Seven years of training

A young man is standing alertly low to the ground in the middle of a lightly forested region. Dew still covers the grass and leaves of the neighboring trees. The sun had yet to rise and the surroundings were filled with murk.

The man has short tousled dark blue hair and is a few inches shorter than 6 feet. His eyebrows are slightly lowered in concentration and his violet eyes stare straight ahead of him.

Kael, the young man, is now 16 years old. He has grown up to be exceptionally handsome. The baby fat in his face is now gone leaving defined high cheekbones for his oval face. While his skin is still as smooth and flawless as the day Melinda first found him, it had richened from his time training in the woods.

In his left hand is the bow Lara had given him. His right hand hovered over the quiver at his waist. The air is tense and Kael is ready to act at a moment's notice.

A strange assortment of animals currently surrounds him. There is a bear and four wolves, all about 20 meters away.

Directly in front of Kael is a 150-pound brown-furred bear. The bear is a Gold Ring Bear. Its name comes from the rings of gold fur around the bear's ankles. The bear is about the same height as Kael's navel if he were standing straight.

The bear's back is tense as it stares at Kael with its big brown eyes. It's a mystery whether it is preparing to initiate or react to Kael's movements.

Flanking Kael's sides are two wolves each. The wolves are visibly the same species. They are Lesser Gale Wolves. Their fur is jet black with a dark green tinge at the end. The fur around their necks puffs out a little and is more visibly green.

Like the bear, the wolves' bodies are also tense and they stare at Kael with their yellow eyes.

After staring each other down for several minutes, the bear acts first. The bear leans on its hind legs and lets out a powerful roar for a creature of its size. Birds in the distance fly away from the echo. Following its roar, the bear begins to charge at Kael.

In response to the roar, the wolves begin their flanking maneuver. They slow their movement below a sprint so they can match the timing of the bear.

Kael does not sit still in the meantime. The moment the bear begins to charge, Kael swiftly reaches into his quiver to grab three arrows. He nocks one arrow with his thumb and forefinger while the other two arrows are between his remaining three fingers.

He fires one shot at the bear before turning to his right. His grip for his bow draw allows him to nock a new arrow quickly without having to reach for his quiver. With a fluid practiced motion, Kael fires off his two remaining arrows before reaching for two more in his quiver.

The first arrow hits the bear in its forehead and the other two arrows land on the wolves' shoulders. Splats of red come from all three points of impact. The bear tumbles forward and comically rolls forward before finally landing on its belly. The two wolves on Kael's right each trip on the leg with the targeted shoulder and roll over onto their sides.

The wolves on Kael's left begin a sprint 10 meters away. Kael quickly turns and pulls two more arrows from his quiver before firing them in the same manner as before.

This time the arrows land on the forehead of each wolf causing them to slide on the ground 5 meters from Kael.

Before Kael has time to relax, a shadow that was hidden on a tree branch above Kael makes a move. A large pitch-black panther with two tails is revealed as it leaves the shadow of the treetops. It is around fifty percent larger than the other five animals. The verdant green eyes of the panther light up while eyeing Kael.

Kael quickly reacts despite no obvious signs of the panther's ambush. He turns around drawing one more arrow from his quiver and nocking it in one motion. His remaining time frame seems too short and he only draws his bow halfway before firing.

The arrow lands on the side of the panther's neck with another splash of red. The panther seems unaffected by the arrow and its pounce on Kael continues. As the panther's large body contacts Kael, he intentionally rolls on his back to disperse the impact.

The panther's forelegs pin Kael's shoulders to prevent his movement and it moves its mouth closer to Kael's neck. Its mouth opens revealing sharp canines and a long pink tongue.

The panther begins its assault on its helpless prey. Long licks rain down on Kael starting from his neck and ending on his face. Kael breaks out in laughter as the rough tongue keeps pushing his head back from getting up.

"Alright alright, you got me, Lola. Come on Lola, that's enough for now."

Lola seems to ignore Kael's pleas and keeps showering him with affection. Kael manages to move his arms so he can rub Lola's head affectionately before managing to roll her off him. Lola lies on her side and licks her lips.

By the time Kael stands up, the other animals that surrounded Kael are also up off the ground unharmed. The arrows that lie near each of them are all blunted with an exploded small tomato at the end.

The wolves all sprint up to Kael. They had licked the tomato juice and tomato bits off of their bodies. The two who had tomato guts on their foreheads had cleaned each other.

The smallest of the four heads up to Kael first while the other three wait by the sides panting and their tails wagging. The smallest pounces on Kael and he has a little trouble remaining standing.

"What have you been eating Rain? You're so heavy now."

Rain whines a little as if complaining that Kael indirectly called her fat. She then furiously licks Kael all over his face. Kael scratches Rain on both sides of her neck and manages to find a break in her licking to nuzzle noses with her.

