The Forest was filled with snow, and the Pond was frozen just enough for the fawns to slide across on their little hooves. The adults laughed and conversed while the little ones bounded in the snow, leaving hoof tracks and even trying to draw their pictograms in the snow with their hooves.

Deep in the Birch Forest, four young deer worked on a creation. ”I just love the idea of making a dragon in the snow!”, Kamikazi said excitedly.

”I thought it was some weird deer…”, Seda spoke.

“It’s a ‘kirin’, kind of a mix between a dragon and a deer.”, Anjali explained.

”Well I’m going to just love it when it’s finished!”, Blue said happily.

The four continued to build on the snow creature. They put leaves down it’s sides, giving it a green stripe for a bit of color. The mane of the kirin was covered with willow leaves. They put long stalks of field grass on the snout to give it whiskers. And even the eyes were made from special pale-blue stones that the Twin Gods gave them.

The four were very pleased with their creation, as the snow kirin sat like a statue, guarding and protecting them with a pose much like that of a gargoyle. But then Seda tilted his head, ”It doesn’t have antlers…”, he spoke.

”Hmm…well we could go find some fallen twigs for antlers I suppose…”, Kamikaze suggested.

Anjali shook his head, “I think we could find a real pair of antlers, I’m sure someone’s shedding theirs this late in the year.”, he thought.

”Oh good idea! Let’s go find some antlers for our new friend!”, Blue agreed.

The four wandered off in separate directions, hoping they would find a special pair of antlers to complete the snow kirin.

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On the edge of the Birch was Darkweaver, who treaded alone in the snow. He scratched the old fallen logs, hoping to find some plump grubs hiding inside the bark. The frost had made the bark much harder to break open, and when Darkweaver struck the log with a forceful blow, his antlers snapped and fell into the snow.

He looked down at them, surprised at his own power, while also grimacing that he no longer had a pair of antlers to use during the winter months. ”Mrhh…it will grow back, I suppose…”, he said, and then left the place, going to find other potential meals. The antlers lay in the snow for a few moments before Blue and Kamikaze found them.

”Oh look, these will do perfectly!”, Blue spoke, picking up one of the antlers in his mouth.

”Yeah, these look good! Let’s take them back!, Kamikaze agreed, and taking the other antler, the two raced back to the Birch where their snowdeer awaited.

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Anjali and Seda had brought back twigs for the antlers when Blue and Kamikaze arrived. The two were surprised by the discovery, and dropping them in the snow, Anjali began to place them on the head of the snow creature. ”Those look great on him!”, Seda exclaimed when they had been attached to the head of the kirin.

But they did not expect the next event to occur, as the antlers began to glow and spark wildly. The four ran off, afraid of what was happening. Kamikaze peeked out from behind a tree, and then shouted, ”Oh my Twin Gods, I think he is alive!”

For before their very eyes, the snowdeer was moving. It’s eyes blinked, snow quickly covering over the blue stones and then returning. The head bobbed and sniffed the air. Even the whiskers of grass were waving back and forth as if they were alive. One by one, the deer approached him, cautious that their now living creation would be dangerous.

Blue was the first to speak, ”Umm…hello there, what is your name?”, he asked.

The kirin looked to him with curiosity on his stone eyes. ”My name? Name…I did not think I had a name…but I suppose any name would do..”, he replied.

”Hey what was that word for ‘dragon’? Wasn’t it…ryuu or something?”, Seda asked his friends.

Anjali nodded, “That right. Do you like the name ‘Ryuu’?”, he asked the snow kirin.

The creature tilted his head in a puzzled way, but then said, ”It is fine. It is fine. I am Ryuu, I suppose.”, he replied.

Kamikaze nodded, ”So what would you like to do, Ryuu?”, he asked.

The kirin stood for the first time, his body seeming oddly fluid. The leaves on his sides waved as his body moved almost effortlessly up and down. He was adjusting to movement for the first time, and looking down to them, he asked, ”What is there to do?”

The four thought for a while. Then Anjali suggested, “We could play ‘Hide and seek’…”

The others nodded, and then looked to Ryuu. He tilted his snowy head, and immediately asked, ”What is this…’hide and seek’?”

They explained the game to him, having to stop every now and then to explain what things were such as trees and boulders. They were quite surprised that their new friend knew next to nothing about the world around them. After all, he had only been living for a few moments.

”I’ll be ‘it’ first. Go on and hide, everyone. I’m counting to 50!”, Seda offered, and shut his eyes.

”Come on, Ryuu! I’ll help you find a place to hide!”, Blue said eagerly, and raced off. Ryuu’s movements were quite slow, as he had to learn how to walk, but then he managed to catch up with the little deer. Kamikaze and Anjali had already found their hiding places, so Blue led Ryuu to the Old Oak. He quickly hid inside and called to Ryuu, ”Quick, in here!”

”Ready or not, here I come!”, Seda called out. Ryuu was unsure what this meant, and looked back in the direction of the other deer’s voice.

”Ryuu! Hurry and hide or you’ll get caught!”, Blue whispered. The kirin went off in a different direction, not hiding in the Oak with Blue, but instead he went to find his own place to hide. He ended up getting lost, and unsure where to go, he began to look around for anyone else.

Someone was walking alone, who he had never seen before, and curiously, he approached this new deer. ”Umm…hello there…I’m apparently new to this place…where exactly am I?”, Ryuu asked.

Darkweaver looked to him, unsure why a total stranger was asking him questions. But then something caught his attention. The antlers on his head… ”Those antlers…where did you get them?”, he immediately asked.

Ryuu was confused, for he didn’t realize he even had antlers. He began to back away when someone poked him in the side. ”Gotcha!”, Seda tagged him, and then turned to see Darkweaver there. ”Ooh…sorry, mister, I didn’t realize you were talking to my new friend.”

