I walked through the forest with a certain nervousness, observing the enormous trees towering above me and breathing in the fresh air that filled my lungs.
"Cough… cough… I think I just swallowed an insect."
I approached the river to see my reflection for the first time. On the surface of the water appeared the image of a child about five or six years old.
I had dark hair, long down to my shoulders, and honey-colored eyes.
My upper and lower canines were exaggeratedly long, and my nails looked like real claws.
I didn't resemble any kind of primitive man, not even modern humans.
Though I have to admit it… I look pretty handsome.
While I was admiring my appearance, my mother approached and took my hand, leading me deeper into the forest.
After walking for a long while, we stopped in an area where several small creatures were moving around.
Lagosuchus?
Shit, I was sure they were Lagosuchus. They measured around twenty centimeters, with elongated, pointed heads and long, thin tails.
"Mother, isn't there something smaller to hunt? I'm still a five-year-old child. How do you expect me to kill that?"
But I was forgetting one small detail: we had no spoken language. We communicated through growls and gestures.
Completely ignoring my babbling—or what she interpreted as attempts at communication—she unceremoniously threw me toward the group of Lagosuchus.
As I approached, they all stopped what they were doing and stared straight at me.
When I saw their small but sharp teeth, I genuinely got scared.
Even though I was tall for my age, those bastards were still too big for me.
I turned around looking for help, but I couldn't find my mother anywhere.
"Mother… mother… why have you abandoned me?"
"Is it because I complain about your cooking?"
"Even though technically you don't cook—you literally give me raw meat."
"I swear I won't complain about your food or the muddy water you bring to drink ever again."
No matter how much I begged, she never appeared.
So be it… I'll have to hunt these guys on my own.
I stealthily approached one that was somewhat separated from the group, picked up a stone from the ground, and ran toward it, attacking straight at its head. However, I was too noisy. The Lagosuchus reacted in time and swiftly dodged the attack.
I had no time to think of a countermeasure. The reptile, not as small as it seemed, lunged at me with its teeth bared.
I stepped to the side, dodging its charge, and responded with a powerful blow to the side of its face.
The impact left the imprint of my knuckles on its skin.
It clearly didn't like that.
It leapt at me again, much faster than the first time.
This time, I didn't dodge.
I attacked directly, driving my fingers like an arrow into its left eye.
It died instantly.
After finally killing my first prey, I let out a loud cry of victory and immediately collapsed to the ground, exhausted.
It was strange. I thought that killing for the first time would make me feel uncomfortable or disturbed… but I felt nothing. Everything felt natural.
Either way, I didn't give it much thought.
When I got up after my brief rest, I discovered that at some point my mother had returned and was standing beside me.
"Mhp… now you have the nerve to show up. Good thing I've been training for this day, or today you would've lost your favorite child."
"Hehehe… whatever, it doesn't matter. Let's hurry back to the cave so I can show my brother what I hunted."
I wanted to return as soon as possible to show off my prey, completely forgetting that on his first hunt, he had brought back a triceratops.