Preparations and last hunt part 1

 It was about to get dark and the Lunaria Hunters pack was about to begin their last hunt in this region. Ivan was following his pack who were personally led by Alpha Borys through an extremely narrow tunnel, along with him was a group of more than 20 Lycans. All of them were veteran Lycan hunters, with only a few being young, among them was Ivan himself and also Derek who was only a few years older.

Among this group of veterans there was an older Lycan with white hair who stood out. His name was Dmitri, the third naturally born Lycan within the pack. Dmitri was not only one of the 3 purebloods, he was also the younger brother of the late Alpha who was also Alpha Borys' father, being his uncle, he was also his greatest supporter within the pack and the Tribe. Therefore, no one dared to disrespect Old Dmitri or even underestimate his own strength, even now at his older age. Dmitri was also the one who was assigned to take care of Ivan during this first hunt. At that moment, while they were still in the narrow corridor, the Old Lycan began his lesson:

"Listen well, boy, I don't like to repeat myself and your life depends on the instructions I'm going to give you…" After Ivan nodded in confirmation and shouted yes sir, the Old Man continued:

Outside, everything wants to kill you, be it the weather, the plants and the monsters. We have a very simple protocol on how we move, who we can fight against and who we should run or hide from. Listen to the leader's orders at all times while we're out there, if the leader is not around, listen to me as if I were the Alpha. Got it?

Ivan swallowed hard, and nodded as he answered: "Yes sir Dmitri!"

"First of all, do you know why we hunt and move only at night?"

"Because the moon makes us stronger?"

"In the past, perhaps, but since our world has gone through several disasters, the moon has barely influenced us anymore… The real reason is to avoid the powerful predators that hunt during the day. Among them, the Kralgor Eagle is the most terrifying among these predators. If you are targeted by it during the day, you will certainly die during the first attack. It is of enormous size, capable of even flying while carrying prey as large as a small horse. Its claws and feathers are as strong as metal armor and swords, and its speed is unbeatable by any creature in the sky or on land in this region."

As Ivan's heart raced at the thought of being chased by this terrible creature, he said: "So we sleep and rest during the day?"

"Yes, perhaps with the exception of the last day, on that day we will need to collect some wild horses, depending on where they are we will need to move during the day."

Dmitri also explained the map of the entire region around the cave system, it was very simple too. Starting from his house that was by the sea, the North was the direction of the Celestial Sea. The East was a huge mountain range that was almost impossible to cross. In the West we had a Swamp that was not suitable for hunting. And the South was the area where they would make the migration. The current hunting area of ​​the lycans extended in the middle of all this, here besides sparse forests, most of the place was a savannah with tall grass. He also explained that the furthest the pack had reached was after a hunt of almost 1 month and they had not yet left the savannah area as they headed South. This would also be their journey when the migration began.

After that he explained many legends of the pack, although they did not record their knowledge like humans, the Lycans used tales and songs to tell the past and teach about dangerous predators, although these monsters are no longer seen today, in the beginning when they were in these caves they went through the worst winter ever seen, it was always snowing and any lycan who tried to hunt outside the caves would freeze to death in a matter of minutes. And when the long winter ended there were a multitude of giant and strange monsters that made this the worst time for their people...

They then finally reached the end of the narrow path, several lycans transformed completely into their werewolf forms with some easily reaching 3 meters in height and began to push a huge rock. When the rock moved away they could see the sky that barely had an orange light signaling that the sun had already set and night was beginning. When night finally fell the rock was pressed back into the passage blocking the narrow path that led to the tribe. And everyone began to run following the Alpha who led in front of the lycans.

As the group began to run, Dmitri continued to give Ivan a lot of advice. He pointed out certain landmarks outside that would help him find his way around, tips on how to move if he got separated from the group, safe places to rest during the day, which monsters to fight and which ones to run from. In the middle of this conversation, he even mentioned some monsters that he wouldn't let him run if he encountered them, they would be his end... He reinforced the importance of always having sharp senses. And he also explained how bad any change in the weather would be. What scared Ivan the most was a plant that held a beautiful and great-smelling fruit, but in reality it was a death trap. The plant would devour anyone foolish enough to approach it, attracted by its "fruit". This was also one of the lessons of that first night, knowing how to differentiate the smell of prey and danger among so many new and different things.

Knowing that Ivan couldn't transform that first night, everyone was running in their human forms, but even so, they still had to control their speed to allow him to follow the others. Despite the fear he received from Dmitri's many instructions, as he ran, Ivan felt an incredible sense of freedom. It was his first time going outside and everything was new. The ground, the rocks, the fog, the trees, the plants and the smells... Everything out here was too different and exotic for his keen sense of smell and left him intoxicated. The only thing he thought about as he ran, learning more about this world, was how he wished Natasha were here to see all of this and share this incredible moment with her...