A young man confronts a young bear out in the northern Canadian wilderness. He is a hunter, he is there to exist with nature just like the bear in his sight. Although he is young he has developed the skills to be completely self-sufficient and survive off of the land. He has learned many lessons and realizes that there are many more to come. The vertical scar across his right eye was his personal insignia of the battles he has fought with those that had been hunted in the past. The young bear is unsuspecting, he does not realize that his life is about to become much more difficult.
A river bend presents an ethereal autumn scenario with the changing colors of the leaves and the rays of the new sun starting to breach the trees. The bear approaches the apex of the bend and stares down both sides. He lowers his head to take a drink, but pauses and looks behind him one more time. As he laps his first sip he tastes something unusual. A blade juts from the water and cuts the bears nose off. He sprawls backwards and rumbled a painful moan. He kept his eyes on the water throughout his pain. Swatting at the surface a few times he watched for any movement. The threat seemed to have disappeared and he was naturally inclined to attempt to pick up any smells. He lowered his head close to the water again and tried to sniff. He could faintly taste blood, but had lost all sense of smell. One footstep was all he heard behind him, rearing his head and immediately swatting his paw, but the hunter was already on his back. A second later another painful sensation. The hunter sliced a vertical line across the bear's right eye and then released his grip. Sprawling back in pain once more he roared and stood up. The hunter stood in front of the bear and looked him in the eyes; he made sure they would remember each other, and then pulled out mace that blinded the bear in his remaining eye.
As the bear shook his vision back in and forms began to take shape he realized he was all alone again. He attempted to sniff and couldn't. He roared in anger, and could remember the face. Remember the scar. It became apparent that he needed to adapt without the sense of smell and half the vision that he had previously been accustomed to. Although an animal cannot feel the human emotion of hate, the feeling that swept through the bear every time that face crossed his mind was the equivalent.
This is what the hunter had counted on and planned for. He wanted an opponent when they were both ready, years down the road; a worthy adversary for the final fight.
The bear wandered throughout his native forests for three days and caught nothing. He was weak from loss of blood and lack of food, but the rage that had come to consume him, the hatred for the hunter had grown to such an intensity that the adrenaline in the bear kept him going. He approached a river, further down to his right were rapids flowing in his direction. He could see salmon heading for those rapids. The water was shallow and the urge to eat was strong. He stood at the edge and swatted the water, even though the bottom was visible, and stepped in. The current was stronger than expected, but his eye remained focused on the jumping fish. He pawed at them as they passed, with almost every attempt he would lose his balance but he tried for almost half an hour. He could barely see what he was aiming for and the water had begun to freeze his paws. Shivering he persevered for another half an hour; everything began to spin. The freezing water, lack of food and loss of blood had completely drained him and his limbs were about to collapse. He remembered the scar. A great roar crept up from within him, his pupil dilated, with one snap of his jaws he caught a fish in midair. Gulping it back, his left ear tweaked. Another he grabbed in his jaws and crushed down. The fish flapped a few times and died. He carried it back to the shore and took his time eating it.