((Yeah, I know. Two parts in one day. But I wrote this story almost just to write this.))
The Index
Chapter 4: In Which We See That While Squirrels May Be Evil, Butterflies Are Usually Lawful Good.
Seed's Story, Chapter 5: In Which Seed Meets His Shadow
As Seed climbed the Twin God’s Hill, the sun set behind him. His shadow walked ahead of him as if it were checking the hill for pitfalls. The light bathed the world in changing colors – it had been red a little while ago, but had since shifted to mauve, making everything it touched a little darker. The Hill seemed much bigger, climbing it in this place, this land-before-lands. It felt like a mountain, disguised as a hill and covered in tall plants with big leaves. As he walked, those plants broke up his shadow into a thousand little fragments.
The trees around him rustled,
“You’re getting slower. You cannot make it.” “Cannot.” “Cannot.”
He picked up his hooves in defiance, moving into a quicker trot.
“I. am going. Home. Whether you like it, or not.”
“Home? Where’s that?” A voice came out of the earth – a rustling voice, but also a real one. It had a somewhat sad air to it – an older deer’s voice, though not an old one’s yet. It had the gentle sounds of a whistling mask mixed in – and it dawned on Seed that the voice he was hearing was his own, coming from his shadows and the trees.
“It’s where my friends are,” Seed answered, looking down. He had always been a little obsessed with light and shadow, the same way as he was obsessed with greenery.
