//------------------------------//
// Chapter four: the unfortunate and dramatic events my brother asked me to write down 
// Story: Brothers 'N Antlers 
// by Elkia Deerling 
//------------------------------//

In the prologue I told you about the Shimmering Eye, and I have hopefully shown you what great magical power it possesses with the two naming ceremonies. Indeed, the Shimmering Eye is extremely powerful. Alces and I have often asked Mother about it, and she was always keen on explaining everything about the magical lake. Now, I am no seer, but I am also not stupid. 

According to Mother, every part of Equestria has its own focal point of essence. Some of you unicorns might think it is the same as magic, but it is not. If magic is a wooden cabin, then essence is the wood. essence is, in essence, the primal energy present in every living thing. In order to harness its powers, one must know about the elements: water, snow, ice, wood, metal, earth, wind, and fire. essence is categorized like that, and only the seer has the full corporal and psychological strength to steer the essence and utilize it in spells, rituals, and incantations. 

This paragraph will be great news to you, my dear unicorns. You are born a seer, but that doesn’t mean that the power of the essence is beyond your reach. Some elks, deer, and reindeer are sensitive to essence, and the seer will often take them under her antlers—Elkish for “under her wing”—and teach them how to control their powers. The gatherings at the Shimmering Eye are always the highlights of their seasons, for they are given more lessons from the seer, our mother, and grow more powerful every time.

Now that you know about essence, the Shimmering Eye, the seer and her pupils, you understand that the Shimmering Eye is of great value to us. Indeed, every elk, deer, and reindeer is born with a task, and that task is to keep the Shimmering Eye out of enemy hooves. Who are our enemies? Let’s put it this way; our enemies are all the creatures that want to have us for breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner. In other words: predators. As the name suggests, the Bugbear Territory is full of Bugbears, who are territorial brutes of monsters which are very difficult to defeat. Sometimes groups of elks have occasional fights with them, which are always gruesome and terrible. Those that have fought those horrible monsters are always welcomed home as heroes. Those that have perished in such battles are remembered as heroes. 

Of course there are also normal bears, Ursa Minors and Majors, bobcats, giant foxes, giant wolverines, and jackals, but those are all mere simpletons. No, the most dangerous enemies are those that are composed of magic themselves, those that know of essence, those that have a primordial sense to hunt and destroy, those that are dangerously sharp-witted and intelligent. They might be able to not only take the Shimmering Eye away from us, but use its hidden powers to do harm, instead of good. I am not going to name those monsters, because I don’t believe those sub-creatures even deserve a name. For now just know that these creatures have thrown everything and everyone into complete discord—and they themselves won’t care a bit.

But, as I said in the previous chapter, I much more like to write about the happy things that happened. That’s why I will write about the gatherings. Four times a year, once every winter, spring, summer, and autumn, a great assembly was held, with all the elks, deer, and reindeer forming our community. Some had to travel long, some had to travel short, but always they came, for an assembly was the most important social gathering. For every generation the assemblies meant a different thing. For the youngest of the calves, it meant playtime with friends. For the older ones, it meant meeting old friends and learning all kinds of useful skills. For the adult animals, however, an assembly had a more serious purpose. Moussa, our leader, would visit every single one of them, and gather up stories, inquiries, questions and answers about the different areas they guarded. The deer usually pranced around the southern borders, where it was warmer, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. The center of the Bugbear Territory was patrolled by the reindeer. They had the most ground to cover, but they always lived in the largest packs, so they always got the job done. We elks, most suited to the barren winter conditions with our long legs and thick fur, were to guard the northernmost parts of the Bugbear Territory. Although we traveled in small groups—usually a mother and her one or two calves—we had just enough time every year to cover all ground.

Back to the assemblies. Moussa gathered all words of importance, remembered them, and then told them to the public on the speaking stone. Nothing magical about that, dear reader, for it was just an elevated platform. While the calves listened in puzzlement, perhaps not even knowing what important role they would play in their adult years, the adult elks, deer, and reindeer listened carefully, trying to memorize those things that might help them on their travels.

I have so many beautiful positive memories about the assemblies, and Alces too. For us, the assemblies were always a joy to go to. We met old friends, exchanged stories, experiences, and jokes. My favorite thing was to grab a stick or use my antlers to write things in the snow. My, oh my, I have written so incredibly many things during those times. Mostly stories, of course, but sometimes also poetry. Little did I know that those language skills would save my life later on.  

But the adults had a lot of spare time too. The oldest of them all usually offered their knowledge to us, and we could visit their huts to learn things. Those things were usually about the history and culture of us elks. My brother and I always tried to listen to as many of those teachings as we could, and especially Alces always seemed so absorbed in the ancient tales. He laughed with the victories, and cried over the losses, always completely engaged with the tales, as if he were playing a part in them.

Some of the adults even organized activities for us. Alces always went for the sports activities, trying to beat the other bucks and hinds in swimming, running, tree-stripping, snowball fights, snow-rolling, ice skating, tree-felling, dueling, log-swim-racing, and bellowing. He not only liked to prove himself, he also liked to impress the ladies, although he would never admit that. But, until he learns how to read horse code, I am safe to tell you that little secret.

So what did I like to do? For me, the creative activities were always the most challenging and relaxing events of them all. I always loved theater. Together with a group of elks, deer, and reindeer, we would make up scenes, memorize a script, and rehearse our play to perfection. Then, when we showed our work to the other calves and the adults and received the applause… Yes, I remember the applause more vividly than many other things. It is impossible for me to describe exactly how applause felt to me. It was pure bliss.

As you can read, dear reader, the assemblies were never so serious to us. Time and time again, we had a lot of fun playing, while the adults, Moussa, and Aeltha, worried themselves with keeping the Shimmering Eye safe. Although we sometimes asked, we got only a glimpse of the threats against the Eye, and sometimes the adults didn’t tell us anything at all, so our imaginations could run wild with theories. We never expected that there was trouble brewing.

Which brings me to our mother, Aeltha. Aeltha had other, equally important duties. Of course she not only trained those gifted with the power of essence, she also did important divinations. As the seer, she was gifted with foresight, and could use the power of the essences to look into the future and see what was to come. That too, was something Moussa listened to and memorized intently, and often used in his speech. Mother never revealed to us what she had seen, for she thought it was sometimes better for elks when the future remained a mystery. No matter how much Alces and I asked, we never got so much as a tiny glimpse of the things that were going to happen. Aeltha always made sure to keep the future hidden from us. 

Yet, there was one day, during our last winter assembly, where she seemed to have changed her mind. After she had done her divinations together with Moussa and returned home, I noticed how she walked stiffly, and how she was unusually silent. I know for certain that she had seen what was going to happen, in every gruesome detail. How she managed to keep it hidden for us is a feat neither of us will ever be able to perform. When she spoke with us that evening, however, I’m sure she wanted to give us a warning—and say goodbye—while telling the oldest story known to us elks, deer, and reindeer: the creation myth.

* *  

Elkia let out an enormous yawn, stretching his back and his legs after his mouth shut. ‘Wow, I’m tired. I think it would be best if I went off to bed.’

Aeltha stopped putting away the empty ice bowls and leftovers from dinner. She turned around, and Elkia saw how quickly she did that. ‘No, not yet, my dear Elkia,’ she said. Her tone was strict and abrupt. It wasn’t a suggestion—it most closely resembled an order.

Looking into his mother’s eyes, Elkia said, ‘Why not?’

‘Because I have something important—something fun to tell you both. Something fun and important.’

‘Oh! Are you going to tell a story?’ Alces said. He quickly jumped towards one of the couches, sculpted out of the snow, and sat down. There he did nothing but rub his hooves together, already looking forward to the astounding tale that would soon follow.

Elkia, however, noticed the hesitation in his mother’s voice. Aeltha the seer never hesitated to say what she wanted to say. ‘Mother,’ Elkia said, looking up to her, ‘is something wrong?’

‘No, nothing is wrong, my dear Elkia,’ she answered, stroking Elkia’s head. ‘It is just… you should really listen to this story, because I think you will need it during the time to come.’

Another hesitation. Despite his mother’s healing energy that flowed through her hooves into his body, Elkia couldn’t relax yet. Nevertheless, he sat down in another snow chair, while his mother took the couch opposite of them.

‘Is it the story of Rudolph the Great?’ Alces guessed, ‘the reindeer who pulls the sled of—’

‘Not this time, Alces,’ Aeltha said. She waved her hooves in the air slowly, gracefully, as if she needed to capture the story out of the air around her. ‘Tonight, I will tell you the story of how and why everything is as it is. It will be the story about why lightning strikes, why clouds drift, why we live and why we…’ She swallowed ‘…die.’

