Jyl watched as Arick checked his equipment one last time. He was trying to hide it, but she could tell he was nervous.

It was understandable. She too had felt that way when she set off on her First Hunt, and she'd had much longer to train and prepare.

Three weeks was nowhere near enough, but time was running out. The demons needed to leave for home within the week. Black Mountain they called it, capital of Obsidian, ruled by lord Garm Zwart. She couldn't deny she was curious.

With a shake of her head she put the topic aside. There were more important things to focus on right now.

She had done her utmost to prepare him, and he had definitely improved, more than expected even, but he was still nowhere near the level required of a hunter.

However, he had a clear advantage the villagers didn't. Well, two actually.

The first was of course his ability to fly. Those wings added greatly to his speed and manoeuvrability, to a degree she could barely keep up, even when he was limited by the trees. Surprisingly, it even aided his stealth a little, since he didn't need to watch out where he put his feet.

It had confused her when he initially showed no signs of exploiting this advantage. She guessed it had something to do with the fact that even among demons those who could fly were rare.

The second was his magic, an ability innate to all demons. Just as he didn't fly to keep it fair, he treated his control over wind as a trump card. Honestly, it had taken quite the effort before he was willing to show it, nevermind use it during practise.

If he was so reluctant, it made her wonder why he had cast his magic when they first met. Perhaps he had wanted to impress her, or maybe test her? Regardless, it was a powerful ability, when used at the right moment.

Having finally finished all preparations, Arick walked out the gate, and into the forest. All his acquaintances had come to see him off, but as soon as he disappeared from sight most of them dispersed. They couldn't help, and they didn't know when he'd be back, so what was the use of staying?

Eventually, only four people remained: Jyl and Harald, Daren, and Cane.

"Shall we go?" Daren asked, motioning for the other three to follow.

It wasn't the village he was walking towards though, but the Forest.

This was kept a secret, but there were always a couple of experienced hunters to keep track of someone's first hunt. The aspiring hunter wasn't allowed to know this, since it gave them a false sense of security. After all, they were only here to watch, they could not interfere in any way.

The main purpose was making sure nobody cheated, and to bring the body back in case they failed, but it was also used to judge talent and ability in a real life-and-death situation.

Usually the watchers consisted of three or four hunters, of which at least one elder, one person involved in the person's training, and of course no one who was part of their family.

Jyl remembered her own First Hunt very well. She hadn't known about all this back then, but Daren had complained afterwards about the trouble they'd gone through to both keep up and stay hidden. It was something her grandfather liked bragging about to the other elders, even though he hadn't been allowed to come himself.

The four of them sped through the undergrowth, attempting to keep up. Her grandfather and Daren were having some troubles though, they weren't as fit as they used to be.

"Go on ahead", Daren said, "We'll catch up."

She and Cane nodded.

It would only take a day to reach the territory of the beast Jyl and Harald had recommended to Arick, and then the hunt would begin.