I stand up, slowly. The world looks a bit brighter today, at least from my eyes. Perhaps when one almost loses something, it looks brighter. So I stand, gratefully, breathing in the misty air. It drapes over me like a welcoming friend...but I sense tension. I cannot name it, but I sense it. I shake off the feeling and slowly make my way to the Twin Gods. It is a hard journey, but the exhilaration of finally making it and the realization that I am recovering banishes the thought of any pain.

“Thank you...” The only words I can think to summon. I murmur them, quietly. Thank you for life. For the Forest. For returning me...The words start to sound hollow. I shake off that feeling of doubt again, banish it from my mind. It cannot live here.

I walk back down to the pond and am greeted by a fawn and another deer. I wonder if I recognize them, but I cannot quite put my hoof on it. However, they stay around for awhile. When I sit down, they sit next to me. The warmth of another deer...

I don't remember the last time I felt that.

I sigh in happiness. My wounds are sealing up, but I'm sore, so sore. Everything is aching, but nothing is bleeding. The deer eventually leave my side and I sigh. Their comfort is something that I am missing in these dark times. I move to the bank, feeling the weight of exhaustion. Perhaps the journey had been harder on me than I thought.

I awaken from my nap with a start and instantly feel pummeled by darkness. He is here. That mutated stag, with chains on his hooves. Only the Gods know what he could have possible done to have this happen to him. I stand, painfully, but fight back the sharp horns of darkness in my side. It fades a slight amount. I gather my strength and walk towards the darkness.

He is standing a bit away, walking as slowly as I am. He is injured too, I suppose, though not from my hooves. I listen and watch him, but I don't act. I cannot harm a creature who is hurt and cannot harm me, dark though he may be. He listens as well, perhaps catching my scent on the breeze. Hatred is filling up my soul at the darkness I sense in him. I am being pummeled by the darkness again. I push both feelings away. I'm too injured to take on that beast now.

He walks off and I shadow him. I am aware that he senses me. Fine, I think, I do not wish to conceal my presence. He crosses to the other side of the river and I follow. He must know that I am here, that I am watching him. When my strength is back, he must know that I will find him. He sits near a tree and I sit across the river from him.

He bows and I return the gesture. He shows that he doesn't want to fight or perhaps that he is injured.

“I won't fight you,” I call aloud and slump. My wounds are aching again, so I sit.

We sit and I size him up. I suppose he's doing the same to me.

There are deep scratches all over him. Hooves, antlers, I am unsure, but it seems like they are hindering him. As my wounds are hindering me. I delve deeper, past the surface. I'm examining the darkness that surrounds him, but all I get is a wave of pain and shifting shapes. I suppose whatever sense I have, it cannot go into specifics. I back out. The feeling lessens a little.

He stands, I stand. I sit, he sits. We are copying each other, watching. I am steeling myself against the darkness that is radiating off of him, but it is finding its way in. The nausea is increasing, but I stay.

He bows to a fawn and some other deer, who casts a spell on him. He bows and nuzzles the deer. Nuzzles? Perhaps...I cut off the thought as those doubts resurface yet again. They're almost haunting me. The deer and fawn come to me. I bow, but go back to watching him. One of us has to break soon.

My mind wanders. It is dangerous territory. Of course, the memories come back again...and a name. I nearly cry out at the name and shake my head, clearing the memories away. Imbecile. I know that I cannot go back there. I look at the stag again. Still there. I snort in anger.

Another wave of dark pain hits me. I try to shrug it off, angrily. I will no longer let a force so weak harm me. He stands and walks to the banks.

“Stay back,” I call, putting my antlers down. If he comes across the bank, it will come to blows. I realize that I have let down my guard and anger is seeping in. He gets the message and I calm down. We sit and continue watching each other.

I have banished the pain from his darkness almost completely. Good. If I can do it once, it can be done again. Perhaps I can harness it, though I doubt it. Back to the present.

[b]I stand, knowing that I have better uses for my time. Besides, my wounds were starting to ache again. I stand and walk. He shadows me on the other bank, shackles clanking. I cross over.

I am going to make sure that he understands me.

I walk over and bare my antlers. He shakes his head no. I agree.

“I will not fight you, demon. Not yet.”

I brush past him and whisper in his ear.

“But you cannot escape. I am watching you. I am no longer the weak fool you once fought. There are other ways of eliminating you...” It is nearly a hiss. I shake off the anger and walk past. I cannot let this get to me. Emotions kill. [/b]

Then I notice a fawn with candles, lingering near the stag.

He reminds me of Bastillon. Perhaps that is why it makes me feel so nauseous.

A Child of the light...

...is falling in the dark.

I bow, it bows back respectfully.

“Good day, child.” I do not mention the dark stag, but I worry. They head towards the pond as well. I lay in the shallows, wounds cooling. I watch it carefully.

The stag and the fawn are playing. Why? Why could a child of the light stay with a child of the dark? Perhaps that fawn truly did not know the stag's true nature, at least not as I did. I feel sicker than I have in many years. The child will die...like that other fawn. I try to stand, but my legs do not respond. I cannot tear it from the dark stag. I am weak...but I cannot tear it away from joy.

Instead, when he and the stag begin to leave, I shadow them quietly. The dark stag leaves the fawn behind. Good, I think. Good.

But I cannot ignore the look of sorrow on the child's face as he turns from the stag.

“Oh, my child. For you, I will eliminate this darkness, if not only for the Gods. I cannot one so innocent be hurt.” I whisper, almost inaudibly. The tension I feel in my soul refuses to leave.

-The Priest

((The Priest met Darkweaver [again].))