The Hunter from the Mountains
545 Words
While Zuri struggled to understand the strange fire in her palms, far beyond the golden hills of Amazu, a young warrior named Somadina was riding through the rugged paths of the Eagle Mountains.
Somadina came from a land where boys learned to hunt before they could even read. The people of the mountains were known for their strength, their courage, and their deep connection to the spirits of nature. Their huts were built on cliffs, their training grounds carved into rocks, and their reputation traveled across kingdoms.
Somadina was their proudest son.
Tall, broad-shouldered, and fierce-eyed, he moved with the silent confidence of a lion. His leopard-skin bag swung against his back, and around his neck hung a necklace made of lion teeth — marks of battles he had fought and won. But beneath all the strength, he carried a heart that was loyal, disciplined, and guided by purpose.
Before he left home, his father — the legendary hunter Okafor — had placed a firm hand on his shoulder.
“Son,” the old hunter said, his voice deep and filled with warning,
“Protect the Sun-Blessed. Stand by her side. Your destinies are tied together.”
Somadina had never heard of the Sun-Blessed before.
Was it a warrior?
A prophet?
A spirit?
His father refused to explain.
“Go,” he only said. “The answer will find you on the road.”
So Somadina obeyed, trusting the ancient instincts of his bloodline.
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The sun was sinking when he reached the lower forests. Shadows stretched across his path, and the wind carried a strange coldness he had never felt before.
Suddenly—
A howl. Long. Sharp. Unnatural.
Somadina pulled the reins of his horse and froze.
“That is no wolf,” he whispered.
He listened again.
Another howl.
Then another.
Then a chorus.
The forest trembled as if something alive and angry moved beneath it.
Somadina tightened his grip on his spear. The air around him thickened, the leaves rustled violently, and the smell of burnt earth rose into the sky.
Then he saw them.
Between the trees, crawling on all fours, slithering, climbing, and spreading across the forest floor — shadow creatures. Their bodies were dark smoke wrapped in bone, their eyes glowing like dying embers.
His heart pounded, but he did not retreat.
A hunter does not run.
He jumped off his horse, planting his feet firmly on the ground.
If the darkness wanted to pass, it would have to pass through him first.
One creature lunged at him.
Somadina moved like lightning — spear forward — piercing it straight through the chest.
The creature shattered into black dust.
But ten more appeared.
Then twenty.
Then more.
“This is worse than I thought,” he muttered as he got back on his horse.
He sped down the path, riding faster than the wind.
If the shadow creatures were awake, then the prophecy was real.
And if the prophecy was real, then somewhere in the kingdom, the Sun-Blessed child had appeared.
Somadina didn’t know her name.
He didn’t know her face.
He didn’t know her powers.
But the road he was riding…
The danger he felt rising…
The darkness spreading behind him…
Everything was leading him toward one person.
Zuri.
- Writer
