4500 BC?
"Good shot, Brother!" Hyas exlaimed as he shouldered his bow.
"Thank you," I said through gritted teeth as the rabbit somehow survived the arrow implanted in it's belly and ran back towards it's nest.
"All we have to do is by follow it," Hyas explained, "Let it lead us to it's nest where we can earn double the meat for one arrow."
"A good plan," I remarked. Hyas was teaching me how to hunt using a bow. I'd have to say, I wa setting fairly good at hunting. Catching and eating 3 rabbits in a month was astonishing for a beginner. At least, that's what Hyas said.
We followed the wounded rabbit through the dark forest. The rabbit managed to survive for a good amount of time before it collapsed on the ground, dead. The arrow was still connected to it like an immobile wooden arm.
Hyas sighed. "That was unlucky. Now, where is the direction of the palace?"
I tried to remember how many turns we'd done but I couldn't conjure up how many we'd taken in each direction. Neither had I set up a rope to head back. The thick trees made it impossible to see the sun.
"I'm not sure," I admitted.
"You have much to learn then. Help me pick up this carcass. We can rest here for the night and find our way into a clearing where we can direct ourselves towards sunrise."
I picked up the dead rabbit.
Hyas picked up some long sticks and set them up so that they formed a triangle when placed against a tree. I tried helping him but he kept on telling me to place the sticks in other places too "Make it balanced" so I ended up sitting on a fallen log near him.
Once he finished, it was starting to get dark and his face was beaded with sweat. He'd only managed to finish the camp enough that only one person could sleep inside the wooden structure.
"Help me set up a fire. It will scare monsters away," He said. Always the survival expert.
So I got him scrap sticks to use for the fire.
Once complete, he looked even more tired. But he gave a small smile and said "Don't worry. I'd do anything for you, Kathryx. You're my brother."
The sentence made me a little tingly. Brotherly love I suppose. Or maybe half brotherly love.
We sat around the fireplace, it's flames providing warmth while simultaneously looking intensely captivating with it's warm red and orange clashing in the shape of sharp waves.
Hyas told me stories about Atlas and the other Titans, how Kronos killed Ouranos, how the male Titans found their sisters as wives.
There was nothing particularly wrong about the stories though I wondered if those actions would be viewed as evil in the future.
Soon however, the sun zipped below the horizon line and the moon become the dominant object on the sky. It looked so melancholic.
Hyas grinned warmly. "I'll sleep outside. You can take the tent."
"No, you worked hard on it, you can sleep in it," I said, "Fair is fair."
"No! Kathryx, just accept the gift. Not everything needs to be fair."
That seemed like flawed logic to me but I took the "tent" which was actually just the sticks that formed a triangle when placed against a tree.
I planned to pretend to sleep and then roll Hyas into the makeshift tent.
I lay on the bed. Straight away, my eyes closed and I fell asleep.
Luckily, it was a dreamless sleep.
I woke up around... morning...
When I got up, Hyas was already discarding the sticks which had fed the fireplace for the whole night. "Get rid of the evidence and the monsters won't find us," he said.
I helped him hide the sticks in secluded locations around the camp.
I took my bow, roughly carved with unequal length sides, the string starting to unravel. It was fairly small compared to Hyas' one.
Hyas took his bow, more elegantly carved with curved edges and strings that did not unravel.
"We need to find a clearing and then use the sun to redirect ourselves towards the palace," He continued, "12 leagues in the direction should bring us to the palace."
"And if we don't get to the palace by 12 leagues?" I asked.
"Let us not hope that will happen."
"Right. Optimistic view," I took out an arrow and held it in my spare hand, the one not carrying a big bow.
Hyas traversed several hills covered in thick tree coverage when he spotted a huge boar, approximately 20 feet in length. It was so large that I had to blink purposefully just to make sure I wasn't seeing an illusion.
"There's an opportunity," Hyas said, "Should we take it? Father will surely be proud."
I remembered Atlas' disapproving face. He always seemed to have that on when I was around.
"Let us make father proud," I answered, moving towards the boar with my bow.
Hyas followed me, searching the forest for any more monsters or traps that could be lurking around.
As I neared bow range, I took my arrow and silently placed it on the string. I used one hand to pull the arrow back. My arm ached quickly but I tried keeping the point steady.
Twang!
The sound of a bow being fired over to me left rang out. The boar squealed in surprise at the sudden stick bow stuck on it's side.
Twang!
I let my own arrow fly. It hit the boar in the same place as Hyas' had, burying Hyas' arrow deep into the stomach.
Somehow, the boar wasn't fazed by this attack and it rushed towards us, it's heavy hooves causing the ground to rupture around it.
Hyas was already fleeing, calling out to me to follow him.
But by then, the boar was closing the distance too fast for me to run away unscathed.
I started climbing a nearby tree, it's huge trunk filled with holes that had been created by small bugs.
My plan failed as the boar hit the tree, causing it to stutter and then fall.
I landed, flat on my stomach. My bow had rolled away behind the boar which was bit preparing to slam me into down into Hades (Or whatever the underworld was called in the Golden Age).
Hyas took pity on me and quickly fired another arrow at the boar, this time in the left eye.
The boar growled and changed it's target, leaping over fallen logs just to show Hyas who was boss.
"Kathryx! RUN!" Hyas yelled as he turned and fled the other way from the palace.
But I followed the boar, climbing a tree and jumping from tree branch to tree branch while Hyas ran for his life. I'd left behind my own bow in recklessness.
Crack!
My foot hita tree branch the wrong way, causing me to lose my handhold one the branch and fall off the tree right behind the boar.
The boar started turning around but Hyas fired another arrow, this time hitting it in the nose.
The boar roared in anger and charged Hyas. This time, Hyas didn't have enough time to run and he was caught in the boar's tusks, the teeth penetrating his stomach.
"No!" I yelled. I picked up a rock and jammed it into the boar's other eye.
The boar squealed in outrage. Hyas managed to loosen the tusks' grip on his stomach just before the boar turned around and fled, stumbling into trees every where it went.
"Hyas..." I said, looking at the red stains on his tunic. The white fabric was now being filled with the color of blood, drops of blood were starting to fall from tunic.
Hyas tried for a smile but he stumbled and fell into the hard forest floor. His bow lay beside him as elegant as it had been before. But it hadn't stopped the boar.
I was shocked. Hyas' tunic was becoming more and more blood red. I scrambled to his side and knelt, looking down into his wound.
"I can... fix this..." my voice quivered.
With all his remaining strength, Hyas leaned in close to my ear and muttered the words, "My time has gone now, brother. In the meantime, move on."
"How can I do that?" I pleaded miserably. How could I live without him?
Hyas did not answer. Instead, he focused on my eyes as if wanting to spend more time with me until he eventually went away. Soon, the life seemed to have gone and his eyes were perpetually fixed on me. As if he were expecting me to bring him back...