Location: Kell Forest
Time: A few days later, early morning
—
A cool breeze blew through the now-quiet village. Above, the dark sky was littered with stars shining brightly.
The village was in a state of complete silence, aside from the occasional sound of footsteps lightly tapping against the ground and water sloshing inside buckets.
Not too far from the village, a campfire burned. A man and a child sat beside it, waiting for the water in a large pot hanging over the flames to finish boiling.
Several buckets of water surrounded the fire, ready to refill the pot if necessary.
The sun had yet to rise and bless the land with its warmth.
Damian sat on the dew-covered grass in front of the fire, the early morning air cool against his skin.
Across from him sat a man with short black hair and dull, lifeless eyes that closely resembled his own.
That man was his father.
"So what are you guys doing here?" Damian asked, referring to his father and the three other men currently in the village getting water from the well.
"We're here to escort our sons," Damian's father answered.
"Well, why couldn't the actual Hunting Squad do that?"
"We volunteered because we wanted to see our sons bring back some food for the village," Damian's father replied, his tone carrying the faintest hint of emotion.
Damian nudged a log deeper into the fire. "Can you guys even hunt?"
His father raised an eyebrow and smirked.
"Of course we can. We just haven't done it in a while because we have other responsibilities to attend to in the village."
"Right… I totally believe you," Damian said, skepticism laced in his voice.
"He isn't lying, you know."
A man stepped out from behind Damian's father, a bucket in hand. His short ash-brown hair caught the glow of the firelight.
Two more men followed behind him — one blond and the other white-haired — both carrying buckets of water.
"This should be enough water for all of us to enjoy a nice hot bath," the ash-brown-haired man said as he set his bucket down.
"So where are we going to bathe?" Damian asked, standing up and dusting himself off.
"In the bathhouse," the ash-brown-haired man replied.
"Isn't it broken?"
"Well, yeah… and it will continue to remain broken because Vander is too lazy to fix it!"
The ash-brown-haired man jabbed a finger toward Savien's father, who — like his son — had white hair.
Vander lifted his arms in protest.
"You forget that I'm the only person in the village who can fix things like that. That means I'm always busy fixing things around here."
"So I never have enough time to fix the bathhouse," he added.
"All I hear are excuses," the blond man said with a smirk.
"Shut it, Sam," Vander hissed.
The ash-brown-haired man pointed his thumb at Vander.
"Bryan, don't you think Vander should just man up and fix the bathhouse instead of being a bum?"
He said this while placing a hand on Bryan — Damian's father.
"Yep. In fact, you should definitely start acting more like your son. He has a higher work ethic than you," Bryan replied evenly.
Footsteps approached the group, slightly muffled by the grass.
Jackson, Savien, and Omari appeared carrying blocks of firewood, placing them near the fire.
Omari dusted his hands off and looked at the ash-brown-haired man.
"Hey old man, we got the extra wood you asked for."
The man visibly winced.
"I… I'm not that old."
"Come on, Nicolas, don't take it seriously. He's clearly messing with you," Sam said, trying to cheer his friend up.
Nicolas looked down in defeat.
"I know… but it still gets me every time."
Omari patted his father on the back.
"Come on, old man. You shouldn't take it so badly. I mean, you are older than me, so it's only natural that I'll call you old."
He slowly rubbed his father's back.
Everyone else chuckled lightly at the odd sight.
"It's clear who the actual man of the house is," Jackson teased.
At that, everyone except Omari and his father burst into laughter.
Nicolas looked up at them all with a deadpan expression.
"Ha ha. Very funny, everyone."
Savien clapped his hands and rubbed them together.
"So guys… where are we going to take our baths?"
Everyone suddenly fell silent.
They had forgotten about that problem.
Savien looked around in confusion.
"Did I say something weird?"
Everyone slowly turned to look at Vander.
Sensing the attention, he sighed and stood up.
"Yeah, yeah… I'll go fix it now."
—
A few minutes later, everyone was inside the bathhouse, enjoying the warm steam filling the room.
Vander leaned against the wall in the corner, a self-satisfied smile on his face. He was clearly enjoying the steam the most.
Nicolas noticed this and a teasing grin formed.
