"That'll be great for lunch!" Skylan hummed as he watched Aresson loot one of the deadfall traps Skylan had placed in the woods outside of town. The two of them had been checking traps since dawn. It was now nearing midday and they had managed to recover several small catches. Aresson reset the stone after placing the rabbit that had been caught into his bag.

"So, if this is all you do, why do you carry that bow around?" Aresson pointed a stick towards Skylan's equipment, a modest recurve bow and quiver with a stock of arrows, several of which sporting a dull green fletching.

"We're hunters Ress, our job isn't to have a big showdown with every piece of meat in the ecosystem. If all I have to do to earn my keep and have a good meal is take a nice hike and set some traps. I've got it made." As Skylan lead the way to one of the last few traps on their route, he could feel Aresson staring at him, unsatisfied with the answer he was given. He let out a sigh, "Listen, it's important to have a weapon that you're comfortable with in case things come to that point. There's no doubt about that. But that's not what makes a real hunter. Do you think you're more physically capable than that pricker pig you got yesterday?"

Aresson rolled his eyes as he trailed behind his temporary mentor. "Of course not. I'm not an idiot."

Skylan turned around and pointed at Aresson wearing a congratulatory smile, "That's right Ress, you're not an idiot. That's what can make you formidable than any beast no matter how dangerous or scary it is. That's what separates predator and prey. Any person who can come to an understanding with their circumstances and make good decisions based on that understanding, can find a way to succeed. It gives you a leg up in the world against anything. Make sure you remember that."

Aresson considered Skylan's words, confident that the young man sounded more eloquent in his own mind than in practice. " We're almost done for today, right?" He motioned towards the bag containing their modest bounties of the morning, "I'm ready to start skinning some of these things."

Skylan chuckles, "Always looking towards the next thing you can get yourself into. That's admirable for a kid." He felt another eye roll coming from his student, then took his hunter's cap off, looking down at it with a fondness that Aresson took note of. " Do me and your sister a favor and slow down a bit. Try to enjoy things as they are now. One day you'll really be running things. By then, you'll miss times like these where people don't expect too much from you. Keep on the way you are, and you'll be a grumpy old geezer in no time."

Aresson raised his eyebrow as he watched Skylan attempt to perform theatrical poses at his expense. " Don't lump yourself with Niko like that."

Sklyan grew flush at the remark, then stood up straight from hunching over and pretending his bow was a cane. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You don't have a chance with her. That's all. My sister's gonna become a scholar and a noble once the world sees how talented she is. Even if that weren't the case, the idea of you as an in-law gives me hives." Aresson bit his thumb at his senior as he continued forward. Skylan was left speechless, an uncommon occasion that Aresson prided himself on causing.

"L-listen here you -"

Skylan froze. An unnatural presence permeated his senses. Aresson watched as the carefree adolescent's brow furrowed. Skylan donned his hunter's cap and drew his bow while holding a finger up, signaling Aresson to keep quiet. The air around them had grown dewy and thick. Aresson's heart sank as breathing alone became somewhat of a struggle. Skylan draws an arrow whilst looking towards the source of the pressure and his eyes host a faint glow with the hue of seafoam.

"Aresson, get some distance. I'm not playing around."

Aresson wrestles with himself to stop gawking while Skylan zeroes in on the unknown threat. A burst of pressure blows Aresson back several feet as virulent magical force crackles throughout a tree in a pattern resembling a vascular network, emitting a blinding violet shine. The tree warped and contorted until it worked itself into the shape of an elk. The arbor-beast towered over the two boys and began stomping its feet while thrashing its branch-borne antlers into neighboring trees. The behemoth continued to bash its way through neighboring trees, attempting to gain momentum to charge.

"Aresson! Move it!"

Skylan shoves Aresson to the side as he begins to sprint away from the beast. "Split up!"

Aresson breaks away from Skylan's escape path and begins to hyperventilate as the image of the antlers bursting through tree trunks cycles through his mind. He glances over at Skylan "A stupid arrow isn't going to stop that thing!"

"You'll just have to trust me on this. Keep running and don't you dare stop!"

Aresson sprinted with every ounce of strength he had in his frame, begging his legs to continue to push as the proud oaks that composed the forest shattered like glass behind him. Each impact grew alarmingly closer as the splinters begin to land closer to his heels each passing moment. To his and Skylan’s terror, the beast chose to follow him. The boy desperately fought his way towards the thickest grouping of greenery he could come to find, it was the only thing he could think of to slow down his pursuer as it continued to bulldoze its way through the forest. The burning in his lungs plead with him to stop, his body trying to convince his mind that its efforts are futile. His wheezing and straining are rewarded when he hears the beast cry in agony. Hope fills his heart, but he doesn’t dare to look back.