‘Yay! The creation!’ Alces yelled, ‘that’s my favorite!’

Elkia smiled as well. ‘It is a great tale.’

‘Of all the stories, legends, and myths, this is the one that is most important,’ Aeltha said. ‘This is the one worth remembering, and one which must never be forgotten, no matter what happens.’ She looked at her two sons in turn. Elkia felt something as he looked into her eyes. He felt something strange, but he couldn’t put his hoof on it. Alces thought the look meant for him to be quiet, so he shut his mouth, although the grin didn’t disappear from his face. ‘Tell us, Mother. Don’t wait.’

And so the seer cleared her throat gently, and began. 

‘Good and evil are the oldest forces in the universe. They are, they have always been, and they will always be. You can see it for yourselves, my sons, although I do believe you are too young to have seen true evil. Yet, always keep in mind that wherever the sun shines, shadows are cast. Only your reflection in water will be a pure reflection of your soul. How do you look in the water? Is it what you expected?’ She looked at both her sons once more, but a bit longer at Alces than at Elkia. ‘Remember, when you change, so does your reflection.’

‘Not necessary,’ Alces said. ‘I know who I am.’

A cloud of vapor exited her mouth as Aeltha sighed. The sound was almost musical to the ear. ‘You might find out that the knowledge about yourself contains gaps, which might only be able to fill itself with dark and unwanted things.’

‘Go on, Mother, I want to hear more.’

Once again Aeltha sighed, and resumed her story.

‘As I told you, good and evil are two forces always at work. The power of good takes the form of the Light Elk, while the power of darkness’—she paused—’the Dark Elk. Both of the one-eyed elks fight together in the great nothingness, but they are not alone. There is a third elk, whom we know very well, for our world balances on his great antlers. He is known as the Grey Elk. The Grey Elk is always right in the middle of the fight, and desperately tries to keep his two other brothers from fighting, however difficult this titan’s task is. Incredible as this may be, all elks, deer, and reindeer know that the legend is true. And how do we know that?’

‘The elements!’ Elkia and Alces said at the same time.

Aeltha nodded. ‘Very good. We can see it because of the wind, which is nothing more than the panting of the two great beasts, as they push themselves to the limit to defeat one another. We can hear it in the thunder, because of which the world shakes as the two elks smash their antlers together. They fight with such force, that they sometimes cry. The Light Elk cries because he wants only peace with his brother, and those tears fall on the world as rain. But the tears of the Dark Elk, who cries because he wants to win so badly, are cold and shroud the land in the coldness. Those tears are the snowflakes we see in winter. 

‘But there is another way to witness the two great elks. While we can never see the face of the Grey Elk, it is perfectly possible for us to witness the Light and Dark Elks in the sky. The sun is the never blinking eye of the Light Elk, whose light and warmth are pleasant to us. The eye of the Dark Elk is of course the moon, which doesn’t give warmth, but can help us see in the dark. It is the only good power the Dark Elk possesses.’

‘But there’s more light in the night sky, isn’t there?’ Alces said. ‘What about the stars?’

‘The stars are the slivers which have broken off the antlers of the two, cast into the great nothingness to twinkle and shimmer forever. The slivers from the Light Elk have a fixed place in the sky, and we can use those helpful stars to navigate through the wilds. Yet there are also stars which serve no function. Those are the slivers of the Dark Elk’s antlers.

‘But there is more light. What about the lightning? Those flashing bolts of light too, are products of the elks’ eternal fight. As their antlers crash together, sometimes sparks fall upon our world. Lightning.

‘But there are still questions remaining, questions to which I have an answer. Why is it sometimes day and sometimes night? Why are there different seasons, some pleasant, others a strive? Listen closely, my children, for I will tell you.

‘The Grey Elk forever tries to make peace between the Light Elk and the Dark Elk. The Grey Elk faces the Light Elk by day, talking to him, trying to find a solution for his fight with the Dark Elk. We can pray and send our hopes and dreams towards the sun, the eye of the Light Elk, so that we may help him and he may help us. At night, the Grey Elk talks with the Dark Elk, saying all kinds of nice things to calm his temper. We can help him by thinking positively, even in the dark of the darkest and longest night, and keep calm and rest.’ 

‘Now the seasons, Mother! The seasons!’ Alces said.

‘The seasons… Ah, there is a great deal to tell about those. As you both know, a fight here in this world is never eternal. Sometimes it all becomes too much, and we need to rest before we can fight another day. So it is with the Grey Elk. Sometimes, it all becomes too much for him, and he has to rest and allow himself a brief pause from all the peacemaking. That is when the Dark Elk strikes. Seeing how the resistance has waned, he takes the opportunity, advances, and kills the Light Elk. We can feel how the weather changes, how plants die, how the wind gets cold and unpleasant, how the water and the earth becomes frozen and hard. Autumn goes over in winter, the coldest and harshest of the seasons. During winter the Dark Elk stands on top of the Light Elk’s corpse, and laughs. 

‘But you both know that that is not the end. Gods cannot die, so the Light Elk is reborn. He stands up, pushes the Dark Elk off of him, and bashes him dead with his very own antlers. With the death of the Dark Elk, the season changes. The sun becomes warm, the winds refreshing. The snow and the ice melts, and the flowers bloom again. The work of the Dark Elk is made undone, and beautiful flowers remind us of the victory of the Light Elk, temporarily though, as it is. As I said, gods can’t die. Eventually the Dark Elk rises again, and the fight continues in autumn.

‘So now you know about the world as it is, but I know there is one question remaining. What about us? What about all the sentient creatures, elks, deer, reindeer, ponies, and many more creatures? Where did we come from, and where are we going? Alas, our future is not for us to foresee, but our past lies behind us very clearly. 

‘All sentient creatures come forth from life. It was the Light Elk who first toyed around with it. He created life, sentient creatures, elks, deer, reindeer, ponies, and put them on his antlers to live a happy life with everlasting summers. But very soon, the Dark Elk became jealous, and wanted to create life too. Trying though as he did, he didn’t manage to create the complicated and beautiful thing called life. He just couldn’t create his own creatures out of flesh and blood. Instead, he only created the basic raw materials: essence. You can compare it with building. A baby can break the sticks, yet only an adult has the knowledge and expertise to build a house. 

‘When the two elks once again tried to destroy each other, and butted heads with the Grey Elk trying to keep them apart, both essences from both elks, light and dark, landed on the antlers of the Grey Elk, mixing them together. The Grey Elk looked at both essences, which swirled and flashed around each other in wild torrents and whirlwinds. He saw the wild energy, and added his own, Grey essence to it, in an attempt to calm everything down. The mixture of the three essences, light, dark, and grey, created what we know as nature. And as everyone knows, we sentient creatures are nothing more than products of nature. No matter who we are or what we do, we will forever be a part of nature. Every single one of us has the three essences inside him or herself. Some have more light essence, others more dark, and all of us have grey essence.’

Aeltha paused her story. She bent forwards, and looked both her children deep into their eyes. Maybe she was looking at something neither Alces nor Elkia could see for themselves. Or maybe she just wanted one last look at her children. 

‘So now we have returned to the here and now, to us, the elks, deer, and reindeer. We are special, for we know the secret, the origin of everything, as I have told you. It is our important task of resembling the Light Elk as closely as we can. We have to take care of ourselves, and of others. We have to protect, serve, be selfless, and, above all, stay away from dark essence, for it is here.’ Aeltha paused. Her graceful white shoulders slumped down for a moment. ‘It is here, however we might want do deny it, or lock it away in the deepest vaults of our minds, there is dark essence around us. There are creatures which have more dark than light essence inside of themselves. Those are creatures who cannot live without killing. They cannot live for themselves without destroying other creatures. They are called: predators.’

‘They live over the mountains? Don’t they?’ Alces said. ‘Now comes my favorite part! The dangerous part… hahaha!’

Aeltha looked at Alces sternly. ‘The Dark Lands are no laughing matter, my son. They are dangerous. They are the lands across the northernmost mountains, where the predators live. We elks, deer, and reindeer will not stand a day in that place. That is why we must never go there, and never speak of it.’ 

‘And when you go far enough into the Dark Lands, you will end up at the edge of the world, and meet the Dark Elk himself,’ Alces said.

Aeltha once again threw a stern gaze at her son. ‘Hush now, Alces. No more talking about the Dark Lands.’

‘But the Dark Lands aren’t only bad, you know?’ Alces said. ‘And the Dark Elk isn’t necessarily evil.’

‘Really?’ Elkia said, turning his head to his brother.