"Okay, okay, I get it. You're not fat, you've just gotten a little stronger. Come on now, your sisters look a little bored waiting."

Rain gets off of Kael and turns around to her sisters before letting out a bark letting them have their turn before lying down. Two of the wolves go up next and trot around Kael. The two look nearly identical to each other.

When Kael squats down, the two go up to his sides to lick his face. Kael scratches the one on the left behind the ears and the one on the right below the neck.

"Good job Storm. Good job Tempest. You two did great today." Kael addresses the one on the left as Storm and the one on the right as Tempest.

It would be difficult for an ordinary person to tell the difference between the two, but Kael manages to differentiate the two of them. Storm's neck fluff is thicker while Tempest's is greener. Each of them also has a single ear that curls a little. For Storm, it is her right ear, while Tempest's is her left.

After the two receive their share of affection, the largest wolf by about three inches pads her way over. Unlike the previous three, she seems shyer and does not directly pounce on Kael. Kael is the one who initiates contact and scratches her behind her left ear. She lets out a low whine of contentment before flipping over and exposing her belly. Kael kneels to rub her belly.

"Mist, you're still just a little sweetie like usual. You haven't been bullied by the other three have you?"

Mist shakes her head side to side before wriggling her whole body to the left and right in time with Kael's scratches. Her long tongue droops out the right side of the mouth when she pants in happiness.

When Kael gets up, he sees the bear lumbering over. The bear plops down on its butt in front of Kael before rubbing its face with its paws. There was a big red splotch on the bear's forehead that it could not clean up. The bear lets out a low whining sound of complaint.

"Hehe, sorry Misha. I'll get that for you." Kael takes some water from a canteen at his side to wash off the tomato from Misha. Misha rolls on her back and flails her legs around in a playful manner while looking at Kael.

Kael rolls his eyes. "You aren't a child anymore Misha. You're a little too big to play around with now."

Misha lets out a low pitch bawl in protest. Kael has a helpless smile on his face as he jumps and wrestles with Misha. Kael ends up grossly outmatched by Misha's powerful frame and ends up exhausted on Misha's belly. Misha licks Kael once before letting out a low-pitched purr.

Having finally satisfied his animal companions, Kael gets up and dusts himself off. "Come on, let's see your parents." The group of animals all get up and follow Kael.

Along the way, Kael picks up fallen branches and logs. After about fifteen minutes of travel, Kael picks up the sound of babbling water. The group comes upon a stream.

On Kael's side of the stream, three animals are lazing about. One of the animals is a bear that looks like Misha, except the bear is nearly three times as large. Its claws are razor sharp and as long as daggers.

A couple of feet away from the bear are two wolves that are half a head taller than Mist. The two sense Kael when he approaches the stream and they perk up their heads.

In between the three animals is a dead large buck with purple fur and spiky antlers. The buck is only a little smaller than the large bear next to it. There is a bite wound on its neck and a large gash on its back that are both still soaked with wet blood.

"Hi, Osha, Gale, and Zephyr. You girls didn't wait too long did you?"

The two wolves, Gale and Zephyr, each lie back down after letting out a short bark. Osha had not budged since Kael had arrived and seemed to be sound asleep. The other animals that accompanied Kael all lie down around the area. In front of every animal is a large round stone.

Kael lets out a gentle smile at the scene before going to a nearby unlit campfire. There is an iron grill grate propped above the campfire. He leaves the wood in the campfire before approaching the carcass.

He takes out a hunting knife and begins to skin and butcher the deer. His cuts cleanly butcher the carcass into different pieces leaving very little meat left behind. He lays the meat on the hide of the deer and takes it back to the campfire.

Kael produces a flint and steel from his pouch before taking some nearby tinder and starting a fire. The crackle of the fire draws the attention of the surrounding group of animals and they all stare at Kael. Kael feels for the precise heat level with the back of his hand. When the temperature is right, he moves on to the meat.

Kael lightly salts each cut of meat before placing it on the grill. The grill can only fit and cook one large cut of meat at a time. Kael uses some metal tongs placed near the campfire and flips the meat to get a uniform cook.

The familiar sight alone causes the animals to salivate as they watch Kael. When the smell wafts to their noses they begin to drool. When the animals first smelled Kael's cooking years back, they pestered him to try his food. This led them to hunt animals for Kael to cook for them whenever he visited.

Once a cut of the meat reaches perfection, Kael takes it off the grill and places it on a stone in front of an animal. He serves the animals in order of size.

Surprisingly, every animal waits their turn. When an animal receives a piece of meat, she immediately rushes to devour it. Misha and Osha, in particular, let out a low purring sound while eating their meal.

Soon everyone but Kael is fed. Kael cooks a smaller cut for himself that he adds some additional dried herbs to. The cut serves as Kael's workout snack. There is still a large cut of meat left on the hide that Kael leaves untouched.

