I've decided to make a new deer, as if I need more. I thought the Rock Hound event Quad is doing would be a great way to introduce her. She is greatly inspired by the art and story telling of Hiromou Arakawa and the music of Akira Senju.

Shameless plug

Raaarrggh I apologize for typos and such, but that's what I get for editing this at 2:30am.

--





“Wake up.”

Ren Shi opened her eyes with a start, surprised by the voice that filled her mind, though she would forget it when she felt herself in an unfamiliar body. She felt her precious mask covering her face and the comfort of her hood covering her head, neck, and shoulders, but her neck felt so long! She lifted up her head and suddenly felt the rest of her body. She gasped and scrambled to her feet- no, hooves-, overwhelmed by it all for a moment. She was on all fours! And her hands were no more! And where had the rest of her clothes gone? Fur!

“Be at rest, young one. It is safe now.” It was the voice again. Well, it was really two voices, distinct, yet hard to identify as male or female.

Ren Shi stopped a moment, trying to remember what had happened last, but just as the memories threatened to form and replay in her mind’s eye, she immediately dismissed them. It was too painful.

“Will you help us?”

The now-doe-formerly-human’s thoughts were once again turned around by the words filling her brain. Who were the voices? Help them? Didn’t they save her? And why could she understand this foreign language?

“You will know them when you see them. Remove their life source, and bring them to us.”

She wasn’t sure what they spoke of, but she felt their sincerity. She couldn’t help but feel the desire to return the debt of her life being saved, even if in this strange form.

“I will help you.” She spoke in her native tongue, a language that would evoke visions of tall green mountains and thick, damp bamboo forests.

The voices said no more. Ren Shi looked out to the forest and scanned the area. She then looked down at herself again, the long tassels that tied the mask to her still human face dangling and waving in the gentle breeze. Her hood had grown long and large, accommodating the wearer’s new form and resting in a bunch at her shoulders. She turned her head back to look at the long body that trailed behind. While it was not a totally foreign shape, being obviously a deer of some kind, the colors were indeed unusual, with dark blue on top and a black stripe separating where the fur turned white.

She had never truly believed in magic, but this was undeniable.

Gathering herself in mind and spirit, Ren Shi took her first steps in the Endless Forest.

--


It hadn’t been long before she spotted them, and indeed, she did know them when she did. Rather, she felt them. Even though she sensed that the forest was full of countless kinds of energies, none had felt so alien.

She had been examining the largest oak in the forest, a hollowed out thing that made a pleasant humming sound as the wind glided through. A strange sensation slowly began to creep up her spine, and it took her a moment to realize that it was another life force not far away, as that was how different it was. As she looked toward where she thought the feeling was coming from, Ren Shi’s cautious mind wondered if this what the voices had spoken of. With her ears and eyes open, she began her search.

She passed by a hill with twin statues upon its crest. She paused briefly to look at them before continuing on her way, though footsteps behind her told her of someone climbing the hill’s face. She did not bother looking back at the stranger, for she could tell its life force was of a benevolent sort.

After another few moments of walking, the footsteps of the stranger suddenly hurriedly approached her. Before she could turn around to face it, a bright light blinded her. She cried out in surprise, jumping to the conclusion that this was an attack of some sort, and she reared up and struck out in her second’s blindness. Though, she immediately fell back down to the earth when she heard a child’s cry of fear, followed by the clearing of her vision. The fawn, as the stranger turned out to be, cowered sadly, though its fur was glowing a bright white color. Ren Shi relaxed her posture to a calm and curious one, trying to convey she meant no harm. The fawn seemed to relax some, but it bowed apologetically before running away, losing its brilliant whiteness as it did so.

Ren Shi shook her head in confusion. What was that light? Then, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that her own pelt was glowing a bright white as well. She didn’t think too much of it, as it didn’t seem to cause the fawn any harm, and it looked to be temporary.

As she turned to continue her search, she noticed something strange. She could feel her mask’s long tassels swinging through the air, as if they were her own appendages. Looking down at them, they raised upward a little. It was as if they were her hands, complying with her desire to examine them.

“What is this…?” She asked aloud, a little unnerved by this new magic.

“A gift.” The voices were even more permeating here, and Ren Shi flinched violently at the “loudness” in her brain.

But wasn’t she returning a debt she owed by completing this task set for her? Did these voices want to burden her with more tasks to complete in return for this gift? She did not understand.

“You will need it. Beware.”

