Callyss’s family were monster hunters. Her parents were, her grandparents were, her sister was, and her brother in training to become one. She however, failed to enter training. Over and over again. She tried and tried but just couldn’t pass the entrance test. How could she possibly live up to her family when she was so useless? Callyss’ usual pondering on her way home from school was cut short when she saw a crowd of people beginning to gather around something. Curiosity took over and she joined the crowd.
As she pushed her way to the front, she saw it. Umtya antlers, the biggest ones she’d ever seen. She was utterly filled with awe. The hunter was showing them off after a recent kill.
“Yep this umtya was the biggest I’ve seen yet! Of course they were no match for my team and I.”
The people gathered around were completely breathless, and Callyss was no exception. Even though her house was decorated with the monster’s antlers, she still couldn’t help being impressed every time she saw them.
She eventually pulled herself from the crowd and continued her walk home. Umtya antlers. If only she could get her hands on some. She’d be let into training! They finally see that she was worthy of being a monster hunter!
She rushed home and headed to the shed where her parents kept their myriad of weapons. She grabbed hold of a sword on the floor and picked it up. It was difficult to hold up, even when using both her arms. She dropped it and moved on to a spear. It was lighter, but she recalled her poor aim during the monster hunter entrance exams, and put it back down. She settled on a dagger and headed towards the wall of the kingdom before anyone could stop her.
She walked along the walls, various holes both patched and not littered the tall walls. She finally came across one that seemed big enough to allow her to exit though. The walls were about the width of her forearm, and yet long streaking clawmarks dung all the way through the barrier. She carefully bent over and stepped through the hole. She was left breathless by the view of the vast forest covered in the sun’s last rays of light before nightfall. She didn’t know just how beautiful the forest could be.
She stalked through the dark forest like a predator hunted its prey. Listening, and prepared to lash out at any point. The world was dissolving into twilight, and she was forced to rely on hearing and touch. She heard a gentle creak of a branch nearby. She whipped around to investigate and a dark mass launched itself at her, knocking them both to the forest floor. She swung around her dagger, and hit the thing on top of her. It growled and seemingly started to back off. She got up and attempted to continue the assault. Slashing around wildly, unsure of where the monster truly was. Nothing. She only managed to hit the air. She stopped, wondering where the monster had gone when CRUNCH.
She screamed as the monster bit down hard on her right arm. The dagger fell from her hand, her heart began to thump throughout her body and her lungs could no longer get enough air. With seemingly no other option, she ran in one direction, hoping to get as far away from the monster as possible. Eventually, her energy ran out and she stopped and leaned against a tree. She heaved in and out rapidly, her breath threatening to escape as her arm pulsed with her panicked heart. She had to hold back the urge to whimper in pain, worried that another monster would hear her. Where was she? All she could see around her was darkness, and all she could hear was the soft rustling of the leaves in the wind.
Callyss slowly fell to the floor, still leaning against the tree. She took a deep breath as her lungs and heart finally calmed down. She looked around fearfully. There could be monsters anywhere. She tried to listen to her surroundings. Tried so hard to ensure nothing would sneak up on her. All she could hear was the wind and the leaves. Nothing to indicate the presence of another. Until without any warning, a large beast pounced. It instantly bit down on the first part of her it reached. Her uninjured arm. The pain should have been all encompassing and yet the adrenaline that had suddenly pumped through her disallowed such things. Without any thought, she dislodged her arm from the beast’s mouth, and ran. She had never ran faster in her life.
As she ran, she noticed a dim light in the distance and quickly changed her path towards it. The kingdom! It was close. She dared to hope that this night wouldn’t be her last. Just as the thought passed pain shot through her leg and force pushed her down. The beast had caught up. She screamed as the beast ripped through her calf. She desperately tried to get away. She began to kick with her non-grappled leg and clawed at the foliage in front of her with her non-broken arm, desperately trying to find anything to use as a weapon, and get away. She struggled, kicked, and crawled, but it kept its hold on her and then pulled her closer, refusing to let its prey escape for a second time. It bit down again, further up her leg. This was it. This was the end. Just as she nearly came to terms with her imminent death, she felt a rock. She grabbed it and threw it behind her with all the strength she possessed. WACK. The beast released her leg and she got up and hobbled towards the light. Every step had pain shooting through her leg, but she had to continue; had to reach the kingdom.
