[Kuzco]: 212.contest entry.Age of the Hunt

The year is 2561 and due to very awkward political and sociological reasons that have something to do with a cold war and a sky-dive in world’s economics, things are extremely different.
This is a time when the human race traced back to its origins, to the time when it regained the pleasure and joy of a hunter. This was a society where you could hunt anything; what you killed, you could keep; no endangered species and no sacred grounds to preserve, just the thrill of the hunt. You could even hunt humans BUT that was far from easy for you see…a boy would be able to tell smells even before he could talk, he would learn to run rather than walk, he would know how to defend himself from a bear before he reached 8 years old and would hunt alone for the first time at 10 years old. A time where every man was strong, fast, agile and with keen senses of awareness because everyone else had been killed during the well known natural selection by the name of “Survival of the Fittest” which had been at work for centuries now. Thus the greatest prey in the world was, in fact, man.
A line of Kings, the greatest hunters of all, ruled this free Darwinian driven world with justice and might worthy of their position. But from all of the kings, none other ever had the people’s appreciation like King Jileo the honourable. Like all kings before him he kept all weapons banned except blunt or blade kind of weapons; he also travelled the world hunting animals.
As you can imagine, most of the races had disappeared, gone extinct. But hunger was no longer a problem; the hunting business sorted itself out and there were breeding farms all over the globe with more than enough food for all of Jileo’s people.
Tigers, foxes, lions, cheetahs, bears, wolves and a lot of other strong and proud creatures like the hawk, the falcon, the eagle, the shark, the whale, the dolphin can only be found on books. This is an age where civilized man has gained the taste for the chase and the challenge of a kill, where the exceptionally physically perfect human being in your mind has become the average 17 years old. This is the AGE OF THE HUNT.
- Sire.
- Shhhh!
-But sire, this is imp…
- SHHH! - The king demanded, looking furiously into his counsellor’s eyes. He whispered with a homicidal timbre in his throat. -Be silent damn you. I am hunting.
The counsellor closed his mouth and quietly crouched on the grass, behind the bush the king himself was using as cover; dropped a book as carefully as he could and whispered, sounding different, more serious:
- I apologise, I did not realize there were any prays left in this woods.
- I’m not sure myself old man, and I won’t be able too if you keep talking. - The king attacked, listening quietly to the echoes the trees and plants offered him. Patiently, they waited quietly and still, reducing their heartbeats to 5 per second and breathing very very slowly. - Do you hear anything? – The counsellor asked with a new found tone.
- I think I heard something but you seem to be too old to be silent. – The king complained finally shutting the old counsellor up.
They stayed there and patiently waited, maintaining their position for an hour with all their senses tuned to everything but the forests’ movement to the wind. Finally, a little muffled noise sounded out and Jileo instinctively looked diagonally to a tree.
- Where? – The counsellor asked.
- 72 degrees up. A little to the right. – The king replied.
- My eyes play tricks on me, it is a humming bird!
- Yes… Selasphorus rufus. A Rufous; female genre. 
- How do you know that sire?
- Her plumage: Green back and crown, white breast, streaked throat, rufous sides and base of tail feathers, white tips on outer tail feathers; very similar to female Allen's and Broad-tailed.
- It surprises me that she has survived this long. But what does it matter to us? It is just a little bird, no challenge there. – The counsellor commented.
- As far as hummingbirds are concerned, the Rufous have the ideal size-to-weight ratio. This bird out flies all other species, and usually gets its way at feeders at the expense of slower, less-manoeuvrable hummers.
- Tis just a hummingbird sire.
- Just a hummingbird? – The king asked in whispers, annoyed. He extends his hand and flickers a leaf on the bush; the bird instantly froze and looked around scared.
- Look at that… - The king commented. – She’s a queen alright.
- You cannot possibly be serious. What would your fore fathers say of you hunting such a worthless prey?
- She’s small, fast and, as you just witnessed, cunning. Considering all the preys I have left to hunt on my turn in ruling this kingdom, it is as good a choice as going for a flying squirrel. – The hummingbird suddenly jumped off the branch and lifted flight. The king watched it fly away and told the counsellor:
- I’m dead serious, don’t follow me and keep away. I have decided this is a worthy prey of my attention. – He crossed through the bush leaving the old man to pick up the books and wait.
The king followed the little thing as silently as he could, using his four limbs to soften his movement and keep up with the flying marvel. He traced it to a tree where he smelled and heard baby birds; he didn’t care about them though, his prey was the mother, descendant of a long line of Rufous that have outlived the centuries of princes in training. You see, the lightest more easy of preys were hunted by young ones, unprepared for the real thing… if there was a real thing left in the world.
He got ready; his muscles tense and his face sweating, his eyes sharp as a leopard’s. He wanted to grab it and bring it back to the hall of preys, where all the Kings’ preys were laid to rest. It would be better to wait for it to go to sleep, but where is the challenge in that? He got ready and suddenly jumped three meters in the air grabbing on to the branch, where the mother was feeding her babies, immediately pulling himself upwards so to stand right next to the nest. The mother had flown away but he kept his eye on her the whole time and jumped out to grab her.
He missed his first thrust to grab her in mid air as she lopped backwards; he instinctively rolled around and closed his hands over his hip grabbing her. He then flipped backwards with a pirouette and landed on his feet protecting the weak bird from the fall.
- Ufff… - He sighed relieved. - You almost got away didn’t you? I can’t believe you slipped through my hand…well done. – He talked at her with a smile. It was now time to take her back to his home, kill her and hang her on the hall.
He started to walk and opened his hands to see her. When he saw her up-close, he stopped dead on his tracks, his eyes wide opened with glamour. With a different instinct, he opened his hands wider and wider until she was standing on only one, not even trying to fly away. He saw a different thing that day, he saw more than just a prey or an animal. He saw a beautiful living being…far more beautiful than any man or woman; it was like everything else lost its colour, drifting to black and white around her shining colourful plumage and proud queen-like stance. She had her chest lifted and head held up high looking at him without an ounce of fear but her weight in life.
He looked around, seeing everything differently; He saw the nature, the essence of everything and suddenly… he could not understand where the pleasure and thrill of the hunt came from. He lifted his hand and the female Rufous flew away with the majesty of a queen. The counsellor had witnessed the whole thing.
- Sire…? – He asked concerned. – Why did you let your prey go?
The king watched her go back to see if her children were hurt and if the food had not fallen out of the branch. He was still hypnotized.
- Sire! – The counsellor called out pissed off. – Why are you looking at the bird like that? Why did you let it go?
- The world is all wrong… - The king whispered to himself.
- What? – The counsellor inquired, not believing his king’s words.
- The world. – The king looked at the old and wise man that stood besides him with a facial expression no hunter had ever shown; an expression that came from providing mercy. He looked up into the trees, sun and sky and promised with a serious and very committed voice.
- The world is all wrong. I am going to put it back on the right track.
The counsellor gasped, a politician lost his words and the moment after, before he could say anything, the queen began to sing…
She sang for the king. She sang for the new found hope for nature. She sang for humanity and the home for all species that was earth. They say it echoed through the forest as other birds and surviving animals joined her musical jubilation. They say the sceptic and old counsellor was so touched by the scenery he converted immediately to the king’s task. They say many things, tell many tales… but regardless of legends, King Jileo, the wise, brought forth the end of THE AGE OF THE HUNT!