The crimson sun receded behind the giant tree tops, leaving a sky stained with purple shadows like a bleeding wound. **Ryan** crouched behind an eroded rock, stalking a huge deer that was shivering in the grass. His breath was forming white clouds in the cool evening air, when a muffled voice pierced the silence of the forest like the cry of a trapped soul:
"Look out behind you!".
He turned suddenly to find a black-eyed wolf staring at him with chipped fangs dripping with yellow liquid. Before the beast could pounce, a huge branch from the **old tree** - which he had planted a decade ago - fell on the wolf's back, making an unnatural cracking sound. The boy didn't hesitate, firing an arrow that pierced deeply into the wolf's forehead, turning the beast's scream into a final gasp.
He looked at the tree tenderly, then said aloud: "Thank you, Elder.
He didn't wait for an answer, but the sound of the deer's dying finally stopped him. He carried it on his shoulders, leaving a bloody trail of blood on the snow like a mysterious map.
From among the high branches, a **unknown shadow** creeps in like the smoke of old fires, whispering in a tone like the creaking of autumn leaves:
"Interesting."