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NOTICE:: Although I am taking my leave from the TEFc, I will be leaving this here.



All illustrations in my fanfiction are done by the fabulous Ephra.

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Prologue: Click! - Illustrated

Chapter One - Discovery: Click! - Illustrated

Chapter Two - Crying Idols: Click! - Illustrated

Chapter Three - Following Sorrow: Click! - Illustrated

Chapter Four - All in a Night's Work: Click! - Illustrated

Chapter Five - A Second Night's Work: Click! - Illustrated

Chapter Six - The Heart of Me: Click!- Illustrated

Chapter Seven - The Morning After: Click! - Illustrated

Chapter Eight - Her Choice: Click!

Chapter Nine - Found: Click!

Chapter Ten - Chasing Dreams: Click!

Chapter Eleven - Rubies in the Pond: Click!


[b]Chapter Twelve - Empathy Resonance:

I just want to tell thanks to a deer which has halped me with new set near the lake today

Prepare for minimal effort crap art. XD;


My three (main/known) deer conveying how bored I was when I started this. The Forest was literally dead. X_x As I had no idea what else to do, I decided to draw my boredom.

Do not say this is good, cuz...it's not. XD; Just purely vent art you could say.

I'm going on vacation from early tommorow morning to late next saturday night...I may have wireless, I may not: expect Beetle and Seed to be on sporadically, if at all. ^^

See ya'll next week ^^

Im on forest!

Prologue: http://endlessforest.org/community/rubies-pond-short-prologue

(Please note, events in this story will not affect anything in the forest itself. And I am a lame writer. =/)

Corrected spelling error of 'Deermuda' and grammar issues.

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Chapter One - Discoveries

The following sunrise brought no hint that there had been a death the night before. As the dimness between tree trunks vanished, the luminescence of sun rays lit upon the still sleeping residents which named the Forest home. However, tucked in more secluded areas, various aged fawns, some barely a few days old, were already standing on wobbly legs and nudging their mothers for an early breakfast. The older youngsters were already entangled in play, their thin legs strengthening with frolicsome sparring.

Further away, in the birch section of the forest, an antlered doe with no young of her own stirred. The ground on which she slept was believed to be cursed, so it was no surprise to see that there was no other deer nor fawn around. The only company the female had were small robins and other assorted birds, which performed their morning chorus about the collection of large rocks known as the Playground. The doe herself was a dark grey colour, almost black. Still, unlike others of her kind, her beautiful face was framed by a purple mane, styled in a feminine, yet sinister fashion, partially hiding the deep emerald orbs which opened to the light of the new day. She rose her head which was adorned with two large red antlers, fan-like as they reached out beside her body and spiked suitably for combat. Their weight did not seem to bother the doe as she stood up gracefully, like a Queen of this deserted, so-called cursed place.

Lieka rose her elegant head to the air and inhaled, whilst her ears pricked for signs of life. It was still early, and there did not seem to be much movement nearby.

Name: Loop
Age: 16 human years (older teenager)
Gender (if we had any): female
Pictogram: Tricky minx's picto
How to remember it: two arrows with a curve at the bottom and a LOOP in the middle. xDD
Favorite set: none yet
Personality: Cunning and sly, with a tendency to blend in with her surroundings. She does enjoy searching for groups of fawns, and then playing hide-and-seek or tag. Her tag signal would be a bow, a nuzzle, and then a RUNAWAYREALLYFAST. Which means you're it. Hide and seek is the same way. She can be hard to spot.
Build: small, with a big butt.
Friends: Aeros and Naire
Family: Corsair (brother)
Theme song: Real Wild Child
~
Name: Corsair
Age: 22 human years (young adult)
Gender (if we had any): male
Pictogram: Ugly little wart's picto
How to remember it: looks like a smiley face with a beard, or something. Plus a swirl to represent water. ^^
Favorite set: none yet
Personality: Daring and...very piratey. xDD Can be very much a gentleman, though. A little bit dark.
Build: compact, and a little small for his age.
Friends: Aeros and Naire
Family: Loop (sister)
Theme Song: He's a Pirate (WUT.)
~
Name: Aeros
Age: adult (maybe 43 in human years)
Picto: Mr. Buttaface's Picto
How to Remember It: It looks a bit like a tree, or an umbrella.
Description: Aeros is a stag. His favorite set is the orca pelt, Long Mask, and poppies on his antlers.
Personality: Aeros is kind and gentle. He loves to tell stories, but other then that he is usually quiet. Although he prefers to keep for himselfm, he will stand up for his friends and loved ones. He is complacent and calm, and not given to getting frightened.