"Enjoying the heat, Vander?"
"Yep," Vander replied.
"You see how easy it was to fix it?" Nicolas raised his hand. "Who here agrees that Vander was just being a lazy bum and using excuses to avoid fixing the bathhouse?"
Everyone in the room raised their hands, much to Vander's shock.
"Tsk. Whatever," Vander grumbled.
Savien suddenly spoke up.
"Wait… what time are we supposed to leave for the early morning hunt?"
"Before sunrise," Sam replied.
Omari groaned loudly.
"Why did we have to wake up this early? The sun isn't even awake yet!"
"It builds character," Bryan said.
Omari deadpanned.
"MAN!! I don't care about none of that!"
Jackson grabbed some water and poured it over the hot rocks in the center of the room, increasing the steam.
"I'm glad you guys got that extra water from the well. It was worth it."
Nicolas wiped sweat — or steam, whichever it was — from his forehead as he stretched.
"Yep. Totally worth it."
—
The sun had just begun rising above the horizon.
Its soft light illuminated the leaves of the Kell Forest, with rays piercing through the canopy and touching the forest floor.
The group of eight walked through the forest on high alert, their eyes constantly scanning for any potential meal… or potential threat.
Bryan walked beside Damian, but his gaze was focused more on his son than the forest.
He was carefully watching how Damian scanned the environment and searched for movement.
In fact, all the fathers were doing the same.
They had little interest in what was around them.
They were far more interested in how their sons would react in this new environment.
Jackson and Damian were the first to notice.
But Jackson was the only one who said anything.
"Why aren't you guys on high alert like us?"
"Because we aren't hunting," Sam replied.
The seven-year-olds looked shocked.
All except Damian, who simply kept a neutral expression while scanning the area.
Nicolas raised a finger with a closed-eye smile.
"Yep. We're just here to observe you guys."
Omari raised an eyebrow.
"Aren't you guys supposed to help us track the prey?"
He began flailing his arms.
"I get that we're supposed to take it down ourselves, but at least help us find it!"
Nicolas placed a hand on his chin.
"Well… we should help you track down your prey…"
He paused.
"But we don't want to."
"Huh!?" Omari exclaimed.
Nicolas wrapped an arm around his son.
"The reason we took the Hunting Squad's place is so we could observe our sons hunt on their own."
Vander chimed in.
"We just came to see our children grow up."
Sam pointed toward Jackson.
"I just came to make sure he doesn't start a forest fire the moment he enters the forest."
Jackson deadpanned.
'I would never do such a thing… on purpose.'
—
Ten minutes later, the four boys walked ahead of their fathers.
The forest was almost completely silent, the quiet occasionally broken by a bird chirping.
Savien, Jackson, and Omari quietly discussed ways to track down food.
"So how should we do this?" Jackson asked.
Omari placed a hand on his chin.
"Well… I could watch a tutorial on how to track food… but it would take a while before we can start hunting."
Savien suggested, "Why don't we just use our sensory abilities to find something?"
"That's because Omari over here doesn't have any!" Jackson said.
"...and also because our sensory abilities aren't that good," he added. "Except for me and Damian. Though Damian's is definitely superior."
"You just be saying anything to hate on me, don't you, Jackson," Omari said.
Damian glanced at his friends.
Maybe I should help them?
He already knew the best way to track animals through the forest.
But he stayed quiet and let them figure it out themselves.
…
Further behind the boys, the fathers were talking.
"I guess my suspicions were right," Bryan said.
"Yep," Vander nodded. "It seems Damian already knows how to hunt. But how?"
"Maybe he's some kind of prodigy," Sam suggested.
Nicolas began speaking.
"Well in any case—"
Suddenly, all of the adults felt a presence in the forest.
They turned toward Damian.
He had sensed it too.
But he hadn't looked back at them.
They all smiled.
"I guess it's time," Bryan said.
…
Savien suddenly spoke.
"I guess we should start by following some footprints. What do you think, Damian?"
Everyone turned toward him.
Damian wasn't even looking their way.
Omari reached toward him.
"Yo, Damian… you good?"
Damian's voice came out low and serious.
"Something's coming."
The moment he said that, everyone tensed.