Before Aeltha could intervene, Alces continued. ‘Yes, really. Old Cervidus says that the Dark Elk isn’t evil. We want to think that, but the truth is that he is just misunderstood. Like you and I, Elkia. We fight sometimes—and I always win—but we always misunderstand each other.’

Snorting, Aeltha said, ‘You shouldn’t listen too much to old Cervidus, my son. He is bitter and has a cold and rusted heart, and however much he remembers, he forgets many things too. If he were here, I myself would have told him the creation myth, for it would do him good to hear it.’

‘Nevertheless…’ Alces said, continuing as if his mother hadn’t spoken, ‘the Dark Elk is misunderstood. Not only that, but he has the power to defeat the Light Elk. He can win easily. You see, the Dark Elk is always searching the Neutral Elk’s antlers, looking for soldiers, brave young elks who will fight for him.’

‘And those soldiers will have more dark essence in them than light,’ Aeltha said, shaking her head slowly.

But Alces was undaunted. ‘Indeed. In return for letting dark essence into your heart, and fight for the Dark Elk, he will give you whatever you want, and promise you infinite strength and—’

‘Enough!’ Aeltha yelled.

‘And Cervidus said that I would make a fine warrior for the Dark—’

‘Enough!’ Aeltha yelled again. ‘No more blasphemy. We have hardly the time for that. I need to tell you both one last thing, and unfortunately it is about the Dark Lands. Remember to never cross the mountains and go there, and always remember what foul creatures come from there. Creatures made of dark essence itself. Creatures like Ursa Major and Minor, and of course, our prime enemies, the—’

AROOOOOOO! A terrible howl cut through the air, interrupting Aeltha’s singsong voice. Immediately, the howl was followed by a scream—a death scream. Although Aeltha knew exactly what was going to happen, a panicked voice from outside told her all she needed to know. 

‘TIMBERWOLVES!’

Elkia jumped and shivered. Alces bolted up on his hooves and looked left and right, as if the terrible predators were already in the house. Aeltha stood up slowly. She turned towards the opening of the snow hut, and whispered something as she passed Elkia. 

‘It has begun.’

‘Mother, wh-wh-what should we do?’ Elkia said, his voice shaking as hard as his legs. ‘Is there something we can do?’

Without turning around, Aeltha said, ‘Today we must all face our destinies. That is the only thing we can do.’

‘Stop talking like that, Mother. We need battle strategies now,’ Alces said.

Now Aeltha turned around. She bent through her knees and spoke loudly and clearly to her children. ‘Listen, both of you. I have to go to the Shimmering Eye. We must protect it whatever the cost. But I’m not going to let the protection of the Eye make me cost you two. Timberwolves will soon be swarming the field and searching every hut. If I leave you here, you may both… die.’

Aeltha paused before she said that word. Elkia had never heard her saying that word so frequently. In fact, he couldn’t even remember his mother speaking out “death” or “die.” It was at that moment that he realized they were prey tonight, and that only the strong survived, and the weak died.

‘You will follow me and stay by my side at all times,’ Aeltha said. ‘The wolves will probably spot my hallowed white fur easily in the night, but I will fight them back. Together, we make for the Shimmering Eye.’

‘B-b-but shouldn’t we also try to—’

Alces stomped his brother. ‘Don’t be such a coward, Elkia. Tonight, we fight, and it is courage we need.’ Then he continued, softly so his mother couldn’t hear it, ‘That’s what Cervidus would say…’

Another scream cut through the air. Aeltha hesitated, and then stepped outside, followed by her two sons. 

Chaos reigned supreme in the otherwise so peaceful valley. There were almost no elks, deer, and reindeer to be seen, and those that had gotten the message too late, already lay dead on the ground. To his horror, Elkia could see the body of one of the elders, to which he had been listening the previous day.

Aeltha saw it too. ‘I’m sorry you have to see this, my children. The timber wolves haven’t even fed on her. They must be after the Shimmering Eye.’

But the timber wolves weren’t stupid. They had left behind guards. Elkia spotted glowing green eyes here and there in the surrounding foliage. He hear the howls, and smelled the nasty, rotting smell that the timber wolves were famous for. 

‘Elkia! Behind you!’

One of the timber wolves, who had been waiting on the roof of their hut, made a move. He jumped towards the elk family, ready to tear the stray animals apart.

But Alces was quicker. He stood his ground, waited for the animal to fly within reach, and bucked. 

The force of the buck wasn’t enough to make the wolf fall apart, but it was enough to knock him away. After a whimper and a growl, the wolf disappeared into the foliage.

It was time to move. Aeltha checked on her children, and then galloped away. She made sure not to go too fast, and never let her two children out of sight. Elkia looked back. He saw how some of the green lights went out. He didn’t dare to look forwards, for he knew that the wolves were chasing them. The cold sweat gleamed on his fur in the moonlight, despite the freezing temperatures. He kept telling himself this was all only a nightmare, or a very realistic theater play, or maybe even one of the old legends. In those legends the hero always faced dangerous and dark enemies, but in the real world that shouldn’t happen. 

Alces kept an eye out for his brother too. He occasionally glanced backwards. He knew the wolves liked to gnaw at the hind legs of their prey, and he was not going to let that happen to himself or Elkia or Aeltha. Brows furrowed in concentration, eyes taking in the surroundings, he kept running.

They quickly crossed the first field. There were a couple of fields where snow huts stood. Aeltha and her family lived far from the others, for Aeltha needed a secluded spacious place to do her divinations and rituals. She wished she lived closer now. 

‘Behind us, Mother!’ Alces yelled. Three wolves tried to close their formation, and sprinted hard to catch their prey. They ran faster and faster. Alces could hear, then feel their rotten breaths behind him. 

Aeltha dug her heels in the snow and came to a halt. She turned around, facing the bewildered animals, who must have been thinking she gave up. They couldn’t have been farther from the truth. Aeltha concentrated. Her antlers started to glow a deep purple. She lowered her head slowly. Then, in one fluent movement, she thrust her head upwards. Immediately, a wave of snow washed over the two timber wolves, as she commanded the essence. Elkia looked, and saw the light of the wolves’ eyes go out. Despite the fact that they were the enemies, Elkia shivered at the cold death the beasts had died.

‘Way to go, Mother!’ Alces cheered.

‘Do not celebrate death, my son,’ Aeltha said, turning around and picking up the pace. ‘We should get moving!’

The elk family rushed on. They tried to cut corners by jumping through the pine forest, but it did them no good. They only became accompanied by more and more green, hungry wolf-eyes. Jumping from bush to bush, they eventually made it to the second residential fields. Elkia would never forget what he saw there. 

Red blood stained the snow here and there. Death hung in the air. Here too, green eyes shimmered in the foliage, but there was more going on. Apparently, the wolves weren’t in a hurry—or they were very hungry. They had gathered up their prey, stacking the elks, deer, and reindeer on top of each other in piles, scattered throughout the field. Groups of timber wolves were eating from the piles. Some of them took one or two elks, and dragged them away into the shadow of the pines, no doubt to be eaten in private.

But there were still elks alive! At the far end of the fields, green dots flashed through the landscape. Cries of help resounded in the air. When Elkia strained his eyes, he could see someone running for his life, while three wolves were in close pursuit. The elk had nowhere to go. To the south were more wolves, and northwards were only the mountains. The elk was as good as dead.

‘Mother, Alces, we have got to help!’ Elkia said, nudging his mother’s leg.

Aeltha stopped and turned her pale blue eyes towards the source of the sound. She stood still.

‘Mother! Why aren’t we doing anything?’ Elkia said, his voice hoarse with tears.

Alces bumped his brother. ‘Can’t you see, nuthead? He will never make it.’

‘B-but… but…’

‘I’m afraid your brother is right, Elkia,’ Aeltha said. ‘He will soon be trotting on the Eternal Plains, instead of this snowy hellscape.’

‘But there must be something we can do!’

Once again, Alces bumped Elkia. ‘Do you want to cross this wolf-infested field?’

Elkia looked at the eating wolves. They were distracted now, but once they got closer the wolves would undoubtedly turn their attention to them, the next meal. Elkia realized his brother was right. One last look he threw towards the desperate scene. He searched for the elk, but couldn’t find the shape in the moonlight anymore. 

‘He’s gone, Elkia. Let’s go!’ Aeltha said. With eyes full of tears, Elkia turned away from the plains, and followed his mother and his brother through the forest, resuming their very own death-race. 

Cries and howls came from the direction of the last field, growing more and more intense as Aeltha and her sons neared. Elkia promised himself he wouldn’t look at the next slaughter scene, while his imagination ran wild with whatever was going on out there. He wished it was all over. 

‘Elkia, look at that!’

