From the next day a familiar rhythm started that quickly became their routine. Mornings began with exercise, followed by horse training then daily chores around the camp and nights were spent checking traps deep in the forest. By the third day, their traps began yielding results. The animals caught were mostly for the camp's consumption. Those that were unharmed were kept alive for three to five days before being used as food. It was harsh but it was necessary for their own survival. By the eleventh day, both Vayu and Aspen had finally learned to ride horses. Matang, after testing their control and balance, allowed them to take their horses on patrols. It was a small but welcome change — a sign that they were slowly earning trust.
Soon, the smithy no longer needed their assistance, so Vayu and Aspen were reassigned to help the butchers. There were only two butchers who took care of all the work, they both looked overworked, as Aspen and Vayu joined them spending their days cutting, cleaning meat and just like that, a month slipped by. When the main hunter squad finally returned from their expedition, they brought back cages filled with animals — deer, boars, and even a few wild goats. The camp came alive with movement and noise as everyone got to work.
By the next day, the butchers and the hunter squad had packed everything neatly into crates, ready for transport. At dawn, the caravan began its descent down the mountain. After weeks of isolation and hard labor, Vayu and Aspen finally stepped beyond the rocky slopes — leaving the hunter's camp behind and re-entering the familiar borders of their village. After returning home, Vayu finally understood why the hunters cherished their days of rest so much. The comfort of familiar walls, warm meals, and quiet nights felt like a luxury after the harsh mountain routine. But peace never lasted long — before he realized it, ten days had already passed.
When the hunters began preparing for their next expedition, as they were checking their belongings for the last time , Vayu approached the squad leader, his name was Bhudhar and asked "Sir, can we come along this time?"
Bhudhar turned his head towards him, expression unreadable. "No, Rank twenty-nine and thirty can only patrol the boundary around the camp, the lower your rank, the closer you stay to the village."
With that, he mounted his horse and rode off with the rest of the squad, leaving Vayu and Aspen behind once again — standing at the village gates, watching the hunters disappear into the distant hills.
After Vayu joined the hunter squad, his first three months were spent quietly observing, learning, and adapting. He held Rank 29, when he came for the first time in hunter squad, the first elder had instructed him "don't challenge others for at least 3 months" and Vayu had followed her instruction, but now those three months had ended, when they were coming back in the night after checking all the traps he turned to Aspen and said with his usual calm tone "I'm going to challenge for my next rank"
Aspen smirked, half-excited, half-nervous. "Then I guess I better be ready to follow"
And just like that, everything changed. By the end of the second year, both Vayu and Aspen had climbed into the top ten ranks, an achievement that stunned everyone. But as their ranks rose, so did their responsibilities. They were gradually assigned to the deeper parts of the forest, where the world was darker, colder and far more dangerous. The further they went inside the jungle, the fewer prey they found. Instead, predators began to dominate the land — wolves that hunted in large groups, bears with claws like blades, leopards that moved like shadows through the trees.
Around the same time two things happened, first his father retired. Because every time Vayu and his father returned, his mother would cry a lot, she had gotten thinner and even her health worsened. They had tried to make her understand but when the day came closer his mother would start crying. Unable to bear it any longer, his father stepped down willingly and took a position as an instructor at the academy. The second thing that happened was, familiar faces had joined the hunter squad too — Jai, Vijay, Mei, and Ryan. Jai, Vijay, and Mei each lost their first duel to join the hunter squad, in the duels Mei had chosen Vayu as her opponent, trying avenge her brother but she had lost under 1 minute.
In their second attempt, all three of them had returned stronger and smarter, winning their second attempts and Mei this time didn't choose Vayu. Ryan, however, needed three tries to finally earn his place, joining at Rank Thirty. He stayed there for quite some time, climbing slowly as newer members joined, inching his way upward quietly.
And just like that, two more years passed.
Vayu had risen to Rank Two, now a twenty-one-year-young man — he looked calm, composed and respected by nearly everyone in the hunter squad. Aspen stood just behind him at Rank Three, loyal as ever, although when he joined hunter squad it was his grandfather who had asked him to closely watch Vayu's every move but by time he started following Vayu as his loyal subordinate. Now, Jai and Vijay had reached Ranks Seven and Eight, while Mei stood at Rank Eleven. Together, they formed one of the most promising groups the village had seen in years. Although very few knew about it, a big change was about to happen — the Hunter Squad Chief, was preparing for his final mission in the hunter squad. He had been defeated in a formal duel by Vayu — a rare event that was conducted secretly inside the camp in the presence of the elders and the hunter squad, after the lose he announced his retirement as if he was getting older. This mission would mark the end of his command and the beginning of Vayu's rise as the next Hunter Squad Leader.
