I sat there, against the trees, the breeze flowing as it should against my bark, its bright colors glowed brightly against my esoteric eyes, nearly blinding me as I stared deep within its protruding oblivion. My reality was that which it was meant to be: bland, boring, and mystical. I cannot explain the reasons for which I am here, nor the reasons I am unlike the others, but I can at least explain how my path crossed with another.
I was quite abnormal among my kind, for they were mindless beasts, yet I had something they did not; consciousness. I wasn’t the biggest of my kind, a bit over average but only do to the dirt clinging to my idle bark. I was made of oak, as the forest around was mostly that breed. My tail was made mostly of leaves and twigs, making it superbly flexible compared to the others. My eyes were a lighter shade of green, presumably a yellow tint, the fire grew diminutively inside of them. Most of my bark was moist from years of taking in water, leaving my body frail and soft. I had horn-like features a top of my head, they rose about a foot and curved into an incomplete arc. My back was made of a small stump, kept together with amber, sap, and twigs, over time it too had become wet and flexible. But the most odd feature of all my mutations had to be not my ability to think, nor feel, nor understand, but my ability to communicate with other creatures, but this was a wasted skill as those creatures could not speak back, forever alone in this world had I always been, always would be it seemed.
I laid there on a hill that the forest spread around itself, the fragmented bumps that dotted the land, bearing homes to all creatures, big and small. The day was bright, even though these trees, which gave me my dubious life, blocked out the radiant shine that was always giving us the finest form of warmth onto our bodies. Today was the greatest day of my life, as it was just like the rest: lazy, lonely, and lifeless..
It began dull, just as I loved each day of my intrusive journey, laying in the same place on this hill that this “pack” calls home, watching these mindless beasts give their folly obedience to another for being stronger, peering as these creatures did their daily routines of catching a next meal or terrorizing the innocents that bordered our forests. It all began so ordinarily as if it would be the same as the next, maybe we gained a new pack member, or lost one, as our numbers were always a variable, but then it happened, something that I could never conceive to be done, especially by these monstrosities.
Normally, Alpha, sends out a few of our decent sized pack, which were, on average around twenty-seven timber wolves, out to gather food, the constant need for all living things. It was clear we were more complex creatures than most beings in this plane of existence. Our diets were also quite affected with an abnormality, consisting not of fruit or vegetables, but of this aberrant elixir of unfathomable origins, which I took upon calling blight water.
Alpha sent them out in groups of three, usually coming back with barely enough to last the pack a day at a time, but it was something. Today they came back with a surplus, just enough to give a few something extra to crave, but it wasn’t just this accustomed product in which they came back with today, no today they came back with life, the life of a creature we do not trend in sparing, a pony.
Long had it been since I last rose from this mound that I frequently settled my roots to. The situation below my over watch became atrocious to my eyes as they carried this kidnapped filly off to Alpha, and he was not the timber wolf to trifle with.
All the “special” findings of the pack’s hunt went to Alpha, he was always the separator of our “treasures.” This was the first time in my second century of life that they had brought back a pony, a filly no less.I could hear the delicate child as she struggled and screamed for her freedom, but such a small creature has no resistance that we cannot handle. These forests were our domain, settled miles from pony civilization, as we had we been for ages since beyond my long life, any escapee would be put down easily and served for Alpha as a trophy.
She let out a scream, the high toned pitch blasting around more than the last cry of the rabbit. I’m sure it would’ve hurt had we been organic, but still an annoying sound from such a young female.
We’ve killed younglings before; ravens, foxes, rabbits, chickens, any critters we could get our hands on, but the task of eating them was unnecessary and only to show disrespect towards their death. Never had we let one go, but for some odd reason, I felt pity towards this one, pity that I could not feel towards any other creature that we had slaughtered with our fangs, spikes dipping deep into their necks, the blood staining our mounds that we called home in a crimson unity.
Ages had it been since my decrepit legs needed to work, longer since I had to deal with anything inside of the clan. I stumbled and shook trying to gather my strength back from all that neglect I had sucumb to giving my own mystical body.
They brought the filly forth towards the dome of our lord, his tree sap dripping down that ablazed jaw of his, a mark from a raid that I did not take part with. He rose up to his great height, hovering over us all as if he was a god among the forest. There was a fiery aura about him, his presence scared even these “subjects” of the forest, they cowered back as the filly was left alone with this great brute.
