In the Atenica islands, everyone was preparing for war. We were planning to conquer Redente, as well as the other tribes. The other tribes were all fools. But not us. Not the Sapphire Tribe. We had King Kraven, along with all many guards and weapons. We would win. We would conquer the other tribes and then Redente. If only we had the gut to. No one in the Sapphire Tribe felt ready to attack. I was the only person I knew who had the courage to start fighting. I wanted to take over the Atenica deserts, where the Gold Tribe lived. They were the weakest tribe, because they didn't want to hurt anyone. That would displease their "god." If only my tribe would agree with me. If only my tribe wasn't so weak and wimpy. All I wanted to do was start pursuing our plan that we had made years ago. But everyone else wanted to wait. How long? Forever.

I also wanted to sail to shore and conquer the Jade Woods. They could be powerful, but we were stronger and needed more land and soldiers. One sunny, indigo-skied day, I was in the training arena, practicing my fighting skills. I had just won a fight against my older brother, Lance, with my bare hands. He got up from the ground, stretching and shaking his head.

"Hunter, you really should learn to fight with a sword, and not just your hands," he said, panting.

I crossed my arms and casually said, "You're just jealous you lost with a sword. As well as the extra sword in your sheath." Strange how my older brother, fighting an unarmed man, couldn't take him down at all, not even with two swords. I suppose it wasn't his fault. No one, not one single challenger had been able to beat me in a fight. I was too strong, quick and clever.

"I didn't want to hurt you, so I let you beat me," he said, stuttering.

I wasn't going to argue, so I laughed and started to walk away. But Lance stopped me and said, "When you're out there, fighting dozens of soldiers, Hunter, you need a weapon to defend yourself. You can NOT kill armed soldiers without a weapon."

He sounded serious, but I only chuckled again. Then I took his sword from him, grasped the blade with two hands, and snapped it in half.

Everyone in the arena stared in awe. Lance was speechless. But I wasn't surprised at all. I had never broken a sword like that, because I had never tried to. But whatever I tried to do, no matter how hard it was, I could do it. And I wasn't afraid to.

I threw both halves of the sword at Lance's feet and said, "I can do anything if I want to."

* * *

I approached the doors of King Kraven's castle. As soon as the guards saw me, they let me into the throne room. He wasn't a lazy king. He wouldn't always sit in his throne. No, he was always making a plan for attacking Redente. But he'd always reach a dead end. There was only one solution. We had to get more men from the other tribes. The tribes were smaller than Redente. We could easily conquer one, two, or all three of them, and then attack Redente and win.

When I entered the room, King Kraven looked up from his desk which was surrounded by his advisors and soldiers. He smiled, held out his arms and said in a booming voice, "Hunter! How good it is to see you again!"

He hugged me as I half-heartedly hugged him back. "Hello, Uncle Kraven." Yes. The king of Atenica was my uncle. His sister was my mother, but she had died when I was a baby. My father was completely unknown, so Lance and I had been raised by the king.

"Uncle I need to discuss an important matter with you," I said, seriously.

"What is it?" Kraven asked with a smile.

I stood up straight and announced, "I know how to conquer Redente." The room was silent. Surprisingly, no one laughed. They were all curious to hear what I had to say.

Before my uncle could reply, I said, "We need to conquer the other tribes, one by one, and together we can dominate Redente."

My uncle sighed along with the rest of the men in the room. Had they expected something better? It was the best and only solution!

"Hunter," his majesty said, "You're asking to undo what has been done. Atenica has been separated, we can not just unite them again by attacking and fighting them! We need to conquer Redente. Not the other tribes."

"What kind of king are you?" I yelled at his face. "It's your fault this blasted country was divided into not two, not three, but four tribes! Four tribes that are completely against each other! I am not saying we should ask them to join us. I'm saying we should force them to join us! We attack their people and give them the chance to join us, or die!"

My uncle put on a thoughtful face. Then he frowned and leaned over his desk, hanging his head. "I'm a terrible king. I don't know what to do. I don't how to fix this, but I know attacking the rest of this country will only make things worse, Hunter."

"It is not a country, uncle! It is a divided kingdom!" I yelled at him. Then I slammed my fist on his desk. "I am SICK of all this disagreement and unreasonable plans of yours! LISTEN, Uncle, for Heaven's sake! We've tried to be kind and logical and persuasive to the other tribes, but no one listens! The Jade Tribe hates you! The Gold Tribe thinks of their "god" and nothing else! The Diamond Tribe wants what we want but are not determined enough to get it! And neither are we! If we have gone through all this trouble to conquer Redente - we've separated our country into quarters - let's conquer that darn country already! Stop sitting here doing nothing and fight!"

The king stared at the ground sadly. "Guards, please escort Hunter Hawk outside the castle," he said calmly.

