Yeees. My rock hound story. Bleh, it's really sucky, I didn't spend much time on it and got a little lazy near the end. Forgive the quality-lack and the length. >u<'

LAME TITLE IS LAME. D8





The forest was oddly quiet as the pair walked through the rain, early morning mist swirling around them like ghostly fingers. They seemed to be the only living souls in the forest, probably because everyone else was holed up at home, or hiding in the great oak to avoid the chilly droplets of rain; but not these two. The trekked through the forest like they owned the place, occasionally calling out to each other and breaking the eerie silence that had fallen over the forest.

The first of the pair, a small blue-gray deer with huge black eyes and long ears, bounced happily along. He seemed to disappear into the mist on occasion, but the large brown doe that followed behind him never took a wrong step. She seemed to have a kind of inbuilt radar that located the small stag, and when he materialized at random, she wasn’t the least bit surprised. He disappeared often, and she was left to follow him only by the mossy scent that rolled off of him in waves. He always smelled like the pond, whether the air was damp or not. He enjoyed the rain, for it rolled off his waterproof coat easily, while the brown and white doe hated it with the core of her being. The rain had already soaked through her long, shaggy fur, despite their being out only ten minutes or so, and it now hung limply at her sides. But the droplets mostly splashed onto her skinless face, rolled down her chin and onto her already soaked chest. She shook herself, shivering as more of the icy water rolled down her throat.

She was chilled to the bone, literally in some places, but it wasn’t just the rain. She felt watched, violated by something that was hiding somewhere behind them. She knew the small male felt it too, and she didn’t feel the need to bring it up. Not yet, at least. Not until they knew what it was. She would have turned around and demanded the being come out, but there were enough creepers in the forest, anyways. It could have been someone she knew, like Six, for example. But it didn’t feel like him. It didn’t feel right. The stag before her would have pinpointed and identified it by now, probably. He was like that. Mysterious, and wicked intelligent. If he wasn’t overly worried, then she figured it wasn’t anything awful. But, that didn’t stop her from keeping her senses on high.

“Oi, Levi. C’mon, Tangle doesn’t have all day.” Leviathann hadn’t known she had stopped, so when the blue buck appeared out of nowhere and growled at her, she blinked stupidly for a second. Her head cocked slightly when the deer pulled under her, brushing against her legs briefly. “It’s nothing to worry about. Yet. Follow old Tangle, he’ll get us there.”

“Of course.” Levi said, and though she was still partially distracted, she strolled after Tangle. “Where are we going again, Tang?”

“Twin Gods. Yes, Tangle needs to question on certain topic.”

“What topic,” Leviathann attempted to ask just before something shot through the underbrush and headed at Tangle. She called out, but the small deer vanished in a blur of motion, and the attacker crashed head-first into a nearby tree. It got up, shook itself and turned away to leave. Until it’s eyes fastened on Leviathann. A snarl erupted from the skeletal being, and the doe matched his pitch with a hiss of her own. The faced off for a moment.

“Who are you?” She questioned, ears pulling flat against her skull.

The beast didn’t respond, and Leviathann noticed with impending horror, that it looked like a wolf with no muscular structure, or skin for that matter. No organs, either. A flare of dread blossomed in her chest. Wolves hunted her kind, and they knew how to hunt them, and she had no vital organs to strike. How… How was it moving? With no muscles, it shouldn’t be able to move, let alone stand and attack like that.

As if annoyed by her scrutinizing eyes, the beast lunged. Leviathann barely sidestepped the attack and the creature landed with a thud behind her. The doe made a series of clicking noises with her skull, eyes fastened on the wolf that was slowly slinking towards her. She’d gotten a good look, up close, and there really were no organs. Could a skeleton really move by itself like that? It was very possible. There were weirder things in the forest. Her thoughts were interrupted by the sight of the animal charging at her again. She had little time to react, so to protect her neck, she reared up and lashed out, catching the animal on the hip as it slashed at her chest with sharp teeth.

She winced and danced away from the creature, who was already heading in for a second attack. Its speed was incredible, and being the large, lumbering beast that she was, Leviathann couldn’t keep up. After a few very long minutes and rapid, consecutive attacks, her hide was torn in multiple spots and the earth was showered in her blood. She was growing tired, and a gentle panting escaped from her skulled head. She’d knocked the creature multiple times, but with its current speed there was no way she could stand against it for very much longer. Her wounds were growing in number as well. Not only was her chest shredded, but spots on her neck and shoulders were also gouged out. She looked towards the wolf, wishing it would slow down and die already.

