3 A Bitter End

As the jaws of death opened Venator closed his eyes and resigned to his fate.

In a moment, he would be forgotten by all. He would become just another blood stain on the razor-sharp teeths.

One of the countless bloodstains, joining his ancestors.

Then, at that very moment, the poison activated, halting the snake in its path.

To the snake, it felt like billions of needles were stabbing into its body, and it could do nothing but thrash in pain.

Venator opened his eyes and a glint appeared in them as he witnessed the snake's condition.

He coughed weakly as he tried to move his hand to the barely intact bow, drawing what was left of his quiver and nocking it.

Venator tried to find the strength that was needed to draw the bow, but even with minimal amounts of force that he exerts, his muscles screamed in protest, wishing to take a break.

He bit his lips in pain as he called upon whatever scraps of strength that he could muster, and drew the bowstring back.

Then, he fired.

Time seemed to stop as the arrow flew straight towards its destination, unaffected by whatever forces there were.

The arrow hit the snake's one weak spot, penetrating it.

At that moment, the snake stopped thrashing in pain, and it collapsed onto the ground, idly moving for mere seconds before dying.

Venator rejoiced at his feat, but it was quickly replaced with a somber look.

He knew that he was going to die without immediate treatment. There were nobody to do it for him. Quintus and Dacetha probably already left the island, and it would take a few hours for Erobus to find him in this remote corner of the forest.

"Huuuu..."

He let out a sigh, before closing his eyes.

That was when someone called out to him.

"Brother!"

"Erobus...?"

"It's me!"

Erobus smiled in happiness, having found his brother before he died.

Erobus moved next to Venator before kneeling down and pulling out a medical kit.

He took out the scapel and stabbed Venator in the chest.

Venator's eyes went wide at his action, not quite believing what his sweet little brother did.

"Erobus...?"

Shock was evident in Venator's eyes. He was wishing that this is an illusion.

"Why…?"

"I'm sorry. I actually quite enjoyed my time with you.", Erobus said his piece with a sweet smile on his face, something that contrasted with his cold eyes.

Venator gasped in pain, both at the scalpel in his chest and the betrayal from his brother

Erobus did not say anything, instead opting to search through Venator's tattered satchel for his notebook.

"Oh, brother brother... if only you had the patience to read through the entire book...", Erobus said as he smiled coldly, glancing at Venator as he read the notebook

"Well, this is farewell."

He stood up to leave.

"Goodbye, my dear dear brother."

Erobus turned and walked away, leaving Venator to die.

The one factor Venator did not take into consideration was the one that led to his demise.

Although, forgetting the last factor seemed to run in the family.

Erobus left the medical kit on the ground, within reach of Venator, who groaned in pain as he reached for the pack.

He pulled out herbs and bandages, grinding the herb into whatever he could to lessen the pain and temporarily stop the bleeding, while pulling out the scapel and wooden spike stuck in his torso in two decisive actions and wrapping bandages around them immediately.

"Fuck... I need to move...", Venator rasped in pain, gasping out of breathlessness and wincing in pain as he tried to stand up.

He craned his neck towards the dark sky, and saw the moon slowly being uncovered by clouds.

This was when the nocturnal predators were most active.

At this moment, the hunter has become the hunted.

...

Shadows were seen dashing through the forest, howls heard in the night sky.

Camouflaged by the night, the predators hunted for their prey, tracking them with the smell of blood.

*AWOOOOO*

Venator heard the wolves' howls slowly getting closer, and he knew that he had to hide, but even that wouldn't work.

Wolves have excellent scent of smell, and they were extremely agressive. Especially grey wolves.

He can't outrun them. He can't fight back. He can't even hide.

Fury stormed in his mind as he remembered the one who got him into this situation, but even that disappeared, replaced by feelings of hopelessness.

For the first time in years, Venator wanted to cry. Cry at the death of his father. At the betrayal that he felt.

He forced his tears back and continued running, looking for a hiding spot that would give him the longest time of survival.

That was when he tripped on a tree's root, the momentum from his sudden stop propelling him forward into a cave.

'FUCK!'

He cursed in his mind, not daring to say the words out loud.

Being in a cave is one of the worst things that could happen in this situation. Unless it had another exit, he wouldn't be able to survive.

Even then, he ran as deep as he could, trying to prolong his survival.

He stumbled over rocks many times due to his poor vision, but he kept on running and running.

Until he tripped on something. Something that wasn't a rock. Something that was... a human bone.

He drew a sharp breath, before regaining his composure and looked through the dead body for any possible weapons.

They had nothing on them, except for their clothes, which he reluctantly used as bandages for his wounds that kept opening up.

'I'm sorry. I'd give you a proper burial, but I can't. At least you'll have company soon.'

He sent a silent prayer to the unknown man, before continuing his run.

Venator felt and heard his boots hitting water, before realizing that he was in a cavern now.

A cavern with proper lighting. At least now he can somewhat fight back with the light, eh?

He looked around the cavern for any good hiding spot, before finding an altar in the middle. An altar with... something that he could not seen with his eyes blinded by blood.

He jumped into the water and began swimming towards the altar, water washing the blood off of his face.

That was when he saw the items on the altar.

There was a bow that looked futuristic and strange to Venator with the way that it was designed, painted black and blue with white decorating the borders. (Picture in comments)

The bow was folded, and next to it was a fruit.

Something that Venator recognized instantly from what little books his family had.

A fruit of legends.

A fruit that grant mystical powers upon consumption.

And the treasure that his family has been guarding for centuries.

He stepped forward and picked up the fruit.

Then, he ate it!