Once Brothers (Songs of War Fanfiction)

Chapter 1: Death's Road

He had been hunting for hours now. Leaving the safety of the Voltaris Clan's camp long before dawn approached. His result had been disappointing thus far. Three of his traps, laid out days before, were broken from the heavy weight of the snow that had buried them. Only one scrawny animal had been caught.

Blazien looked beyond the spruce trees' branches that offered him a shield against the wind. He couldn't see any sunlight peeking through the gray clouds, an obvious hint there would be no pause to the falling sleet. Just a dark sky threatening to consume the entire landscape, in crisp, frost-biting snow. A battle in nature Blazien had seen time and time again.

As strange as it was, looking up at the sky was how he always guessed and tried to determine how long he should remain on the day's dutiful hunts. If the sky was partly clear with patches of sunlight peeking through the clouds, Blazien figured he could stay out a bit later rather than sticking to his usual short wanderings. Perhaps if he was lucky he could even carry out his tasks for the entirety of the day. However, if the clouds were impenetrable as they were now, Blazien knew he would have to quickly gather and hunt what he could and hurry back home, or face the dire consequences.

He would never forget the fateful day when he had left the boundaries of his camp early one morning when the sky was clear on a rare occasion. It had been a time of year when The Thaws had been withheld from the Clan for an additional two months. Dragging the winter on. But it finally seemed hopeful that the mountains' storms were easing up, and that thought had made Blazien all the more determined, although being careless in his actions, to find something while he had the chance. It was unbearable to see the sunken-in faces that cruel starvation had caused his Clan. And Blazien had been anxious to bring back hope to those who had lost family during the harsh winter. To show them there was still something to fight and survive for.

Unfortunately, during the hunt he had been too focused on tracking and following hidden paths as time made its passage over the land, and soon the chilling winds began hammering down. Clouds covered the sun and left the land in a haunting darkness.

Blazien remembered trying to find the trail that would have taken him home, stumbling his way over hidden tree roots, but he hadn't realized he had lost his way until it was too late. The mist has an easy way of disorienting even the most skilled trackers. Fear gripped him when his limbs began turning numb while the sun had set, and he had had no choice but to shelter in a large abandoned fox den for over a day and a half by himself until the storm settled.

He still recalled the anxiety he felt. When he had been completely alone with no food or water and nothing but the thoughts of his Clan and family keeping him going.

In a sick way, it was almost amusing. Blazien knew he had lived in these peaks many more years than he had in his old home, and still, his body had yet to adapt to the mountains and their cold temperatures. Once he believed he had grown used to the cold in even the slightest bit, the winds would come down harder somehow and almost chill him to his very soul until he believed he would become a frozen statue.

Sometimes while being outside too long, he would always question if he would ever forget the sun's natural feeling of warmth one day and be reduced to remembering only the heat of a fire. Or maybe that memory would be taken from their Clan eventually too. But, Blazien knew the climate was not the only thing that had been wearing down on the Voltaris Clan over the seasons. Picking their lives off one by one. There were also the merciless beasts that were residents of the mountains to worry about as well. No matter how big or small, it seemed every creature was fighting for survival just as hard as the Clan was.

Blazien pushed onward in his hunt, walking through the knee-deep snow, feeling the piles become less dense with every step he took. Though his means of travel were lightened, a heavy fog had settled over the dark, twisted trees, obscuring his sight.