Elden sat smoking his pipe while staring into the fire as he contemplated what had just happened. "Fuck." He growled.

First, he had seen his son die in front of him. And if that wasn't the worst, he was held in place by that evil fox who forced him to watch. Then he had to watch his son rise from the dead without remembering anything. The fox didn't explain anything and simply disappeared after having a conversation where Jachum promised to go play with the fox. He could try to keep Jachum away from Wasehkeha. What would that accomplish? Could he keep a practically all-powerful being from affecting his son's life when the creature claims complete responsibility for the kid?

Elden sighed and rubbed his brows between his fingers. He was out of his depth. He knew it, Wasehkeha knew. The only one who didn't was probably Jachum himself. Elden really wished his wife was here.

Standing up, he put the pipe out and, after moving after the cabin to make sure everything was secure, went to bed. He'd figure out what to do tomorrow.

_____________________________________________________________________________

When Jachum woke up, he was feeling exceptionally well rested. He practically skipped down the ladder from the first to the main floor. Today was going to be an enjoyable day. He knew it. Jachum went straight to the salt and began carrying out his daily chores. The first weird thing that Jachum noticed about the day was that his father wasn't around yet. His dad would always wake up early to walk the traps and then cook breakfast. Mentally shrugging his shoulders, Jachum decided to go play with the practice sword his father had made for him. After a while of killing imaginary foes, Jachum got bored and decided to go look around for his dad. He walked around the cabin but chose not to go into his bedroom cause his father had forbidden him from going in there. Jachum walked the trap line, finding three squirrels but no dad. After skinning and gutting the squirrels, he started to feel a little scared. What if he was alone here. What if his dad had disappeared and was never coming back. A feeling of terror overwhelmed Jachum and the worries he had about going into his dad's room. Jachum didn't even think about knocking and pushed open the door. He saw a bunch of books lining the walls and a bed in the corner with a form on it. He stepped forward to see if his dad was lying in bed. But as soon as he crossed the threshold, terror-filled his body. It was as if his body knew it was in danger, and almost in slow motion, Jachum watched as a spear of pure darkness rose out of the ground and shot toward him. He tried to dodge, but his body was moving so slowly. A terrible pain let him know he had been pierced, then everything went black.

Elden sat up out of bed suddenly. Something had pulled him out of his uneasy sleep. He had tried going to bed last night, but the situations and thoughts that arose in his mind kept him awake. Thoughts like was his son immortal? Or did Wasehkeha have to be around for him to survive? As well as what he could do to help his son escape the clutches of the chaotic fox that would most likely cause Jachum extreme amounts of pain. Elden rubbed the sleep from his eyes and looked around. He froze like a startled deer upon seeing the light come in through his open door and Jachum's limp form, and the pooling blood at the doorway. He leaped out of bed faster than a jaguar and was beside the body of the boy in an instant. For all intents and purposes, the boy was dead. There was an apparent wound through his skull and out the back. The amount of blood on the floor would have told the death of someone even without the body itself.

Elden to a shaky breath to calm the terror and panic rising up in him. The fox made him immortal. The fox definitely made him immortal. At least he prayed it had.

Elden began pacing back and forth, thinking as quickly as he could. Was he allowed to move the body, or would that somehow affect the gift from kicking in? Maybe he should use his last favor and summon Wasehkeha to make sure everything would be alright. An odd thought crossed his mind, How long would he wait before he would give up and bury the body.

Elden shook his head to drive those thoughts away. The best thing he could do right now is waiting for twenty minutes like what had happened yesterday. And if nothing happened, he'd use his last favor to bring his son back somehow. After all, he did it yesterday.

Elden let out a sigh of relief when suddenly the blood disappeared, and Jachum sat up good as new. "how are you feeling, Jachum." Elden asked, staring intently at the kid.

"I'm ok," said the boy, much more groggily than when he awoke yesterday. "Ahh, dad, I got attacked by this black spike. I was looking for you, then I opened your door and then a black spear attacked me. Wait, why doesn't my head hurt."

"Shit," thought Elden to himself. Yesterday the kid hadn't remembered anything. Now he is remembering everything. It must be because that stupid fox did something to his memory. This scared Elden as little as he had ever heard of Wasehkeha being able to mess with someone's memory. But then again, how would he know.

Thinking quickly, Elden sighed, "I guess I need to have the talk with you."

