough.

I dodged around a tree, and looked back. Bad idea.

The bear had closed in on me with half the time I'd estimated. Good job, math. Thanks for nothing.

In the three seconds I have, while the bear is still six feet away, I realized that I had ignored another piece of dads' advice.

I am totally, and completely, defenseless. So much for, 'blessing myself,' or whatever my distant ancestor actually asked for. I could use a pair of wings right about now. Even gold might distract the bear. What do I have? What can I do?

[Six feet] I'm going to die. And who would be surprised?

[Five feet] Not the Elder, that's for sure. He was right to throw me out of the clan.

[Four feet] I've...I've lost. That's all there is to it.

[Three feet] But...

[Two feet] ...have I?

[One foot] My father told me, "The only way to lose is to give up."

In that case, I think I won't give up. At least in death, I won't have lost. I opened my eyes.

Trees are all around. They're like tall giants. Even bigger than the bear. If the two of them slammed into each other, I wonder which would break?

In the last half-second I had, I didn't dodge around the tree in front of me. I exerted all the strength I could, and jumped against the trunk. Then I jumped even higher.

I looked down, and saw the eyes and teeth of a head half the size of me. I'd gotten three feet up. An amazing distance. And the bear that had ignored everything but me hit the tree face-first.