A lush vast forest spread far and wide in front of Kane's eyes. It went as far as he could see, and he knew nothing but the forest. It was his home and the home to many others. He sat atop a great green tree, peering over all the forests.

“Kane, get down from there. Rest time is over.”

“Aye Aye Sir” Kane responded hastily climbing down the tree arriving before a small group of six people. The man who had called him down was large and brutish looking, giving off a very intimidating feel. His many scars spreading across his body only furthered this feel. All the others in the group gave off a very similar feeling, all sporting many scars and on alert.

“We need to get a move on Eagle noticed some wolf tracks. They’ve been getting a lot more dangerous lately.”

Upon hearing this, Kane also became cautious wolves are no joking matter, having taken many of the village's hunters in the past couple of years. They had been growing more and more aggressive, causing the village to take a fearful approach to them. The hunters promptly packed up the campfire they had made the night before and started heading back home. They had already caught a boar and a deer for the village, a decent haul. This only made the wolf even more dangerous than smelling the prey.

“How’s the first hunt coming along, son?” Asked Eagle, walking near the back of the group with Kane.

“The forest is amazing Eagle. I can’t help but wonder what even further out though.”

“Ay, aren’t we all curious about that? Don’t let it go to your head, though. Everyone who has been brave enough to venture out never returned. Everyone is curious, but giving in to it will only get you killed.”

Kane glanced down towards the ground, thinking about what Eagle had said, and couldn’t help but agree. It seems going out and adventuring had only cost many lives. This thought processed soured Kane’s mood and Eagle noticed it.

“Don’t think on it too hard, living in the village isn’t bad other than the damned wolves. They’ve been wreaking havoc, I heard they attacked the Crow Village to the south. Can you believe that wolves attacking an entire village? When I was your age, all I had to worry about was a boar ramming me.”

“The boars can be quite scary.”

“Son, you don’t have to soothe this old man. You younglings are dealing with challenges beyond your age. For now, it’s the wolves, but who knows what’ll come next. All I had to do was hunt deer and boar for our village. The youth will have to deal with demon wolves.”

“Stop talking like you’re an old man, Uncle Eagle. You still have a long life ahead of you. You barely even have any Grey hair compared to the elders. Even with the wolves, you can help, your archery is the most renowned in the village. Everyone knows that if even you can’t handle the wolves, who can?”

The large brutish man interjected at this point. “Hey don’t forget about me. I could take down a stinking wolf. I did it when I was a fresh lad. It’s the beast that left this scar across my chest.”

“Did you really take down a wolf, Uncle Hammer?” Kane asked, his eyes gleaming.

Overhearing what Hammer had said, all the hunters began laughing.

“Don’t listen to his nonsense, young Kane. Your uncle Hammer over here began crying on his first hunt because of a twig scaring him.” Said Sot, another hunter. A tall man with a gentle but playful disposition. 

Eagle re-entered the conversation. “From what I can recall, Sot, you also cried your first hunt. You bawled like a newborn after shooting that deer, even threw up skinning the damn thing. But hell even I cried my first hunt I think most of the hunters have so don’t worry Son you’ll grow used to it all with time, you’re already showing lots of talent boy having helped take down the boar earlier and you’ve managed to not break down crying. As excepted by the boy I taught.”

During Eagles’ boisterous laugh, a loud howl speedily interrupted. The group stopped out of pure dread, and in front of them was the last thing they wanted to see. Bright glowing yellow eyes and a black coat of fur hunched over in front of them. It was massive, almost six feet tall, bigger than most of those in the hunter group. Multiple other wolves appeared from behind the one in front. They had run into an entire pack.

The hunters readied their weapons, four of them going forward with spears in hand while Eagle pulled a bow out. Kane also readied his bow, his hands shaking and eyes quivering, fear taking over his entire body. All Kane wanted was to run to escape from this situation, but even his young mind knew that was meaningless. The wolves could catch him.

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The hunters were silent, all steadying themselves for the fight, even if it had no hope. They had no other choice. No one made any move. The wolves stared at their prey and the prey stared right back. Kane, seeing the behavior of his seniors, wanted to mimic them, but the tales around the wolves and seeing their eyes and menacing teeth terrified Kane. He held his bow notched with an arrow trembling.

This crushing pressure existed for mere moments before the sound of a twig getting crushed broke it. The wolves rushed forward towards the pointed spears. The brutish man, Hammer, had a wolf jump into him. He stabbed it in the chest as it crushed down on him, bitting down on his shoulder crushing it. Eagle shot an arrow towards the wolves, imbedding itself into the wolf’s thick hide, not stopping its charge in the slightest. The battle became a massacre. All the while, Kane couldn’t do anything frozen with fear.