I fought and swore at my uncle as the guards dragged me out of the castle. I was completely infuriated. My stupid uncle would never do the right thing. He would never be a proper king. He never had been.

* * *

Even though it was early afternoon, I decided to crash at the Weeping Willow Tavern. I marched in, approached the bartender and said, "The usual." The usual for me was the strongest drink in Atenica. It could get someone drunk in a few seconds. Here it was called the Suicide Drink. I had it almost daily, because I got depressed every day. Because of how strong I was, though, the Suicide Drink could never get me drunk. But since my uncle was being more foolish than ever that day, I decided to have more than one. I chugged the first glass all down my throat. It burned, but not as much as I wanted it to. The bartender looked concerned when I asked for a second glass, but he poured me more when I dropped gold coins on the table.

In the middle of my second drink, someone entered the tavern looking worried. She was the only person who could make me stop drinking. She hated to see me drinking. But she had never seen me drinking such strong alcohol this much in one day. Unable to hide from her, I ordered the bartender to throw away my drink.

When she spotted me, she hurried over to me, her daffodil-colored hair flowing behind her like a shimmering waterfall. Sadly, she said, "Hunter, you must come home. Now. Your brother is worried about you."

She started pulling me out of the tavern, until I remembered why I had come here.

I pulled away saying, "I need another drink, Guinevere. Just a small one. I'll be home soon, just go."

"No, you need to stop drinking. You're going to kill yourself, Hunter," she said, pulling me out the door.

I broke free from her and asked for another Suicide Drink. Right in front of Guinevere. She stood right beside me, staring at me with her sad, aegean and sky blue eyes. How could I be so cruel? I didn't even care about myself, but she did more than she had ever cared for herself. She cared about everyone but herself. She had long, wavy hair, an angelic voice and the most gentle heart. And I hated people with soft hearts. They were wimps. They always chose the kinder action, which was always the wrong and weaker action. I couldn't bare to hurt Guinevere, though. When I did, I would always regret it afterwards. But that day, as I kept chugging down my drink, I got more and more drunk. And all my compassion for Guinevere melted away with the scalding liquid.

"Go away, woman," I said, paying for another drink.

"Hunter, Lance and I are worried for you. You have to come home. You have to stop getting depressed."

"Go away. Now." I started shaking.

There was silence in the whole tavern. Suddenly, in burst my brother.

"Hunter!" he called to me. "Hunter, don't make this hard. Just come home! You can't keep getting drunk and depressed like this!"

I ignored him, and kept sipping from my glass. Guinevere was on the verge of tears, but she was trying to hold them back. She kept staring at me, pleadingly. But I didn't care one bit.

Then Lance mockingly said to me, "Hunter, you child! Be a man for once! Stop crying and drinking over your problems and fix them properly! You'll never survive life like this!"

I pounded the table, got up and hurtled my glass at him. Guinevere shrieked. Men in the bar stood up.

"You want me to fix my problems?" I yelled at the top of my lungs. "You want me to be a man?"

Lance drew his sword. But he was too late. I charged at him, grabbed his arm, threw the sword away and shoved Lance against the wall. Other men tried to neutralize me, but I simply pushed them to the ground. I grabbed Lance by the neck and held him to the wall. Four men jumped on me all at once and pinned me to the ground. I rolled over and managed to get two of them under me. I grabbed the third man's head and shoved it into the hard, wooden floor. I picked up the other two, threw one at Lance who was charging at me, and snapped the other man's neck.

Suddenly someone shouted, "Get the palace guards! There've been two murderers!"

I stopped. I realized I had killed the man by snapping his neck. And the sword I had thrown out of Lance's hand had killed another man. I glanced at Guinevere and Lance, who both looked more desperate and afraid for me than ever. I wasn't. I had killed men of our tribe before. I was always arrested and taken to the castle's dungeons. But my uncle, being the king, easily set me free. He didn't care. He knew I always had a good reason for killing those fools.

But I was tired of being arrested by the guards. I dashed out of the tavern and ran to my house. The world was spinning around me. The alcohol stung my throat. I couldn't think straight. Then, an idea hit me. If no one wanted to conquer the tribes, then I would. Alone.

I packed my things: armor, weapons, food and a tent. I wanted to start conquering the Diamond Tribe, since they wanted the same thing we did, but I had to get through the Jade Forest to reach the Atenica's mountains. I planned to ride my black steed, Dream, to the shore. Then I'd steal a sizable boat to fit Dream and me. We'd sail to shore, ride through Jade Forest, and arrive at the Atenica deserts. I loaded my belongings onto Dream. Then I started galloping towards the shores of Sapphire Island.

