Slash! Slash!
Away went the long grass by the sharp blade of Michael's iron sword. He was trudging along the forest ground, alone as always, trying to create some fun for himself. Unfortunately, Michael wasn't able to play with the other boys of his village because they were always busy, working, for some reason.
"Just come along!" he would insist.
"I can't," they would say every time. "I have to help Mother with the cooking/cleaning/fixing."
So every afternoon, after Michael had finished his sword training and been given permission to leave, he would run into the forest, wearing his warm, brown bear fur, hooded vest over his fading yellow T-shirt, holding his special iron sword with the emerald on the hilt, which was given to him on his seventh birthday a year ago, surrounding his small yet strong village, trying to create for himself a new adventure everyday. Today however Michael couldn't think of anything special to do. All of his imagination had been drained by his fatigue in the blazing hot weather.
An hour later of walking around and hacking randomly at plants at his feet, Michael fell onto the trunk of a very big tree and laid there in the shade. He finally came to realise that it was much too hot today to play in the forest.
"I have to find a place to rest, immediately" he said out loud, giving himself a small boost. He got up onto his shaking legs and propelled himself forward to find the village again, or, at least, a shadier area than where he stopped.
Michael's arms were so weak by this point that it took him two or three swings to cut down the foliage in front of him. As he began to stumble from exhaustion, Michael found a very dark, very deep cave on the side of a mountain. He had never before come across any danger in these forests and therefore didn't even consider that there might've been some dangerous creatures living in the cave. All he thought about was getting out of the sun, and that cave looked refreshingly cool. Adrenaline forced him to run into the shade, despite his dehydration.
When he got there, Michael slumped down on the hard, cold ground and lay there with his arms and legs spread out like a star. He closed his eyes and relaxation caused him to drift off. When Michael woke up again it was already night outside. He could see the forest around him, lit up in the moon's bright light, but thought it wiser to try and find his way back to the village in the daytime.
"At least I found this cave to stay in," he thought cheerily. "Maybe I should find a warm spot to stay at for the night."
He walked out to the edge of the forest and grabbed a few branches to create a fire. Michael had been taught survival skills long before he knew how to swing a sword by his noble father, the brave leader of their village. Father had thought it better to teach survival skills first, because sword skills would not be handy when you were lost. With the branches in his arms, he walked deeper into the cave until he found a spot which he thought had softer dirt than the rest of the cave. Michael dropped the branches and started a fire, big enough to keep him warm and give him substantial light.
Michael was not particularly tired now as his energy was revived after his long afternoon nap. He sat in the light of the fire for a long time, doing nothing, thinking about nothing at all. Suddenly there was a growling noise coming from deeper in the cave to Michael's right. He froze. Thinking quickly, he grabbed his sword and a large stick with a flame on top. If it was something small, like a wolf or a tiger, Michael could probably kill it easily and eat it, which made him very aware that he was extremely hungry. If it was a bear, he could probably injure it enough to scare it away. He had to go now.
Walking carefully, slowly, quietly, along the cave wall he approached the back of the cave. As he got closer to the growling, he saw two large shapes in the darkness but they were still and statues on the ground. Between the two figures, Michael walked closer and closer until he came upon...
A small baby boy.
