Popol and Kupa

(companion) }} Popol is a naughty boy who has ambitions and lofty ideals but is not understood. In order to prove himself, he went alone to hunt down the Icefield Dire Wolves, but accidentally fell into a trap. There was also an Dire Wolf called Kupa inside the trap. After a long time together, they developed a friendship and fought against a group of vultures together. Later, Popol and Kupa became the closest partners in the Ice Field. The Feldans are an ordinary nomad tribe found in the middle of Northern Vale. Like most of the local people, they reside near the forest and live a peaceful and slow-paced life, as experienced hunters. But there was one exception. Popol, a naughty boy who had been known as the expert prankster and the little adventurer of the tribe, always seemed to be at the center of attention. Unlike the other quiet and composed Northern Valers, he was full of vigor and imagination. Thanks to the warrior tradition of Northern Vale, Popol mastered the art of spear-throwing since his childhood. He often joined the adults in their hunting and return with a cart full of prey. Listening to the adults singing songs about legendary heroes after drinking, was his favorite pastime. He dreamt of becoming one of them and have his name sung by others like Popol, the Fearless. However, his tribesmen didn't take his ambition seriously and laughed about it as if it were some childish daydream. Popol apparently couldn't stand that. In order to impress the others, he pulled all kinds of well-schemed pranks on them, resulting only in the villagers, especially kids, seeing him as a freak and staying away from him. The more alienated he was, the more eager he became to draw their attention by pulling even more pranks. However, that kept achieving the opposite effects. In the end, he had no friends left. Alone and desperate, he decided to do something extraordinary to reverse his image once and for all. On a dark night, Popol left the village and ventured into the mountains. He planned to kill a ferocious frost wolf all by himself to impress the others. He stumbled into the thick forest and investigated his surroundings curiously. As expected, he lost orientation in the dark and fell into a trap. As Popol stumbled into the deep pit, he hit his head on a rock, gazing his vision. After he regained consciousness, he looked around, wondering where he was, and the first thing he saw at the bottom of the hole was a pair of glowing blue eyes, which scared him off his feet. But when the moonlight shone into the trap, he saw the owner of the eyes - a trapped frost wolf, whom he later gave the name Kupa. One of it's front feet was clamped and hurt by a beast trap and due to starvation, it could barely move. Popol could have killed Kupa then and there, but when he raised his spear, he saw the same loneliness in Kupa's eyes. If he killed Kupa, he would be completely alone in the darkness of the trap. Hesitantly, he put down the spear and tried to help Kupa.  At first, they were defensive and hostile towards the other. But in time. the two lonely souls finally lowered their guard and regarded the other as the same kind. Despite being trapped in the pit, they got a warm feeling in the presence of the other. The beast trap became the bridge of their friendship. And perhaps due to their loneliness, Popol treated Kupa as a listener and playmate. He even playfully threw snowballs on Kupa's snout. But at this point, Kupa was almost starving to death. Popol hesitated for a while, before sharing the food he carried, with the dying Kupa. However, Popol decided to feed Kupa and Kupa was eventually saved from starvation. In Kupa's mind, all humans were cold and ruthless like the hunters. It was usually always a life-and-death situation between them and the frost wolves. But Popol was different. Having been hunted alone in the forest since it was born, Kupa felt kindness and warmth for the first time from Popol. As time went by, Popol and Kupa started surviving on rats and other small creatures, that Popol would catch with his spear and then share with Kupa. A few days passed, and the two formed a subtle friendship. Unfortunately, there wasn't much food or rats left for them to survive. And to make it even worse, their first visitors were not people coming to rescue them, but a group of vultures. They flocked to the trap and began to attack. Popol threw his spear at the vultures, but he couldn't fend them off, while Kupa could only fight aimlessly with one free paw. Under the continuous harassment of the vultures, they were becoming the birds' meal. Ot was at this time of danger that Popol made a remarkable decision - he threw down the spear and with all his strength, tore open the beast trap, in order to help Kupa escape. With his back exposed, he was caught by a vulture and lifted off the trap in mid-air. Just as Popol lost all hope, a thundering roar broke out. Kupa leaped out of the pit and pounced on the vulture, freeing Popol from it's grasp. Now, with both fighting side by side, Popol and Kupa demonstrated incredible synergy and repelled all the vultures for good. Henceforth, they became the best partners in adventure. They traveled the frozen lands and together, began a new chapter in the tale of their adventure. wKtm95OmYs0