A Different Island

Chapter 8: The Arctic Hunt (Part 1)

Now that I was done with my training at this point, I was now officially classified as a hunter.

And my first hunt would be the exact day after my extensive training.

Before I move on, I would like to say a few things about my relationship with Noi. Honestly, due to his reckless teenager attitude, we didn't get off on the right foot the first time we met. But after the first obstacle course, we slowly made up and became better friends over the next several days.

Anyways, this hunt is also where I would come across one of the several smaller biomes which would make up this island. The biome in question is known as "The Arctic Lands."

However, I won't exactly go into too much detail until I continue telling my story where I would experience the first of my several hunts.

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When I was worked up, I expected to have it have been from Hana, but when I opened my eyes, it turned out the it was actually the alpha who woke me up.

"Come on Evan, as a hunter you have to be up early." Said the alpha. I admit I didn't expect such a rude awakening, but I had already figured that a hunter in this pack did have responsibilities that probably included waking up quite early in the morning.

"How early is it?" I asked. "Early enough, you and Tommy need to get a move on." Said the alpha. I was then forced out of bed and met up with Tommy and the two of us followed the alpha out of the hut. It was then we found out that we had been worked up so early that the sun wasn't even up yet.

Tommy and I were still questioning what we were doing, but we just decided to go along since this is probably what all the Nahele hunters do. Eventually, we arrived at another hut where several other Nahele hunters were waiting for us. I counted around 14 of them in total, yet I could only recognize two of the hunters as Gray and Pierce, the two hunters who I had been introduced to when Shelly and I had been brought here two days ago.

"Listen up all of you, Tommy and Evan here have been trained, but I need one of you to be able to monitor them and make sure they know what they're doing." Said the alpha. "I'll do it, trust me alpha I can manage these two human boys just fine." Said Gray with a reassuring voice. The alpha nodded and left the hut.

The other hunters then fitted the two of us with several tools and equipment which we would use for our hunt. These tools included a bow and arrow, a spear, a lit torch, and a jar that contained a strange green substance. "Alright so now that we're fitted, when do we leave?" I asked. "Right now." Said Gray.

Almost immediately after, the rest of the hunters opened up another door to the hut and sprinted off into the wilderness. This caught Tommy and I off guard and forced up to sprint after the others to catch up. I also ended up tripping several times but Gray and Pierce were nice enough to help me up. And Thankfully, the torches were able to create the light that we could follow so we couldn't ever get lost, the only problem was actually catching up to the group.

We were running for what must've been at least half an hour until we arrived at our destination. By this point, the sun was starting to come up and I was pretty tired. We ended up walking for a bit long we until we reached an area where we ended up in a pretty cold environment where it was also snowing. Tommy then asked Gray about where we were now since I'm guessing he and I both had never seen this area before.

"I'm guessing you never came across this place because you just stuck to the forest but if you really want to know, we call this region "The Arctic Lands"." Said Gray. "Well, that explains the snow and why I'm getting so chilly."

"Better get used to it kid." Said Pierce. We continued on as Tommy and I were getting colder and colder the further we went. Eventually, the sun came up and Tommy and I were freezing and we were starting to consider turning back. However, I heard the hissing of gas and I turned and saw steam being shot out of a large hole in the ground.

I instantly rushed over to the steam for heat and it managed to heat me up nicely, Tommy followed suit shortly after. "Ahh, so I see you've found some of the volcanic holes." Said Gray. "I beg your pardon?" Asked Tommy. "These holes are what release the heat from the underwater volcanoes in the caves at the bottom of the nearby lakes. And it's a good thing you were able to get to one fast enough, otherwise you would have froze to death, and other good thing is that they're all over the place. And one more thing is that we should probably catch up to the group." Explained Gray. He then gestured over to Pierce who was with the rest of the hunters, which forced us to get a move on.

After a couple more minutes of walking through the snowy environment, we reached a large body of water where I couldn't even see the end of it due to the snowstorms, but I did notice the icebergs floating above the surface of the water. All of a sudden, the other hunters began jumping into the water, and I was afraid about following them since I thought that the water would be even colder than the land. But as I was thinking of some other ways to follow the group, Gray and Pierce threw Tommy and I into the water. Underneath was a whole lot of coral and small fishes that scattered upon us crashing down into the water. This was when we both realized that the water in this area was also warm just like in the forest and the only things we needed to worry about was our oxygen and any potentially dangerous creatures.

Soon enough, Gray and Pierce dived in and we swam after them above the water. Just then, I looked to my left and saw a giant green catfish like creature swimming straight at the two of us which prompted us to get away from the beast. Luckily, it wasn't long before the others came to our aid and began stabbing the beast with their spears and eventually killing it.

By now, I needed to take a rest before moving on and climbed on top of a piece of coral sticking out of the water. But while I was out of the water, I could spot little figurines walking across an iceberg.

To be continued........