After Kael finishes eating, he sits down next to Osha and leans on her warm furry chest. Osha licks Kael on his head before laying her heavy head on his shoulder. Misha lumbers over and nuzzles up to Kael as well. Everyone near the stream falls asleep.

This scene was part of Kael's daily life for the past five years. After training archery for a year, 9-year old Kael went on his first hunting trip in the woods. Melinda was worried for Kael's safety when she heard about it from Lara. However, she did not want to hinder his efforts. She ended up secretly following behind Kael during his journey.

While Kael went looking for some small game, he ended up stumbling upon a cute little bear cub rolling around on the ground. Kael realized that hunting would involve killing this adorable creature. He felt conflicted as he wanted to improve himself but he also wanted to play with the cub.

Kael eventually rationalized that hunting the cub would not help improve his skills so it should be fine for him to play with it. The cub was already in Kael's arms when Melinda had noticed. Before she could rush to warn him, a large lumbering figure had appeared from behind the tree.

A large bear made its way over the Kael. Melinda tensed in preparation to intervene against an angry mother bear. The bear's shadow was cast over Kael. The sight of a bear over twice as tall as Kael made Melinda's heart palpitate.

Kael turned around to face the source of the shadow and saw the eyes of the mother bear. In his left hand, he cradled the cub, while his right was petting its head. The bear looked at him before looking at her cub.

After a tense silence, the bear looked back at Kael before closing in on him. She sniffed his face and gave him a big lick before curling up next to the two and watching over them protectively.

The hidden Melinda was stunned at the sequence of events. It reminded her of the time she took Kael into the woods when he was young and they encountered a group of horned rabbits.

Kael ended up playing with the cub for the whole afternoon before heading home. The mama bear had to hold the cub by the nape of its neck to keep it from running off after him.

Melinda watched over Kael until he left the woods. She then had to race home to avoid suspicion.

On Kael's next trip, he encountered a grazing group of purple deer. His stealth was not up to par and he was immediately sensed by the group. Despite that, only the bucks ran while the does curiously looked at him before going back to grazing.

When Kael approached them, they remained calm in his presence. A few even came over to sniff him and lick the back of his hand when he presented it. Such amiability made it hard for Kael to consider hunting them.

He decided to chase after the fleeing bucks, but they outran him. He ended up going home later that day without a catch.

Every week would be a repeat of a similar scenario. The males of a species would run away from Kael without him being able to catch up, while the females would act surprisingly friendly with him.

While such behavior intrigued Kael, it was overall counterproductive for Kael. He would not improve himself by shooting animals that were willingly acting defenseless around him. It would also leave a bad taste in his mouth. Yet, the animals that were apprehensive around him all managed to run away.

After a month of practicing to hide in the underbrush of the forest, Kael managed to get the jump on a buck, like the ones he encountered before. He fired two arrows in quick succession.

The first missed the buck and went over its head. The second arrow was embedded in the buck's hind leg, forcing it prone.

Kael walked next to it. The buck bellowed out, a mix of fear and anger. Kael raised his bow to finish off the buck, however, he lowered it a moment later.

Kael disliked hunting the buck from the shadows. He knew he would never have caught the deer otherwise, but Kael felt like he was preying on the weak rather than contesting with the strong.

The moment Kael showed hesitation, the buck acted and charged him with its antlers. The antlers were fairly sharp and would easily gore Kael if they made contact.

Surprised, Kael could not immediately ready his bow and ended up dropping it to fend off the attack. He grabbed the antlers near their base as he was shoved into the ground.

The deer bucked its head around trying to shake off Kael's grasp and stab Kael. Despite the tussle, Kael's expression remained calm.

Kael knew he was too weak to keep the deer at bay for long. When the deer tried to shake its head to its right, Kael shoved along with its motion to throw it off balance.

His small moment of respite bought his right-hand time to pull out his hunting knife from his waist and stab it in the buck's neck. The first shallow cut caused the buck to fervently try to toss away Kael.

The buck pulled its head back, nearly dislocating Kael's arm. Kael followed up with several more stabs to the buck's neck as he was dragged up.

Kael was panting heavily over the buck's corpse. Its blood coated his front as he looked at his hands.

When he cut into the buck, it was not like cutting into meat in the kitchen. The blood was warm, yet was cold like death at the same time. The feeling was unpleasant, but Kael understood that this was a feeling he had to know to grow. Despite his carelessness in the matter, Kael was thankful for the experience.

Kael looked over at the deer and realized it was too large for him to carry home. That was when he heard the rustle of leaves from the brush in front of him. Two large wolves appeared in front of him. Tensed, they looked at the deer before looking at him and howling in a soft whining manner.

