<=To chapter 7 * To chapter 9=>

Author's Notes: x_x Uh, yea. I keep staying up late typing these. Forgive any typos you find, but do point them out. XD; Anyway, we've finally reached the end of...something. You'll find out when you read. XD; And yes, I basically reworded a forum post I made some months ago for more than half of this. =P It was perfect for this chapter, but I improved it. X]
Alright, enough insane 4:30am ramblings from me. Onto

Origins
Chapter 8
~*~
He’d finally done it.

Scape had mastered water-walking.

Without having to worry about losing his set, the fawn had no concern over falling in the pond. He had fallen, too. Multiple times. But it had been worth it once he’d finally timed the walking right.

Another fawn had mastered it at the same time as him, too, it seemed.

He’d found that same young stag later in the day, and together they had a fun time of merging with the pillars and rocks at the Playground. They’d even formed a multiple-headed rock when another fawn and the same stag that Scape knew – Sluggs – came along.

The fawn was called Seed. Even after their second meeting, the fawns were friends already.

As the days went on, the colors continued to fall from the sky, brightening all whose moods were down.

Scape now considered Seed his best friend. Whenever they were both awake in the Forest at the same time, antics would ensue.

Despite the lack of spells being able to stick to him anymore, the young deer had a great fawn-hood, and even managed to learn some of the latest tricks that were discovered, such as air-sitting.

But nothing beat hiding in a tree.

Scape would do this as often as he could, since he knew he would have trouble finding trees big enough once he grew up. It was one of the things he’d miss about being a fawn.

It was on a day that he was playing in the birch forest – the warm-toned forest Scape had been “born” in – that the young buck decided to hide in one of the giant trees. The other deer he was hanging out with laughed, joining in on the hiding. These trees were some of the few that actually were big enough for them all to hide in. They had some fun dancing while sticking out from them, and also falling on their backs with laughter, literally falling out of the tree. Scape liked the “shing” sound the trees made as he stepped through them.

After awhile a few of the others had to go, leaving the fawn and the last stag alone.

It was Halogen, one of Scape’s closest friends, and probably the first friend he’d made in the Forest. He’d originally been calling him “Prongs”, as he’d only recently learned how to pronounce Halogen’s pictogram.

Not sure what to do now, Scape hopped back in the tree, sticking his head out.

Halogen laughed, soon joining in. He even went fawn for a moment!

That was another great thing about growing up – if you wanted to go back to being a fawn, you could for awhile. Downside was…

The stag turned back into himself.

…you lost all your spells.

He pretended to look confused at his naked-ness, but soon he was on the ground laughing his head off, Scape falling out of the tree from cracking up, too.

It wasn’t long before Halogen had to go.

Not feeling like making the long journey back to the Crying Idol, the fawn decided to curl up right there next to the trees he and his friends had been playing in.



Scape woke up where he had fallen asleep last night. He shakily got to his feet. The sensation was oddly familiar.

Except, when he looked around, everything seemed…different somehow. He couldn’t put his hoof on it, but everything seemed smaller for some reason.

He tilted his head. How bizarre.

But wait.

That simple motion felt off, too.

His head felt heavier! It was like two weights had been attached to the sides of his head, just above his ears.

Gray eyes widened.

Of course that’s what happened! It could only be one thing!

He’d finally reach stag-hood!

Looking down to see his legs had darkened from the fawn-lightness, he also turned to gaze at his back. Completely free of fawn spots.

It was true then!

He reared, shouting out his joy to the birch forest. A few squirrels passing by froze in their tracks, standing on their haunches in alarm before darting for cover.

Good thing no other deer were around to see this. They might think him crazy as he began running around in circles, laughing his head off.

Even his voice was different, much more grown up. Not that he hadn’t expected it to be. It’s just that he hadn’t expected it to be today.

He skidded to a halt at a sudden realization. Him growing up today meant that spells would no longer fade from him shortly after being cast. He grinned.

Unable to contain the excitement of having spells stick to him again, Scape took off.

And oh, what a strange sight he found.

Zombies had overrun the forest!

…ok, so they hadn’t.

But somehow Sluggs had found a way to clone himself. There were multiple zombie deer all dancing near the Old Oak.

Normal deer would’ve run screaming for their lives. But not Scape. Ever since the first deer he’d spotted as a fawn – which had been a zombie – he’d loved seeing that set in the Forest.

With fresh excitement at growing up still brewing in his veins, the now-stag joined the Slugg-clones’ dance.

It wasn’t long before more deer showed up – as well as more zombie clones. The dancing ended up morphing into a long line-dance.

Poof. All the Sluggs zombies disappeared at once. The dance was over then.

Scape blinked. ‘Ok…that was weird. Cool. But weird.’

Realizing all he had on was the purple flowers he’d pick up as a fawn, the stag ran off in search of a trees with mushrooms. It wasn’t long after he started calling for help with spells that a deer from the line dance – Mushroom, their picto read – came over and cast the right mask, on the first try!

He now had a shiny Orca mask just like the one from his fawn-hood.

Two more deer came over – Ahi and Taiko if he read their pictograms right – probably from hearing Scape’s earlier calls.

It wasn’t long before his set was complete.

Scape now had the set he’d decided on during Mardi Gras – the Nightfall pelt, Orca mask, and Orca antlers.

He thanked the other deer for their help, running off to show everyone he knew that he’d grown up.

Scape ended up back at the Old Oak, and surprisingly, the zombie Sluggs clones were back. This time they appeared to have a leader, too – a stag in a butterfly pelt – who walked along the line they had formed. He didn’t seem to be a very good leader, though, for soon the zombies surrounded Scape!

It was a good thing zombie-deer didn’t scare him. He just watched in amusement as they tried to scare him, with little success. He was too amused to be freaked out.

Passersby would probably run at the sight.

The zombies, probably seeing they weren’t having any effect, promptly disappeared in puffs of purple smoke again.

Scape just chuckled to himself, deciding to find a nice place to rest for awhile. There would be time to have more fun – and find more of his friends – later.