“Help!” she called out to the forest. “Please anyone!”
She heard approaching pawsteps behind her. The beast had continued its hunt. She quickened her pace, but the shearing pain in her leg was too much and she collapsed to the ground.
“Someone please!” Her cries grew weaker as she felt her conscience fade. She prepared for the end. For the beast to reclaim her before help could arrive. She closed her eyes. She’d made it so far, but she couldn’t move any further. The adrenaline that had kept her going vanished along with any hope of survival. It seemed they were right after all. She was too weak to ever kill a monster. Tears rolled down her face onto the stiff ground that held her. Her vision blurred and she allowed darkness to claim her.
Callyss slowly awoke within a wooden cabin unfamiliar to her. She was resting on a couch that was far bigger than her. Her wounds still throbbed with pain, but her injuries had been bandaged up. She had been saved. She never felt more relief than she did now. She was alive.
“You’re awake! Splendid. I wasn’t sure if the blood loss would do you in.”
Callyss looked towards the voice of what she assumed to be her savior. However, when she looked she didn’t see a hunter staring back. Rather a strange human-like beast stood before her. She looked human, but not quite. She had two tails, long black claws on her hands, her eyes were a deep purple with a slitted pupil, and she had a pair of large black antlers that looked just like an umtya’s.
She could only stare in horror at whatever this being in front of her was.
“Calm yourself,” the stranger sat down on a chair a few feet away from her, “I’m not going to hurt you.”
Callyss’ narrowed her eyes and tensed up; preparing herself for an attack.
The stranger rolled her eyes, “Would I really go through all this trouble of keeping you alive just to kill you?”
“You’re a monster. How should I know.” The words slipped from her mouth before she could think better of them.
“Ha! You have quite the spirit huh? Guess that explains why you’re so far from the kingdom.” The stranger looked away, assumingly towards the kingdom.
“I’m hunting.”
“Really? Looks like you got hunted instead.”
Callyss looked away. Why was she trying to reason with a monster? She had to get out of here. She quickly got to her feet from the couch and- ACK! Her leg screamed with pain as she put pressure on it and she collapsed back onto the sofa.
“Wouldn’t recommend that,” the stranger said in a flat tone. “Your leg got mangled up pretty bad.” The stranger stood up, “So!” She clapped her hands together, “Want anything to eat? I bet you’re hungry.”
Callyss’ stomach growled, but she stayed silent.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” The stranger left the room, and quickly returned with a plate of various strange fruits and some water. She got uncomfortably close as she set down the plate and water at a side table next to the couch before backing off and sitting in a chair away from Callyss.
Callyss warily looked at the food. It looked good, and she was so hungry. Despite her better judgment, she bit into one of the offered fruits. It was shockingly sweet. She continued to stuff her face with the delicious fruit and looked over to the stranger. The stranger was reading.
“What are you reading?” She didn’t know monsters could read.
“An old story about a peasant who wants more out of life and tries to take over the kingdom she lives in,” she responded without looking up.
“She tries to take over the kingdom?” This sounded like a ridiculous story. “Did she fail?”
“No, she succeeded. She fought her way to the top and became the queen.”
“Really?” Callyss perked up. She succeeded?
“But when she finally gets what she wanted, she’s more miserable than before.”
Callyss deflated. “But she became queen? Surely that’s better than her life before.”
“She finds herself alone and feared by those she used to love. It drives her mad and she runs away.” The stranger looked away towards the window, she had a far away look in her eyes.
“It doesn’t have a good ending?” Callyss looked back to the stranger.
“The book ends with her departure, and the kingdom rises to glory once again. Her fate is unknown.” The stranger closed the book, “Sometimes what you want will only bring you and others down. If she stayed true to herself, she could have gained more with those she cared about and learned to find happiness elsewhere. But she chose the path she thought would bring her happiness, rather than the harder road of discovering who she really was and what would make her happy.”
