"Ancient dark gods of worlds uknown... I command you!" Chanted out a tall, slender doe. Her eyes glowed a translucent green, and her gaunt face glistened against the dark night moon. She was poisitioned in the midst of three standing stones, mysterious carvings written all over them in a language uknown. "Show me the wrath of the gods, their destination, their fate! I command you to just me before all's too late!" Small pebbles within the triangle of stones shook, and the night air dropped to below zero. The dark doe lowered to her knees, took a breath, and closed her eyes.

She was in a field. A field soaked in sunlight, and in warmth. Tall yellow grasses swayed in the breeze, and the air was filled with the rich smell of pinecones and sap.
The dark Queen was uncomfortable in the exposed valley, the sunlight oozing through her zombie pelt. She waited there, for a moment, to see what would be revealed to her. But nothing came.

Just as the Dark Queen was preparing to leave, she heard voices. Whispers, actually. They seemed to be coming from all around her.

"...Death..." whispered one.
"...Darkness..." whispered another.
'...Destruction..." She heard as well.

This did not seem good. The Queen of Darkness took in a breath, and spoke clearly and boldly.

"Why are you casting this plague to my people?"

There was silence as her voice echoed away. She could hear nothing. Nothing at all anymore.

"Your Twin gods have abandoned you. And we are here to rule now. Your species do not appeal to us, so we are in the process of killing you off to extinction, so our own people may live as they want."

The Queen strutted back awkwardly in alarm. "What?" She breathed quietly.

The voice spoke again.
"We have spread our red spirits throughout your tribes. Soon each and every one of you will be no more. We shall be sending in an even greater force soon to get the job done quicker..."

The Queen was dizzy. Sweat drops dribbled down her forehead and the back of her neck. She'd had enough of this. Lieka whispered the words to bring her back to her stones, to safety. "All is done"


The Queen of darkness was whisked back home, to her precious stones. She took in a withered breath. So that was the reason for all of the deaths because of the plague?

"Rowan..." She called softly off to the darkness.

There were hoofsteps. A tall slim doe appeared from the night around. Her antlers resembled those of feathers atop his head, and her small beady eyes poked out from under a bird mask.

"Did you see it too?" She asked her.

"Yes" Replied the doe. "We must do something"

"I know, but what?" Asked the dark Queen.

"We could assemble an army to fight back..."

"But how? These are spirits we are talking about... gods! How on earth could we beat so many?"

"We dont necessarily need to fight... much as to gather information" She stated.

"Your right..." Lieka spoke. "But who would be willing to?"

"I would" Sayed a voice from nearbye. All heads turned to the emerging stag, short but muscular all the wise. "I witnessed the death of a friend of mine... And another ran off in search of answers by himself and hasn't returned... I am alone...." That was the voice of Rutilus, a flower-antlered brown stag.

"You would?" Lieka asked softly.

The stag nodded.

Lieka breathed. She looked to Rowan. "Okay. We should get started." She looked up to the sky. "For the sake of all those who died!"

A star twinkled... a small sign of hope.

---
...THE MORNING AFTER...
--

"Rutilus! Lieka!!"
It was a misty morning, and neither of the deers had gotten much sleep that night. But it had been when Rowan got up to take a morning sip at the creek when she spotted something... unusual.
Two deer came rushing from out of the shelter of the trees. Dazed from the darkness of the forest, the clammy sunlight filled the early fog, and the deer blinked repetively to ward off the light. One, a short muscular stag, and the other, a tall zombie doe. They looked at Rowan in alarm and anticipation.
"Wha 'appened?" Lieka asked, out of breath, her chest heaving. Rutilus stared into Rowan.
"Look" The peacock doe said, pointing a hoof to a small fern on the bank.
All eyes went to the plant. It was something they had never seen before, and didn't know quite what to think of it. Rutilus looked up to Rowan.
"I didn't know...it affected plants as well..." He said, choosing his words slowly. Lieka examined the plant more closely.
"I dont remember seeing this yesterday" Rowan stated, breathing steam into the mist. "And I haven't a clue how it got here..." She paused. "But it probably came the same way it came to others..."
Rutilus backed up from it. "We shouldn't get too close, Lieka," He said as he noticed the doe poking a leaf. Lieka looked up.
"Well, we should get rid of it before it spreads..." She stated. "We could try stomping it to the ground..." All eyes turned to Rowan, who was by far the strongest deer of the club. She breathed in, and nodded, knowing She was the one singled out this time.
Rowan inched toward the plant, and breathed on it. Her foggy breath clouded the edges, making the shine dull and lifeless. Rowan firmly placed his front left hoove onto the top of the plant, pushing down with all his life, and then rubbing it in against the earth, the same way one might squash a tiny insect.
Then Rowan paused, and lifted her hoove away. Lieka and Rutilus braced themselves for anything.
But the plant was gone.
"Hmm" Rowan said, shifting her hoove back to its normal spot.
Lieka let out a gasp of relief. She was worried something would happen. She scanned the rest of the creek bank for more of the odd plants, and saw none.
"We should report back here daily" Rowan affirmed, also scanning the edge.
Rutilus and Lieka agreed internally, and right when the trio was about to head back, something stopped them.
Rowan came to a halt. She stood there, and looked down at his hoove.
"Rowan?" Lieka asked, turning her head over her shoulder at him. "What is it?"
Rowan continued staring down at her hoof. Rutilus walked towards the peacock pelted stag.
"Are you o-"
"GRAHAH-" An odd, distinctive noise seemed to come from within the doe. She slouched down over her leg, slowly.
"Ro-"
"Stop it" Rowan hissed, her voice now sharp and twisted sounding. His tongue lolled out of the corner of her mouth. "Stop it"
Lieka hushed. She took a step back.
"Go..." Rowan spat again, now at Rutilus and Lieka alone. "Quick... Leave!" This last part was in her own usual tone. She hacked, and a very vile smell rose into the air, filling the doe's nostrils. Quite a horrible stench. She felt bile coming up in the back of her throat.
"Rowan what are you doing?" Rutilus coughed from the smell, and trudged a few paced away.
"RUN!" Rowan hissed very loud, and right when Lieka and Rutilus began running, black rocks of all sizes seemed to appear out of nowhere, and starting raining down from the sky, like very large black pieces of hail... only deadly. The pounding noise filled the air.
Lieka couldn't see anything. All she could see was the whisping and flashes of rock all around, choking out the sunlight. She called out.
"RUTILUS!"
She felt something brush up against her. She screamed. But with her eyes sqinted very small, she saw the familiar bushel of brown fur. She closed her eyes to as not let pieces of rock fly into them. She opened her mouth to say something, but rock dust filled her lungs and she broke out into a coughing fit.
"Come!" She heard Rutilus say very quickly as loud as he could to be audible. Lieka, her lungs still burning from the fumes, trudged foreward, feeling Rutilus at her side.
In a circumstance like this, the sound would be familiar to that of a very bad sandstorm, only worse-- with microscopic pieces of dust and boulders the size of heads, zooming fast at an unmatchable speed- to a deer that is.
Then suddenly Lieka couldn't feel the familiar pelt on her left side. She stopped, and turned her head, opening her eyes the slightest bit. She couldn't see him. But she heard him.
"Lieka!" He shouted, loud and clear. She squinted her eyes and made out the vision of a deer strugglish against something. She saw him turn his head her way.
"Ru-" She started making her way toward him, but as she did so, she was stopped. A heavy force hit her.
The sound of stone against skull, a brainthrobbing sound.
It was the last thing she heard.
And the last thing she saw was...
darkness
before she fell to the ground.