Year 2, Winter, First Month, Third Week.

The wind blew south pushing the thin snowflakes against Tael’s back as he tried to ignore the cold invading his lungs to concentrate on his target, a snow-painted moose. It was his first time seeing the beast and he could only guess its element, either water or wind since it insisted on defying the slowly forming blizzard. Actually, the beast could also be earth attuned, they haven’t met any earth beasts during winter, but there was always a first time.

Tael regained his concentration and decided to aim for the beast's neck in case it was an earth beast with a tough hide. The arrow flew, drawing a dark line in the snow-white scene. In the last moment, the beast moved and the arrow missed it leaving a blood trail near its neck. He rushed to draw another arrow while cursing his stupidity, he should have gone with the highest probability instead of risking the shot because of a tiny chance. After shooting countless beasts, Tael learned a few things by experience, for wind beasts the arrow should go for large areas to prevent it from dodging it, while earth beasts had a better chance to be slain by a shot to its neck.

When the second arrow was ready, the beast was already running, which meant it was time to test his ability to hit a moving target, while also, running. The feeling of persuing the beast brought a refreshing sensation to Tael. His confused and abandoned team, on the other hand, didn’t know how to react, should they also go off script or wait for him to return? The running after the wind beast plan ended being a horrible idea, was he really expecting to catch up with a beast naturally designed to run and magically enhanced to be fast?

After realizing his futile persecution, Tael finally stopped and took a minute to recover his breath. For the Origin, his team should be running after him or freaking out by his absence. He turned and started running back at a slower pace, Tael was a little scared by his early behavior, how could he be so careless? Losing his team, running after a beast without even caring about his surroundings, was he trying to kill himself? Suddenly, he felt out of breath, like he was suffocating. His sight started to spin, he leaned on a tree and crouched in the snow.

Deep breaths, Tael repeated to himself, deep breaths. Someone used to tell him to breathe deeply before preparing himself to shot, that’s right, it was him. The panic wave passed and was replaced by sorrow. He didn’t mourn old Bill, he couldn’t do it, he didn’t have the right to do it. If even his family didn’t stop working, what right did he have to? The only person that could probably understand Tael’s feelings was the deceased man.

On the surface, old Bill was only his respected elder and a fellow Councilman, but in truth, the awkwardly youthful elder had earned a special place in his heart. Old Bill was the one who taught him how to use the bow, and archery had become Tael’s weapon against his fate, something that could help him earn control over his life. But the elder’s importance went beyond that, he was the only one who noticed Tael’s real situation.

Because of his mother’s sickness and his father’s death, Tael had many concerns and responsibilities, which in time became a heavyweight over his shoulders. With only a few hours of training, Bill noticed the boy buried his suffering deeply, the apparent calmness was but a facade to keep him going despite everything, after all, if he allowed himself to explode who would care for his mother? How the man noticed it so quickly was a mystery to him, maybe the elder was telling the truth, Tael’s unusual stiff shoulders and shallow breathing was a tell, or maybe the elder had also suffered from a similar problem.

Surprisingly, after he finally allowed himself to complain and experience the buried feelings, Tael felt a huge weight being lifted. Since then, old Bill became someone he could share his deepest secret, he was tired of shouldering everything. He felt something similar when hunting, when he aimed and focused on the target, everything else lost importance. 

After allowing himself to feel sorrow, other emotions burst out of his open wound, mainly guilt, shameless and regret. The man helped him, probably save him from losing his mind, and how was he repaid? With betrayal, with cowardice. That night, when Old Bill breathed for the last time, where was Tael? He should have stayed and faced the enemies, maybe then, the elder would still be alive.

He could pretend that he was only following their plan, but that night, when old Bill sent him away to escort the last group, only a few hours before the attack, he knew something would happen. Tael saw in the elder's eyes, the reason why he was being sent away was to escape from a possible attack. He knew of the risks, yet he chose to go and leave only amateur hunters behind. He was a Councillor too, he didn’t have to follow Bill’s orders blindly.

Minutes passed, maybe even an hour, Tael replayed the event on his mind a dozen times. In the end, he had to accept that he made a selfish decision to save himself, he looked at his weapon and asked for forgiveness. The heavyweight was again lifted from his heart, Tael finally received Old Bill’s last lesson, to keep going without losing his mind, he only needed to accept his feelings, all of them. He stood up, picked his bow and started walking back to where he left the team. Now, he could only pray to still find them there.

However, he couldn’t be so lucky. After walking around the place for some time, Tael finally accepted that the team returned without him. A patch of snow fell from a close tree and startled Tael, making him realize another bitter truth. He held the bow tightly and prepared an arrow, he was alone in a forest infested with magic beasts.

Fortunately, winter wasn’t the favorite season for most beasts, so he a had chance of returning unscathed. Either way, he needed to stop playing with luck and focus all of his attention on the surroundings while he rushed back to the outpost. Even after running and walking aimlessly for quite some time, Tael could still guess the general direction of the outpost, hunting for almost two years taught him a lot of useful things.

Moving alone through the Forest also had its benefits, silence being the biggest. He could also move faster without caring for others’ pace. An idea suddenly came to him, it would be good if each scouting unit could be formed by only one person. Maybe the idea would be enough to diverge the Council from giving him a hard time. Tael continued to move forward, careful of his surroundings but still at a good pace, he shouldn’t be far now.

A smile appeared on Tael’s face, the relief of seeing the shining blue barrier was indescribable. When he spotted a team of hunters, his grip over the bow even loosened a little. However, he abruptly stopped. Why were they so strangely positioned? And their clothes… It looked different. For the Origin, those aren’t hunters. Who are they?

“The Kingdom!”

Fortunately, Tael’s voice got lost in the distance and he was sensible enough to hide before being spotted. It took some time for him to calm down, he tried to stay as still as possible, the tree trunk barely offered any cover. For the first time, he was thankful for his slander figure, if it was Toni here… Not a good time for joking, Tael scolded himself. Now, what should he do?