The filly tried to squirm away, unsure what to do, digging her head into her orange feathers, rubbing her purple mane along the ground and curling into a ball. Alpha took a large sniff of her, smelling her scent, readying to decide whether she would live or die.
He gave his terrifying roar, trembled and stumbled had his minions done in response to its magnitude of effect. Birds fell, cracking their bones and smashing into the trees, dead or unconscious. The trees all around shifted, their branches rattled and leaves fell, covering the grass of our land. For those few seconds it was as if time had stopped, causing great harm to all the little creatures, the creatures that made up the largest of the forest’s population.
His immeasurable front right leg lifted up, the dirt dropping down in bundles and rained down above the filly, he reached down for her, setting his limb down next to her. Alpha kept his stance for merely a few seconds before he turned away and went back to his apocryphal sovereignty.
It meant one thing and one thing only: life. Alpha would keep a pet every few decades, kill them off after a certain time so they could not grow strong, but that was only if they didn’t starve or work themselves to death. She would become a slave, a snack, a play toy, this was her fate, and sealed had it been in our plantae paws.
The three that had been cowering to his voice got back into their terrible stances, pushing the filly towards the den of our “lord.” She attempted to thrash around, anything to postpone the judgement that she was unsure of still. One of the wolves pushing her placed his rigid jaw onto her front left hoof, she screamed some more and tried to pull it out, hitting the beasts in the head with her freed hooves. It was a futile resistance, even if she could escape their herding, she wouldn’t be able to run fast enough to get out of this small hill clearing that we made home.
She seemed like an ignorant child, but how could I blame her? We are still uncommon among the ponies that border our forests, only facing each other every few months, going dormant in the winter just gives them more time to find ways to keep our rare meetings from happening. She had probably never seen our kind before, maybe pictures and tales of us existing, but never the horror of face to face. She was covered in mud, but features were still distinct to me. Her mane and tail were purple, filled with twigs, dirt, and undoubtedly bugs from the forest floor. Her fur seemed to be an orange, or a tint of it at least, probably naturalized to that shade from being outside a lot. Her flank was blank, I knew ponies had some sort of religious thing about a mark on their backsides, but never was I interested in what it was all for, nor did I decide to ever get close to one to chat, for they all run in terror from this unapproachable being that I seem to be. I caught only a glimpse of her hooves, the left hind one, it had roughened up by the looks of it, scrapes and cuts that appeared to be new, it looked like a hardened hoof, clearly she was not one for an easy life.
It took her a bit to catch on that her efforts were in vain, she simply gave up on fighting the wolves that guided her towards Alpha’s den, but she didn’t walk with the wolves, her hooves dragged behind in the dirt, making a track of her kidnapping. She sighed in defeat, small tears dripping down to the ground which she would be calling her home if she survived a bit as a pet. Slowly she started to cry, her light sobs echoed within our casts and came through as if we were made of the wind.
There was nothing for me to do, I felt my pity for her, but she was out of my reach. The darkness grew abundant over our small convention, more than usual from the trees, night was upon us early this day, or maybe I just woke up late, time doesn’t tell monstrosities many stories. My old branches were rickety, cracking under the weight of my stump back. It was time for me to once again assume the position of my hill, watching over these creatures, examining their bizarre order that they had somehow managed to keep for centuries on end.
My limbs creaked as I slowly walked up this small mound that no other would call for their den. I did not feel pain, we wolves never did, even though I had the mental ability to think and feel emotions, pain was just absent, always was. I could’ve just swapped out my old limbs and abdomen for new parts from the great forest, how mystical that ability was that gave us such a prolonged life. For us to die you had to capture our spirits and even then we were still alive, just unable to reform our timber structures.
It wasn't long before I reached my small dug-in area for me to lie down and rest my eternal body. The ground had become moistened from the cold, dark night approaching, the trees sprinkling down water from the days rain, which it normally blocked out for a bit. My soul was tired, tired of it all, but my body could’ve gone on for another era without rest. Some days I wished that I could understand, but some nights I just wished for a conversation with an intelligent being.
I laid down, the grass and dirt settling in with my twigs, branches, and the sap that kept it all together. Slowly my fire died down, the flames in my eyes retreated back into nothing, only firewood remained.
