Lotus | Four years later

The herd of elk grazed peacefully in the clearing below, oblivious to the pack of adolescent wolves downwind, hiding in the trees. Among the herd, one particular elk limped its way to the next grassy patch.

Lotus watched the scene unfold from her vantage point high above in the trees. She led the wolves to an easy target, but the hunt was something their bodies needed to learn.

The wolves surged forward and the herd exploded into motion, elk fanning out toward the treeline within moments. The injured elk lagged behind, its limp turning heavy as it struggled to keep pace.

Shadow closed in on its flank, but her jaws closed on empty air as the elk jolted away, kicking her in defense. Shadow stumbled back from the kick, but that brief moment was enough for Pebbles and Cloud to close in. They ran parallel to the elk on each side, matching its pace and slowly tightening the corridor of escape.

The elk's stride grew more uneven as it desperately tried to outpace them. Cloud fell behind, but Pebbles relentlessly steered it toward uneven terrain. The elk faltered as its front hoof hit a loose pocket of soil.

Pebbles seized the opening. He leapt in, driving his shoulder into the elk's body, knocking it off balance. The animal's legs tangled beneath it as it hit the ground at the edge of the clearing.

Cloud was on it the moment it fell, clamping onto the throat and holding fast as the elk thrashed beneath him. Pebbles stayed tight alongside, biting and pulling at the neck and shoulder to keep it pinned, preventing it from regaining its feet. Shadow and the rest of the pack caught up, sealing its fate.

Lotus leapt down from the pine, a black mantle fluttering behind her. Lotus stitched it together clumsily while Rose's endless chatter about weaving echoed in her mind. It wasn't Lotus' idea to line the animal skin with Alf's fur; the giant wolf shed a lot. Lotus climbed out of her coat one summer morning, only to find that half of Alf's black coat came along with her. At least now she had a cozy blanket wherever she went.

She walked up to the pack, which looked like nothing more than a huddle of wagging tails.

"You guys got lucky, but I guess it still counts for your first kill." Lotus patted their heads wistfully as they continued to eat, thinking back to her first hunt. They were too focused on the fallen elk to give her much attention, Rollie only glancing up at her briefly before returning to the task at hand. Alf had picked up this litter four seasons ago, and they had finally learned to hunt for themselves.

She didn't join in on the feast; after waking up that day, she realized that she could go days or even weeks without eating. The few times she ate with them was for bonding purposes, otherwise she would find a remote area to cook up the meat before returning to the pack.

Crouching beside the elk, she closed her eyes. "We return a life to the earth, to be preserved until the Immortals return."

She doubted that the prayer would do any good for her, but hopefully the elk would fare better in its next life.

She sat down to the side, watching the young wolves as they finished eating. Pebbles finished first, licking his snout and looking up at Lotus before letting out an excited howl. The other wolves joined in on the call. Laughing, Lotus also howled.

"Awooooo!"

The cry lasted for a long moment, and then Pebbles walked over to Lotus, nuzzling her. Lotus scratched her coat all over.

"Yes, yes, today's hunt was all thanks to you Pebbles. You're not the fastest for nothing." 

Pebbles growled happily, licking her face. 

"Come on, it's about time we head back." Lotus rose as the wolves finished the elk and began to mill about. She stepped toward the tree line, her gaze flicking over the wolves behind her. The wolves fell in line, and together they slipped back into the forest.

Back at the den, the pups immediately lost all the discipline they had shown in the field.

Poke had her nose in a crack at the base of the cave wall before she even finished walking through the entrance. Rollie and Pollie immediately fell into each other, a rolling tangle of grey fur, kicking and wrestling the way they had been doing since they were small enough to hold in one hand. Shadow shook out her coat and lay down near the entrance. Brownie and Cloud did the same, close enough to each other that their flanks touched.

Lotus dropped down in the middle of the den, and immediately Poke abandoned the crack in the wall to push her snout into Lotus' ear.

"That’s enough!" Lotus turned her head, but Poke took that as an invitation to climb onto her back. For a wolf that had grown to her full size, she still hadn't figured out that she no longer fit comfortably on top of a twelve year old. Lotus let it happen anyway, flattening onto her stomach.

Rollie and Pollie noticed and abandoned their wrestling match to pile on top of her as well.

She lay there under the three wolves, watching the den settle into its nighttime quiet. She couldn’t feel their weight, but she allowed them to smother her.

The pack Lotus had first met was long gone. Lotus had spent a long time figuring out how Alf's pack worked since Alf clearly wasn't the biological parent for her pack.