Before she could ponder these words, the alien life force suddenly grew much stronger. Whatever this thing was, it was approaching quickly. She charged forward to meet her enemy, leaving the white pelt of the gods behind.

--

Ren Shi’s target quickly crossed the crest of a hill that had obscured her vision. If she had not been so focused on her task, she would have gasped at the sight. A large wolf skeleton, held together by some strange black goo and glowing blue eye sockets was headed straight for her. At the last second, Ren Shi used her newfound cervine agility to suddenly twist in another direction, letting the strange beast run right past her. With the remaining momentum, she placed herself in the position of chaser.

The dead wolf seemed momentarily caught off guard, as it tried to skid to a halt and twist its own body around, though the doe was already upon it.

Ren Shi wasn’t sure how combat worked in this form, but she thought following her instincts was probably the best way to go. She lashed out at the creature’s spine with her hooves and managed to land a blow before the wolf had turned itself back around, slashing its fangs at her.

Even though Ren Shi had landed the hit, the wolf seemed completely unharmed. It was retaliating in full force, not at all hazed by her attack. It managed to graze her shoulder before she leapt aside, and a steady flow of blood began to creep down her leg.

But the wolf was right on the heels of her retreat. Ren Shi decided she would have to outrun it for now, perhaps try confusing maneuvers to disorient her pursuer. She ignored her injury, having fought and ran with far worse injuries before.

She raced for a stream, and with a huge leap, cleared the distance between the banks. The wolf also tried to make the leap, but it just fell short, having to scramble up the edges to keep from falling into the water.

Ren Shi took the opportunity to collect her bearings once more, and turned to face the skeleton as it did the same. The voices had said something about removing its life source…

The wolf charged again, though Ren Shi dodged cleanly. Grace wasn’t this creature’s strong point, and she decided she would take full advantage while she thought of how to beat this monster.

It was obvious the black goo held the creature together and animated it, but it probably was not the source of the wolf’s life. It was likely this substance was replacing the muscle rather than the brain. So what was that blue glow? Could that be the life source? But how to remove it? She had to somehow break open that skull, but her previous attack proved this would be no easy task.

Or maybe she didn’t have to break anything. Her tassels were small enough that they could easily wind their way through the eye socket of the wolf’s skull. Ren Shi only hoped that whatever was making the blue glow was small enough to be drug back out.

With her ultimate goal in mind, she began to make a mock retreat. Since she had these tassels under her control, she might as well take advantage of them. She needed to find a tool, something of just the right length.

She spied what appeared to be some an old stone building through the forest. Ren Shi headed straight for the ruins, thankful for such a potentially fruitful source of weapons. It was getting harder and harder to outrun this beast, and she noticed its untiring form steadily closing the gap between them. But she was determined to ignore the aching of her shoulder.

When she was close, the doe could see a tall metal cage sitting in the center of the ruins, and one of the bars had broken halfway and jutted out at a funny angle. Perfect.

Instead of aiming straight for it, she just barely ran past the ruins and attempted another feint. The wolf was fixated on her, though, and it managed to slash out at her hind leg just below the hock. Though the wound was smaller in size, more blood poured from it, and it was painful for Ren Shi to put weight on that hoof.

She cried out in pain, though she was undeterred, and used what precious time she had created as the skeleton scrambled for the slightest second to reach out for her chosen weapon. Without stopping, she grabbed the bar with both tassels and, with a great bound, yanked it from the earth with surprising ease and cleared the low wall.

When she landed, the doe swung out her new weapon as she turned, not really seeing where she was aiming, but she knew the hound was somewhere behind. She was thrown off her balance somewhat, as the blow she did land was sloppy, though it did knock the wolf aside for a moment. It was a draw.

Ren Shi tried to make some distance between them again, but the wolf had learned. As the doe turned her back, the bony claws were upon her back, and fangs began biting into her flesh. Yelling out in pain, she instinctively bucked and reared in a frenzy, shaking small splatters of blood into the air, but her tassels clung to her weapon desperately.

Without really thinking, she reared up so high that she fell over backwards on top of the skeleton. This did seem to startle the beast, as its grip briefly released.

Ren Shi took advantage of this moment and rolled onto her side, preparing to stab her opponent. She did not intend to render flesh asunder. She simply wanted to create an opportunity.

With a loud, heavy thunk, the metal beam had been firmly buried into the ground between the wolf’s ribs. The creature had not risen to its feet and was now pinned to the ground for a few vital seconds.