He raised his hand, and an orb of darkness appeared. Jochum's eyes were glued. "Wow, what's that, that's so cool."

"Remember when I was telling you about my special shadow that I received as a gift? Well, this is it."

Elden glanced behind him, and a shadow of himself rose out of the floor in the perfect silhouette of Elden himself.

"This is the gift I received when my mother allowed a Dark fairy to name me. It allows me to control the darkness within my vicinity." The shadow creepily waved at Jachum, who waved back shyly.

"It's not really a person Jachum." Said his father with a faint smile. "But it does lash out at things it thinks are dangerous to me. I was dead asleep this morning, and for some reason, It decided that you were dangerous. It attacked you, and Jachum, you died.

"I died?" asked Jachum, confused. "I feel fine, Dad," he checked his heart rate as his dad had shown him.

"Dad, I'm definitely alive." Said Jachum.

Elden scratched his head and looked away, thinking quickly. How much he was supposed to tell his son. "Well, Jachum. I talked to Wasehkeha, and he told me that your gift from him has something to do about coming back after dying. He killed you yesterday."

Jachum stared at his father for minutes in surprise, "Oh, I thought that was a dream." He said.

Elden let out a sigh of relief. The fox hadn't manipulated Jachum's memory.

"You want to go eat breakfast." Asked Elden.

"I'm starving." Replied the boy, still slightly in a daze.

Jachum sat at the table eating the potatoes his father had cooked for him. He couldn't help but be super interested in His father's gift. His dad said that the shadow wasn't natural, but Jachum felt like the wave it gave him was a little too welcoming for it just for it to be a part of his father's gift. That was only a side thought to the main one. He had died. It was weird for Jschum to think about as he had never actually seen anyone person die, but he had already killed many animals, and recognizing that you weren't supposed to be able to come back from that wasn't that hard. Jachum didn't worry too much about it and shrugged his metaphorical shoulders.

"Are you still going to teach me about Spirits today?" Asked Jachum, hoping for a No.

His father snorted, "Of course I am. Just because we have discovered your gift doesn't mean you won't have to learn about the world around you anymore. Hurry and finish up your food. We are going to have to have you learn a lot more now that we have to deal with the fox. You're going to have to grow up quickly, Jachum."

"Ok." Said Jachum feeling depressed.

His dad's lectures were so long and tedious. Sighing to himself, Jachum wiped the knife he had been using to cut the squirrel meat up on his pants and stood. It was time to go train again.

The day after that move was similar to most every day Jachum could remember. His dad showed him some specific punching or wrestling technique and then forced him to practice that technique for hours. After that, it was lunch, then lectures. His father would discuss many things, whether it was mathematics or arithmetic, but today was all about spirit. The piece of information that stuck out to him was when dealing with the gnomes, to never offer them green beer as it was considered an act of war. Jachum thought this was really funny, but his dad didn't seem to think so, so he kept his laughter as quiet as possible. Finally, after his afternoon chores, Jachum got to go play in the forest.

"Jachum, remember to not trust any foxes you come across. They are either Wasehkeha or work for him. Try not to get hurt. I'm worried about you. I'd almost not want to let you go out and play." Jochum's face dropped, and he began tearing up. "But I'm going to, as long as you promise to be careful."

The tears were utterly forgotten. "I promise, Dad." He shouted as he grabbed his bag, racing out of the clearing and into the forest.

After running a bit of distance into the forest, Jachum paused and looked around. What was he going to do today? Thinking for a bit. Jachum reached into his bag and pulled out his sling. Looking around for but a minute, he collected nearly twenty stones. Then whistling as best he could set off in a random direction while twirling the piece of leather in his hand.

Jachum began throwing stones at different trees, trying to hit them. He wandered around doing this for a while before one particularly large pebble went sailing through the air and hit something soft. "Fuck, that hurt." Yelled a voice.

Jachum remembering his father's warning immediately dove for cover. He tried to quiet his breathing as best he could as he lay hidden within tree roots. "Ahh, that really hurt." Said a voice far too close to Jachum.

"Are you going to apologize, kid?" Said the voice right above him.

Jachum glanced up in trepidation at the massive bear with glowing gold eyes.

"Sorry." Whispered Jachum before clearing his throat. "I'm really sorry about that, Mr. Bear. I was aiming for that tree over there and must have accidentally hit you."

