Beginning of the End - IV | The Endless Forest

Who the hell was this stag? Pert knew that he had never seen such a creature in his life... and that voice. There was no recognition or spark of memory. The deer had either been completely wiped from the piebald's memory, or he had simply not existed to him until now.

The older stag... Malware... his body seemed to tense, the fur on the back of his neck was bristling. Pert was nearly half his size, and with dinky, useless hollow antlers to boot. He'd be of no match for him if the stag had chosen to attack.

"Heard about me... sir?" the piebald mumbled, lowering his head submissively.

Malware nodded, his head tilting to the side. "Why are you acting so timid? I'm not going to hurt you." he muttered. His eyes were squinting, so much so that Pert could only see mere slits of black.

He wasn't? Pert audibly sighed in relief, the tension in his body slackening almost immediately. He observed the other deer more closely now. The stag was rather elderly... so much so that the tips of his fur had begun to grey. Perhaps the expression that Pert had taken as glaring was really just the stag trying to see him more clearly, due to his failing eyesight or something.

"Though I do admit... my source was probably a tad biased." the stag snorted, sharing in some inside joke that Pert would probably not understand. "How long have you been here?" he asked.

Pert was little taken aback. Source? What source? No time for that, though... He thought for moment. "I don't know... It's not like there's any real time here..." he said, his gaze lowered to the ground. "It doesn't feel long... maybe some months." he lamely concluded, biting his lip before adding a small "I'm sorry..."

"That explains it then..." Malware nodded. He bent his head forward and adjusted the satchel bag around his neck and stood, towering over the piebald. "I'd like to show you something, if you don't mind."

Pert clamored to his hooves and swerved his head around, noting how they were on the edge of the birch forest. The bubbling sounds of rushing water echoed from a few meters away. "Is it far? Look, I can't really-"

"I know."

The stag cut him off sharply, his tail flicking in annoyance. "You have a rare mental condition that triggers around consecutive patterns or bright colors. It causes dizziness and ultra-realistic hallucinations that can be perceived by the majority of the senses." he observed, "It's your brain's way of coping with a large amount of visual stimuli that it's unable to process."

He chuckled, the sound a deep, vibrating rumble that shook the ground underneath Pert's hooves. "Like I said Pert; I know a lot about you." he smiled wryly, flicking his ear to the right, towards the river. "Come on..." he urged. "Just close your eyes and follow my footsteps. I'll warn you if there's something you need to pay mind to."

Pert was much less amused. If anything, he was sincerely creeped out. Still, he was curious as to what the elder stag wanted to show him, and he hesitantly closed his eyes. His ears pricked forward, catching the loud crunching noises of hooves against dead leaves. Autumn was approaching fast, the one season that the piebald hated the most. And it would be all the worse here... trees laden with multicolored ornaments, a bed of muted colors underneath his hooves... it would be Hell.

He decided not to think about this now though. Instead, he focused on the blind path in front of him. They were getting closer to the stream, it seemed. He could hear the rumbling crash of the Crying Idol's tears falling into the water.

Should this stag be trusted? Everything about him was so enigmatic and shady, like the sort of guy that always knew what was going on. And how did he know about him?

Wait...

"Do you know someone named Jergens?" Pert blurted out, stopping in his tracks, his eyes clenched shut.

Malware paused for a quick moment and craned his neck around to look at the smaller stag. "I was wondering when you'd ask something like that..." he murmured, and said nothing more, resuming his pace.

A surge of unexpected anger jolted through Pert's chest, and he had to bite his tongue to keep himself from snapping back some retort. His body shook. This stag was hiding things from him... that was obvious enough. But for what reason?

Maybe he's protecting Jergens from you

He pushed away the thought. Protecting? That was silly. If Malware were to do such a thing, he wouldn't be guiding him around like this.

"Here, you can open your eyes."

The elderly stag's voice cut through Pert's stream of consciousness, and it took him awhile before he finally cracked open a single eyelid.

They were directly behind the idol, facing a single tree that had probably seen better days. From the ground to about half-way up the trunk; there was no bark. The entire surface had been stripped clean, leaving remnants of faded scars. Someone had really taken a liking to rubbing their antlers against it, it seemed.