Scrambling to her feet and gritting her teeth in effort, Ren Shi knew what she had to do. Quickly grabbing the jaws of the wolf in one tassel, she probed the skull with the other. She could feel every crevice within and the texture of the bone upon the thread as if it were her very flesh. Just as the wolf’s flailing threatened to loose the metal beam from the earth, the warrior-doe violently yanked her tassel, breaking some of the more delicate bone structure inside the skull, back out. Its end had wrapped itself around a small, blue crystal.

In that moment, the possessed bones fell to the earth. The entire structure of the skeleton seemed to come apart, as Ren Shi was now holding a skull no longer attached to a body. The black goo had lost all animation, and was hissing violently in the sunlight as it bubbled and smoked as a simple puddle on the ground.

The warrior-doe fell to her knees, breathing heavily and letting out a moan of pain. The bites on her back were particularly deep, though she was fairly certain her life was in no immediate danger. She would be sure to find something to clean her wounds with later.

Ren Shi let her mind gather itself for a few more moments, and she still clutched the large, now truly dead, skull and the blue crystal. Still breathing rather hard and her sweat and blood carrying away excess heat, she examined her bounty. She knew she was supposed to take this crystal somewhere, but the voices that had spoken to her were only in her mind.

The sound of pounding hooves drew her attention farther out, and she saw in the distance a brilliant white stag race through the forest. It was the same whiteness that had appeared on that fawn and on herself. Though, not two seconds after she had caught sight of the stag, the whiteness vanished, leaving rusty browns in its place.

Ren Shi briefly remembered how the voices had been so loud when she wore the pelt. But where was the source of that pelt? Maybe somewhere around those statues, she would find her answer.

--

Ren Shi slowly made her way back to those statues, favoring the leg that had been cut by the wolf. The bleeding of the rest of her wounds had slowed, however, though she could feel the stiffness and pain of swelling beginning to set in. There wasn’t much she could do besides keep moving to keep her circulation going. She still had both the skull and crystal, one object per tassel. Her warrior's pride made her keep the skull as a trophy as sorts.

When she saw the huge singing oak tree, she knew she was close. She relaxed some, no longer feeling the strange, alien life force. There must have been more of them, but they weren’t near now.

She caught the sound of light, trotting hoof beats approaching her. As her gaze followed, she noticed a chubby blackbuck with a worried look on his face hurriedly making his way to her. Ren Shi turned to face him, unsure what to make of the stranger but not feeling threatened by him.

“Hey, so you’re the one that Rock Hound was fighting! I’m so sorry…” He spoke quickly and apologetically. Even though this was a language Ren Shi had not heard, she understood it. She looked at him curiously, guessing this “Rock Hound” had been the skeletal wolf, but she didn’t understand why he was apologizing.

He continued to speak, nodding to the blue crystal in her tassel, “Those crystals there are what keeps them alive, but I guess you figured that out… I’m making sure that those who are lucky enough to take them get them to the Twin Gods.”

Ren Shi nodded slowly, beginning to put the pieces together. Those statues must have represented these Twin Gods he spoke of.

Seeing that she understood, the blackbuck continued again, “I can take that crystal off your hooves. You need to find someone to help with your wounds. Again, I’m so sorry… I feel like this is all my fault…”

Ren Shi had no idea how this blackbuck was connected to the Rock Hounds, but she could tell he wasn’t lying, and that he truly wanted to help her. She just shook her head dismissively, offering the tassel wrapped around the crystal.

“Ah… Thank you.” The blackbuck smiled appreciatively and took the crystal in his mouth. His next words were muffled, but Ren Shi could hear them fine, “There are plenty of healers in the forest. I don’t think you’ll have trouble finding one. I bet they’ll find you first.”

Ren Shi smiled skeptically. It wasn’t often someone took her by surprise.

As the blackbuck turned to leave, he turned back around and said, “My name is Quad, by the way. Um, what’s yours? I want to tell the Twin Gods.”

Ren Shi looked him in the eye a moment. “Ren Shi.” She said nothing else.

“Ren Shi…” The blackbuck tried the name out for himself, though the crystal in his mouth made him lisp. “I’ll make sure to let them know. Thank you.” And with a smile and a nod, Quad was on his way.

Ren Shi watched him go for a few more moments. When he was out of sight, she scanned the area again before setting off in a new direction in what she assumed to be her new home.