"It's alright, little one, but why are you hiding." Asked the massive creature.

"My Dad warned me that some spirits are evil. So, since I hit you, I was worried you hurt me." Said Jachum looking nervous at the massive form staring down at him.

"Your father is a smart man." Said the bear smiling congenially.

The creature suddenly lunged at Jachum with its teeth snapping. But Jachum was ready and rolled to the side underneath the roots. The bear's teeth ripped apart the roots where Jachum used to be. The boy quickly swung his sling at the beast. The stone wrapped in leather struck the bear's nose making the creature rear back.

Jachum scrambled away out from under the roots keeping the bear in his sights. "Mr. Bear, I said I was sorry. Why are you trying to kill me."

"Little boys are very delicious tasting, and someone who injured me can't survive." Growled the beast whose eyes had turned orange.

Jachum gulped and reached into his bag for more stones to put into his hands. He launched one out as quick as he could. The bear creature didn't even try to dodge. The large pebble struck it in the chest and bounced off. Jachum gulped. The bear growled. Backing up as slowly as he could, the boy kept his eyes on the bear, not daring to look away. The bear seemed to be in no hurry, for every step backward Jachum took, the bear followed with a forward step of his own. Jachum licked his lips as he tried to figure out what to do. His father wasn't, as Jachum had wandered pretty far away.

"Mr. Bear, you know how to climb trees?" Asked Jachum quizzically as he glanced over at one of the massive trees that stretched far above him.

A humorous glint flickered in the bear's eye as he stared at Jachum, thinking. "I'm afraid not. I'm deathly afraid of heights."

Suspicion crossed Jachum's face, but finely making up his mind, he grabbed his hand claws from his back and sprinted for the closest tree. The bear chuckled to himself but did not stop the little boy from trying to escape. The bear waited patiently for the boy to get up high enough that he would be seriously injured if he tried to jump. After waiting about five minutes, Reginald, the bear spirit, decided it had been long enough and began languidly climbing up the tree using its sharp claws.

"You said you were afraid of heights." Shouted Jachum in a panic.

He had seen the bear after it had already climbed twenty feet into the air. It made the boy panic as he had started to relax a little once he was out of range of jumping distance. But knowing the spirit was following him made him feel very concerned. So concerned, in fact, the Jachum nearly fell twice in his hurry to reach the lowest branch, which was still a long way up.

"I lied," chuckled Reginald with a sneer.

He licked his chops. He could already smell the fear pervading the boy's body. It was going to be a delicious meal.

Elden watched the scene with worry. He wasn't necessarily worried about his son's physical health as since the fox wasn't around, he would be able to save Jachum. And even if he could, the boy seemed practically immortal. The thing that worried Elden was the psychological effects everything that was happening could have on the boy. After all, he had died twice in two days.

The only reason Elden hadn't already gone out and saved Jachum was that the boy needed independence. And Elden may not be around all the time to protect him. It was a hard look at life, but Elden had seen with personal experience what happens when a child is overly coddled. They become confused, are unable to make decisions for themselves, and end up wholly miserable and terrified of the world. The playing time Jachum has every day by himself provided, at least in Elden's mind, the opportunity for Jachum to problem solve and grow without having a safety net. And as soon as Jachum found out the safety net was actually there, the entire exercise was pointless.

"Then again," he mumbled to himself. "Death not having a permanent effect on you is a pretty good safety net too."

That thought reminded him of all the worries he had about bringing up his son. Shaking his head, Elden focused back in on the decision at hand. Should he save Jachum now even though he wasn't about to die? Or should he trust his son to fight through the fear and try to figure out a way out of the situation?

In the end, Elden decided it would be best to allow his son the opportunity to succeed, even in such a horrible situation. The boy would at least learn how to fight through the fear.

Up and up, Jachum climbed, glancing down every so often to see how far away the bear was. The beast, to Jachum's horror, was constantly gaining on him. Jachum renewed his efforts and made it up the in-record time, but it was of hardly any use as the bear was right on his heels. Jachum had known for a bit now that there was only one recourse. His father telling him it hadn't been a dream falling to death while trying to jump trees made him feel a little antsy about the whole exercise in general. But at this moment in time, he didn't have much of choice.

