Alex

The crackle of the morning woke Alex up from the last dreams of joy he would have in many years to come. His eyes opened to the world of red around him, the sun feeling so unforgiving during this time of year.This  The trees that covered the land could not even protect you in shadows it seemed. He sat up from his bed made of the leather of beast and his pillow of leaves. Today wasn't a day he looked toward. It was the day that his ritual of becoming a man was upon him. His trials would bring him all around the lands around him. Full of still waters resting in the lakes calmly, the dark whispers of the trees and the burden of adulthood. He had to prove that he would be worth something to the clan. There wasn't more than thirty of them. If he failed to prove his worth, he would be come an exile. He had only heard stories of those who become exiled.

He sat up his tanned skin and hand trimmed dark hair covered by dried mud and dirt from preparing the pits the day before. He went from his sweet dreams of stories the Old Man had always mentioned a time when their was technology and some things were more simple. The Old Man was the last one to remain that remember the world before the suns glow became the blood red it seemed to be most days, covered by clouds and they only made it seem worse.