eventuate
Evra listened. In front of him, his fire crackled and burned, the scent of cedar and smoke filling his lungs. Off somewhere, a bird cried, wolves howled, and a girl screamed.
He knew. He knew that scream would eventuate into a newborn hunter, like he was so many years ago. His body bore the scars of his work, of his craft. A roar cried out, twisted and shrill, and birds abandoned their nests to join the night sky with cries of their own.
And with it, something in Evra’s blood ached. A calling, he supposed, to do his duty. It was not something he cared for much; especially not tonight, not with her scream so fresh on his ears.
Still, he stood and brushed himself off, lifting his axe to carry over his shoulder as he walked into the woods.
Winter made for easy tracking, and easy trekking through the woods. He hated hunting in summer and spring, but fall and winter? That was when he shined.
Perhaps, though, that was because he had allowed himself to get old.
Branches broke in the distance and he hurried his pace, breaking into a full-on run. Twigs and what remained of underbrush were crushed beneath his heavy boots as he drove on until he caught his first glimpse of movement. He heaved his axe off his shoulder and rushed the drake looming over a body.
Let me save this one. He begged, silent, as he squeezed his eyes shut. He gave his axe a swing and buried it into the beast. It cried out and yanked itself away, bathing the snow and the barren trees in blood.
Evra did not stop to see the body on the ground. He swung his axe, again and again, as the creature reared up and howled in agony, glistening green scales torn asunder on one side of its neck. Poison spilled from the mouth of the beast, burning away at the snow with a sickening sizzle, as it opened its mouth wide.
“Back, you bastard!” Evra shouted as he threw all his weight into slamming the blade into the beast’s open mouth. It choked on the blood and metal as it tried to bite down on his arm. Acid and bile burned at his leather armor, seeping down into his flesh, as teeth dug into his shoulder.
Gritting his teeth through the pain, Evra gripped the handle of his axe with two hands and wedged it into the beast’s throat, then yanked it out. Blood and acid washed over the trees and the snow as he ducked out of the way, rolling to the side to avoid the spray. The creature collapsed with a heavy thud against the frozen ground, and not far from it laid a body that finally caught his attention.
Grey skin, like a dark elf, with patches of pale, like a human, near blended into the washed-out scenery. Her bright, orange-red hair was matted to her face with blood and her small body shivered from the cold and pain. He shook his head, shaking the snow from his hair, and walked over to her.
His new apprentice, so unaware, whimpered from the pain as he lifted her up onto his shoulder. Her small hands and dainty fingers dug at his back, grasping onto whatever she could. He pitied the child, he did.
This was not a life that would eventuate into a happy ending.