Jachum didn't even stop to catch his breath when he made it to the first branch but started running down it while sucking in deep lungfuls of air. It was this one of death, and Jachum could only pray to the creator for a lucky chance. Jachum, to his own elation, found that the branch nearly intertwined with a branch from another tree. It was only a three-foot jump that Jachum was able to make easily. Not daring to look back, he continued running, this time towards the trunk. Jachum threw himself down the tree. If he could make it down the trunk a bit before the spirit, he might be able to run to his father before the bear caught him. Jachum focused on climbing down as quickly as possible. He didn't bother looking up as he was sure the bear was right behind him. Instead, he concentrated on making it down.

Tears were running down his face, but he didn't stop moving. Jachum didn't want to be caught by the bear, but he was getting really tired. Jachum was utterly exhausted by the time he made it to the ground. But he tried to push through, droplets silently falling to the ground. As soon as he touched the earth, a growling voice spoke out.

"I'm glad you could join me."

Jachum looked around frantically. His heart was at his throat as he saw the bear on the ground only twenty yards away. Jachum wanted to curl up in a ball. He was exhausted, and he knew there was no getting away from the monster. The boy tried to wipe away his tears as best he could and took out his sling, and then drew the knife from his belt. He was gonna give as much pain as the bear gave him.

Elden smiled when he saw his exhausted boy get into a fighting stance. It nearly brought tears to his eyes, seeing how strong his son was. "That is definitely enough." He said, a little choked up.

He leaped down from his perch, moving at lightning speed towards Jachum. The relief was evident in the boy's eyes as he saw his father, but Elden didn't stop to say hello. Instead, he sprinted towards the massive bear that had been hunting his son for the better part of an hour. The Ursus clan were vicious creatures that, when they had decided to kill something, would stop at nothing to do so. Thus Elden didn't bother trying to reason or threaten the creature. Instead, he went right for the kill.

A spear of pure darkness appeared in his hand when he was within striking distance of the creature, and he drove it straight for its heart. A golden paw intercepted the spear strike deflecting it to the left.

"A fae sworn." Spat Reginal in disgust.

Elden didn't reply and began causing spikes of shadow to shoot up from the ground at the creature's feet. Golden light glowed around the creature and the spikes melted away like snow in spring. The beast swung a heavy paw trying to crush Elden into the ground. Elden easily sidestepped, moved forward, and drove a dark sword into the beast's side. The creature snarled and lunged with its jaws. Elden managed to roll away but was unable to go completely unscathed, losing a part of his cloak.

"I'll eat you slowly for this." Roared the bear in pain.

Elden sped forward again, not giving Reginald time to check his wound. Renigeld swung away, though, this time abet a bit slower. Elden sidestepped, still moving forward. He drove a spear of darkness into the bear's shoulder. When Reginald reared back in pain and anger, Elden used the momentum and leverage of the spear to swing himself up onto the creature's shoulders. Elden, in mid-flight, created a thread of shadow that he wrapped around the bear's neck. Then standing on the back of ReginaldReginald's head, he pulled with all of his strength.

It all happened in an instant to Jachum's eye. At first, he thought he was going to die, but then his father appeared. And then the bear that was going to kill Jachum was suddenly dead, and his father was kneeling down next to him.

"Are you ok, Jachum?" asked his father.

Jachum didn't know what came over him, but he began to cry like a baby. It had all been too much.

"There, there. It's ok. He's dead. He won't be hurting you again, I promise." Said the man as he held Jachum tightly to his chest.

After five minutes of this, Jachum had cried himself to full exhaustion and was starting to drift off to sleep. His father shook him gently, though, making Jachum glance up.

"Jachum, do you think you can be strong for me a little bit longer."

Jachum nodded. He felt ok now. Maybe just a little tired.

"We are going to need to skin the creature and take its meat. You'll grow big and strong if you eat the meat of one from the Urus clan."

"How big and strong." Asked Jachum curiously.

"Hmm, maybe not as big as the Urus clan, but you'll definitely be stronger when you're older."

"Really?" asked Jachum thinking about all the spirits he would beat up if he was strong.

"Definitely." Laughed his father, patting Jachum on the head.

Elden once again sat smoking his pipe in the main room of the cabin next to the fire. He had thought he was making the right decision in giving Jachum independence. He had thought that allowing Jachum the opportunity to fight an unwinnable battle with helping him in the long run. But holding the weeping child after he had killed the Urus brute gave him a feeling of guilt he wasn't used to. Maybe a little less danger would be better. At least until Jachum was feeling better.