Citizen 501 Ketea

Life in the Dome had always felt a little too safe for Ketea. That being the case, it should have surprised no one that when it came to proving he was an adult now, he had chosen what to his eyes was the most potentially dangerous task. All of his life up to this point, he had been warned away from large prey, especially the most sizable of boars which were known for having vicious temperaments so far as prey went. But now, he was pretty much being encouraged to hunt such, and he felt a thrill in his blood.

There was some much ceremony surrounding preparing to set off for one’s first offering to the ancients, and Ketea was glad to be done with that segment of it all when he was finally unleashed into the forest where he would track his prey. A boar had been sighted in this area, causing trouble for farmers, but Ketea didn’t care about that so much. Nor did he really care that this was meant to be an offering. All that mattered to him was the hunt.

Ketea had been hunting before, and he had done the tedious work of tracking in the past. For some reason, he had expected tracking to be different this time. But it was the same as ever. That being, dull and time-consuming. He had forgotten how boring it was to look for signs of the animal he was trying to hunt.

What he had expected to go by in moments, dragged on for several days as he followed old trails left by a large boar. Tusk marks on trees, hoof prints on soft ground, and so on. At one point, he could have sworn it led him in circles.

It was frustrating. More than that, it was maddening. He could barely recall the thrill that he had felt at the beginning. In the end, he found the boar by accident more than anything else. He raised his bow and aimed. The arrow cut through the silence. It was a perfect shot, right through one of the beady eyes. Perhaps by chance, perhaps due to skill, but either way, it was done.

He had trained for this moment, after all, practiced day after day at the shooting range, and now it was over. And yet, Ketea was more than dissatisfied.

Ketea loathed his easy victory. It felt as if it was no victory at all.

In fact, it felt so much more like defeat.

Though he had killed the boar for the offering with ease of a talented hunter, what was the point in it all if there was no thrill. He wished for a long moment that he had wrestled the boar into submission before taking it out. But he doubted that truly would have made a difference.

Either way, it was inevitable he would win, even if he might have gotten some injuries had he chosen the other path. The Dome was meant to be safe, after all.

The Dome was meant to be safe, and in doing so it killed any dreams of adventure within it. When even what should have been his most impressive success felt as boring as the rest.

Ketea realized, if he truly wanted adventure and thrill, he would never be able to find it in the Dome. He grabbed the dead boar, putting it over his shoulder. He had his offering for the ancients now, and all it had taken was his very last hope of finding something worthwhile within the Dome.

But, though some who dwelled within the Dome were content to forget this, there was more to the world than it.

He decided then, as he walked through the woods towards the exit of the forest, that he would give this to the Elders, but he would never tell them what he prayed to the ancients for. They would not understand nor approve of his desire for freedom.

One day, he would be free of this Dome. And when that day came, he would taste a victory and it would be a true win. No more would his so called successes leave him feeling more hopeless than before.

It might take time, but Ketea was resolute in his desire. No matter what stood in his way, be it the ancients themselves, Ketea had decided.

~ nonbinarypixel