It was strange though... there were small, vine-like strings curled up the surface as well. A plant? No, it looked dead. There was a mass of browned tendrils that piled around the base of the trunk's circumference. Whatever plant it was... Pert had never seen one like it.

Complementing the mass of vines at the bottom was a large pile of wilted petals, crinkled with age. Pert walked up to poke one with the tip of his hoof, and it literally disintegrated before his eyes.

Overall, it was an unusual, surreal sight. A location that probably carried numerous stories.

Pert tipped his nose towards the trunk, snuffing the surface. The cloying smell of almonds and cherries was all around... the scent of roses... flowers... cologne... the musk of stags... the soft, delicate scent of does...

"This is Jergens' territory..." Malware mumbled, sighing a little. "Or at least what's left of it." he added. His tone was indifferent, almost monotone.

The piebald turned to him with widened eyes. Jergens was here too? Reincarnated like himself? Pert had thought of the possibility, but his searches had always been fruitless. "He's here...?" he asked. It was pretty easy to believe. After all, wasn't this the afterlife? Pert would have expected nothing less.

Malware frowned slightly. "No. He's been missing for months now." he muttered, a bit blunter than he intended.

"Missing?" the piebald looked crushed… But puzzled at the same time. Truth be told, the Endless Forest was not as big as many thought it to be. It was its own individual world. You could run a in straight beeline from one tree and find that same tree in a matter of minutes. "How?" he asked.

"It's possible, but it's also difficult." Malware explained, looking off into the distance. "It's a bit hard to explain in words... but to get out; you have to find a hole in the wall."

Pert followed the elder deer's gaze, a bit perplexed. "How can there be a wall? Where does it take you? Why..." the stag stopped himself, lips pressed in a thin line.

Malware chuckled, "And how is there a floating symbol atop your head? How is there almost no night here?" he gently retorted. The stag was right; there were a plethora of things in the forest that had no real logical back-up to it.

"Every opening leads to a different location. Two could stand side by side. One could lead to icy tundra and the other could lead to a field of goldenrods." the stag seemed to turn almost nostalgic near the end. "The latter is where Jergens went. I knew he would sometime..."

Pert listened attentively, his ears swiveling around in little circles. A field of goldenrods... that was pretty specific. He blinked. "How do you know that?"

The stag shook his head. "A long story... Let's just say that he went there before and that I had to drag him back mid-journey. He just wants to finish what he started." he smiled bitterly.

"Now..." Malware tapped his hoof to the ground, evidently getting down to business. "I want to make a deal with you, Pert."

Alas, the sea of endless questions had to stop. Pert couldn't understand this stag... why would he tell him all of this? Had he not been so terrible after all? "A deal, sir?"

Malware's face had turned stoic again, not a trace of emotion crept into his expression. "I want you to find Jergens. In return, I'll render your vision so that you can only see in black and white."

Pert's eyes widened. He had already been thinking about going after Jergens, but now this stag was offering him the ultimate medication. If he couldn't see colors, most if not all of the hallucinations would go away. Yes, patterns would still be effective... but he could go through life without a constant pain in his head! He could live in the forest as a paradise rather than a torture chamber!

He didn't need convincing. The whole thing was a win-win situation.

"I'll do it.

"I knew you would." Malware smiled. A genuine, honest smile. He wasn't a con-artist, nor was he plotting revenge. Pert could tell that the stag had some kind of ulterior motives behind this.

"Now... come with me." he tipped his head to the left, "Close your eyes. I'll help you there."

Pert followed the stag's footsteps. It felt like a dream. He had been given both a mission and a partial cure to his illness. Still...

"Why do you want me to find Jergens?" the piebald asked. He felt the plump forms of blueberries graze his underbelly and he snapped his head down to blindly pluck some as they walked. "Better yet, why find him at all? Won't he come back?"

Malware was silent for a few moments, as if thinking of what was proper to say. "You ask a lot of questions..." he muttered, ignoring the string of apologizes Pert uttered in response. "I'm asking you specifically because he knew you as a human, whatever your relationship was." he paused. "You've lost your memory, haven't you?" he didn't need an answer from the tone of his voice.

