Chapter 1

A raven, with feathers as black as the night, watched the sun setting with its intelligent golden eyes. It was sitting on the highest branch of a tall pine, contemplating its surroundings. The sky was devoid of clouds and the horizon bathed in a orange hue, announcing the end of the day.

The majestic bird let its gaze wander around an endless forest. In the distance, a wide mountain range seperated the forest from the rest of the civilization. A wild river descended from the mountain range and meandered through the thick forest, before it flowed into the vast sea that surrounded the jungle. Along the river, five small villages were scattered around the forest, small hills rising here and there from the ground.

A few trees further, the raven saw something interesting. The majestic bird flew towards it, or rather him, a young boy in his teens, lying in the grass.

The boy had messy black hair, with a strange white lock. While he was reading, he played with his strand of hair, coiling it around his finger. The raven flew closer and installed itself on a nearby branch, observing the boy. Suddenly, it spotted another boy approaching while hiding in the bushes.

After succesfully analysing the situation, the raven decided to help the reading boy, and landed on his book. It stared right in his eyes, before flying towards the other boy hiding in the bushes. Confused, the book-boy watched as the bird attacked the hiding bush-boy and saw it dodging the flying fists of the angry boy. Seeing that the bush-boy was discovered, the bird flew away, satisfied.

"... son of a flappy bird! What do you think you are doing!"

''Hey! Colin, what the hell are you doing with that bird?'' The bush-boy, alias Colin, exited the bushes and answered with an annoyed tone, ''That stupid bird ruined my plan of scaring you to death! I just bought this horn from the village behind the river. You know, the one with the tower. It reproduces the exact sound of an actual bear! Isn't that super cool?''

The book-boy, alias Lowen, raised a brow at his best friend's new item. ''May I try it?'' He asked. Colin's excitement vanished as soon as it appeared, and regret showed in his eyes. He stepped back a few steps and immediately refused. ''Oh no, no way in hell I'm giving this to you! If you blow in there a little too hard, it can be so loud that even the people in the village nearby will hear it! I know you well enough to know that that's exactly what you'll do, and I will be the one to get in trouble!''

''Come on'', begged Lowen, ''just once, I promise I won't do it loud.'' But Lowen saw that his beggings were to no avail, his stubborn friend held the horn very tightly and was about to turn away. He shrugged, ''all right then, I guess you leave me no choice''.

Lowen raised his hand and concentrated. After a moment, the horn was pulled out of Colin's hand by a magical force and flew towards Lowen. Colin's eyes widened and he tried to snatch the floating horn, but Lowen was faster. He took the white horn and studied it curiously.

It was a typical ivory hunting horn, with the initials C.C. engraved on the handle. Colin panicked and shouted: ''Hey you cheat! Wait, no don't do it, i'm gonna get in trouble!'' But his best friend ignored him and raised the horn to his mouth. With a grin, Lowen blew with all his might.

A terrifying roar left the horn and the village down the hill went in a wild panic.

''A bear! Gather the hunters! A bear!'' The villagers picked up their weapons and ran towards the village gate, waiting for orders.

A tall, muscular man stepped forward: ''It must be somewhere near in the forest. We can't let a bear near the village, it's too dangerous. We need to find it and eliminate it. Form teams of five and scout the area. When a group finds it, blow in the horn and distract it while the rest arrives, then we will attack it together. Understood? Go!'' Without waiting for an answer, the leader ran off with his team into the forest. The others followed him a few seconds later.

*Meanwhile, in the forest*

''Are you stupid! I told you not to blow so hard! Now the entire village is probably in panic, you idiot! On top of that you used your magic, that's unfair!'' Collin immediately tried to snatch the horn back, but Lowen effortlessly kept the horn out of his friend's reach and started to laugh with a wide grin on his face. ''Haha, this is incredible, where the hell did you find this? Nevermind, we need to hide, the villagers are coming!'' The boy started to run further up the hill and didn't stop to laugh, while Collin desperately tried to catch up with him. ''Hey, wait, don't leave me alone you bastard, what if they catch me instead!"