Sweat rolls off Skylan’s brow. All three of his arrows hit their mark and manage to give the beast pause, but only for a moment. He knocked a green-fletched arrow and aimed carefully. Its behavior told him enough, if his hunch was right all he had to do was find the binding point on its body and destroy it. With a deep breath he finds his center, and with it, clarity. A swirl of sage green light flows from his hand, up the shaft and and faintly cloaks the bow. The glow intensifies, fully concentrating into the arrowhead.

“Hang in there!” Skylan looses the arrow, the projectile lets out a deafening whistle as it seeks its target with increasing speed.

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Skylan drops from his vantage point and snaps off a small rib of onyx, one of few he had left on the amulet beneath his tunic. He winces as he puts it in his mouth and with a decisive crunch, he lands and makes a dogged dash for the beast as it rears once more from his last shot.

Out of steam and feeling a smidgeon of confidence, Aresson whips around quickly to assess the situation. His eyes widen as he witnesses Skylan approach with inhuman swiftness, each of his veins visible and convulsing while they boast a black dye. It almost happened faster than his mind could register. Starting from the point of contact where Skylan had shot the beast last, a familiar glow of sage green painted a path that traversed from the back of the beast’s neck to its undercarriage betwixt the forelegs. Once the line stopped traveling, the path receded, gathering, and then spawning a vibrant green cross. With wraith-like movement, Skylan had jammed Aresson’s knife into the cross before the boy realized that it had left his sheathe. With an ear-splitting cry the monstrosity begins to lose all color, the leaves that had adorned its antlers burst into a violet blaze and wreathe its entire body, causing Skylan to kick off in response as he retrieves the borrowed blade. Within a matter of moments, the flame dissipates, leaving the newborn predator a charred husk.

Skylan rushes to Aresson’s side, his hands shaking. “Are you okay?! Did it get you? How are you feeling?”

Aresson lied still for several moments, still trying to process what had just happened in front of him. The blackness that had appeared in Skylan’s veins had moved to take over the whites of his eyes, fading all at once as Skylan begins to cough and hack uncontrollably.

“Hey! Forget about me! You alright?”

Aresson struggles to think of what he can do to help as Skylan writhes on the ground, nothing comes to him. He’s never seen anything like what had just happened.

“Someone help! Anyone, please!” he cried out knowing full well how slim the chances were that anyone from town would be out as far as they had gone. He continued to despair as he watched.

After some time, Skylan began to calm. His breathing less labored. “S-sorry about that. I’ll be fine in a few minutes, just hand me the waterskin.”

True to his word, his pallor and breathing returned to normal after a few minutes time, and Skylan began to lead the way back home.

“I… have a lot of questions.” Aresson muttered as he followed, still in a daze.

“Go ahead, we still have a bit of time before we make it back home.”

Aresson’s didn’t know where to start, but after a series of tangential inquiries took place, the conversation found direction. Skylan shared whatever knowledge he could, starting with short transformation he underwent. The sudden increase in speed and ferocity came from ingesting the remains of a beast he had felled several years before, one that had developed magus bones throughout its life. He continued to explain that finding wildlife with the properties of a stoneblood is uncommon, but the spoils of such prey is often handsomely rewarded due to the rarity as well as the difficulty in managing to slay a creature of that caliber without damaging the remains. Skylan basked in the starry-eyed admiration Aresson exuded once he heard that Skylan had not only encountered a creature like that but also survived to tell the tale. Skylan decidedly left out the details that the beast he was being praised for overcoming was a striding squirrel that just happened to be a tad faster than the average rodent.

“Can you show me any more of them?” Aresson asked, enthralled.

“Sorry Ress, I used up the last of my stash to save you back there.” Skylan faked, not wanting to out himself.

“Sorry Skylan, I’ll definitely work hard and pay you back for all of this someday. You have my word as a man!” Aresson beat his chest once, a little harder than he meant to.

“No need to worry about it.” Skylan chuckled, “You can pay me back by keeping what happened today to yourself, alright?”

“I can keep a secret… but why do you want to? That was so cool!” Aresson questioned.

Skylan thought for a few moments before replying, “You want to keep learning from me and helping out your family, right? You think Niko is going to be okay with you coming out here on your own someday if she finds out you almost got mangled on your first outing?”

Aresson sucks his teeth at the thought, “You’ve got a point. Thanks for looking out for me.”