Despite the promise to himself, Elkia looked at the scene. It wasn’t a slaughter scene; it was a chase scene. A whole throng of elks, deer, and reindeer ran over the snow-covered fields, with a string of green eyes following behind. Elkia’s eyes flashed over the elks, trying to distinguish individual shapes in the clot of shadows running for their lives. He wasn’t sure to be joyful or scared, as he recognized friends and their parents, and even some of the elderly elks he always listened to. There were so many he knew by name! A cold shiver came with the realization that he was about to witness their horrible deaths. He knew he could never cope with that. He knew that, if he did nothing, the echo of their death-screams would forever resound through his dreams, and he would never dream happily again. It was not fueled by courage, nor a well thought-out plan, but some strange force he couldn’t explain, that he sprang into action. Suddenly, without any warning, Elkia bolted off towards the running herd.

‘Elkia, no!’ Alces yelled, and was about to follow suit, but a white leg of his mother prevented him. ‘No, Alces.’

Elkia was already halfway, galloping as fast as his long legs allowed him. With this head start, not even Alces could catch up with him. Aeltha knew that. She was strangely passive, as if she waited for Elkia to reach a certain distance. She turned towards Alces. ‘Listen closely, Alces. You must go to the Shimmering Eye without me.’

‘But, what about—’

‘I will look after Elkia, but you must go. Go and announce my presence if you can, but if my fears are proven reality and the Eye has been taken over, then hide.’ She paused to look him straight into the eyes. ‘Don’t be a hero, Alces. There is no cowardice in hiding and staying alive. Sometimes it is survival of the quietest, not the strongest.’

Alces nodded. Aeltha turned her head towards Elkia, who had almost reached the fleeing herd. ‘Goodbye, my son,’ she said, and then bolted off.

Elkia had reached the herd already, and noticed how he had made a grievous mistake, for now he too, was running for his life from the wolves. The only difference was that he wasn’t alone now. He saw the panic and terror in the eyes of the others, and heard their collective panting. When he looked back, he only saw green eyes ablaze, ready to feed and destroy. Suddenly, above the chorus of yells and screams, someone called something. 

‘The seer! The seer is with us!’

When he looked to the left, Elkia saw how his mother joined the running herd. Just a few seconds later, Aeltha yelled, ‘STOP!’ her voice amplified  by steering the essence of the air, making it sound as if the Light Elk himself shouted the command from the heavens. 

Elkia had just enough time to think how stupid that was, when the whole herd came to a halt. If they stopped, the wolves could catch up and devour them. Yet, that wasn’t what happened at all. Immediately, when everyone was standing still, the wolves split up, fanned out, and surrounded them on all sides.

‘Everyone! Make a circle!’ Aeltha yelled. ‘The young and the wounded in the middle. The ones with antlers on the outer ring! Remember what we practiced!’

The elks did as they were told. Elkia got shoved away into the middle, while the strong bulls took their positions, their antlered heads facing the wolves. In a matter of seconds, it looked as if they had formed an island in a sea of wolves. 

‘Go away, you terrible beasts!’ Aeltha yelled. ‘You will have no easy prey tonight. We will fight to the death if we have to.’

The wolves all let out a terrible howl, as if they were laughing at the herd and Aeltha’s words. As he watched between the legs of the elks, Elkia saw no end to the wolf-ranks. They were horribly outnumbered. Elkia had no idea how they were going to break out of the formation. For all he knew, they were as stuck as a tree in the earth. He looked back to the other elks in the middle of the circle, and briefly wondered if they were as mortally frightened as he. Some were shaking, some were crying, some were holding hooves; all were expecting death. 

The wolves did a step forward, all at the same time, as if they were one enormous beast. Elkia swore he could feel their rotting breaths stroking his fur like a clawed hand. 

‘One step closer and you will face the wrath of the seers,’ Aeltha said. She already dug her heels in the ground, ready to do something. 

Seers…? Plural…? Elkia thought. He looked once more at the strong bulls, whose muscles were tense and whose antlers were raised like spears. Now Elkia understood what his mother meant. He recognized five, fifteen, maybe two dozen pupils of his mother. Those were elks gifted with the power of the essence. At that moment, Elkia carefully nourished the hope that they might win. They weren’t completely at the mercy of the wolves. They had firepower. 

Elkia heard a snarl and a scream. One of the wolves tried to break through the lines and nip at a little calf. That was his fatal mistake. One of the elks turned around and bucked hard, sending the wolf flying over the herd and right into the sea of his brothers. That was the signal.

‘Attack!’

The antlers of all the pupils glowed, each one a different color. The wolves were not intimidated by mere flashing lights, and advanced. There was a strange, whooshing sound in the air. The pupils of Aeltha moved their heads, and immediately, howls and growls could be heard. Snow flew everywhere, as the pupils used the essence to bury the wolves underneath the icy blanket. The snow washed over the wolves, rolling, flowing, battering them to pieces. The circle broke. Some wolves tried to dodge, but then the snow stretched out into a wall, and overwhelmed them nonetheless. The wolves hadn’t expected such strange but deadly attack at all.

Unfortunately, the pupils couldn’t perform this amazing feat for long. Their flight from the hungry jaws had sapped their strength, so the attack stopped almost as abruptly as it had begun. Elkia hoped they got all of them, but, however effective the attack was, they hadn’t wiped all of the wolves out. The wounded ones quickly reassembled themselves—literally. A faint, unholy glow surrounded the heaps of wolves as they steered the dark essence in their bodies. The sticks, branches, twigs, and leaves that made up their teeth and eyes and claws hovered back into position. The wolves looked at their fallen brethren, and quickly regrouped, so that a new circle was created. They were still not afraid of the elks. If anything, they became infuriated by the slaughter. This time they didn’t wait for a signal, but closed in simultaneously.

‘Ready for another attack?’ Aeltha yelled.

The elks said ‘Aye,’ but the truth was that they were all panting. Elkia’s hope dwindled away like a snowflake. He was already busy creating a plan of escape for himself, but the best thing he could come up with was play dead.

This time, the elks used other essence: wood. They focused all their energy towards one big tree to their right. The bottom started to glow. With their combined strength, they tried to uproot the enormous tree… and it worked! Some of the elks put their heads together, as they all concentrated and tried not to pass out from the strain. Slowly, the tree came loose from the ground. 

But was it too late? The wolves saw that something else was going to happen, and they attacked. The front row of them advanced, and tried to bite at the legs and hooves of the elks. Stomping and bucking and kicking, the elks did what they could to get the wolves away from them. One of them couldn’t handle the physical and psychological pain any longer. He bent down. The wolves seized their chance, and grabbed the face of the elk with their deadly teeth. With the antlers out of the way, other wolves quickly joined in too. Alas, with heartbreaking cries of pain, the elk was bitten dead.

‘This is not working, seer,’ one of the elks said through clenched teeth. ‘Did you see what—’

‘I heard what happened, and that is enough for me to know,’ Aeltha said. ‘Stand your ground and trust in the essence.’

It was as if the tree groaned with pain, just like the elks. Slowly, the roots retreated. It looked almost as if the tree gained a life of its own, and decided to stand up and use its roots as legs. For a moment it hovered above the ground, with dirt raining down from the roots.

‘Let go!’ Aeltha yelled.

SLAM! Down went the tree. Although the wolves fanned out and scattered, some were not as quick-witted, and got flattened by the massive tree trunk. Some elks bent through their knees, sweating, trying to find their breaths. Yet Aeltha knew this was no time for rest. Behind them were only mountains, which were too steep to climb. So the only way for them to go was…

‘Forwards!’ Aeltha yelled, ‘push the log forwards, everyone!’

Elkia and the calves were as smart as to check on everybody. Elkia saw just how extremely fatigued they all were. As he reached a deer hind, he saw she was crying. ‘Why? Why all of this? We’ll be torn to pieces! We will all die. I can’t. I just… can’t.’

‘Yes you can,’ Elkia said. ‘We can all get out of this alive. We’re not some dumb prey. We’ve got Aeltha the seer!’ And after these quick words of comfort, Elkia pushed against her and helped her on her hooves again. ‘Thanks,’ the hind said to Elkia. ‘If I’ll make it, it will be because of you.’

‘Everyone, stay vigilant!’ Aeltha said, pointing at the log. A couple of wolves had already scaled it, and braced themselves to jump into the group of elks. ‘There is no more time. Forwards!’

Once again the elks combined their magic. There was movement in the massive log, and it rolled forwards. The circle broke, and the elks all marched. Even those without magic helped, pushing with their antlers or their shoulders against the log. The wolves balancing themselves on the log were unsure what to do now. If they jumped back, they might get crushed. So instead, they jumped forwards, right into the elk herd.