Even Eagle, a hunter of many years, started showing his fear of seeing one wolf charge toward him. He tried to turn and run, but the wolf brought its jaws down around Eagle’s neck, giving him no chance to escape. Eagle’s eyes darted to Kane, full of fear and unwillingness. He dreaded death. Kane, witnessing this, turned and grabbed onto the closest tree and began climbing with all of his heart. The wolf that just took Eagle’s life let go of his neck and leaped towards the fearful Kane biting down his ankle.

Kane wasn’t the strongest and couldn’t do anything when the wolf pulled him down from the branch. Upon hitting the ground, it knocked the breath out of Kane. The wolf leaped toward Kane’s neck. Kane closed his eyes but instead of the pain and sound of his neck being snapped, a whistling sound speed through the air, and a howl of pain arrived. Kane opened his eyes, seeing the terrifying wolf rolling on the ground, smoke rising in the air, and fire on its face.

Another whistle sounded out, and a large fireball came crashing into another wolf, scaring them all off. The sound of hooves clomping followed and Kane turned around to see a scholarly middle-aged man atop a large white horse. In his hand was a large white stick, a faint flame at the tip.

“That was a close one, young fellow. You’re lucky I showed up when I did. If only I showed up sooner, though.” He glanced over to the hunter’s corpses. Kane was in shock, unable to bring himself to say anything. He tried to stand, but the intense pain in his ankle brought him back to reality, and he began vomiting on the spot.

“Hmm lad, stay here.” The middle-aged man turned from Kane and galloped away. Kane was still in no mind to know what was happening, but looking over at his comrades’ carcasses caused him to throw up again and sob. Moments later, another two unknown faces appeared, along with the middle-aged man.

“Sam, go over and heal the poor boy’s ankle, please.”

A young blonde-haired lady hopped off her horse and walked over to the crying Kane and without saying a word placed her hand over his ankle whispering something to herself. A bright light covered his wound and within seconds, it disappeared, leaving a scar. Kane, pulling himself together, looked at his ankle and the face of Sam.

“Wh.. what was that?”

“Haha, it was magic, lad. Are you feeling better now? Would you be willing to show us to your village?”

Kane, absorbed in his thoughts. Magic, a thing of myth, had become real after he had lost his hunter crew. Not knowing what to do, he nodded yes. The middle-aged man smiled upon seeing him agree.

”Lad, come get on the horse and direct us. Oh, where are my manners? I’m Gan from the Magi Kingdom.”

“Oh, I’m Kane from Tonto Village.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Kane lad.”

Gan was holding his hand out from atop his horse, allowing Kane to be pulled up onto it. They began making their way to Tonto Village while making small talk.

“I’m sorry for your loss boy I wish I had been here sooner. It must’ve been tough. Future days will be easier now though since the Magi Kingdom has discovered you. We had heard reports of rampant wolves terrorizing one of our smaller villages and following the tracks led us here. We’ll get vengeance for you and your tribemates.”

“Hic thank you, hic.”

Kane sobbed into the back of Gan, his tension and worry fading, just leaving sorrow and relief.

“Do you have any family, boy?”

“No, the closest to family hic was my uncles, but they’re gone now.”

“Aw, my poor boy, they must’ve been remarkable men, even fighting against those beasts.”

“They were. Uncle Hammer and Eagle were both given names.”

“Given names?”

“Yes, the strongest and most outstanding in the village receive names to signify their strength.”

The horses came into a clearing showing a small village made up of wooden huts. The people in the street were all covered in dirt and grim. There were multiple small farms with young children working on them. The very middle of the village had a larger hut where the town elders stayed. It was also the meeting hall.

The appearance of three unknown people caused quite a stir among the village folk, with multiple large men rushing towards them with spears. 

“Speak. Who are you? Where do you come from?”

Kane peeked out from behind Gan and answered

“It’s me guys. They saved me. Wolves attacked us.”

Upon hearing this, the men lowered their spears and sent a runner to inform the elders. “The others did they not make it?”

“No”

The men seemed to lose their fighting spirit at this. All of them had looked up to the others. They could even consider the group the pillars of the town, yet they had all passed away in a single day. Kane was only lucky enough to join their group because of his immense promise with the bow almost overtaking Eagle already.

The runner came back and relayed the message he had gotten from the elders.

“Come forward. Our elders would like to meet with you.”