Chapter 6 - Into the Mist

The mountains grew larger before them as they journeyed each day, until Rise could begin to make out the shadows that Old Gray-hump said were trees running up the sides and the brilliant white on the peaks that was snow. Finally in the distance there were steeper hills and then tall trees that rose up against the dark shapes of the mountains.

“Is it the forest?” Rise asked gleefully of the tired bull as she bounded around him as he grazed his way in that direction.

“It is A forest.” He nodded, then spoke on for some of Rise’s never ending well of words had slowly been sinking into him as they had traveled. “And maybe there will be some of your kind there. We are lucky, you and I, for the summer has been warm and the wolves will have retreated into the mountains to do their hunting and raise their pups in the cool shadows.”

Rise spent the days pushing them on as fast as she could convince the old one to move and turning her eyes and nose to the west, watching for signs of anything like herself.

Finally, early one morning, she saw them. The small herd of does and their fawns were grazing at the edges of the wood, the morning light spilling around them like liquid gold. Rise’s heart leapt and she shot forward through the grass towards the deer. The fawns scattered themselves and then ran to find their mothers as this strange smelling-creature bolted at them. The does pranced nervously and eyed Rise and the following buffalo with worry.

“I have found you at last!” Rise cried joyously to them. The fawns were all much smaller and younger than her, but she knew from her reflections in the water that she had their same golden brown and spotted pelt, and the same large amber-brown eyes. She searched their heads for the golden light like that which hung above her own ears, but she could see nothing there.

The deer flicked their ears at her in confusion and then bolted into the forest.

Chapter 5 - A Herd of Two

Morning came and they awoke to an alien landscape. The once rolling ocean of grass was now a blackened swash of empty prairie. There was nothing but ashes and mud left in the wake of the storm save for a few random bits that had somehow managed to escape the fire’s wrath.

Rise stretched her stiff legs and shook the wet off her pelt as Old Gray-hump groaned his aching hide into motion. He looked over at his small companion and had to laugh deep down. This tiny creature had saved them both from what would surely have been the end of him. Now, as he watched her sniffing the wind and searching the landscape with her wide amber eyes he had to wonder at the mystery of her.

“I don’t smell the herd...” Rise said softly after searching with her eyes and nose for long moments.

“They will be long gone by now.” The old one replied knowingly. They would have seen the fire coming from further up on the hills and known it for what it was right away. The herd would have bolted for the safety of the bluffs and the rocky patches that spread out from them. With any luck they would have made it safely.

Himself though, he knew he did not have it in his old bones to outrun such fury anymore. He would have fallen behind and been swallowed by the flames if Rise had not led them to the creek bed.

“Will we catch up?” Rise asked worriedly. She could not see the bluffs from where they stood, their journey up the creek bed having taken them in a different direction far enough to be out of sight and the strong smoky smell blotted out all traces of other scent in the air.

The old buffalo sniffed the wind and felt the ground under his hooves. The herd would be long away by now, and the chances of finding the trail were slim. If they stayed here too long the scavenger creatures like the coyotes would soon find them.

Chapter 4 - The Dangers of Fire and Water

The days passed from one to the next for a while after her dream. Each day as the herd moved on Rise hoped their path would take them further west and, for a time, it did. The mountains grew steadily closer though their misty-blue forms were still days away.

Rise spent her time seeking out the highest points she could find to give her the best view of the lands to the west. She spent hours smelling the winds that were always blowing across the prairie.

“What is that smell?” She would ask her earth-mother.

The great cow’s head would raise to the wind and she would draw in deep breaths for a moment.

“Its a muskrat by the river.” She would finally reply. Or, a hawk’s lunch, a broken tree, a fox in the grass, and many other things that existed on the prairies, until finally she or the other earth-brothers Rise questioned would grow irritated at the fawn’s ceaseless quest for knowledge and shoo her away.

Still, Rise managed to learn the smells of many other things, and learned how to separate the scents in the air even better than the buffalo’s strong noses. She began to see the world around her even when her keen eyes could not reach the places she smelled. Her searching now carried her farther and farther from her earth-mother’s side each day as she sought out the smells she could not identify. Old quail eggs, river-mint, herons by the water’s edge.

The other calves thought her silly for spending so much time with her nose to the wind. Many of them made fun of her more than ever for her differences, for though they would never admit it they were jealous of her swift graceful form and tiny nose that could smell much further than their own.