The calves screamed and yelled. Some of the elks stopped pushing the log and rushed towards the children. Too late. One of the wolves immediately pounced upon a young elk, sinking its teeth in the soft, tender flesh. The elk had brothers and sisters, who tried to chase the wolf away. They poked their little hooves at the beast, and one of them even pulled at the beast’s tail. It was all for nothing. The poor little thing didn’t even scream as the blood flowed and stained the winter snow red. Once the wolf was done with its kill, it turned its head towards the next victim.

Elkia’s eyes met the wolf’s. He swore he saw the beast smile, as it slowly approached its next prey. Elkia backed away, his bones as chilled as the snow he walked on. ‘No, no, no. Please don’t kill me, Mister Wolf. I’m not… eh… not tasty at all.’

The wolf didn’t stop. Now the two others joined in as well. Elkia was the biggest of the children, after all, so the one might need help with its kill.

The cold rock of the mountain poked against Elkia’s back. He had nowhere to go. ‘No, please eh… gentlewolves, I will only give you stomachache. I mean… I’m frozen solid. See? Brrrrr. Cold. It will be like swallowing an ice cube, you know?’

Either the wolves didn’t understand Elkia, or they had no intention of listening to pathetic whining. In the distance, Elkia could see three big elks running towards them. They had already reached the other calves. Only Elkia remained. 

His mind worked in overload. He knew these thoughts might be the last thoughts he’d ever think. He thought about his mother and his family. Alces… he thought, what would Alces do? No doubt his brother would grab a weapon, or use his bare hooves and his arsenal of dueling maneuvers to best the wolves. Elkia looked around. There was a large branch on the ground. He picked it up with his teeth. Now he had a weapon, but he had no battle tactics. What did Alces always say? Go for the high ground. 

Elkia did so. Thanks to his long legs, he was able to jump on a rocky ledge. But the wolves could climb too. One of them stayed on the ground, while the other two began scaling the slope. They were careful to stay left and right, so their prey had nowhere to go.

In the distance, one of the elks shouted something. Elkia turned his ears towards him.

‘…jump. Whatever you… jump…’

He couldn’t hear everything, but he thought he got the message. Elkia jumped. 

The wolf down below couldn’t have been happier. It opened its maw wide, so the pathetic little elk would jump right into it. That was exactly what happened. 

Elkia still had the stick between his teeth. As he landed right into the mouth of the wolf, the stick got wedged between the beast’s jaws. Elkia was literally in the maws of the beast, but the animal just couldn’t close its mouth. A horrid stench of a thousand devoured prey and sticky green saliva surrounded Elkia on all sides. When he looked down into the stomach he saw nothing but black emptiness. Up ahead was freedom, closed in between shimmering teeth. Elkia had no idea how long he was stuck in this awkward position, but he did know that this was an experience that would traumatize him forever.

The big elks came. Elkia felt how one of them bashed his antlers against the wolf he was in. Together with the wolf, he tumbled over the ground, then rolled right out of the wolf’s maw like a sticky ball of fur. 

‘Elkia! Thank the Light One you’re alive!’ one of the elks said.

Elkia recognized the voice. As he stood up and shook the slime out of his fur, he turned towards his savior. ‘Oakheart! It’s you!’

Oakheart helped Elkia back on his hooves. Immediately, they looked back. The little calves were now all together sitting on the snow, looking around themselves with fearful eyes. Way back, the elks were still busy rolling the log, with the wolves fighting back. They were not paying attention to the children now.

‘You should go,’ Elkia said.

Oakheart’s eyes went wide. ‘Go?! But we shouldn’t just leave the seer to—’

‘Think about the children,’ Elkia said. ‘They are scared out of their wits. One of them actually died. They will be traumatized for life now. We can’t possibly send them back into this savage fight. The wolves are not here now, so you can run away and escape this madness. You should go and take the calves with you and never return.’

‘But, Elkia…’

‘Just go!’ After all the horrible experiences, Elkia didn’t even jump in surprise or fear of his shouting voice. He needed to be resolute. Without turning around, he galloped back towards the fight. Scared though as he was, he was not going to leave his mother behind.

The wolves were still flabbergasted by the sudden log-attack. As the elks and deer and reindeer pushed it forwards, the sound of snapping twigs and breaking branches echoed across the plain. Elkia had to dodge a wolf or two, but he was quick, and he made it back to the rest. What he saw worried him. He saw only trembling legs, quivering muscles, sweat, gritted teeth, and narrowed eyes. The elks were gone to the point of exhaustion. Elkia thought that if they continued rolling this enormous thing, they might just drop dead! He wedged himself between two elks to speak with Aeltha. ‘Mother, they are all so tired.’

‘We’re almost there, Elkia,’ Aeltha said back, looking forward and directing the magic of essence towards the log.

‘We’re almost where?’

‘The lake, Elkia.’

‘The lake?’

Aeltha stopped for a moment, turned to Elkia, and managed a grim smile. ‘We’re going to drown the bastards!’

* *  

Meanwhile, Alces Roameling ran. He crossed another residential field, where another slaughter had taken place. He only had to cross a few yards of forested land and then he’d reach the Shimmering Eye. Peering between the tree trunks and the shrubs of heather, he had discovered that he was relatively safe. Although the howls still resounded all around him, he didn’t see one single green eye watching through the foliage. He reasoned that perhaps the wolves weren’t interested in chasing one single elk child. Or perhaps they were busy with something else…

Alces stayed on course. He didn’t let himself get distracted by whatever was going on. He knew that elks, deer, and reindeer were being eaten alive. He knew that they’d never stand a chance. But he didn’t care. His mother had given him a mission, and he carried out that mission—simple as that. 

Alces was close. The land tilted slightly upwards, and Alces followed suit. Always take the high ground. Once he reached the top of the hill, he chose a few good bushes and hid in them. He had a very good view of everything that was going on at the Shimmering Eye, and there sure was a lot going on.

The Shimmering Eye lay in the moonlight, reflecting the stars and moon like a perfect mirror. A whole ring of elks, deer, and reindeer stood around the lake, with their heads towards the forest, and towards the enemy.

Just as with Elkia, the wolves had chosen the tactics of surrounding their prey. For each elk there were at least ten timber wolves. Sometimes the wolves snarled and nipped at the legs, but the elks stood firm. Alces saw they were the biggest and strongest of all the elks; the soldiers. 

But if they are all soldiers, then their leader…
 
Indeed, when Alces squinted, he could see the royal figure of Moussa standing right at the spot where he and his brother had their naming ceremonies years ago. The king of the elks stood proud and erect, like a lone king on a board of chess. There was no one standing beside him. Everyone stood back, yet he didn’t even look afraid.

But there was more going on. There was a wolf, a big one, who was separated from the rest. He and Moussa stood close together, and Alces saw their mouths moving. They were talking! Alces had no idea the wolves could actually talk—or actually wanted to talk. To him, they were just savage beasts, driven by nothing but dark essence and a killer instinct. Apparently, he was wrong.

Now he had a choice to make. He could do the obvious and run away like a coward and never come back to the Shimmering Eye again. That idea, obvious though as it was, didn’t even enter Alces’s head until he thought of the other options. It was not done. 

Option two was to stand by Moussa’s side, and fight till the death to protect the Shimmering Eye. But Alces was not stupid. He knew the odds were definitely against him. There were hundreds of wolves down there! These two impulses, fight or flight, filled Alces’s heart like two fighting wolves. He hated sitting still—he wanted to do something. In his mind, he created option number three himself: investigate further.

Although he didn’t like to sneak at all, he had played a lot of games of hide-and-seek, so he knew how to. As careful as a prowling lion, Alces moved through the bushes closer to the Shimmering Eye. He had no idea how many guards the wolves had appointed. If the wolves really were more intelligent than he thought, there could be many guards about to protect the rear and the flanks. But on the other hoof, Alces knew that an overwhelming number of forces could make one cocky. Maybe the wolves didn’t even appoint one guard, sure as they were about their victory. 

‘Oh… oh… ooooooh!’

A growl came from Alces’s right. He jolted, and then froze. Was there still a wolf he hadn’t spotted through the foliage? But he had been so careful! He did a careful step forwards, readying himself for a fight. 

‘Oh… ooooh!’ the growl sounded again, but this time, there was a wet cough afterwards. Alces cocked his head. That didn’t sound like a wolf at all. He moved closer to the source of the sound, but didn’t drop his guard. He only dropped his guard when he found who was making the noise. 

‘Somebody… please…’

‘Old Cervidus!’

