For Waning-Sun's Halloween Trades






The stag stood on a hill, looking across the Forest, taking in the scenery as the leaves started to change for the Autumn season. Zash sighed, feeling as if there was something to this time of the year that was bittersweet, something about a memory from a life lived before that involved the leaves changing color. He tried to remember, but it was such a distant glimpse of his past life that it continued to haunt him, not being able to remember it clearly.

He was about to go deep into thought when something caught his eye in the distance. A metallic flash of light, it was faint but coming from the old Ruins. He had heard stories of things being uncovered there, old trinkets, bones, things like that. His curiosity got the better of him, and he was at once walking toward the flash of light, keeping his eyes open to make sure no others saw it around.

He was alone, aside from a few sleeping deer in the distance. They wouldn't have seen it. He knew it would be safe for him to look on the thing. He approached the old tombstones, where the flash seemed to have come from. He at first thought he was just imagining things, but then, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted something unusual - it was just a slight piece of golden metal sticking out from the ground.

Zash reached down, and picking up the bit of metal in his maw, he pulled, now realizing this was much larger than it appeared. He would unearth a large golden object, in an odd shape that resembled a gourd or a squash. He set it on the stone ruins, the thing making a loud 'clank' sound as metal collided with stone.

He looked about, hoping nobody heard this, and then began to brush the dirt off the thing with his neck fur. Once it was clean, he stared at it, the unusual shape morphing his reflection, causing a hypnotic sensation where he would continue to stare and stare mindlessly.

--under--

I frolicked in the forest when I met a deer who adorned me with a beautiful rack of antlers. We gamboled through the endless trees, nibbling mushrooms and eating fallen pinecones laden with magic.

I bestowed him a warm marbled coat and sleek auburn horns and we danced together in triumph and gratitude.

In the circle of magical mushrooms where curious water flows endlessly, I became a dove while he, a raven. We circled each other, white and black feathers fluttering as the other deer lay in the shafts of sunlight, watching us with sleepy, soulful eyes.

We hailed each other in the graveyard ruins, playing kings and loyal subjects. He taught me to jump atop a broken pillar and made me a king as a deer with feathered antlers watch us curiously.

I fell off the pillar again, my dark hooves unaccustomed to the uneven unnaturalness of the marbled stone. Then I watched as he leapt gracefully onto the pillar once more, folding his legs and settling down comfortably.

He lowered his head against his flank, curling up and slowly closing his eyes.

And he started to fade.

I pawed the ground in alarm, shaking my antlers and jumping helplessly as I tried to scramble up the pillar. "Don't go!" I wanted to tell him. "Don't go just yet!"

Then in a gasp of dark smoke, he was gone.

I stared at the now empty pillar, shoulders hunched in sadness.

He was my first friend in the Eternal Forest.

We are deer.
We cannot speak.

Would I ever see him again..?
How would I know it is him?
(He has my face. I gave it to him)

But we deer, shed coats at the touch of another, crown each other with new antlers and gift new faces. The only sure way to know is by our names.

I wish I remembered the glowing symbol between his horns.

His namesake.

I made my way out of the ruins and towards the old oak, nestling down beneath its dark, humming hollow.

--below cut---