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| - My first memory, a sound... *squeeeeeel* I woke up, I was a just child but I was not afraid, father had been away for so long, I knew I had to protect myself The sound was closer now, I grab my hatchet and prepared to plunge into battle (actually crawling under the lone blanked that was my bed). "Bambi! I am back!" -The voice I knew so well called out to me.- "Daddy, beware! there is a monster here!" I heard the sound again but it got lost in my fathers manic laughter. Now I had the courage to peek from under my blanked, I saw my father, he was still laughing and under his arm he held a small ugly creature, it had four eyes, gray skin and a string of drool hung from its mouth, was this the monster? "Here! I thought you might like this" said my father as he passed the creature to me, it made that awful sound again and tried to run away, my father grab it with his large hands and gave it back to me. "Try patting it Bambi, it calms him down" he said. "What... What is this?" I asked. "A boar... a little baby boar, those animals are rare in the vale but there are packs of them up north" "Is it food?" my stomach had suddenly taken over, father had been away for many moons and I had survived on leftovers I had been brought, My father let out another good laugh, he was clearly happy to be back. "No, if you take good care of him then he will grow big and get tusks like us" I was interested by those words and began to gently pat the animal, It almost seemed friendly now, it did not have four eyes, it had a flat wide snout and its skin was covered with long stingy hairs, it also had a tail but no toes, what a strange animal. "He is yours if you want to keep him, no other kid has this kind of a pet so you will have to take good care of him by yourself" said my father as he placed his spear on the wall. -I nodded and whispered in the boars big ears "I´m gonna call you Voo" The warm stranglehorn sun embraced me as I opened my eyes, I did not remember falling asleep but that thought soon slipped away from my childish mind as my father called for me. -"Come on little man, its about time you meen Sen´Jin" he said as he slung a large bag on his wide bent bank, I knew well who Sen´Jin was, the grand witch doctor and as his name pointed to the Jin of the tribe. I was so excited, I followed my father across the village to the biggest hut, suddenly we were told to halt by a troll who peered at me with his tiny eyes through a large scary mask. "Ah, head-hunter Bala´Chaa, you finally return" -"Greetings Gadrin, I wish to offer my loot to our Jin" "And this?" said the stranger as he tapped the top of my head with his staff -I did not like it but I did not say anything. "This is my son, Bamboo´Chaa" - "Is that so?" said Gadrin as he kept eying me up and down "He is ten summers old I presume" - "No! he is only four summers" my father replied, "But he is so tall and dark skinned..." "Chaa, Grand Witchdoctor Sen´Jin will see you now" - Gadrin was interrupted by a female that pointed for my father to enter the hut of the Jin. I followed him inside, it was dark and it smelled alot diffrent than our little hut, suddenly he stopped and kneeled to the ground I looked up and was met by the burning gaze of a large, old troll but before I knew it I was pulled down to the ground by my father. "Rise Head-Hunter and show me..." uttered the large troll, father stood up and Greeted Sen´Jin with repsect, "I bring the heads of our enemy tribes, also..." - "Stop!" Sen´Jin shouted "All the head hunters have brought me nothing but skulls this morning" he said. My father was stunned -"I am not being ungrateful, just that you bring to me something I value more than those trophies" Said Sen´jin as he turned his head to me "Whit out our children the tribe would be no more, step closer young man" I felt so Strange, The Grand Witchdoctor was showing interest in me, good interest unlike that Gadrin. I rose to me feet, willing to speak but I could not utter as single word -"Hah, hes big for his age, tell me your name young one" I was so thrilled! -I belched out "I´m Bambi!" My father hid his face in his palm in shame and the great Sen´Jin seemed Surprised -this moment felt like eternity I was so ashamed. Until I head a laugh coming out of the blue, and thankfully it was not the mocking kind. "Well Hello then Bambi son of Bala´Chaa" said someone and I felt a large hand being placed on my shoulder, "Greetings my Son!" Said Sen´jin with excitement in his old scarred voice, not so different from what my father had sounded like last night. I peered up over my shoulder, Another troll, large as Sen´Jin but younger, stronger, he had