Chapter fourty: golden eyes
The direction taken by the expedition, led by the chief ruler himself, was towards the northern part of the main human city.
There stood a dark forest, dense enough to bury an entire mountain range within its foliage. It had been named 'Sersikar' by one of the previous chief rulers.
The group walked the old paths, cleared and preserved by human hands across generations. After five hours of walking, the hunting party consisting of ten members, reached the edge of Sersikar forest.
"Whoa… it's huge! I can't even see where it ends!" Estelle, the smallest and youngest in the group, stood wide-eyed.
She kept staring at the towering trees while the royal warriors silently planted the flags of the golden-eyed bloodline near the forest's entrance.
"Father, why are they putting the flags here?" she asked, her head tilted in curiosity.
The chief ruler looked at his curious daughter, smiling faintly as he rubbed her head. "Estelle, this forest is vast and crawling with lions. Carrying such large flags during the hunt would only slow us down."
Estelle's eyes lit with understanding.
"So, we are leaving the flags here so we can move faster inside the forest?"
"Exactly," he replied with a short chuckle, patting her head again.
Once the flags had been planted and the final words exchanged among the royal warriors, Rev'dalto stepped away from the group and approached the chief ruler, who stood beside Estelle, quietly observing the preparations of the group.
"We are ready, Chief," Rev'dalto said, meeting the chief ruler's overseeing eyes.
The chief's eyes swept over the royal warriors, then he glanced at Estelle.
"Remember, everyone! your first duty is to keep Estelle safe."
"As you wish!" the warriors answered in unison.
With that, the hunt began.
'Wow… it's so dark all of a sudden,' Estelle thought as they stepped into the Sersikar Forest. The moment their feet crossed into its boundary, the sunlight seemed to fade away.
The Sersikar was a tangle of towering trunks and sprawling branches, so thick that even in broad daylight the ground lay shrouded in dimness.
Unlike now, the forest had once been modest in size, but over centuries it swelled rapidly until it blanketed an entire mountain range. Within its shadows roamed all manner of wild creatures found on dharti, wild cattle, horned sheep, even wild cows.
The ponds in the forest were filled with wild ducks, and rare birds seldom seen near the human city flew between it's trees.
Yet above all, lions reigned here, preying on the abundant herds that thrived under the thick canopy.
Generations ago, a past chief ruler discovered that most lion attacks on human settlements traced back to this very forest.
The past chief gave an unyielding answer, and began to hunt the beasts before they could hunt his people. From that decision, the forest was given its name: Sersikar.
"Wow… it's so beautiful."
Estelle halted in her steps, with eyes wide, she took in the mesmerizing sight before her.
After more than half an hour of walking under the forest's dim cover, the gloominess broke and a majestic view greeted the eyes.
Sunlight pierced through gaps in the towering canopy, scattering down in streams of radiant beams. Birds, rarely seen near the human city, darted across in flocks, their colorful wings glinting as they passed through the rays of light.
Watching his daughter's wonder, a smile formed on chief ruler's face. Then he said to his daughter firmly.
"Estelle, from here on, stay quiet. We are deep enough now that lions may appear at any moment."
Estelle gave a quick nod, her small head bobbing earnestly.
Seeing his daughter nod, the chief ruler smiled faintly before turning his gaze to the far stretch ahead.
Though the place they stood upon looked like something stright out from a tale. The serene and enchanting view of sunlight shinning through the gaps of the forest, but just beyond lay a narrow path swallowed in shadows, leading deeper into the heart of the forest.
"Let's move." The chief ruler said so to the hunting party with seriousness, the other members tensed up and started walking deeper into the forest.
How much did they spent walking? Time became difficult to grasp. With each step they took , the light dimmed further.
Then, at last, after what felt like an endless march through the choking dark, the hunting party came upon their first prey.
Beyond the narrow road that they walked, where the bushes ended, a wide clearing opened up.
Small trees dotted the ground, and at the center lay a crystal-clear pond, its surface glimmering faintly in the dim light. Compared to the choking forest behind them, the place looked like a hidden rest stop carved inside the wilderness.
The hunting party crouched low, their eyes fixed on the sight before them, careful not to expose themselves.
"This looks like a family…" Rev'dalto whispered, in the lowest voice possible.
