Khochu survived his first six months with no difficulty. So far, he had not struggled so much to stay alive as his parents and his long-lost siblings.
By the time he was six months old, Chief Yerik already challenged him. One sunny day in the village, he visited Vika and Sasha. He was not alone, though. He brought a dog with him—a puppy.
The dog closely resembled both a wolf and a husky.
"What are you doing here, Chief?" Sasha asked from his bed as he tried to recover from his most recent illness.
"I want to try something," Yerik answered, his eyes rolling over to six-month-old Khochu.
He sat on Vika's lap, and his eyes widened at the sight of the dog. Brown hairs were starting to grow on his head, and he sucked his brown thumb.
Vika pulled him close to her breasts and asked Yerik, "Why do you have that dog?"
"Do you remember that day the saber-toothed cat and hyenas attacked our village?" he questioned. "Well, I saw what happened between Khochu and that hyena. The way they looked at each other was mesmerizing. I feel like your baby has a natural talent with animals, but there is only one way to know for sure. Therefore, I brought him a friend." He set the puppy down on the tent's floor and nodded at Khochu.
The look in his eyes was the same look he gave the hyena the day of his birth.
Vika saw it, too, and gently plopped her baby onto the floor.
The pup and the boy met eyes, staring at one another.
Khochu cracked a small smile and crawled toward the dog.
Vika, Sasha, and Yerik watched, rubbing their chins.
When Khochu reached the puppy, he pushed himself onto his backside and held out his hand.
The puppy sniffed it and took a step closer to the child. He let him pet him.
Laughing, the baby excitedly shook his legs and batted the ground with his palms.
It wasn't long until the dog plopped down onto his side and let him crawl onto his belly.
Khochu wrapped his arms around his furry neck and pressed his cheek against him.
"Incredible," Yerik spoke, crossing his arms. For the first time, he beamed at Vika and Sasha. "This baby has a future."
Eight years later
A crisp, cold breeze washed across the frozen steppe as a small group of humans made their way toward a herd of grazing bison. With spears at the ready, they waited for the perfect opportunity to ambush them. To show signs of encouragement, they nodded at one another.
Following close behind the hunters was Khochu. He had deep brown eyes, messy, brown hair, brown skin, a wide forehead, and long fingers. He wore a bow and arrow on his back and was dressed in a fur pelt and furry boots.
He stopped at the top of a hill and watched his people charge for the bison.
Soon, a husky, wolf-like dog joined him and stood beside the boy.
"Look at them, Kobe," Khochu told his dog. "One day, I will become a man like them."
Kobe glanced at him and nodded. Suddenly, his tall ears picked up a screech in the sky, and he tilted back his head.
Khochu noticed he was looking at something and asked, "What do you see?" Then he, too, heard the screech.
Kobe barked and planted his feet. Both boy and dog looked into the sky, and their eyes widened.
An Aiolornis fell from it and went down near a couple of glaciers that grew on a large lake.
"Come on!" Khochu yelled at Kobe. They slid down the hill and headed toward the fallen bird; the echoes of humans still fighting the bison mingled with the wind and their running feet.
Khochu and Kobe knew where they were going. They had been to the glacier lake plenty of times. It was located a few miles away from the village. Before it froze over, it was a gorgeous lake with clear water. The glaciers surrounding it now had caves carved into them.
Eventually, when Khochu and Kobe reached the lake, they stopped at the top of another hill and looked forward. Sure enough, that was where the bird fell. A huge bird—it had black wing secondaries while the rest of its body feathers were brown, and its neck feathers were white. There was a small, black, feathery crest on top of its head, and its claws were black and enormous.
Khochu and his dog were careful, considering the bird was a wild animal. They tiptoed down the hill and jumped into a small pile of snow.
The Aiolornis saw them and cringed. She tried to take off, but could not lift herself off the ground. The fall must have injured her wing.
Khochu peered back at Kobe and gestured for him to wait. "Stay here, boy. Let me handle this."