The hunter squad operated with practiced efficiency, following a simple and precise protocol. Those ranked below 22 worked in pairs, coordinating seamlessly to cover each other's blind spots. But once a hunter's rank surpassed 22, the formation changed from pairs to trios. The dangers grew and the number of predators increased, they moved in a party of three. They were forbidden from engaging the beasts head-on. Instead, they relied on gorilla warfare. Deeper within the forest, on a big stone — two lines were carved. Beyond that mark lay forbidden ground. Only the top ten had permission to cross it. Even the lower five guarded the outer perimeter, anchoring the defense. The higher five advanced past the marker, while the Squad Leader — the chief hunter himself — went to the innermost zone alone.
But not this time.
This time, one more man had joined the Squad Leader — Vayu.
Together, they advanced beyond the Second Line, pushing through the forest. Eventually, among the thick trees, a structure began to emerge — half-buried in moss and fog. Thick vines curled around its weathered pillars, moss covered nearly every inch of its surface — emerald green and damp. The entrance was framed by two massive stone pillars, each carved with faded symbols and runes whose meanings had long been lost. The carvings were old — older than the village, older perhaps than the mountain itself. Some of them depicted men kneeling before creatures with antlers and wings, others showed hunters offering their kills to a towering beast. Time had eroded the details, but the essence was still there, carved deep into the rocks.
A pair of cracked stone lions guarded the entrance, their jaws open. The roof had caved in at several places, and through the openings, shafts of pale light pierced down the temples floor. The air around the temple was unnaturally still — no wind, no rustle of leaves, no sound of insects. Even the forest seemed to hold its breath near that place. The steps leading up to the gate were narrow and uneven, half-buried under mud. When Vayu and the Bhudhar approached, a deep roar came from inside, warning them not to enter, loud, rumbling, and ancient, as if the mountain itself had exhaled. The captain immediately raised his hand, halting Vayu in his tracks. His expression hardened and without a word, he dropped to one knee before the gate of the temple. Vayu hesitated for a moment, unsure, but followed his lead. Together, they bowed deeply, their foreheads pressing against the cold, mossy stone. Another roar came, lower this time, as if they were allowed to enter the temple.
"Stay behind me," he said quietly, then stepped inside the temple, each step echoed softly — dull, hollow, as though they were walking atop something ancient beneath the ground. Inside, the air was thick and cold. The faint scent of rust and old blood lingered. At the center stood a huge iron bell, easily twice a man's height, hanging from a cracked wooden frame reinforced with metal chains. The bell was dark, coated in centuries of grime, but faint symbols still glimmered beneath the moss — the same symbols as those on the pillars outside. Beneath the bell was a stone slab, stained dark red, its edges engraved with curling spiral patterns that looked almost alive.
The walls of the inner chamber were adorned with intricate carvings — rows of figures kneeling with hands clasped together . Their devotion was directed toward a single being: a man lying upon a great serpent with seven heads, its coils forming a bed beneath him. In the man's hand rested a lotus, the carving looked radiant as if it had its own glow. The floor was covered in a thin layer of moss, water dripped rhythmically from the broken roof above, echoing faintly through the hollow temple.
The captain reached the massive iron bell in the center, hanging from thick, rusted chains. The captain grasped the rope and rang the bell three times. Each strike echoed like thunder, reverberating through the temple walls and rolling far into the forest. When the echoes faded, the captain turned and left without another word. Together, they began to circle the temple, checking traps laid around its perimeter. Every time they found an animal — a deer, a hare, or a wild boar — the captain killed it swiftly and wordlessly. Vayu helped him carry the corpses back toward the temple entrance. They piled the bodies beneath the great bell, the smell of blood slowly spreading into the cold air. When the last carcass was laid down, nearly twenty lifeless bodies formed a grim mound before the shrine. The captain wiped his blade clean, stepped forward and once again rang the bell three times.
The sound echoed even deeper this time and the forest was utterly stilled. Without looking back, the captain walked up a small slope beside the temple. Vayu followed him there, they could see everything — inside the temple below, the faint mist rising around it and the heap of meat laid bare beneath the bell. They sat silently, the captain's gaze fixed on the temple courtyard. Then, from the inner courtyard of the temple, something moved. A faint outline emerged — massive, heavy. Two red ruby like eyes glowed faintly through the fog, locking onto the offering below. Vayu's breath was caught in his chest as the creature came into view.
The offering had called it.
And now, it had come.