a large scary mask like Gadrin but this troll even had those kind of masks strapped to his shoulders and he wore great a talisman around his neck, made out of tusks and bones. "Excuse my son Masters, he is.." my father uttered - "He is a kid, we understand that!" said Sen´Jin, - I was so confused by this. "Let us then proceed in this rite" Said Sen´Jin, "Bamboo´Chaa, son of Bala´Chaa! I am Grand Witchdoctor Sen´Jin and beside you stands my son Vol, now a Shadow Hunter" he gazed at me and I felt as he could see right through me but then Vol gave me a gentle pat on the shoulder and I filled up with courage. Now Sen´Jin spoke to my father about things I had never heard of Mojo, Juju, the LOA and Voodoo they actually went on talking for hours and I had fallen asleep if Sen´Jin would not have been peering at me from time to time, I had no idea if he was smiling or not, he had this large piece of cloth over his mouth and his chipped tusks sneaked up out from it, I did not see much, there was only one small fire burning inside the massive hut and it was really dark. "I am Sure Zalazane could make something out of him" said Sen´Jin as he rose from his high seat, "He is a great teacher and a..." "Weakling!"-a unknown voice shouted out witch such vigor I had never heard such a thing. "Shadow Hunter Ro´Khan -you return" said Sen´Jin and glared into one of the dark corners of the hut, I saw nothing. "Master" said Vol and Fell to his knees. Then I saw two eyes burn into me, like Sen´Jin´s, again I was full of excitement, somehow I knew I was surrounded by the Heroes of my tribe. "I doubt you would dare to shout this in his presence, Ro´Khan" Said Sen´Jin "I thought you knew me better old friend, but never mind that, there are more important things to discuss" said Ro´Khan as he walked towards us. He was as a elder but he looked strong, he had spirit masks upon his shoulders and a talisman like Vol but Ro´Khan carried a lot more magic items, shrunken heads and voodoo dolls in his belt and a two bladed sword, his eyes burned with power and his tusks long were and shiny like his beard, this was the most mysterious (coolest) troll I had ever seen. "I am sure that Zalazane has enough decibels on his hands already" he said and sat down on the floor, Sen´Jin had returned to his seat. "Why do you bring this up now?" he said. "Look at the boy, it would be a waste of such strong body to make him learn Zalazane´s cheap Hexxes" replied Ro´Khan as he pointed at me, -"But this child hides a agile mind as well, I can tell, and like you know the LOA answere Witchdoctors and Priests, not berzerkers" uttered Sen´jin. "who said anything about Berzerking?" -Ro´khan somehow managed to say that whitout insulting the Grand Witchdoctor but after all they spoke of each other as "Friend". "I guess you want to take young Bamboo´Chaa as a student, Ro´kahn, but you are still not done with Vol, my son, the future Jin of the Darkspears" said Sen´Jin sounding a bit frustrated. "Ah yes, Seems like you do know me after all" said Ro´Khan -"Young ´Chaa is still a whelp, By the time he is of age and has passed his rites, I will be prepared to guide him, But in the meantime he will be in his fathers care, Bala´Chaa is one of the elder head hunters we got and I am sure he can teach his son what he need to know to become a man" Then there was silence, the grown up trolls all had their eyes on me, I was not sure what to do or not to do. "So it shall be!" belched Sen´Jin as he Stood up from his seat, pointed his staff into the air and said; "Now leave us head hunter! take your son with you and place a spear in his hands, teach him your cunning and skill, prepare him well for his fate have been decided, the spirits approve of this and may they be with you" My father quickly bowed his head to Sen´jin and motioned for me to follow him out. Ah, finally some fresh air and the sun was blinding after spending so much time in the dark house of Jin, It was almost mid day now and I had not eaten yet, I was sure that Voo was starving too, but we had left him at home. I was suddenly drawn from my thoughts by my father´s gentle laughter. "Oh how you must be overjoyed and exited about all this!" he said to me as we got down to the middle of the village. "What?" I said, This day had been nothing but confusing, "You! my son, have a chance to study under Shadow Hunter Ro´Khan himself!" my father was gonna say more but he had to stop talking to give me a wide smile. He looked happy, it made me happy, so I smiled back. But if I would have known what awaited me, I would not have smiled. "let´s get some food" -Finally something made sense to me...
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