”’Friend’…? You consider this…heap of snow…a friend?”, Darkweaver questioned him.

”Snow? What do you mean by…snow?”, Ryuu immediately asked.

”Come on, Ryuu. Let’s leave him alone. I’ll tell you all about this a little later, we need to find the others.”, Seda said, and racing off, he led the snow kirin away. Darkweaver’s eyes followed them, and very soon, he pursued.

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”So…I’m not real?”, Ryuu asked them. Anjali, Blue, and Kamikaze met back up with them, ending the game early, as Seda was a little worried about Ryuu’s meeting with Darkweaver.

”Well, you’re real, but I don’t know if you are…alive…”, Kamikaze spoke.

“We really don’t know how you are moving and such. It was right after we put those antlers on you that…”, Anjali spoke, but Ryuu interrupted, ”The antlers? That other deer was asking about them…”

”Oh geez…those antlers we found, what if they were Darkweaver’s?”, Blue considered.

They sat quietly for a while. Then Seda asked, ”So what are we going to do now? Do we return the antlers?”

Anjali considered this for a moment, but said, “If we do, I’m wondering if Ryuu would turn back into a snow deer…” They looked to Ryuu for the moment, all still in deep thought.

”What if Ryuu fought him for the antlers? I mean, Darkweaver did leave them, right?”, Kamikaze suggested.

”He could…but I don’t know if he could win…”, Blue replied.

”Actually, he might be able to. Darkweaver didn’t have any antlers on his head. So Ryuu could beat him.”, Seda spoke.

Anjali shook his head, “I don’t like this. What if Ryuu gets hurt? What if he…?”, but he couldn’t finish his sentence, for the others were paralyzed with fear.

Darkweaver revealed himself to them, he had been hiding behind the trees and listening in on their conversation. ”Those antlers belong to me…I want them back…”, he demanded.

”No way! We found them fair and square! And Ryuu is going to fight you for them!”, Kamikaze shouted.

The stag chuckled, ”Is that so? Hrmm…alright, you have a fight. Meet me at the Ruins in an hour...I want spectators for this match.”, he spoke, and walked off.

Anjali turned to Ryuu, “I guess you don’t have any other option now…”, he sighed.

Ryuu smiled, ”Just tell me what to do.”, he said.

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A crowd gathered at the Ruins, ready to watch the strange fight between the Cursed Demon and a strange snow kirin. They brought their pinecones and mushrooms to munch on while the fight took place. Darkweaver paced back and forth in anticipation, ready to reclaim his antlers.

When Ryuu appeared, the other deer all gasped in surprise. It was true, there really was a living snow creature among them. ”Are you sure you want to do this?”, Blue asked Ryuu.

The snowdeer nodded, ”I didn’t think I had a choice.”, he bluntly replied. He left their side and stood in the center of the open area.

Darkweaver was in a stance, ready to charge at him, when he remembered he had lost his antlers earlier. How could he forget this? He was too busy planning for the fight to remember that he had lost them earlier.

And before he realized it, Ryuu had charged at him, the snow kirin’s magic antlers striking him in the skull and sending him flying off. Anjali had shown him a little of how to fight, and the magic antlers gave him Darkweaver’s strength, so he was off to a good start. Annoyed, Darkweaver stood and growled. He charged at the snow kirin, and taking a leap, he was going to land a blow, antlers or not. But the magic antlers gave Ryuu other gifts as well, including unnatural agility. He moved out of harm’s way so quickly that he appeared as a blur, sending Darkweaver to the ground with a loud thud. Ryuu smiled, this was actually quite fun for him.

The spectators laughed at the demonic elk. He was irate now, and recklessly attacked at Ryuu. The snowdeer raised up on his hind legs and struck Darkweaver in the skull again, with enough force to knock him out cold.

The area erupted in cheering and gasps. The strange snow kirin defeated a powerful stag in the Endless Forest. Anjali, Blue, Kamikaze, and Seda all danced and laughed, their friend was simply amazing.

“Come on, Ryuu, let’s go. You deserve a trophy for such a great fight!”, Anjali said to the kirin. The five walked off, leaving the Ruins and heading back to the Birch Forest.

There they celebrated with winter mushrooms and other treats. Ryuu tried to eat some of the rewards, but he could not taste them, and simply pretended to enjoy his prizes. The four young bucks carried on their celebration through the night, and after a while they fell asleep, one by one.

Ryuu watched over them, never sleeping. He smiled, happy to have such wonderful friends.

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The morning came, and the Twin Gods had brought a warmer day to give the deer a break from the snow and cold. The four younglings awoke to find Ryuu had melted. A puddle of cold water lay before them, with blue stones, grass and leaves. The magic antlers had disappeared.

”He didn’t even get to say goodbye…”, Seda said, broken hearted that their friend was gone.

Blue nuzzled him, ”Hey maybe the next time it snows, we can make him again!”, he suggested.

”Sounds great. We should save the stones and grass for when it snows!”, Kamikaze agreed.

“But what about the antlers? They’re not here anymore.”, Anjali asked.

The four thought about this for a while. But then Kamikaze said, ”Maybe we can find some better antlers for him next time. I’d say we find some of those zombie antlers, those would look great on him!”

”Yeah! Maybe someone will have shed theirs, we’ll just have to go looking again!”, Blue eagerly spoke.

”Then it’s agreed! Ryuu, we’re going to bring you back to the Forest again one day!”, Seda called out, hoping the snow kirin could hear him.



And Ryuu, who had been listening to them all from the leftover snow on the trees and ground, smiled. ”Thank you, my friends. Thank you. Until we meet again…, he spoke to them through a whisper in the wind.