Chapter six

As the seven moons emitted gentle illuminating light upon the hut of the elders, they themselves were quietly sitting inside a three ringed circle, five of the oldest members comprised the innermost layer and were the only ones talking. The middle layers members were younger than the center but still advanced in their age, they quietly observed the inner layer talk with concerned looks. The outermost circle contained the youngest of the elders, most being middle age or older, they paid little attention to the center layer for they couldn't make any decisions, only enforce or enact them for the rest of the circle.

They had been discussing an unusual creature that was found by the chief's son during one of his hunts. This was the seventh day of discussion, mostly the five elders of the inner circle going back and forth over what the creature was, if it was even real at all. The first and second elders believe that the creature was an illusion or a spirit, while the other three believe that it was a new species. As they went back and forth, the hunter who claimed to have seen and killed the creature was sitting nearby, hanging onto every word as he watched and waited.

As the commotion of the elders grew louder and more attention grabbing, a figure silently walked into the hut, and took a glance around at the circle of elders before calmly approaching the chief's son.

"I see that they still haven't made any decision and are still discussing the truth of your claim," the figure whispered. The figure's voice seemed male and female, old yet young, a blend of voices in one.

The chief's son simply nodded, a slight grimace appearing on his face before disappearing.

"While I respect the council and the powers they wield they do take a long time to make any decision, the core members don't seem to think i'm lying and as such this meeting should have ended already, also even if it needed to continue why am I still here. The tribe needs food." he said quietly.

The figure silently laughed before putting one of its arms on top of the second elder's head. It glanced around at the circle of elders and sighed. "You certain you don't want to mention that I can talk to you? You're also the only one who could see me in the past five generations, I mean the core members can hear me if I directly talk to them so I could just tell them for you."

"Vireon? Are you alright lad? You seem distracted all the sudden, you're free to leave now. The council has decided to search the surrounding area. We plan on sending some of the outer circle to check it out, they may not be the strongest but they are still druids." An aged male voice interrupted. It was the first elder, oldest of the Council and a powerful druid.

"I'm fine elder, just have a lot on my mind. I'll be going now, the tribe needs food" Vireon replied. Vireon glanced at the figure one last time before leaving the hut.

An hour before dawn began to break, the hunters gathered into their respective squads, each squad contained fifteen or so people. With ten squads a hundred and forty nine hunters total began their daily hunt. Vireon was the chieftain's only son, and the third best hunter in the tribe. His father and eldest sister being the best. With him missing for the last seven days it was rough for the tribe. They could barely feed the five hundred and eighty nine tribesmen with him helping.

With Vireon back the hunting would be more fruitful. However the druids of the Council began a patrol of the local area, which was unusual but not unheard of. What was more unusual though was the group of druids that left the tribe like a hunting squad would. The Council hadn't gone more than a few hundred meters away from the tribe in at least twenty years.

Vireon only took a glance at the druids before leaving with his party. As the early morning light shined on Vireon and his team, he slowly nocked an arrow and signaled the rest of the hunters to perform an encirclement of the small group of creatures. Another new variant of what Vireon knew as a boar. The creatures stood on four stout legs with a rounded body and thin scales covering its skin. He didn't think too much about it, and it happens too many times to care. It was meat and that was that. He drew the arrow and fired in one swift motion, before picking up a spear left on the ground and charging the creatures with his fellow hunters.

The creatures had been caught off guard and the largest of which received Vireon's arrow straight into the brain through the eye killing it instantly. The other three panicked and tried to run only to meet five spears each. They had no real means to fight back except to ram with their heavy bodies. If the hunters remained alert they would have no issues.

Vireon was the third best hunter for a reason, for as soon as he arrived he swiftly thrust his spear forward. It pierced the soft underbelly of the beast and accurately crushed the heart, it made a pained grunt before going stiff and falling over blood frothing from its mouth and nose. The other hunters killed the rest shortly after Vireon killed the second beast.

"With this much meat, we should be the main contributors this time right Vireon?" One of the hunters exclaimed. The others began to collect the game with smiles on their faces.

Vireon looked to the north towards the great mountain at the center of the forest. It was the only mountain in the whole forest according to the elders. Vireon believed that the glowing creature he had hunted came from the mountain. No one approached the mountains though as there was a group of powerful creatures that patrolled the base of the mountain.

"Let's hope the other teams bring back some food, as this can only feed about a third of us today." Vireon said. As the hunters began the journey back, Vireon turned to look at the mountain once more before sighing and turning to follow the group back.

By the time the team had returned it was almost noon, and none of the other teams had arrived yet. As the sun was still up they went back out to search for more prey, however Vireon covertly guided them in the direction of the mountain. He had never been there and had only heard stories of the place. While going to the base of the mountain wasn't forbidden, it was dangerous. There was a race of creatures that lived at the base of the mountain called the Gett. The Gett were massive badger-like creatures with almost shell-like fur and claws the size of small knives. They were bigger than Vireon in height and would hunt most of the creatures around the mountain.

While Vireon had planned to see one of these legendary monsters one day, he wasn't ready to fight one yet. He was leading the party back to where the unusual creature he killed was, the one that made the council discuss for days about. It was a sphere of dull light, about the size of a mans head, at first vireon thought he was crazy but once he took the shot and hit the unusual ball of light, he heard what sounded like shattering of ice and a high pitched wail.

However the one thing Vireon didn't mention was the feeling of dread he got almost immediately after. Vireon had powerful senses, the best in the village in fact, however he also had a sixth sense which allowed him to sense danger. It only worked when he was the target of hostility however. The level of dread he feels is equal to danger he was in at that current moment. After he had killed the creature, the feeling was unlike anything he had felt before.