I awoke to a tranquil day, birds of all species came and sang loudly and colorfully throughout our forest. It was as if the day would be filled with an unusual song for a special occasion. Alpha did not take kindly towards all the noise, along with the great song did their lives end by our claws. Again and again had our ground been stained in the blood of other specimens. The sun shined bright, I’m sure it did, but the leafy sky of our domain blocked out all light, and so the dark was our mother.
Below my lonely property sat the coalition all getting ready for the blight water to be delivered, it was near time for our thirsts to be quenched. Our clan was strong, but without our supplements we were weak and unable to take form. This magical black liquid would kill any sentient that attempted its thirst upon it. Weeks had it been since I last took part in a extravagant drinking, my soul had been weaker than the others, but strong enough to survive in this shambled body of mine.
My frail mouth had been dry, just as my soul, it was time for me to join the pack. I got up, my rotten body was starting to succumb to neglect and irreplacement, making me stumble on my way down the hill. My left hind leg began to crack, twigs and branches breaking off of it and thinning it down to a few sticks that were just strong enough to consider it a usable limb. Leaves and sap slid off my apathetic form, falling slowly, still-like onto the motionless ground before the wind would eventually take them away, far off into the abyss that I call life.
Finally, after my leg had been withered down, I had reached the group readied for their long awaited caravan of ambrosia. We had gathered among a small pond area in front of the elder’s nest. The pond’s ground was black with soot left over from ages of feasts, polluted beyond the healing abilities that nature provided over time.
Rustling came from the bushes not to far, their bodies emerged slowly, a group of three just as usual returned with their abdomens swollen in an unusual way. They walked over to the dry pond, setting their sides towards it, slowly their chests untangled their leaves, twigs, and other restricted foliage, the blight water fell down into the pit, splashing and spraying the claws of all those who surrounded it.
In a moment the dugout had been filled with the grave fluid, the beasts dashed their heads straight into it, draining it almost as quickly as it had been filled. Our heads were submerged, our wooden frames became damp and revived in a morbid fashion. Soon the drink was gone, and so another scavenger came and let down his catch for the rest to drink.
This time the fill drained slower, as some turned away from getting their ration. I kept there for it had been necessary for myself to get more due to my constant laziness and distance with the pack itself. I gulped up more than I usually would, but this time I tried to savor it, the taste wasn't very pleasant, it was nothing compared to the flesh of a sentient, a fresh bird was more enjoyable than this necessity.
As more and more wolves turned away from the fill, I noticed something unusual take steps towards the pond, the filly. She seemed weak, taking her time and nuzzling her position right next to mine. Her mouth was gaping, the bags under her eyes were very obvious to mine, I knew what she wanted.
She reached the pond, her neck extended and lowered down into the death waters. Finally, I had an intelligent creature to have a conversation with eventually, and now she was going to die, and this I would not allow. I slammed my head against her body, throwing her away from the blackness that would have overtaken her body. She slammed and rolled against the ground, stunned and unable to regain her balance right away. She gave out her soft cry of pain, as breathless as she was I could still hear it clearly. I had given her pain, but to save her is what I wanted.
She got up, sobbing, tears running down her face, washing away the filth and muck that laid on her fur, abundantly. Slowly she walked back towards the pond, desperate for a drink. I turned away from it, wanting for the filly to live. She pressed forward, even as I placed myself in her path, still she altered her course around me, such an ignorant child she must have been to do such a thing to the mindless beast that I appeared to be. I growled at her, trying to quell her attempts for life, but silent ears are troublesome things.
The ground shook suddenly, his feet rose and stomped down, the giant claw prints dotted exactly where he stepped, set deep within the ground as Alpha was ready to partake in his voluminous grail. The third scavenger wolf let out his amount again as the almighty one came down. Wolves ran away, fearing and respecting his wrath that would reign upon any that would not tremble at such an abomination.
I had to do what I have done since my creation; run. I grabbed the filly with my mouth, a gentle grip I bestowed onto her, one to make sure she would stay with me, but not too strong that she would be hurt. She flailed around still, shocked and unsure what was happening with her tired eyes. I’m not sure, but somehow Alpha did not take any notice to me sweeping away his “pet.” I walked fast up the hill, leaves and twigs broke off of my legs as I climbed up and into my pit.