Alces hadn’t spotted whoever was making that noise, because the old elk was lying on the ground, in a bush, hidden from view. Alces crouched besides the elderly elk, and immediately noticed the pool of blood he was lying in. Old Cervidus coughed again. Blood gushed out of a bite-wound in his neck. Alces knew he would never make it. That’s why he listened closely to the old elk’s last words.

‘Alces, it is you…’

‘Yes it is me, Cervidus,’ Alces said, trying to stack some piles of pine needles underneath the old elk’s head to make him more comfortable. ‘I’ve found you, Cervidus.’

‘Indeed… indeed you have.’ Cervidus’s words came growling out of his raspy, bloodstained throat. 

‘Say what you have to say, old Cervidus,’ Alces said, ‘for you and I both know it will be the last thing you’ll ever say.’

Old Cervidus tried to laugh, but only managed to cough again. With some effort, he slowly moved his head closer to his pupil. ‘At least you’re… you’re not wasting my time with hopeful, foolish nonsense…’

Alces managed a grin too. ‘You know I like to get to the point.’

‘Very good. Very… good. Now, I shall speak my final words to you, my dear Alces. I will… I… will…’ Cervidus’s eyes closed. Alces felt the strength disappear out of his body. There was no need to check the pulse. Alces thought Cervidus was dead.

If anything, old Cervidus’s legacy was a good eavesdropping-spot. When Alces left him alone and moved through the heather and the bushes, he could hear Moussa’s signature, haughty voice flow right into his ears. He dared to go even closer, and was rewarded with a view of both the wolf and the elk. The wolf really was talking! It spoke Elkish in a nasty, tongue-twisting dialect, with the occasional guttural sound or growl mixed in. Nevertheless, Alces could hear what the wolf was saying.

‘The lake is ours, you foolish elk. It is ours and we can do what we want with it.’

‘We shall do what we can to stop you,’ Moussa said, ‘even if the odds are not in our favor.’

‘Then you are a bigger fool than I thought,’ said the wolf. ‘The dark essence is stronger than light. We are made of dark essence. Dark essence can create us, give us life. Can you say the same?’

‘Speak not of light essence, for you know nothing about that,’ Moussa said. He was not at all intimidated, and kept his royal pose. ‘We have guarded the Shimmering Eye for generations, while you yourself have lived but a few years in the Dark Lands, those foul regions you call home.’

The wolf let out a growl. ‘Now you speak of something you know nothing about. You wouldn’t last a day in the Dark Lands, while we’—he gestured with his head around him—‘we are conquerors. We have come from the other side of the mountains to your lands, invaded it, and gained your biggest treasure. I say that makes predator far superior to prey.’

Moussa stomped his hoof on the snowy ground. ‘Enough! We will prove our worth to the Light Elk when we will emerge victorious from this battle.’

‘Not today, not ever,’ said the wolf. ‘CHARGE!’

What followed was a terrible battle. The wolves overwhelmed the elks completely. Howls, growls, and snarls filled the nightly air, followed by death-screams of desperate elks. The elks stood firm, digging their heels in the ground and trying to headbutt the wolves away. But as more and more of them got eaten alive, their ranks were breached. Sure enough, one of the wolves jumped into the Shimmering Eye, defiling it with its nasty, mangy body. Blood flew everywhere, staining the snow red.

At the front, Moussa fought for all he was worth. He had taken down five wolves already, which lay in pieces here and there. Now he was in combat with the alpha wolf. Moussa tried to kick and buck at the foul beast. Every time the wolf managed to dodge or roll away. It kept attacking and retreating, trying to take a bite out of the vital parts of the body. At last, when Moussa twirled around and gave another mighty buck, the wolf dodged and bore its teeth in the long hind leg of Moussa. Moussa screamed, a strange sound coming out of his mouth. He bent through his knees, as the wolf took him down.

Alces had to do something. He was just about to jump into the fray and help Moussa, when a familiar sound stopped him.

‘Alces! Alces, where are you?’

It was Cervidus. He wasn’t dead after all! Alces moved back and into the brush, until he stood next to him.

‘Alces, it is you.’ Cervidus tried to lift a hoof, and managed that with lots of pain and effort. He slowly stroked Alces’s fur. Swallowing, Cervidus prepared to say something—perhaps his final words. ‘Alces Roameling… you always were my favorite student. I think you of all my pupils were the one who really got what I was telling. You were the one who really listened.’

Alces stood up and made a small bow. ‘Thank you, Cervidus.’ Then he sat down beside the old elk again. ‘Cervidus, they are fighting. Everyone is dying. Even Moussa is not going to make it. I have to do something, or they will all die.’

‘Don’t,’ Cervidus rasped.

‘Wait, what did you say?’

‘I said don’t. Don’t do anything.’

‘But why not?’

‘Because they don’t stand a chance.’ Cervidus smiled a grim, bloody smile. ‘I have seen the ranks of wolves marching towards me. They killed the young, the sick, and the old first, not even paying attention to their victims. It was almost as if they were behaving like nature intended.’

‘But… but they did,’ Alces said. ‘They do behave like nature. It’s the age-old game of predator versus prey, isn’t it?’

Cervidus managed to move his head. He probably wanted to shake it, but the gesture wasn’t quite as powerful as he wanted it to be. ‘Ha! This is not nature, my dear Alces. There is nothing natural about what they are doing. After the battle they will misuse the Shimmering Eye for certain. No, these beasts are made of pure dark essence, and what they do goes against their every nature.’

‘But… you always said dark essence isn’t necessarily bad. You said—’

‘Dark essence isn’t bad. It’s all about power. These wolves have got power, which they abuse. Look at it, Alces, just look.’

Alces turned his head away from Cervidus. Moussa was lying on the ground, and the alpha wolf still had his neck in his mouth. Alces had no idea if the king was still alive or not.

‘This is power, Alces. This is power they have gained from the Dark Elk, but which they misuse completely. Look at this closely, and remember it forever. This is what power can do, if you let dark essence into your heart. I know you can. You can let the dark essence into your heart, and let it give you power. Yet, what you are going to do with that power is all up to you.’

Alces wanted to say something back, but a violent burst of coughing from Cervidus prevented that. More blood gushed out of the neck wound. He was not going to last much longer. 

‘Alces, listen to me, for these are my final words. I say run, don’t fight. Run and try to learn something from today. Try to teach yourself about the dark essence, about the Dark Elk, and try to use the power however you see fit. That is the core of it… Use the power of dark essence to accomplish whatever goal you want, and whatever you do…’ Another fit of coughing sent blood splattering on Alces’s fur. Alces bent close towards Cervidus’s muzzle to hear his final words. They came in ragged gurgles, with more blood than words. ‘Whatever you do… 

‘Whatever what, old Cervidus?’ Alces said.

‘Whatever you do… 

‘Never…

‘Back…

‘Down…’

And so old Cervidus left this world behind, with these valuable words to his young pupil. Alces let the head rest on the pillow of needles. He closed the old elk’s eyes, and stroked his head. ‘I will never forget what you told me, and for that, I thank you.’

Then Alces turned his attention to the lost battle. However much Cervidus had told him to run, Alces wanted to see where this was going—if only to learn more about dark essence and the power it gives, and which the wolves abused so thoroughly.

The alpha wolf had laid Moussa down on the ground. The elk’s chest was still moving up and down. Was Moussa still alive? The other wolves were standing around the Shimmering Eye, with a bunch of dead elks in front of them. 

‘Everyone! Grab one of those pathetic prey,’ the alpha wolf said.

The wolves did as they were told. All of them grabbed an elk by the neck, and held him or her in their maws.

The alpha wolf rasped its throat, a rotten sound, before he proceeded with that he wanted to do. ‘Now let them bleed! Hahaha!’

All the wolves bit hard in the necks of their prey. The blood flowed between their teeth, around their paws, and right into the Shimmering Eye. One elk let out a muffled scream, as he was apparently still alive. There were a few wolves who enjoyed this ritual a little too much, and bit off the heads of the elks to let the blood gush out of the creatures like a red fountain. 

‘You are… defiling… our most sacred place…’ Moussa said, his voice just loud enough for Alces to hear it. 

‘Yes we are,’ said the alpha wolf, who stepped closer to his fallen foe.

‘Why?’

The wolf came even closer. ‘Because that is what power enables us to do. But, to be honest, it’s mainly to see you all suffer, because we predators love toying with our prey.’

It’s just as Cervidus said, Alces thought, power is everything…
 
‘I hope you will burn in whatever hell you came from,’ Moussa said.

‘Let’s do that after the ritual, shall we?’ And with that, the alpha wolf turned his attention to the pack again.