In the middle of that natural-resting area, two enormous male lions sprawled lazily, their golden manes rising and falling with each breath.
Beside them rested two lionesses, stretched out near the pond. And around a thin, crooked tree, four cubs ran in circles, pawing and tumbling over one another.
A family of eight lions.
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'So these are lions? They're so big…' Estelle thought as she crouched behind the bushes. Remembering her father's order, she stayed silent, only looking with her wide eyes shine with excitement. Her gaze practically screamed, 'So cool, so cool, so cool.'
Counting with her tiny fingers, she thought to herself, 'One, two, three, four! Four of them. So… four of our people will fight?'
To her, that was simple and logical answer. Four lions meant four hunters. She had grown up listening to stories of lion hunts, where each hunter faced one beast to prove their strength and even in those Stories, humans rarely lost.
In the stories that were told, in the teachings that were taught and even in the prayers she heard since childhood, Humans were always told to be the strongest. Especially the golden-eye humans, said to be blessed by the creator.
so she firmly believed the match was fair with four on four. But what surprised her was.....
"Hm. Two of us will be enough," Rev'dalto said calmly after a some thoughts.
At his words, he and one other warrior from the party rose from cover and began stepping forward toward the clearing.
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--
"Grrr~" one of the male lions let out a low grumble as it stretched, starting to slowly wake from its nap.
Even though lions and other beasts in Dharti did not have the wit of humans, they had sharp instincts that guided them well. They would eat , sleep and mate just like any other living entity.
And this particular family of eight lions were living their best lives.
The Sersikar forest was vast, so vast it was easy to get lost in it. Filled with all kinds of prey, the lions never lacked food. They hunted freely, filled their bellies, and lived as the dominant predators of the wilderness.
In this forest, they were kings.
But even kings had something to fear.
For them, it was the humans.
Generations had taught them the same lesson: humans were not like other prey, they did not run away like others. They charged at without any fear, holding spears, blades, and strange strength that even lions dreaded. So the lions within the sersikar forest instinctively avoided humans.
Saark-ssarrrk-
"Grrr…" the faint sound of bushes being pushed away reached the ears of the half-awake lion. As it was already waking up slowly, the sound made it fully awake.
Its eyes snapped open, locking on the source of the noise. The instant it saw what was there—
"Garrrrrrh!" With a thunderous roar, the lion leapt to its feet from its sleeping position, tensing up it's muscles.
The cubs running around the tree stopped and looked at their parent, the other male and the lionesses jerked awake, rising quickly.
Out of the brush stepped two upright figures, holding sharp blades that glinted even in the dim light.
Without hesitation, the other lion and both lionesses moved forward, shielding the cubs and forming a line of defense.
In front of them stood the dreadful enemies they instinctively feared most.
Humans.
----
--
'It is sharp… well, considering they are the predators of this forest, it would be shocking if they weren't,' thinking such thoughts, rev'dalto eyes stays fixed on the lion that had roared loud enough to rouse the rest.
Four lions stood before him now, but there was no hesitation in his stance.
He glanced back briefly. Behind the bushes were the chief ruler, Estelle, and the rest of the hunting party. They were watching the hunt intently, especially Estelle.
Then he looks to his side. Another man stood there with a shinning blade, made of sharpest material they could find.
"Orefi, you can take on two of them, right?" Rev'dalto asks
"Of course. Leave it to me," Orefi, the other person of the hunting party joining rev'dalto, replies as such.
And with that, the two stepped forward rising their blades. The hunt has began.
Immediately, the two lions leapt at Rev'dalto and Orefi with a speed unmatched by any other creature on Dharti. Their claws aimed to tear the men apart in an instant, wanting to get rid of the dreadful humans.
And being humans, rev'dalto and orefi should have died without any chance to resist but...
"Huuu—"
Both men shifted their footing and twisted their bodies smoothly, slipping past the lions that lunged toward them. They didn't show any hints of fear on their faces.
The sudden miss left the lions startled. The two lionesses standing guard were shocked as well, unsure of what they had just witnessed.
Even if they feared humans instinctively, they couldn't understand how those small humans dodged so causally.
But regardless, the so-called predators have failed to rip apart those humans in one go. And now, in front of them stood two humans with raised blades, their eyes glowing with sharp golden light that's hard to ignore.