1 The Beginning of Winter
Snowflakes flutter in swirls as they slowly drift along the currents of a breeze. The white silence blanketed the surrounding mountains, painting the world monochrome. Nary a sound as the valley maintained its stillness. Winter has arrived.
On the slopes of one of the mountains, leafy branches have been packed on top of several large rocks stacked together, blocking the entrance to a cave.
Now, it couldn't even be spotted underneath the thick layer of snow. Well, that would be the case if there wasn't a plume of smoke that drifted from a small opening in the snow.
Inside the cave, a warm fire burned, the smoke passing through a makeshift vent to the outside. The only source of light bathed the cave with its orange glow, shadows dancing on the walls from the two people sitting in front of the flickering flame.
Along one side of the cave wall were hundreds of logs of wood, stacked neatly into a long pile. There were also various stone tools lying nearby and soft beast furs lining the ground near the fire. On the other wall were wooden racks with many slices of dried meat resting on large leaves and an assortment of fruits piled up.
The two people were one man and one woman. Facing each other, their gazes were concentrated on the wooden board with an 8x8 grid carved on top in front of them. On top of the wooden board were small wooden pieces carved into two shapes, square and circle.
The man sat with crossed legs and rubbed his chin as his other hand slowly reached to one of the square wooden pieces and gingerly moved it to another spot.
After he let go, the woman cracked a subtle grin as she unhesitatingly moved a circular wooden piece to a different spot, taking away the square piece she captured.
After a second, the man widened his eyes as he facepalmed, then letting out a long sigh in defeat.
"How are you already so good at this?" The man complained.
He had wild, blackish-brown hair that cascaded down his back. Like the flowing of rapids, his hair was unruly and couldn't be contained, sticking out in various places. His dark brown eyes appeared black as it shimmered in the firelight. He was topless, exposing his young, lean musculature to the warmth of the fire. He wore beast hide pants that was ripped in various places, revealing the amount of harsh activity it had endured.
"Oh Kai, the game isn't over yet you know? You still have a chance." The woman chuckled as she watched the man, Kai, in amusement.
She was a gorgeous woman with tan skin that accentuated her enchanting, sapphire eyes and silky white hair that draped past her shoulders. The white beast hide robe that she wore emphasized her voluptuous figure, her chest and bottom raring to pop out. The way she sat on the floor with her long and plump legs bent to the side oozed sensuality and heated the room up by a few degrees.
"Fine, fine. Just you wait then mom. Once I'm done carving the other pieces, let's see if you can win so easily in the next game." Kai raged in mock anger as he moved his next piece.
The woman was named Asha, the mother of Kai. She warmly smiled at her son's antics as she gracefully moved another circular piece.
"So that's what you've been doing lately. I can't believe you came up with another one of your 'game'. You really are a marvel."
Kai flinched at Asha's remark as he quickly shifted his eyes away as his hand rubbed the back of his head. "Uh… yeah, that's right. It's pretty boring staying in this cave every day so I thought it would be more fun if we had these games to keep us entertained. Haha."
Asha noticed his dubious behavior but kept it to herself. It's not the first time that her son behaved oddly. She attributed all the strangeness to the bloody injuries he suffered about seventy days ago.
The pair continued to play as she reminisced about what happened back then.
After his father was killed while out hunting before the last winter, Kai took on the role of hunter despite him still being quite young. Asha was worried that Kai would suffer the same fate as his father, as she knew the wilderness was a dangerous place filled with deadly predators.
However, Kai insisted now that he was the only man left of their small family. Their original family of three had diminished to just the two of them so Kai felt a strong duty to take care of his mother in place of his father.
His father taught him to treasure and protect his family because in this harsh world, family was the only thing you could rely on. If you're all alone, you might be able to survive through sheer effort, but if you make just one mistake, it could spell the end of your life.
His advice couldn't be more applicable during the incident seventy days ago.
Kai went out hunting like usual, trying to stock up on game in preparation for winter. Unfortunately, as he was in the middle of harvesting the beast he killed, he was ambushed by a fierce predator attracted to the blood.
Normally, Kai would have dodged and fled from the predator as he has done on numerous occasions before. However, this predator was different. It was twice as big as normal and each swipe of its claws created gusts of wind that knocked Kai flying.
Luckily, Kai was sent flying far and broke his fall with many vines and branches before knocking his head upon landing. The predator didn't chase after Kai and focused on gorging into the recently killed beast.
Kai barely made his way back after suffering numerous injuries, the most glaring of which was the deep claw wounds on his back. He collapsed once he caught sight of the cave and Asha had to drag him in and tend to his wounds.
Asha was distraught the entire time as she feared that Kai would die just like his father. He caught a fever and struggled at death's door as Asha tried her best to treat him with what little knowledge she had.
She wept numerous times throughout the ordeal.
After the third night, his breathing became shallow and his body was damp with sweat. Asha could do nothing but sit beside her son and watch him struggle. That night was the hardest night of Asha's life as she held onto the faintest hope that Kai would pull through.
Miraculously, the next day, Kai opened his eyes. His fever had cooled and he no longer struggled to breathe. He was even hungry enough to gobble down solid food.
Asha was ecstatic, but it was also when she started noticing the change in his behavior.
Kai became quieter when she was near him. He would fidget around awkwardly as he avoided eye contact.
Every time they went to sleep, Kai would choose the furthest spot from Asha and face away from her, his aloofness disheartening her.
He refused to bathe together at the stream. He insisted that they wash up separately since he was old enough to wash himself even though they had been bathing together since he was born with no problems.
Kai would come up with fascinating, unheard-of ideas like using mud and fire to create containers to store water and food. He called them 'bowl' or 'jar'.
He would say unintelligible things at times, making Asha worried about his outbursts.
She would've thought Kai had become crazy from the injury if he didn't prove himself capable by continuing to provide fresh meat from hunting and new ideas to improve their living situation.
However, Asha missed the childlike Kai who couldn't leave his mother's side. Perhaps this was the result of his maturing after his father's death, but Asha didn't like it. She wanted to be close to him.
Since he started hunting, Kai had grown significantly taller, his lean body filled out with muscles, as scars started to accumulate across his body, the most obvious being the long claw scars on his back.
Each time she glimpsed the scars, she couldn't help but feel sorrow at all the hardships her child had to suffer. After their village was destroyed by a powerful beast when Kai was still a baby, it was only the three of them as they made a new home deep in the mountains.
Now, it was only the two of them left. Asha was afraid to push him away so she kept her worries to herself. After all, her son survived such an awful injury and could still live on strong so some odd behavior here and there was nothing in comparison.
Even this game he created two days ago after fiddling around with some wood, although surprising, was harmless and fun. Therefore, Asha concluded that there was no need to question anything lest it damages her relationship with Kai.
Kai and Asha continued to play several more games where Kai eked out a few victories under the onslaught of Asha's momentum. They then ate a broth brewed from melted snow, slices of smoked meat, root vegetables, and dried herbs that Kai concocted, filling them with warmth.