The blood flowed into the Shimmering Eye from every corner. It didn’t take long for the lake to become completely red. The ground began to shake, and ripples formed on the otherwise still water. The red blood seemed to change color. It became darker and darker, until the Shimmering Eye was completely black, like a closed eyelid. Alces felt the hairs of his fur stand on end. He felt that something changed. The night seemed to grow darker, but the moon brighter. The stars seemed to disappear. He knew at that moment that they had lost. They had lost the Shimmering Eye. It was no use looking at it any longer. Alces turned away from the once sacred place, and disappeared between the trunks of the pine trees. 

* *  

‘Push, everyone, push!’

But the elks couldn’t take it anymore. A great many of them fell to the ground, sapped and dead-tired. The log stopped moving, and in no time, the wolves had them surrounded once again. They only needed a few seconds to pick out the weakened animals, and pounced upon them. Screams of pain and torture came from all around Elkia, as his friends and relatives got eaten alive. Some bulls, shaken to their bones, used an adrenaline spurt to attack some wolves. Although they managed to save an elk or two, lots of them lay dead on the ground in the blink of an eye. 

Aeltha the seer looked at her people for a few seconds, and then shook her head. Puffs of breath came out of her mouth, as exhaustion gripped her too. Elkia looked at her, and wondered if she even had enough energy left to perform her final tricks.

Bending down, Aeltha dug her antlers into the snow. In one fluent motion, she flung it aside, to reveal what lay underneath. 

‘Ice!’

They had made it! They had made it to the river! Aeltha once more looked around at the elks, and silently and quickly counted heads. She hoped there were enough of her pupils left standing to perform the magic. ‘Everyone!’ she shouted above the chorus of howls and screams. ‘I need you all one last time. Focus on the ice and try to give as much raw force as you can muster. I will focus the energy. Together, we will destroy the wolves with the might of the river.’

Elkia knew that wolves were good swimmers, and a little water was not going to stop them. If anything, it would only hinder them. But elks were even better swimmers than wolves, and always lived near water. Elkia realized that his mother probably had a few more tricks up her sleeve. He was absolutely sure she could find a way to command the essence of the water. Maybe she could even conjure up waves to break apart the wolves, or create a swirling maelstrom to drown them in the river. The breaking of the ice granted her many opportunities to attack.

But first they had to break it.

‘Everyone! Steady!’ Aeltha yelled, turning towards the single dozen pupils that were left, and aiming her antlers at the center of the circle. 

Suddenly, Elkia felt a shiver going through his body. Was it really that cold? It wasn’t much colder than usual. He thought it was wolf eyes staring at him from somewhere. He looked at the sea of beasts around him, but saw that no wolf in particular was paying much attention to him. Then Elkia looked up, trying to spot wolves that had maybe climbed the log and were peering down from above. No, nothing. But Elkia did spot something strange.

‘The stars! The stars are all gone!’

But Aeltha wasn’t paying much attention to her son. She reared on her hind hooves, antlers glowing and ready to strike. She counted down. ‘On three we break!’

‘One…’

Elkia felt that something was wrong. It was the nagging feeling that he had lost something valuable, but was unable to retrieve it. 

‘Two…’

The feeling stayed with Elkia. He couldn’t put his hoof on it. As far as he knew, the only thing that mattered now was his life.

‘Three!’

The seer brought her antlers down upon the ice. Sparks and cinders flew off of them, followed by a massive explosion. The shockwave sent a lot of the elks flying into the wolf sea. The elks without magic jumped in shock and fear. Some of them couldn’t suppress their flight instinct and ran straight into the horde of wolves. They only made it a few yards. The wolves were a lot less scared of the magic of the essence than their prey, and they used the discord to launch another attack. Everywhere, elks, deer, and reindeer were captured, bitten, choked, scratched, and eaten alive.

Aeltha got hit by the explosion too. The force made her fly backwards, almost in reach of the wolves. Her pupils galloped towards her, standing by her side and preventing the wolves from attacking her. 

Something was definitely wrong. Elkia looked from his mother to the ice. There was a hole in the ice, with a few cracks here and there, but it didn’t look like much. If the intention had been to break all the ice and let the river flow freely, the elks had horribly failed. 

There was no hope anymore. One last circle was created around the seer, but every elk, deer, or reindeer who was outside of it got slaughtered. ‘The seer has fallen, the seer has fallen!’ some of them yelled, although there weren’t that many elks alive who could hear their cries.

‘No!’ Elkia scrambled to his hooves, and ran towards the circle of elks. A wolf jumped towards him, but he rolled in the snow, avoiding the deadly claws. Once he reached the circle, he forced himself through the legs of the elks. He brought forth a cry of horrid surprise, as he saw the state his mother was in. 

‘Mother! Your antlers!’

Aeltha lay curled in the snow, her two antlers a yard away. When Elkia looked at them, he saw how they were cracked and broken. They looked worn and old. Slowly, the white antlers fell apart, until even the tiniest branch turned to sand and got swept away by the frozen winds.

‘Elkia, my son!’ The seer’s blue eyes flashed around, until they settled on her son. The eyes didn’t look as pretty anymore. They had lost their shine, and looked dim and distant. 

‘Mother, I’m here!’ Elkia said through eyes full of tears. He just couldn’t witness his mother like that. He had always seen her strong and confident, not lying on the ground like this. ‘Mother, everyone is fighting. Make them stop! Make them stop!’

‘I can’t, my dear Elkia. Something… something is wrong. The Eye… the Shimmering Eye. Something happened to the Eye.’

Elkia wanted to say something back, but his words were cut short by a cry of pain. He watched his right, and saw how one of Aeltha’s pupils got dragged away by a wolf. The elk was clawing at the snow, but couldn’t find anything to grab. He disappeared between the wooden claws and vicious eyes, and wasn’t seen again.

One by one, the rest of Aeltha’s pupils got overpowered by the wolves. They tried to resist, and swung their antlered heads here and there, but it was in vain. 

‘Mother, they have no power anymore. We are… we are going to die!’ And Elkia’s words became accompanied by desperate sobs.

Aeltha reached out, and stroked Elkia’s fur. Yet, the healing and calming magic that normally emanated from her was gone. Instead, Elkia felt cold go through his body, and realized that the cold came from his mother’s hoof. ‘Don’t be afraid, Elkia. At least we’ll die together. We will reunite on the Eternal Plains, and hope that a new generation will be able to protect the Shimmering Eye better than we did.’

The fact that she wasn’t even denying it frightened Elkia like a howling wolf. ‘But I don’t want to die. I want to live in peace and harmony with you and Alces and everyone else. You know, I want this to end like every good story ends, however dark the tale. “They lived happily ever after…”’

Another strong elk fell down to the ground. A wolf was soon upon him, and bit his throat. A few seconds later, the elk was as lifeless as a ragdoll.

To his horror, Elkia noticed that there was no one left standing. He and his mother were the last ones. He looked around, and an ocean of green, hungry eyes stared back. Elkia had no idea why the wolves hadn’t attacked them yet. He expected savage bites, raking claws, and terrible mouths upon him any second now. He expected a painful death. Elkia closed his watery eyes, laid his muzzle upon his mother’s fur, and cried. It was all he could do.

The wolves stood still. It was not because they were afraid, or because they were merciful, but because their leader approached. A particularly growly voice made some noises. The noises came closer and closer. When Elkia dared to look over his shoulder, he gazed right into the eyes of the alpha wolf.

One wolf barked something at the alpha. The alpha’s wooden snout twisted into a cruel grin. He looked upon his last two victims. ‘A special one, you say?’

Elkia blinked his tears away. He spread his legs, trying to shield his mother from the alpha wolf. 

But the Alpha had seen enough. ‘You poor little thing!’ he said. But the way he pronounced the Elkish words, together with the timbre of his voice, could not conceal the mocking.

Elkia closed his eyes again. ‘Please go away, please go away, please go away,’ he repeated over and over again, shivering as he talked.

‘I’m afraid I can’t do that,’ said the alpha wolf. He narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing Elkia’s every sob. ‘You see, we are here to teach you something, something very important and worth remembering.’ 

Elkia wasn’t curious about that at all. He just wanted them all to fall apart into harmless little twigs and branches.

And that was exactly what happened.

After a swift command form the alpha wolf, the timber wolves, one by one, fell apart with little puffs of green smoke. The outer ring of them all disappeared like that, while the rest of the dozens of wolves stood their ground. Soon, the ground became littered by branches and sticks and leaves which had made up their bodies.