I dropped her down, unconscious she laid when her body bounced off the floor, dry blood and wet mud covered her body as she took her passive slumber on the bed of her savior. I sat myself down, guarding her body from sight. I open my chest cavity, sliding her inside and into the warmth of my inconceivable soul.
I stayed still for hours, making sure she was latent throughout the entire event of Alpha’s feast. She snorted quietly, barely a peep came from her sounds, maybe it was my isolation of her that suppressed it, or maybe her body somehow knew, but I was probably wrong either way, it’s not like I needed to know.
The day grew into a tragic silence, nothing but this filly asleep could I hear outside of my mound. The rustling of the bushes and trees ceased, even the birds that kept singing joined in the dead silence. For once in my life, it was truly placid, finally with a being that I could talk to and understand, something I could hold a conversation with right there besides me, and I chose to utter no word. I kept her warm, and she embodied my own form.
I just watched the world go by, this dark realm that I was bound to for reasons I could not tell other than my innate discretion. Water continued to drip gradually down, sprinkling the dirt and making small ripples before they descended within the earth. I felt refreshed, as it this was reviving the parts of me that I had stuffed into the ground to stay still, lifeless as I felt.
Eventually the filly woke up, scared and frightened by the fact that not only did she not know where she was, but that she was probably in complete darkness. She kicked and heaved her breath, gasping for more air than my abdominal cavity could keep within, despite the many holes that covered around, most being filled with sap and amber. She started ramming her hooves into the walls of my chest, banging the foliage off, creating holes and making current ones bigger, she tore through, trying to escape her nightmarish situation.
I opened my hold, revealing the forest back to her as she bolted out with sear promise of a bright day ahead of her, only to be put down by the disbelief that I had gave her. Her breath was constant, heavy, and desperate. Sweat poured down her body, wetting her fur as the sediment ran off with her body fluid.
She had no resistance towards me, she fell straight down, collapsing onto the dirt next to me. I nuzzled my head against hers, trying to comfort her, to show her that it was alright. Mentally she had awoken, physically she was gone, paralyzed from weakness. I kept close, snuggling down next to her in a ball, trying to keep her calm, to let her know I was not to harm her.
The stars once again took over the sky, or so I thought. Whether is was night or day, my mind was tired, and so was the filly once more. I dozed off quietly, the fire in my eyes shriveled down into little embers as we both fell into a slumber, unable to sense the world around us as we slept.
I did not wake, my ability of consciousness only haunted me further with the aberration of dreams. They were still rare among my divergent conception of life. Most were the same, wanting to run wild with the pack among an open field, not as a timber wolf, but as a different creature, one very close but at the same time more real, a non-mystical creature that roamed free as nomads. I was a real wolf in these dreams, one of flesh and blood, not of timber and ash.
This dream was different, I wasn't roaming, I wasn't some nomadic wolf that if I could talk I could tell you a thousand stories of epic adventures. I was simply myself, I wasn't running in this dream, I was standing among my pack, their heads turned towards where I stood among my hill, Alpha among them too.
They bowed, all acted as if I was their god, their messiah from some faraway place sent to save them from being the beasts that they were. They formed into a perfect assembly of straight lines, which normally would be impossible had this been real and not a dream. There was more wolves in this dream than what our pack could have, more came from the forest slowly, entering this small clearing and joining the design that they were perfecting.
I gave my howl and they howled back, the ground shook and it seemed that I could see them for what they were meant to be, the bark and twigs fell one by one from their deceased bodies, each piece replaced with fur and flesh as they turned into new creatures, different species the lot of them, some wolves, some buffalo, some even into ponies, but I stayed the same. I was forbidden from changing my form, but it seemed like a sacrifice I had to make for their undeserved reward.
There I sat a top of this hill palace as these newly created beings bowed, each praising me for reasons I could not understand, and to my left sat this strange filly, the very one I had kept inside of my for hours on end. I couldn’t tell why, but she seemed important. I had barely known her for a day, not a conversation spoken yet, and somehow I knew she would be trouble.
I looked down again, the sentient's kept their bows, praising me for whatever I had just done, they worshipped me like a god, but I didn't want to be a god, especially their god. And so I woke from this nightmare, wanting to forget it all when my mind came back into reality.