Callyss nodded lightly, “I see.”
The stranger said nothing more and put down the book, “You are free to read it, or any of the books I have if you wish.” With those words the stranger exited the room. Leaving Callyss alone with her thoughts.
The next several days went about the same. The stranger would give her everything she needed; water, food, books, more books, even her name, Ophelia. It was strange. Callyss even started to like being in Ophelia’s company as the next week began to slip by.
They were both reading one day, when Ophelia broke the silence, “Why were you out in the forest alone?”
She looked up at Ophelia. She still looked terrifying, but there was a softness to her expression that made her feel safe. “I was hunting for,” she paused, unsure if Ophelia was some kind of umtya and would take offence to her hunting them “an umtya.” Regret flowed through her as Ophelia’s expression shifted. “I just needed to prove myself! If I got some umtya antlers then I could be a monster hunter!”
Ophelia stared at her a moment before putting down her book and leaving the room. Callyss was pretty sure she messed up, before Ophelia returned with an antler in her hand. “Here you go.” She tossed it over.
Callyss stared in disbelief as she caught it. “Why would you-”
Ophelia cut her off. “I don’t need them,I shed them every year.”
Callyss could barely contain her excitement before she realized something. She didn’t earn this. She didn’t kill a monster.She didn’t prove anything. “Do you think I could have gotten this myself?” She was almost scared to ask.
“From my pile of them? Easily. From my head or umtyas? No.”
“Do you think I could learn if I entered training?” Callyss nervously asked.
“Do you want to be a monster hunter?”
“Well of course,” Callyss answered.
“Why?”
Why? Why? “I want to be like my family!” she shouted out. “They are all monster hunters and I’m the failure that can’t even make it into training.” She began to tear up a little.
“Then just bring that,” she gestured to the antler in Callyss’s hands, “I’m sure they’ll let you in.”
They would, wouldn’t they? She could be a monster hunter.
“But you might just be heading towards another trap.”
“What?” Callyss stared up at Ophelia confused.
“You didn’t actually kill anything. You can’t actually kill anything.”
“I could! If I entered training!” Callyss yelled back.
“Maybe, or maybe it would be miserable. Maybe you’d still be behind. Maybe you’ll get hurt again. This might just be the easier path.”
The easier path? Ophelia couldn’t mean that.
“You think this will make you happy, but will it? You want to live up to your family. But will it make you happy? Or will it make you feel more alone than before?”
Callyss felt anger rising within her, “It will make me happy! I know it will! My family-”
Ophelia cut her off. “You don’t have to be like your family. Trust me. I tried that once. It made me miserable, just like the peasant girl. I succeeded. But at what cost? Everything. So I found a different path. One that led me here. One that led me to happiness. I don’t want you to make the same mistake. You aren’t your family.”
Callyss stared down at the antler. She could get it all. She could get into training. She could become a monster hunter. But, she wouldn’t have earned it. She would always be behind. She might get herself killed for real next time. But would it make her happy? She wasn’t sure anymore. Being around monsters again sounded terrifying, but what else could she do? “If I don’t do this, what will I do?”
“That’s why it’s the harder path. I don’t know what you’ll do. I didn’t know until I found it, but you are young, you have time to take that path.”
Callyss limped over to Ophelia and handed the antler back. “You think I can do it?”
“You’re smart. I know you can do it.”
She thought about Ophelia’s words for the remainder of her stay. Eventually Ophelia guided her back to the kingdom. Her family welcomed her back through teary eyes. They didn’t need her to prove herself. Maybe this path wouldn’t be so hard after all.
Katie Mills is a young adult who is currently a student at Utah Valley University. She is majoring in Animation and Game Development and minoring in Creative Writing. The arts have always been ingrained into her life, whether that be stories, drawing, or animation. She loves video games, reading, drawing, animation, writing, and cats. Someday she hopes to create an animated series, and share her stories with the world.
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