One by one, matured wolves would leave the pack to find mates of their own, but Alf occasionally adopted pups who lost their pack and brought them back to the den. Lotus was horrified the first time she saw pups dangling out from between Alf’s massive teeth, but upon closer investigation they were tumbling around, panting as they viewed the outside world with curiosity. 

She thought about that sometimes. Alf picking up abandoned pups, just like how she picked up Lotus. Lotus still didn't fully understand it, but then again, wolves were pack animals. Maybe she was just lonely. 

Alf would lead the pack, but Lotus became the oldest sister, teaching the little ones everything they needed to know. Lotus was just like them when she first joined, but her enhanced senses and physicality allowed her to keep up, and eventually surpass the other wolves in all aspects. Except Alf, of course.

Lotus still wondered how Primordial Beasts were connected to Primordials, but Alf never gave any indication that she was friends with other mysterious beings.

Poke slid off her back when she lost interest, returning to her investigation of the cave wall. Rollie and Pollie fell asleep on top of her. Lotus waited a while, listening to their breathing slow, then carefully crawled out from underneath them, tucking Rollie against Pollie's side.

Alf was at the back of the den, her black shape curled up in a giant cavern, coat shifting slightly with each breath. Lotus sat beside her, close enough that a shadowy wisp curled directly into her palm, seeping into her skin. The warmth it carried spread up through her arm and into her chest, like standing beside a hearth. 

Her strength had shown small improvements every time she woke up beside Alf, but through the years Alf spent more and more time asleep. She guessed that these were not mere coincidences, but whenever Lotus tried to sleep elsewhere, she would wake up tucked in a neat little pocket beside Alf.

She pressed her fingers lightly against the black fur, feeling the slow rise and fall.

Alf stirred in her sleep, her massive tail performing a single wag. 

Lotus stayed there a little longer, then stood. She picked up her coat from the den floor and draped it across her shoulders, the black fur carrying a familiar warmth. Then she slipped out into the night without a sound.

Now that Lotus only had to sleep once a week, she needed somewhere to go while Alf and the others were sleeping. Eventually, she decided to find a second home in the realm of the branches, but that required her to control her strength with precision. It took her two years to gain the qualifications to live there, but she didn’t have much else to do anyway. 

Shrouded in her black cloak, she swam through the canopy, passing by several villages. She occasionally stopped to observe them, but if a villager was in the vicinity she would leave immediately. She was fast enough that none of them ever got a good look at her.

She no longer needed to jump from branch to branch. She had learned paths that allowed the branches to naturally appear where her next steps would be. The whole process ran quietly in the background while the rest of her mind wandered.

She slowed down as she neared her destination, dropping to lower and lower branches. The familiar ledge came into view below the canopy's edge. She settled on her usual branch right above the ledge, back against the pine and legs stretched out along the thick wood.

Aside from the darkness, little had changed from the view that her father had shown her. The river caught the moonlight in the distance, and the Towering Mountains still loomed menacingly against the starry sky.

While Lotus frequently visited this viewpoint, she never tried to approach the abandoned village at the base of the mountain. The cluster of dark rooftops developed patches of green moss. A clothesline still clung to that one cabin, but the wind had long since blown away its garments.

She sat up and peered a little closer, and found a new addition to the usual village scenery.

A well built man sat leisurely atop one of the cabins, spear in hand while watching the surroundings.

Her jaw tightened.

The last time strangers appeared in the village, they destroyed her life.

Lotus narrowed her eyes. She needed to know if this visitor was the same as the ones from before. His strange blue clothes carried a disturbing familiarity that set her on edge. Eyes fixed on the village, she lay on her branch like a predator examining its prey, patiently waiting for another sign that would erase all doubt. 

The night hours slipped by.

Eventually, first light peeked out from between the Towering Mountains.

A cabin door opened, and another man stepped out, stretching both arms overhead, rolling his neck. Inhaling the early morning air, he headed towards a secluded area between two cabins, sitting down in a meditative position. As the man sat, two layers of grey aura radiated out from his body. 

Lotus recognized it immediately. It was a color that occupied a permanent residence in the back of her mind, along with a powerful shade of auburn. 

They were back.

Her heartbeat quickened as she glanced down below her. Four years ago, the last words her father had spoken to her were on this very ledge, right before he raced towards these strangers, towards certain death.

Her gaze shifted back to the tents below.

She could still feel his hand on her head the first time he spoke those words, however false they might have been. But she was no longer the helpless girl who leapt into the river all those years ago. The wilderness had blessed her with transformation and reshaped her Dao. She was now—

The Hunter.