Kael smiled at them and said, "Go on, you can have it. I can't finish it anyway."

The wolves visibly relaxed before they barked a few times to convey their gratefulness. One of the wolves padded over to Kael while the other went back into the brush.

The wolf that went up to Kael looked down at his bloody hands before licking them clean as if tending to any wounds he might have had. Kael petted the wolf and it wagged its tail in response.

Kael decided to butcher the deer to make it easier to share with the wolves. He cut it into several pieces setting aside a few cuts for him to take back home. He cut off a piece for the wolf who then ate it out of his hand.

Moments later the other wolf returned with four pups in tow. The pups that reached Kael's knees loped over to Kael before going in circles around him and sniffing different parts of his legs.

Kael bent down to pet and play with them. The wolves eventually feasted on a portion of the deer.

Kael noticed they stopped eating with two-thirds of the deer meat remaining. He reasoned that there must have been other wolves that needed to eat. Despite that, no more wolves showed up.

It occurred to Kael that the wolves might be like the deers and only the females would willingly stay near him. Kael decided to bid farewell to the wolves at that moment. The wolves all sent him off with howls of friendship.

Again, Melinda noticed all of this. There were several times when she almost rushed out. When the buck had Kael pinned, her intervention was only stalled when she noticed Kael's calm expression.

When the wolves appeared, she stopped herself when she remembered the behavior of the bears. She wondered if Kael even needed her to watch over him when he left the area.

One year later, Kael was much more seasoned when hunting in the woods. He had just managed to corner a boar. Unlike the buck he hunted a year past, he was out in the open.

He managed to corner the boar in a section of the forest so it was too difficult for it to run away. The boar's only choice was to face Kael and prepare a charge.

The boar pounded the ground two times with its right foreleg before growling menacingly. Kael stood in front of the boar with an arrow nocked but not drawn.

The boar suddenly barrelled towards Kael. A few seconds before impact Kael rolled to the side and swiftly drew his bow before shooting an arrow into the boar's side.

With an arrow in the neck, the boar's legs gave out and it slid on the ground. Kael was about to walk over to the boar but sensed he was being watched by something with his developing senses. He turned around to face the two verdant green eyes of a predator.

The panther let out a low growling sound and swished its twin tails before pouncing on Kael. Kael had little time to react and he was swiftly pinned under the panther. The panther let out a roar before opening its mouth and moving its head towards Kael.

For every encounter Kael has had in the woods while she has watched over him, Melinda had not intervened once. She would always look at Kael's expressions first to see if he was ever in trouble. Today was the first time Melinda saw any shock on Kael's face. Kael's face was soon covered by the panther's body.

When Melinda saw the panther's four glistening canines looming over Kael's face, she rushed out from the brush she was hiding in.

Rapidly swirling water surrounded both of her hands like ferocious gauntlets as she charged forward. Her fearsome momentum quickly halted at the sound of Kael's laughter.

Melinda stood rooted a few feet away from the two and saw the panther licking Kael's face. Kael was laughing and trying to push the panther's shoulders away.

Melinda's water gauntlets lost their shape and splashed onto the ground as pools of water. Kael and the panther heard this and they both paused and looked over at her.

The panther looked over at Melinda disinterestedly before giving Kael one last lick and rolling onto its side. Kael stood up and dusted himself off before rubbing the panther's saliva off his face.

"Mother, why are you here?" Kael asked with a bright smile on his face.

"I… uh… I mean… I was passing through and saw you being attacked. Are you alright?" Melinda managed to stammer out before quickly deflecting.

"I'm fine. You know, if you want to keep me safe you don't have to hide in the bushes all the time," Kael replied to Melinda teasingly.

Melinda blushed a little in embarrassment before she briskly walked over to Kael and pulled his ear. "Don't tease your mother," she chided. "I'm just worried about your safety"

"I know. Love you mother," Kael says before hugging her.

Melinda smiled sweetly while looking down at him and hugging him back. The panther looked over at the two before it groomed itself lazily. The mother and son pair walked together out of the woods a few hours later.

Kael had asked Melinda about the strange behavior of the animals in the forest around him. Melinda did not want Kael to feel like he was weird, so, she merely brushed it off as him being loved by nature.

The truth was, she did not know what to tell him as she had never heard of such a thing. It might have had something to do with his background, but she had no means of finding out. The only clue she had was an amulet she found with Kael that she kept from him.

Melinda continued to accompany Kael in the forest for another year before letting him go on his own. She worried if she watched over him too much it would interfere with his growth.

Kael's growth soon capped from hunting animals in the woods, so he searched for some animal companions to help him practice.

Misha helped train his strength while Rain, Storm, Tempest, and Mist helped him practice group combat. Lola would act as a wild card to hone Kael's instincts. He practiced with them every day until today, six days after his sixteenth birthday.