"If Jergens isn't persuaded otherwise... I doubt he'll come back. He took that little doe with him..." he trailed off, a little uncertain on how to continue. "You two were friends from what I've heard, even if... things... happened." he stopped, and Pert nearly bumped into him.

"He needs a friend to convince him to come back... at for a little while. Some deer are worried about him, many don't even notice." he sighed. "And we're here, but keep your eyes closed."

Pert obliged, flicking an ear as he heard the sounds of Malware rummaging around his bag.

"I warn you; this will hurt." Malware cautioned, dipping his lips into a container of caramel colored poultice. Funny, he could rearrange how one saw the world and yet he couldn't grant sight to a blind person. He could only build replacements.

"I don't care." the piebald muttered. If anything, he deserved as much pain as possible. He felt something cold and wet being pressed against his eyelids. Hopefully this stag knew what he was doing...

Nothing more was said. More and more pasty cream was piled onto the stag's eyes. They were weighed down so heavily that he wouldn't have been able to open his eyelids, even if he wanted to.

"Who are you, anyway?" Pert finally asked. This would be his last question, to find out who this stag really was. He never got an answer though. Whether it was because the stag was ignoring him or if he simply hadn’t heard; Pert would never know.

He could hear the distinctive sound of a pictogram about to cast a spell, and a sharp pain pierced through his skull, pounding and beating against the backs of his eyeballs. Wave after wave of pain passed, and Pert was rendered breathless. He couldn't even find the voice to cry out.

When it was over, he slumped to the ground, his face pressed against the cool moss, sucking up moisture.

He could feel Malware's breath on his neck, ruffling his white fur.

"Listen; there's an opening in front of you. Go out there and head in a straight beeline. Don't stray from the path. You'll be without water for a long time, but you'll eventually reach a river. Cross it and find an opening to the forest across from it. Jergens will probably be there..." he paused and let his directions sink in.

"Make sure that he's wearing a butterfly mask. If not, then get him one. If he isn't wearing a mask, then don't tell him your real name. Make something up. I don't care; you'll be in a lot less trouble if you do." he cut off Pert's impending questions.

"I have one last thing to ask of you."

Pert lifted his head slightly, his eyes clenched shut. His breath was fast and irregular. "Y-Yes...?"

The elder stag was standing up. He was leaving... not even staying by to make sure that his spell had worked.

"I've been looking for someone. An ashen grey buck with golden hooves; have you seen him?" he sounded deadly serious. Pert winced and shook his head. No, he had not seen anyone like that. Actually, Pert knew almost no one in the forest. He had been concentrated on his illness that he never talked to people, and they in turn never talked to him.

Malware sighed, as if he had known the answer all along. "Do me a favor; if you ever see him, don't tell him your name."

He said nothing more. The directions were given and the medication was distributed. He would repay his debt in full now. And even then, Jergens deserved more.

The forest fell silent. Pert could only catch the sounds of footsteps, and even they slowly faded away. Malware, whoever he was, had left.

Eventually, Pert rubbed his forehead against the ground, wiping away the residue from the cream that the stag had given him. His eyes tingled with pain, but it was more of an aching than anything else.

The opening was in front of him, right? Slowly, he stumbled to his hooves, his legs wobbling back and forth.

He opened his eyes.

A wall of trees stood in front of him. Terrible, formidable things that reached up so high that Pert could not see the top. So the forest really was a fortress. However, the trunks were a dark grey. The ground a light ashen color...

The world had turned into a cacophony of greys and whites, an old film reel without the technical hiccups. In its own, bland way, it was beautiful.

Pert drank in the sights, marveled at how there was no thudding soreness in his head, the Jergens-enigma was no longer around, and he was normal.

There was break in the trees directly in front of him, just as Malware had said. Light trickled through the large crevice, offering warmth and acceptance.

The piebald walked forward as if he were drugged, his eyes popped open as to take in everything around him. His mistrust in Malware was forgotten. For a second, he even forgot about Jergens.

Then he remembered

and he stepped through the forest's exit.

---

End of Act I

Had a lot of writer's block on this, hence why it's so late. I still think it's a bit... 'exponsitiony', but I can at least promise that things will definitely pick up now.