Elkia blinked once, twice. Did that just happen? Thanks to the disappearance of the outer herd, he got a brief view of the valley and the tree line ahead. Maybe it was coincidence, or maybe it was luck, or maybe there was still some power of essence that hadn’t dwindled away. Elkia saw someone. Far, far away, there was a single shape popping out of the foliage, and then disappearing again. Elkia wasn’t sure if his eyes betrayed him. Did someone get away?

He didn’t have time to think about that, however, as his nightmares became reality. Slowly, every little stick and branch rolled towards one another in glows of pure, green, dark essence. They clicked together like a large puzzle, creating shapes that looked like massive claws, an enormous wooden body, a strong neck and a giant maw with wooden teeth as thick as trees. The pieces floated together in the magical haze, creating one giant wolf. It was so big, it could swallow an elk, deer, or reindeer whole—easily. Only when the shadow fell upon poor little Elkia did he dare to look up, right into the maw of the beast. He knew at that moment that his time had come.

But instead of gobbling up the trembling little elk, the beast talked. It was the same terrible voice as the alpha wolf, but lower, rumbling as he formed words in Elkish. ‘As I said, I’m going to teach you something. It’s time for you to learn about nature, and about the relationship between predator and prey.’

‘Don’t… don’t listen to him,’ Aeltha said. Her voice was as weak as a piece of glass artwork, ready to fall and shatter if it were disturbed. Elkia forgot about the giant wolf looming over him for a few seconds, and turned his attention instead to his mother.

‘Elkia, you must not listen to him. You are… you are so innocent and kind. Don’t let these two beautiful traits be destroyed by that foul beast’s words.’

‘Listen up!’ the giant beast roared. But still Elkia’s ears were aimed at his mother. ‘Mother, I’m so afraid!’

‘Of course you are, but it’s alright. Everyone has a part to play in this giant theater play that is called life. I have fulfilled my destiny.’

‘But… but…’ Elkia’s voice became cracked, as a new set of tears came in. ‘If this is your destiny, then… have you foreseen this all?’

‘I have, Elkia. That’s why it couldn’t be avoided. The essences have shown me the future of us all. I know what was going to happen, whether I liked it or not. We cannot change the future, Elkia, but our decisions can alter it. You just need to have a strong will.’ Aeltha coughed a few times. Icy vapors escaped through her nostrils. ‘Your brother has an enormously strong will, you know that as good as I do. Find your brother, Elkia. Together, you are complete.’

‘Alces!’ Elkia jolted. ‘He’s alive? How? Where is—’

A terrible howl shredded Elkia’s words apart. The wolf was becoming inpatient. ‘Listen up, young prey. Today, we teach you about us, the predators, and you, the pathetic little prey.’ It bore its eyes into Elkia until he looked up. ‘Today you have witnessed something beautiful. You have witnessed the “balance of nature.” You see, the balance of nature dictates that we, the top of the food chain, eat you, the bottom of the food chain. It’s how nature works.’

Slowly, Elkia’s ears turned towards his mother, looking if the alpha wolf allowed him to listen. ‘Mother, is he right?’

Aeltha swallowed. She closed her eyes and didn’t open them. ‘Predators, however savage, are a part of nature. But the timber wolves are—’

‘Right,’ the alpha barked. ‘We aren’t stupid, you know. We know how nature works. Life isn’t always pretty, and the ones that live are usually rotten to the core too.’

‘No, it’s not true,’ Aeltha said. ‘Elkia, listen to me.’

Elkia was just about to turn his head, when the wolf snarled loud. ‘No, listen to me. If you want to learn something from today, you listen to me.’

Reaching up, Elkia covered his head with his hooves. He had never been as confused as today. Somehow, he had the feeling that both his mother and the alpha were right. However much he wanted to shield his ears from everything that murdering animal had to say, he had the feeling that in some way he spoke of a cold reality. This evening was all the proof he needed.

‘Don’t trust anyone,’ the wolf said. ‘The ones who share your kill will turn their backs on you someday, claiming they are the new alpha. Everything, everyone desires nothing but power, and will do whatever it takes to get that power. Power corrupts, and will make you do evil things.’

‘No… there is good in everyone. What he says is untrue,’ Aeltha said. 

‘Then what is true?’ Elkia said.

The wolf smashed his claw on the ground. ‘I am the truth! I am the cold, hard product of reality. I am as much a child of nature as your mother.’ He paused, and stroked his chin with his claw. ‘Or… perhaps your mother is right. Perhaps there is good in me too. You know what? I can see that you are having a very bad day. Tell you what, if you will listen to me, remember everything I say, and spread the word, I will let you live.’

Elkia wasn’t sure what to say. He bit back the urge to be polite and say thank you. Instead, he said nothing.

Crouching down, the wolf brought his nose inches away from Elkia’s. ‘We are made of dark essence, and, as you can see, we are stronger than you, creatures of light essence. There is dark essence in everyone, and it is just waiting to bubble up to the surface and nestle into your soul. It is strong… so strong… Take my word for it, little elk. There’s dark essence in everyone, and everyone is a sawn log waiting to crash down to the ground—preferably on you.’

Elkia heard his mother wheeze. He turned one ear towards her, and tried his best not to lose eye contact with the wolf. 

‘Elkia, I have a few last things to tell you.’

‘No!’ growled the wolf.

Elkia broke eye contact. ‘Mother, if we listen he will let us live.’

‘Ha! This one learns quickly,’ said the wolf. ‘You were right, everyone. He is a special one.’

Aeltha ignored the wolf. She knew what would happen. ‘My last words are these. My son, however difficult times will be, never lose your faith. Don’t lose your faith in others, in the essence, or in nature, however cruel it might be. There is also light essence in every single one of us. You have seen how we lived in harmony and friendship. Keep that picture in mind, wherever you go. Even if you go into the Dark Lands themselves, never lose yourself. You are, and will always be, Deerling—a member of the herd.’

‘Now I’ve had enough of it!’ The wolf bent over Elkia, and, before he could do anything, grabbed Elkia’s mother between his teeth.

‘No! Mother!’

Aeltha let out cries of pain, as the wolf held her between his splintery teeth. They bore into her stomach, leaving blood dripping on the ground.

‘It’s time to let go of the ones you love, for she too, has dark essence, and she too, might betray you,’ said the wolf. As he spoke, his jaws moved, and Aeltha groaned as the pressure shifted.

The wolf bowed forward once again, with the seer in his mouth. ‘Say goodbye now.’

Once more, tears clouded Elkia’s vision. He tried to blink them away, to have one last glimpse of his mother, but new tears kept coming. ‘Mother… I don’t know what to do…’

Aeltha the seer managed to wriggle free one hoof. She kissed it, and gently stroked Elkia’s muzzle, an Elkish greeting. ‘The power of the essence loves us. And I…’ Now the seer shed tears as well. ‘And I… love you.’

With one flick of its tree-thick neck, the alpha wolf tossed Aeltha in the air. Then he caught her, and with a few bone-breaking crunches, the seer disappeared between the massive wooden maws. 

‘No!’ Elkia yelled. ‘No! You can’t just… just… You promised to let us live!’ He wished he had closed his eyes when the wolf ate her. Now, the picture of what happened would forever stay with him, plaguing him like blood-sucking insects.

‘I promised I let you live. With you I meant you, “Elkia,” is it? I promised to let you live because I know you are smart and listen to my council.’ The wolf brushed his bloodstained teeth against the snow below, wiping them off. When he looked at Elkia again he saw nothing but a crying ball of fur. His voice became gentler, although there was still the occasional growl. ‘I think that is enough council and ancient wisdom for one evening, isn’t it?’

Elkia said nothing. He hugged himself and lay in the snow, reaching out, trying to find his mother’s soft fur as if they were lying in the same bed. Warm, cozy, safe… But no more.

‘Isn’t it?’ the wolf repeated, louder this time.

Slowly, Elkia nodded.

‘Very good,’ the wolf said with a grin. He let out a burp in satisfaction. ‘Now go, young elk. Go and spread the word of Garm the Merciful. Be quick, because teaching always makes me hungry, and I might just decide that “the merciful” already gets boring.’ He nudged Elkia with his snout. Elkia swore he could smell his mother’s soft white fur in the wolf’s breath. Reaching inside himself, gathering up the last bit of adrenaline and powering up with sheer fear, he got to his hooves and ran away. Away, away, away, as if he wanted to run through time and space and prevent this whole slaughter from happening. 

No wolves chased him. Apparently, all were loyal to the giant alpha wolf. As soon as Elkia left the murder scene and the wolves disappeared, he tried to see where he was going through tear-struck eyes. Some part of his mind hadn’t shut down with sorrow, fear, guilt, or danger, and that part told him to run towards the rim of the forest, where he had spotted that lone figure. 

It was a good thing he did, because that lone figure, was Alces Roameling.