“Again, don’t worry about it. Just promise that while you’re training under me, you won’t head out this far alone. I’m not trying to talk down to you, but- “

“It would have been over for me if you weren’t here. I know that already. I wouldn’t be a hunter if I couldn’t come to grips with that.” Aresson gripped his father’s knife as he made the affirmation.

Skylan smiled, satisfied with himself. “Finally, a study with a bit of enthusiasm. Where’ve you been all day?!”

The pair finish their rounds and bring the spoils of the day home for trade. After counting their earnings, they went to Skylan's home for more lessons. During the day's lessons, Skylan went into his cabin to rummage for old equipment to hand down. Aresson was gifted a shortbow. "This one's a loaner until you get big enough to make and handle our own bow with a little more 'oomph' to it. Be careful with it, my mom made this for me when I was your age."

Aresson resisted the urge to remark that Skylan was barely 6 years his senior, but he decided he didn't want to be an ingrate. "I'll take care of it. Are you sure I can have this?"

Skylan nodded with a grin, "Most definitely, someday it might be you saving my hide. It's better that you get trained up with whatever tools you can get your hands on. A dagger can only do so much. You'll run into plenty of things you'd be better off taking care of from afar."

The rest of the day consisted of Skylan quizzing Aresson while they both practiced their marksmanship together. Aresson was given the assignment to memorize the different types of traps he learned about today and detail what the advantages of their designs were. Aresson fixated on this challenge and muttered to himself for the duration of the walk home. Again, he was greeted with the scene of his mother and sister indulging in a feast conjured by their visitor.

“Ress! Skylan! You’re home!” Niko beckoned them over, flush-faced and teeth stained red with wine. “Lord Ninesh was just telling us about his days at phrontistery, the stories just keep getting better! Don’t they mother?”

Nyla replied to Niko with a soft smile, “Yes dear, and hopefully one day you’ll have your own stories to share.” Her eyes were fixated on Ninesh as he puffed on his pipe made of cerulean oak.

He inhaled deeply as rose-colored embers crackled in the bowl. After a moment, he released the fumes in small bursts creating smoke clouds that formed whimsical shapes. “All she would need to do is seize the opportunity.” A particular smoke cloud floated its way over to the threshold and formed the silhouette of what Aresson imagined to be a servant of some sort. The cloud bowed to the boys as Ninesh mused, “Skylan was it? Will you be joining us for dinner young man?”

Almost too quickly, Skylan replied, “Next time. Aresson and I here had a full day and I think I’m gonna hit the hay a little early. Enjoy your dinner everyone!” He then abruptly gives Niko a nod, and then makes his exit. “Don’t forget your assignment tomorrow Aresson! There might be a pop quiz.”

“Yeah, make sure to get some rest.” Aresson kicked off his boots and took his seat at the dinner table. “He didn’t waste any time, did he?”

*   *   *

The typical nature of an arbor beast was well known to any woodland hunter of worth. This fact pushed Skylan to work through the delayed soreness onset by his earlier use of black bone, and head back to the area Aresson was attacked in this morning. Arbor beasts are a naturally occurring phenomenon, resulting when a tree of at least one century’s age, is struck by lightning while rooted in magically rich soil. This is a rare occurrence, but it does happen. The problem that Skylan couldn’t bring himself to ignore, is that he purposely took Aresson to an area of the forest that he knew consisted of lackluster wildlife for his safety. The plant life and natural resources aren’t particularly high grade. So why? He thought to himself. Why would there not only be any arbor beast in this neck of the woods, but it also just randomly awakens as we near it. What's more, it was completely bent on mowing down Aresson. It was almost like it was filled with blood lust. The beasts usually take a guardian role as a sentient monitor of its origin space. Skylan had seen a few as a child back when he would hunt with his mother. As long as they made sure to respect the land, they were never bothered.

“Only one way to know for sure.” Skylan breathed to himself as he reached inside of the hole he stabbed into the beast. He took his time rummaging around, just hiking his way back to the scene had him out of breath. The heavy feeling in his stomach grew the longer that Skylan searched. He finally pulled his hand out. Not a root, or even a fiber of a god-seed lied in his palm. Dread caused his hairs to stand on end as the moonlight on his glove sparkled, faint reflections from the minute fragments of gemstone he could only assume were picked up when he felt the insides of the beast.

“A keen mind for a youth of your upbringing. How unfortunate.”

A familiar voice taunted Skylan from behind. He braced himself and turned slowly, knowing he didn’t have the strength to contest with the one who conjured the monstrosity that put him in this sorry state.

“It looks like we have much to discuss, young huntsman.”