The following day Sam was pulled out of his bed by his father and the two assembled at the front of the house.

Combat boots that reached up to his shin adorned Sam’s feet while he wore leather-like gloves with studded knuckles that elongated into arm guards up to his elbows. He had a simple chest armour to sum up the look of a mini-mercenary going out on his first job.

Had he been a towering adult with a well-toned frame and pronounced jaw line, he would have had a heroic imposing aura. Now, however, he just looked like a cute little child on Halloween owing to the serious expression he had on his face.

His mother, who been worried at first couldn’t help but giggle to herself when she saw him puffing out his chest as if to say, “I provide the food now!”

His father on the other hand, looked as casual as he always did. He had on his usual brown pants with a black shirt scrunched up so the sleeves are just below the elbows. He had a sword similar to Sam’s that sheathed at his waist. The only addition was a sturdy hunting bow strapped across his back and an empty arrow quiver strapped to his thigh.

Finishing their preparations, the two made their way to the gate about a hundred meters from the house.

After overcoming his grogginess from being manhandled out of bed, Sam was excited. He had always wanted to go beyond the house fence.

The fence wasn’t tall, he could probably clear it in a single leap. The issue was he would always hit a barrier every time he would try to go clear of it.

When he was younger, out of sheer stubbornness, he stacked miscellaneous stuff till he climbed to the top. What he saw terrified him so much that he couldn’t leave the house for weeks. He was stuck to his mother’s hip so much that whenever she would go out to the garden, he would latch onto her dress tightly as he warily eyed the top the fence. This behaviour always made his father laugh.

He only got better when his father gave him a talking to of how men are supposed to be strong. It was only then that he learned that the food they ate was gotten from the meat of the monster he saw over the fence. But what confused him even more was that when he asked how to be strong, his father told him that he had to eat meat.

He was supposed to defeat the monster to become strong enough to defeat the monster?

This question made his father erupt into another fit of laughter.

Three months ago, after his sixth birthday, he started to train everyday with his father with only weekends off. On these days he would do weird movements with his mother which she called Dance of the White Lotus. Apparently, they should help him become more in tune with heaven and earth and enhance his energy circulation. Whatever that meant, he had no idea.

In any case, he had always wanted to climb the fence again and see what was beyond it but he had been busy training or playing with his toys. So going beyond the fence today filled him with curiosity.

The duo made their way to the gate and with a push the three-meter wide, two-meter-tall gate was opened. Stepping outside, what greeted Sam was a lush green forest with trees that towered so high they almost blotted out the sky.

The sound of nature filled the atmosphere as his foot treaded upon sturdy yet oddly mush ground. Some trees had trunks so big that he would need about ten of him before he could wrap his arms around them. In some trees he could make out some wildlife that simply gazed at him curiously but none dared to approach. If you looked at where Sam and his father stood, you could make some scant dried blood stains that had been covered by new plant growth.

Sam was shocked but mostly excited. He didn’t even question why his home was in a forest. He was six years old and had never seen anyone else his age. For all he knew, everyone lived in the forest.

Looking back at his house, he could see his mom standing in the doorway waving at him. He waved back and looked around some more. The forest trees made a circular boundary that isolated the homestead in an island giving it the vibe of an oasis in the wilderness.

The scenery was marvelling.

Smack!

“Ow!” Sam yelped as he was snapped back to reality. His father’s displeased gaze made all the awe and novelty flee from his expression.

“We are in the Great Forest now. Any random beast here can snap you like a twig.” His father reprimanded. “Keep your wits about you and follow closely.”

With that, the two made their way into the depths of the forest.

The thick tree canopies only allowed for a scant number of sun rays from reaching the ground giving the atmosphere an eery feel. Sam was shown various beasts of all shapes and sizes. Currently, the pair was tracking what Sam’s father called a Golden Stag. Sam listened as his old man told him how to determine how far the animal had travelled based on the temperature of their faeces. He was currently sharpening the tip of one of many arrows that he had been taught how to craft earlier.

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Not long after they picked up the trail, they found the Deer rehydrating by a stream. The stag was about sixteen feet long and a about ten feet tall.

Suffice to it to say that the beast could feed the family of three for a few months.

Slowly creeping up to a thick tree root protruding from the ground, the duo was covered by thick undergrowth that masked their presence.

Sam took a deep breath and drew his bow.

“Breathe,” his father advised. “Steady your aim.”

The bow was stretched taut which caused it to creak slightly under the strain. This caused a ripple in the shrub that caused the natural ambience of his location to be disrupted. The deer seemed to have picked up on that as its ear twitched in Sam’s direction.