It circled her, then launched. Leviathann spun around, lowered her head. Then she yelped when her skull collided with his. A sickening crack followed, and Levi felt the sudden urge to lie down. She hadn’t known its’ skulls thickness would match her own. Ouch. The wolf backed off a few paces, a rasping whimper coming from it. It looked confused, and was scratching at its head with one paw. Its movements were slow, almost robotic. The wolf began knocking its paws against its skull, hard, as if trying to knock something that had dislodged back into place. Leviathann didn’t hesitate this time. Seeing her only chance in the dazed creature, she grabbed its spine with her powerful jaws and bit down. The bones snapped in her jaws, and Leviathann triumphantly dropped it back onto the ground, almost pitying the creature. The spine was an easy bone to target, so if she met another of these things, she’d do just that. If it didn’t wear her down to the point of being defenseless, first.
The large deer turned around, wincing from her wounds, and began to walk away. She looked for Tangle, and even called his name a few times. He hadn’t appeared yet. At the moment she began to wonder why, the sound of creaking joints brought her attention back to the wolf. It was slowly standing, the spot where she had snapped its spine fully healed. Her jaw nearly unhinged. “You can’t be serious, just die like the dog you are!” She snarled, lunging before the wolf knew what hit it.

The animal yelped as her hooves smashed into its back, and she vehemently bashed the animal into the ground with a rocking motion, reveling in the sound of the snapping bones. When she figured it was enough, she began to examine the animal. She hadn’t noticed the black ooze dripping from it. Was that was kept it alive? She didn’t have time to wonder, because the bones began to form together right before her eyes. They all seemed to be wiggling towards the skull, so Leviathann did the most rational thing: she grabbed that damned critters neck and bolted. The wolves head bounced against the side of her own skull, and she winced at the feeling. She felt ridiculously heavy, and the wounds it had inflicted on her shortened the distance she could run.

Skidding to a stop, the doe tossed the skull a few feet away, panting heavily. Before she plopped down, though, she took a massive rock and rolled it onto the skull. Mostly it was to keep the skull from sliding back towards the body like she feared it might, but it was also to hide the skull from nosy passerby. Not like anyone would be out in the rain and fog, but…

“That topic.” Tangle purred leisurely, appearing randomly from the roots of a tree, his dark eyes slanted slightly.

“You little shit!” She snapped, shaking blood from her neck. “You left me to the mercy of that thing!”

“Tangle has awful fighting skills, lass.” The stag snorted, fastening its dark eyes on her. “Let me see it.”

Unnerved, Leviathann uncovered the skull for Tangle to look at. The small deer looked almost giddy as he raced over and began to examine it. He stood there for almost a minute, turning it over, poking at it with a tiny hoof, sniffing. Finally, he settled on a spot on the head and pushed down with one hoof, then two. After a few minutes of doing this, he turned to Lev and nodded. “Strike there.” He motioned with one hoof towards a slight crack in the animals head.

“You couldn’t have said that while I was standing?” Levi complained halfheartedly, before standing up and walking towards the blue creature. She cast a glance around, and slammed one of her hooves down on the skull.

The skull broke in half, and Lev backed away, a little stunned. Tangle, however, did not look the least bit surprised and he immediately took one hoof and dipped it into the skull. The doe inched closer, and noted the skull was filled with that black goo. Life goo, she decided to call it. She watched her friend fish around in the skull for what seemed like minutes until he finally rolled an odd colored shape from the wolf’s head. It cast an eerie yellow glow onto their legs, and it even cut through the fog with ease. Levi shifted uncomfortably as Tangle pulled it into his mouth and began walking towards the twin gods.

“Come now, Tangle needs to see the gods about this.”

“You needed to see the twin gods the whole time.” She muttered, wondering how such a tiny deer could be unfazed by a skeleton wolf with a crystal inside its head.

“Of course,” He stated, appearing behind her. “But now Tangle has proof of the odd goings-on in the forest. Yes.” He paused, speaking around the crystal. “You were right to head-butt that wolf, you know. Tangle must let gods know of the wolf’s weak spots. You served your purpose.”

Levi pinned her ears back and nudged the strange creature forward with her skull. “Move it or lose it, squirt. We’re attracting a crowd.”

Tangle shot a glare over his shoulder as the doe pushed him along with her skull, but didn't resist and allowed the larger doe to shove him almost the entire way to the gods. He eventually began to examine the crystal, or what he could see of it. She walked, he sat, the rest of the way to the gods where Tangle leaped, very easily, onto one of the statues and set it down. He sat down, and Lev backed off a few paces. She trusted him, and didn't question more about the odd crystal or what he was doing... but she did notice a thin scratch down his left flank. Fresh. She'd make the rest of those wolves pay if they showed their ugly mugs around here again. "That's a promise." She hissed quietly.