Kobe nodded and sat down, but kept a cautious eye on his owner.
Khochu set his bow and arrow on the ground and pointed at himself. "Friend," he told the bird. "I am a friend." The closer he approached, the more he realized how huge she was. "The Spirits guide me," he continued. "They tell me you are in distress. I am here to help."
Seeing the kindness in his eyes, the bird folded her wings. She adjusted her feet so she could sit more comfortably, but at the sight of her moving, Kobe thought she was about to attack Khochu.
Growling, he sprinted toward the young boy.
"No!" he shouted, flinging his hand, but it accidentally hit the dog in the head.
Whining, he retreated from him and hid behind a snow mound.
The violent action also scared the Teratornis. She tried to take off again, but merely fell back onto the ground. She huffed.
Khochu, sensing her fear and annoyance, slowly made his way toward her again. "Friend." Finally, he managed to reach the teratorn's wing and carefully studied it. It looked like a creature attacked her. Perhaps a cave lion? The wing was bloodied and had some feathers missing. "Oh, you poor thing," Khochu spoke, getting straight to work. He cleaned the wing, set it, and straightened some feathers.
Throughout the process, Kobe stepped out from behind the snow mound and joined him.
At Khochu's gentle touch, the teratorn relaxed, her eyes drooping ever so slightly.
After taking care of the bird, Khochu noticed the Sun was setting. That meant it was time to go home, but he did not want to leave his new friend unattended. She was injured. Except, how would he explain her to his parents? Their son goes out for a day to spy on his people and have adventures and returns home with a Teratornis. That did not happen every day.
Wait a minute. Maybe Khochu didn't have to do that. An idea popped into his brain, and he glanced at Kobe. "Cave?" he asked.
Understanding him, Kobe nodded. He and Khochu worked together to drag the injured bird back toward the village, but they took another path that led them behind it. The path led to an icy cave that had a cold river running through it. The Sun's setting rays beat down on the ice, and it sparkled.
Khochu and Kobe escorted the teratorn into the cave and placed her against the rocky wall. On it were paintings. Each one told a story.
While the Aiolornis rested her wing, Khochu painted a picture of him and Kobe standing on the hill where they witnessed the hunters charging at the stampede of bison and the bird falling from the sky. Directly under that picture, Khochu painted an image of him and Kobe helping the condor.
When he finished his masterpieces, Khochu washed his hands in the river. Sitting in the water was a wooden canoe made out of a tree log. Resting in the log was a flat, wooden stick that he carved himself.
Khochu told his new friend to continue resting and that he would be back soon. Then just like that, he climbed into his canoe and picked up the paddle.
Kobe hopped in with him.
Khochu took them down the tunnel's river, and the two friends stared at their reflections in the icy walls.
Kobe, thinking his reflection was another dog, barked at it.
Khochu shushed him when he saw his bark caused a few icicles above them to shake. The icicles weren't the only things they had to worry about, though.
Only ten minutes into the expedition, a huge figure appeared in the shadows of the tunnel's darkest cave.
Khochu shivered and quickly drew his bow and arrow. The figure was not a Smilodon, a hyena, or a lion. It was something else: an Ursus maritumus tyrannus, or a "giant polar bear". Something was off with it, though.
The tyrannus foamed at the mouth and roared. In a split second, it charged at the boy and his dog.
Khochu didn't want to do it, but he had to to protect Kobe and his new friend. He let his arrow go, and it zoomed across the shallow river. The closer it approached the bear, the more guilt the boy felt. Then, he heard them: the ancestors.
"To survive, you must kill. There is something wrong with that animal. It is suffering, and you are the only one who can change that. This is the best thing for it."
Khochu closed his eyes and reached for his heart. Eventually, the painful, dying roars of the tyrannus exploded into his brain and caused it to ache. They traveled throughout his body, making him feel the creature's distress.
Kobe rubbed against him, telling him everything was okay, but even that didn't satisfy the boy.
Because he had just murdered an animal.