Startled, the boy nearly panicked.

Sam steadied himself, readjusted his aim before he loosed his arrow.

The arrow whizzed through the air with lightning speed before it burrowed into the deer’s neck!

The force was so strong that the colossal deer was knocked down onto one knee.

The stag yelped in pain as it scrambled to stabilize itself. It didn’t even turn to look at the direction the arrow came from. That one arrow told it that this cowardly foe in the shadows was not to be trifled with. It was just about to flee when another arrow swiftly followed, this time striking a major vein. The arrow struck so decisively that the stag nearly crumbled to the ground as blood poured unceasingly from the neck wound.

However, the stag showed incredible resilience as it scrambled to its feet with swiftness uncharacteristic of a severely injured beast.

Sam was just about to give chase when he was held back by a firm hand on his shoulder.

“Do not press a desperate foe too hard. Follow closely.”

With that he made his way in the direction the stag had fled in.

The pair followed the blood trail and not long after they encountered the beast in its death throes. It lay at the foot of a large tree, its chest heaving up and down heavily.

Furrowing his brows slightly, Sam made his way to the stag aiming to put an end to its suffering. He unsheathed his sword and slid it into the deer’s chest. The stag breathed its last a moment later.

Sam exhaled a heavy breath and realized that his heart was racing the entire time. He clenched his fists to calm his nerves.

“Phew….” With a final exhale, he managed to calm himself to an acceptable degree.

“Good, you’ve calmed your nerves.” Sam’s father’s voice drifted.

He was currently kneeling over the felled deer inspecting the kill.

“Some fellows want to steal your hard work.”

It was at this point that Sam lifted his head to take stock of his surroundings.

The first thing he heard was leaves rustling louder than was supposed to be possible considering the ambient wind. The rustling was accompanied by low growls of what was definitely a beast. A dangerous one at that.

At this point he focused his vision on the source of the growls. Hidden in the bushes and the depths of the forest, yellow eyes with vertical pupils observed the father-son pair coldly.

Sam’s recently calmed nerves stretched taut once more as his heart went into overdrive. Cold sweat trickled down his back and his sword hand visibly trembled.

Flee!

The correct answer here was to flee!

He didn’t know how many beasts lurked in the forests depth but he was certain he had seen eight pairs of eyes looking at them. From the beasts’ eye level, he immediately surmised that the prowlers had to be at least half a head taller than him.

When the beasts realized that they had been discovered they no longer masked their presences. They stepped out of the shadows, their low growls shaking Sam’s resolve so much that he struggled to stop his knees from buckling.

Their auras were too suffocating.

The world seemed to collapse around him as the took one heavy step back. Then another. Heart pounding, his hand subconsciously moved around behind him as if desperately trying to reach for something. He took another heavy step back hoping against hope that he would stumble into his father’s body. He needed something to stand on. Anything!

As the world grew more and more indistinct from his hyperventilation, he felt a warm liquid flow down his left leg. The flow was so smooth and quiet but Sam heard it clear as day. He did not register the accompanying pungent smell, however.

But this was enough.

He latched onto the soothing feeling of release like a drowning man grasping at straws. The feeling seemed to clear the haze in his mind as the world regained its colour.

He took two heavy but steady steps back until he felt his father’s body upon his back as he eyed the beasts warily.

This was the first time he had gotten a proper look at them. They were dire wolves. They stood at about four feet tall with slobber dripping from their mouths as they bared their fangs at the pair. They seemed just about ready to rip them limb from limb.

At this point, Sam’s eyes widened as something occurred to him.

Sam was a young boy. He wasn’t even fat. These beasts were too big to care about the meagre amount of meat on his body.

The stag!

A light bulb lit up in Sam’s head as he immediately surmised that the beasts were not here for the pair. They were definitely after the gigantic deer.

He didn’t know what his dad was thinking, however, if he dared look away from the beasts confronting them, he would see the same deadpan expression on his father’s face. Occasionally, he would turn his gaze to the boy who’s back pressed upon him. His gaze carried thoughtfulness within it as if he was observing the reactions and transformations Sam was undergoing.

Indeed! He wanted to see what this son of his would do.

“Papa!” Sam yelled after finally identifying the beasts’ intentions. “We have to run!”

Sam felt a heavy hand land on his shoulder. The hand was domineering, steady but also comforting.

Sam turned to look at his papa only to see the man wearing a broad grin on his face. He didn’t have the state of mind to analyse how out of context the grin was, all he knew was that the grin finally stabilized his jittery nerves.

Somehow, he knew that everything would be fine.

“Good!” His father nodded in approval.