The moon hung up above as if it were a jewel worn by the sky, its light shining upon everything that stood beneath it.
As the moon's light illuminated the surroundings of the Ignisar tribe, a small kid of eight years could be seen quietly making his way towards a house.
Sundrin, who had just returned from the hunt, sneakily approached his own house as if he were a thief.
Right now, he was afraid for his life, and the previous brave kid was nowhere to be seen. After all, when his mother was angry, not even a hundred of those wild boars could compare.
As quietly as possible, tiptoeing near his house, he slowly tried to open the door without making any sound, still the door was quite old and some squeaking sounds were inevitable.
But…
As soon as he opened the door a little bit, he saw the face of a demon right from hell staring at him as if she could see through his soul.
Maybe calling your mother a demon was a bit excessive, but that is what it seemed like to Sundrin at the time.
The kid and the demon stared at each other in silence for a few moments before the kid closed the door as slowly as he had opened it.
He turned around and looked at the sky, admiring the beauty of the moon.
.
.
.
Bam!
The door opened violently as Sundrin gulped a mouthful of saliva and looked back.
At that moment, it seemed like the grim reaper herself had appeared before him,
"In! Now!"
The grim reaper- his mother shouted, and he quietly walked inside the house, knowing full well he was in for it.
As soon as he got inside the house, he could see the familiar scene of wooden tables and lamps lighting the room.
He sat down on the ground, grabbing his ears. This was something his mother had ingrained in him, if he ever did something wrong, she would make him sit in this position for hours.
As he sat down there, his head held down, Solara walked towards him and soon stood before him,
"Do you know what your mistake was?!"
She shouted at him, making his body flinch,
"I went out hunting without permission and didn't return by sunset."
He said with a downcast expression.
"B-but still i savve some-"
"Quite!"
As he was trying to defend himself, he was shot down immediately. With a crestfallen look, he looked down at the wooden floor, feeling wronged.
When he was hunting outside, he could face any danger without any problem but when he was faced with this mother of his, he felt helpless.
Silence enveloped the house as the atmosphere grew tense. Sundrin sneakily looked above and saw tears in his mother's eyes,
'Uh-oh'
He thought to himself as soon his mother started crying like there was no tomorrow.
She fell down and hugged him tightly like her life depended on it and cried even more,
"W-why do you sob do this, Do you enjoy sob putting your mother through this pain"
She said in between her sobs as she held him tightly. Sundrin's heart wrenched as he put on a pained dexpression,
"Do sob do you know how much we had to wait and suffer to get you? Each day was so lonely and painful."
She said as the tears kept flowing down her cheeks, she separated from him and held his face in her hands,
"But ever since you arrived, each day has been a blessing, so please…. Please don't take this blessing away from me."
Sundrin's stomach churned as he felt bad,
"I am sorry, mum."
He said depressedly as he felt his mother hug him tightly again,
"I know you will have to go hunting after you finish your five years at the third elder's abode, but still, please just until then…. Spend the time with us."
She said as she finally let go and looked at him. Sundrin quickly moved his hands and wiped the tears off of Solara's face.
He just smiled at her and hugged her even more tightly.
Solara couldn't help but forgive her cute son and hug him as well.
Bam!
The touching moment was quickly ruined by the sound of the door being slammed open,
"Where are you, brat!!? Let this old man here give you a lesson!!"
Zoryan, with an angry face rushed into his house, he had just heard about what his son had done from one of the fellow guards, and although he felt proud of his son, he had to act like he was enraged or else his wife would beat him up with the stone ladle again.
But just as he entered and was about to start his lecture on how he should be careful, he saw the scene of how his wife was hugging his son, and both of them were giving him a wry expression.
All his fake anger evaporated in an instant as he knew he had been found out,
coughcough
"You should be careful next time."
The middle-aged man said with a cough to hide his embarrassment.
Solara could only shake her head at her husband's antics and say with a wry smile,
"You both wash up and settle down, the dinner is almost ready."
After that she went back to the kitchen, and soon silence once again returned.
When the father and son duo were certain that she couldn't hear them, they looked at each other, and soon a toothy grin formed on both of their faces.
They quickly went outside and started washing their hands and feet with the water that Solara had picked up from the river a while ago,
"So how did the hunt go?"
Zoryan asked, too excited to hear about his son's deeds,
"It went great, I had just finished hunting when I heard the sounds of footsteps nearby, so I rushed there and found some kids running from a two-fanged boar, I engaged it quickly, and after a very difficult battle I managed to kill it."
Sundrin said with a huge, proud grin,
"Hahaha! That's my son!"
His father said with a laugh as they both kept talking about the hunt and went inside the house,
"Did you give the prey you hunted to Uncle Solmir as I said?"
He asked as he sat down on the wooden chair in the dining room, and was satisfied when Sundrin nodded his head,
"Good, Once you have awakened and gone through the three-year training period with the third elder, you can join our hunting group of the 6th squadron."
He said, satisfied with his son's achievements. Then he looked at him seriously and asked,
"Are you prepared for tomorrow?"
The next day was the awakening ceremony of the Ignisar tribe that was held every three years, It was the most important festival of the tribe as the children of
the Tribe above the age of 7 would go through the ritual of awakening in front of the holy fire.
After that, the kids would go through a training period of three years under the tutelage of the third elder.
Sundrin looked at his father seriously and nodded with a reassuring smile,
"Ok, enough of that serious talk, it is time to eat."
Solara spoke up as she came in, holding a pot in her hands and putting it on the table.
The father and son quickly forgot about the ritual tomorrow and started drooling while looking at the fish soup.
Soon, they started eating after Solara had arranged the table.
While eating, they would talk about some small things like how the aunty next door was scolding her daughter-in-law because she put little salt in the food or maybe how the old man living in the close by hut was ogeling at the passing by woman.
After a while they had all finished their dinner, and after saying good night to both of his parents, Sundrin went to his room and fell over his wooden bed.
Finding a bed with some kind of soft cover was rare in the tribe as only those people living in the central parts had enough power to hunt so many beasts that they could make a cover out of their skin.
As he rolled over and looked at the ceiling, he felt the cool gentle winds enter his room through the vents that had been created by his father.
Winter had just passed, and spring was coming.
Sundrin kept on staring at the ceiling dazedly thinking about his life and how soon he wouldn't be able to see his parents for three years.
But he wasn't afraid or sad, on the contrary he was excited for what was to come. Soon, he drifted off to sleep, thinking about how he would travel all over the lands when he had enough power.