I woke in a forest, granted it’s not an uncommon occurrence for me, but this time felt off. As I sat up, I noticed there was a suspicious lack of pine needles under me. There was a lack of any detritus really, way too much grass, not enough leaves, limbs, or acorns. Every forest I’ve been in that was not a carefully maintained park presenting itself as a forest, had large quantities of leaves, pine needles, acorns, pinecones, sticks and brush along the forest floor; all that was absent here. Now I’m concerned. Where in the ever-loving fuck was I?

“Language!” said a surprisingly soothing voice. It reminded me of the meditation audios I used to listen to falling sleep. It also made every hair on my arms strand straight on edge, as it brought to the fore-front exactly what made the forest feel wrong. It was quiet, not the wind, birds, nor insects, making a noise. “Who the fuck said that?” I asked aloud. I suddenly was face to face with rather ordinary looking man, with a few oddities. He was dressed in skins, much how we believed the Vikings or Native Americans had dressed. His eyes, they looked like those of a bird of prey’s. He stood at approximately 6’ 5” not overly broad but with an archers build. “My name is Agra; I am the patron God of Hunters in distant world known as Choa. I’d like to ask you a favor.” Said the, as I just learned, God of Hunters from a world called Choa.

“Well, I still ain’t to sure this ain’t a dream. If you are who you say, what would you have to ask of me? I'm little more than a working man, with a penchant for hunting. Even then I doubt my skill is beyond average.” I said to Agra. He smiled and replied, “I’d insist you aren’t dreaming but I doubt you’d take my word for it. It’d be easier to show you, but I don’t believe you’ve realized it yet and I’ll not be the bearer of bad news. As for your skills you may not know or care, but you are above average by a wide margin for what skills I looked for.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

As I made to interject, he raised a hand causing me to pause, before continuing “We do not have gunpowder; all hunters on Choa use a bow or spear when hunting. You have reached the pinnacle on Earth using these instruments for hunting. Having gone ‘off grid’ as it’s said, you probably had no way of knowing the heights you had reached. As for the favor I’d like to ask of you, I’ve fallen out of favor amongst hunters recently. They instead pray to the Goddess of Bountiful Harvest. I’ve nothing against her and we are good friends in fact, but I need an Apostle to represent me on Choa to bring my name as the Patron of Hunters back to light. I am asking you to come to Choa and hunt.”

I took a deep breath to calm my nerves and settle my thoughts, then I spoke “I have three questions. What bad news would you have to bear? What would I hunt? And finally, can I eat what I would hunt?” Agra answered with a grin “You have died in the wild while sleeping, giving us the opportunity to converse. You would hunt all creatures, even those that think. You can eat any creature you kill though some may not be palatable for you.”

My death was a shock, but I had been prepared to die for some time, I wasn’t suicidal mind you, but resigned that it would ultimately occur. I thought through what he asked, I had no attachments, so I said, “I will hunt for you.”