The village chief declared the start of the hunt and everyone gathered in the square began to move towards the village limits, my father signaled me to follow him and I walked with my sister to catch up with the others. The journey was not long but the closer we got to the forest, the temperature was dropping, a sign that the seasons were changing.

In a short time the group was already in front of a fence that marked the boundary of the village, it was a small fence not to keep hunters out, but it functioned as a warning to people and children. Before crossing it the chief turned to the group.

"Comrades! Prepare well before entering, divide into groups or families, do not steal each other's prey, otherwise you will be charged for the meat instead of selling it!"

At his words the people took out their bows and weapons to go deeper into the forest, they began to separate into their acquaintances or families and each group had a bag full of dye to be able to mark the hunted prey. In the case of my family our prey were marked by a diluted blue.

Entering the forest, people began to separate even more and in different directions, my father and my sister headed towards a lusher area, following them from behind, I took out the bow that Uncle Miles prepared for me and I saw that by appearance it did not differ from others, but in the center I could see two blades of spears intertwined.

"Don't get too distracted Oz, we need to get to a safe position and you will stand guard while we scout the area."

"Yes father, don't worry."

"Are you ready Oz? You haven't been out hunting since you were little."

"If you compare me to you Eve, I obviously don't get out as much as the point of living in the woods."

Upon hearing my comment my sister's back tensed indicating that I had bitten a nerve, despite liking hunting, Eve still cared about her feminine image. We arrived shortly after to an area between the trees that was empty, a small space in which the moonlight was already beginning to show.

"Oz, climb that tree closest to the center, Eve, you prepare the horned rabbit meat as bait and put it in the center."

"Right away."

"Okay" My sister quickly pulled out chunks of meat and ground them up to get any blood that was still left inside her. She tossed them towards the center of the area.

As my sister continued to draw blood from the rabbit meat and move it around, I held my bow in front of my back and climbed the tree my father had indicated, it was a good position, it allowed me to see the whole valley where the light was hitting and even allowed me to see under the tree, I had no blind spot.

"Well, bait's ready dad."

"Good job Eve, Oz, I'm going to go with your sister to circle the nearby area and try to hunt as much as we can, that way we'll attract more prey here, you'll be in charge of shooting to keep the bears coming this way. Don't try to take a clean shot."

"Understood, shoot joints, not kill. Anything else?"

"No, just remember, don't shoot for pleasure, do it for hunting and control. Do it with a purpose."

After saying those words, my father headed off into the woods of the new along with Eve and I was left alone.At that moment, I drew my bow again and placed an arrow on the string, without drawing the string taut, I began to tense and concentrate my senses, my head clouded for a few moments as I tried to comprehend everything around me, the leaves clashing the distant footsteps and everything that made up the forest.

The noises were decreasing and I managed to focus on an area around me, I could still hear the footsteps of my father and Eve, they were moving away little by little while their bows were drawn, I could notice the experience and ease they had to draw the bows perfectly. In front of me was a sound of something walking on all fours, I could not discern what it was, it was far away but it was getting closer, its speed was increasing too, when I could catch it well, I opened my eyes and saw that it was a blood bear, by its size it could be an adult.

It quickly approached the horned rabbit meat and swallowed it without chewing, before it saw me I tensed the bow and put dye on the body of the arrow, the moment it pounced to eat more meat, I released the string and the arrow shot out, it covered the trajectory in seconds and landed on the bear's forehead avoiding the fangs that covered the eyes.

At that moment I could hear the bear's skin being pierced and a dull sound as its body reacted by closing its jaw and falling with a thud. I was surprised that I was able to draw the bow tight enough to get the shot off, because although Uncle Miles' arrows were capable of piercing armor, they were nothing more than pieces of metal if one was not strong and masterful enough to use them.

The excitement of being able to get the shot was short-lived, because the moment the bear fell, my senses were clouded again and I heard several footsteps, as if it were a crowd of people, approaching where I was.