But I was stopped. An army of soldiers on horses surrounded me. The leader being Lance. That fool. When would he learn that nothing could stop me? I didn't see Guinevere. I hoped for her safety. She cared so much about me, I couldn't help but worry for her.

"Hunter Hawk!" Lance called to me from the crowd of soldiers. "Come with us. We're taking you to the king. He'll help you."

The soldiers were all holding swords, and wearing weapons. But I wasn't scared of them. And I wasn't going to let them arrest me. As hard as I could, I whipped Dream. She charged straight towards the swarm of guards. They all panicked. Some horses bucked their riders off their backs. Most soldiers moved out of the way. But some tried to attack me. They waved their swords and spears at me, skimming my shirt and horse. They couldn't hit me. I was too slick, fast and strong. I yanked on Dream's reins, causing her to leap high into the air, above soldiers whose horses blocked my path. I landed on the other side of the soldiers and galloped away. They couldn't keep up with me, since their horses tripped over each other. I was near the shore. No one was following me. I was almost free from this wretched place.

I stole a large boat from the harbor, loaded Dream onto it, and heard Guinevere's voice.

"Hunter! Wait! Don't leave!" She rode towards me on her palomino horse. I stopped.

"Guinevere, I'm not staying here. You cannot make me," I started boarding the boat.

"I want to come with you!" She said, jumping off her horse and running up to me.

I was shocked. This was the last thing I expected her to do. "Why?" I asked.

"Because I'm afraid you'll get killed if I don't come with you!"

This was even more shocking. She thought I'd get killed? She thought her coming would protect me?

"Gwen. I don't need you to come with me. I can fight anyone who stands in my way," I told her.

"But your brother, Lance," she went on, worriedly. "He wants to kill you. He thinks you're a threat to the Sapphire Tribe. And he wants you dead. They're going to chase after you until they execute you, Hunter. That's why I'm coming with you. If they catch up to you, I'll make sure they don't kill you."

I stuttered, "They're not going to kill me. My uncle would never allow it."

"He has. He told Lance he may do whatever he'd like with you," she said, almost crying.

More shock. How could my uncle do this? Suddenly my brother and his army came into sight, and charged to the shore.

"GET ON!" I yelled to Gwen. She pulled her horse on board, and I pushed the boat off the dock. I tied the sails to the boat's mast as Guinevere paddled out to sea. Suddenly, a huge gust of wind blew the sail farther away from the shore. I gazed across the bright ocean, and saw the army loading into, not boats, but ships. Suddenly, they stared across the ocean, and ditched the ships. Shouting and pointing, the ran up the shore to the town.

"What were they so afraid of?" I asked Guinevere. She pointed to the sky. A huge black cloud pouring rain and lightning onto the sea, hid the sun and turned the ocean dark.

"That's a relief," I said, sighing.

"Hunter!" Gwen shouted, as the wind whistled through our ears. "There's a storm! We can't go through this!"

"And neither can Lance," I said, happily. "If it weren't for this storm, they'd be chasing after us right now."

"But how will we survive this storm?" she yelled.

The waves were ten, or fifteen feet tall. But our boat was big enough to conquer them. The horses were inside the boathouse, and our supplies was safe. How could we not survive this? What was Guinevere so afraid of?

Suddenly, a wave washed onto the deck, and swept Gwen overboard. Startled, I leaned over the side of the boat, trying to spot her. Suddenly her head and arms reached the surface, and she started swimming towards the boat. She was much farther away than I thought she'd be. I reached my hand out to her, as the waves pushed her closer to me. Then the worst possible thing happened. A huge shark fin emerged from the water, a few feet behind Guinevere.

I dove in and swam towards her as she noticed the fin. Then I saw a set of hundreds of teeth rise from the water. The waves were slowing me down, so I dove deep under the water, and opened my eyes to see my surroundings. Below me, was a black void of nothing. I didn't think of it as creepy. It was like a dream. I felt like I was flying through the dark night sky. Then I looked above me. The shark was right on Gwen's tail, about to devour her. I shot straight up. My head bobbed above the water, right next to the shark. It's huge jaws began to near Gwen's leg. I leapt up from the water and onto the shark's back. I wrapped my arms around its head, grabbed his mouth while avoiding its teeth, and pulled it away from Gwen.

"Gwen! Get to the boat!" I yelled to her.

The shark suddenly dove deep under the water, so I let go. I swam to the surface, saw Guinevere in the boat, and started swimming towards it. She grabbed my arm, and started pulling me onboard. Then I felt a sharp pain in my calf. The shark was pulling me into the water. Gwen screamed and pulled harder. But I let go. I grabbed the shark's head and punched it repeatedly. It still fought, attempting to devour me.

"Hunter! Here!" Gwen called. She threw me my huge, silver axe, and I thrust it into the shark's head. It was split in half. Its bloody carcass sank into the ocean.