Rites Of Passage

Day 2 at Gray Mouth Camp Morning

As hunter was tanning the rabbit skins he hunted days before and humming his song his mind began to recall some past events. Several memories slowly surfaced to his mind as he pushed them back and ignored them. However as he stared at the rabbit skins a strong memory of his past came back and he was unable to suppress it as his mind relived the experience. He was around three years old when he was found in a destroyed village with a few other orphans. All the adults were dead or gone and it was so long ago Hunter forgot the name of the village and the faces of the others, including his parents. He was put in a cage on a wagon with other kids and taken far away. Some kids cried, but they eventually ran out of tears since they were starved. The ride was long and painful as they lived off scrapes of food and a handful of water each day by their captures.

They passed by other destroyed villages and more orphans were collected and put in the cages on other wagons. It was hard to understand why so many villages were destroyed for the kids. Some cried, some died along the way but misery was a given either way. It was hard to tell how much time went by, but just when life seemed close to an end they were dropped off at some kind of place resembling a church. The kids that managed to survive were in very bad shape and Hunter was trembling as he was taken out of the cage and tossed to the ground as he blacked out.

When he woke up he was given new rags, food and water till they recovered. The adults barely spoke to them with a few words like eat, drink and sleep. Then Hunter and the kids were forced to train a special military training program. Orphaned children were collected by slavers and raised as highly disciplined assassins dedicated to their job. They were trained to be ruthless obedient killers without any moral code of conduct. Any children deemed physically or mentally unworthy were executed by their peers. Hunter had to kill several other children who wanted to take his food rations or his training tools. The survivors of the training program were turned into emotionless, dedicated fighting machines with no exposure to or understanding of the outside world. Then everyday they would receive the same message at all three meals.

Message: A Hunter does not speak......until spoken to by their superior. A Hunter shows no mercy. Mercy is weakness. Weakness is death. The Hunters need no family. Hunters are most happy......when following orders. A Hunter lives to serve and kill. A Hunter needs no friend or family. War is a Hunter's job.

Each day that passed Hunter trained hard with dire conviction as he was conditioned to be obedient. Then at the age of ten they had a big test to see if they were ready for the next level. They had to kill a rabbit with their bare hands. Several students lined up to do this task and some were able to succeed while other became weak and could not kill the rabbit. The failures were given more intense training to recondition their minds, but if they failed again they were killed. Those who passed were given the next level of training, which included a proper education and a Job designation. Instead of a name they were called by their job, Hunter.

Hunter was then trained to kill animals till he became very efficient at it. Then when was ready he began hunting escaped prisoners to improve his skills. Of course mistakes were made and some of the kids died on the job or got wounded. Hunter received a few wounds on his body over time, but as he got older it became harder to hurt him. He then began doing real missions to steal information, kill targets and plant evidence to improve his skills. Hunter later learned that these jobs came from important Nobles, Clergy and Merchants since he had gained trust at completing his job. Eventually he was bought and sold to a Duke who desired power.

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