Quad opened his eyes. He layed still for a moment, waiting for anything, and nothing came. He sat his head up and brought up the courage to examine this unfamiliar and strange environment

"Whe-where am I?"

He was surrounded by a giant wall covered in green moss. It smelled oddly of mold, and the air was a sticky mass of smog. He was laying on a thick blanket of wet leaves, and he realized the part of himself he had been laying on was soaked to the bone. With an effort, he hoisted himself onto four feet and shook off the water. He... was he in a sort of cage?

"Hello! Is anyone there?" He called out. His voice echoed through the space, dissapearing into the air. "Hello?!"



Suddenly, he heard a noise behind him, and turned around. There, as quickly as it had come, was a small fawn. It was covered in dirt, and there was an oddly shaped dot under his left eye.

Quad went over to the little thing, and sniffed it. Then it opened its eyes. It turned its head very very slowly to Quad, who stood there as still as ice.

"Where am I?" The fawn spoke, and Quad recognized it to be a female voice. It coughed and shivered.


"I... I dont know" Quad admitted softly, and helped to nuzzle the fawn to its feet. It stood on very shakey legs. Quad thought it best to sit down then, and let the fawn lean up against the mossy wall. He decided it would be best to gather up as much information as he could.

"What is your name, little fawn?"

The little thing looked up, and coughed. "My name is Sykora. Do you know where Martisol went?"

"Umm... no, sorry" Quad said gently to the fawn. Why was he and this little fawn together in a sort of plant-filled chamber? The little fawn sneezed, probably from the mold. "Are you okay?"

"Yes" Sighed Sykora, although she looked far from it. "I'm tired though... what happened?"

"I-" Quad started, but as soon as he had, he heard another sound behind him. He turned his great head. A ruffling noise. A ruffling of leaves. Quad saw fur. Could this be another deer? He stalked slowly over to the moving mound, and waited patiently for it to show itself.

"Before its too late..." mumbled the mound. "We have... to find.." the very soft voice trailed off, and then Quad noticed that a pair of striking brown eyes were staring right at him.

"LACEY!" The fawn who had been sitting silently in the corner sprang into life, and rushed over to the mound of leaves, and instantly started scraping the rubble and twigs from off the brown doe.

"Sy-sykora?" The small brown doe whispered. "Where... where are we?"

The fawn looked to Quad. Quad stammered, "erm, we are unsure of our whereabouts." He felt light and tingly. "We have just arrived as well."

The little fawn rubbed close to Lacey. "Lacey... I was so scared when it happened....."

"What happened?" The doe pricked her ears.

"When this happened. When I left where I was resting on the path, and then... and then... I dont know!" Her voice cracked on the last part, and tears started beading from her eyes.

"Shh... shhhh..." Lacey nuzzled the little fawn. "Its going to be okay, dont worry,"

While all this was going on, Quad had been standing there awkwardly. He backed up slowly, not wanting to disturb the reuniting deer, when he stepped on something hard, and he heard a very loud yelp. Quad stepped back immediately, and then stepped on something else that was hard...

A cream colored stag with a sripe down his middle rose out of the leaves, some damp ones still clinging to his mass of fur. He looked at Quad silently, the doe and the fawn, and then around where he was. His nose wrinkled back with distaste in smell. His eyes narrowed.

"What is this place?" He spoke in a low rough manner.

"We are not sure" stammered out Lacey when nobody else spoke.

The stag had a very sorrowful mask on, his eyes were empty black holes. Quad couldn't even see if he had a red dot under is left eye like the others had. Quad bowed politely. The stag returned it.

"My name is Windhowler. I come from the icy mountains up North, where the wolves are mighty and the bears are fierce." He looked around. "We must be in the land of the dead."

There were gasps heard throughtout the chamber. Quad jumped when he heard all the voices. He looked around, and there he noticed more deer slowly emerging from the leaves.

"The land of the dead?!" One called out. "I am not supposed to be here, I am on a quest! How do I get out?" There were stammers of aggreement.

"Do you think I know?" Remarked the sorrowful stag. Then his voice softened. Has anyone seen a doe named Chenowa? Or perhaps a large grey named Thsai?"

All was silent. "I dont know..." came one small feminine voice.

"Mio?" came one elderly sounding murmur.

"Mother?" The small voice spoke out.

"Mio!" An old, yet still attractive ((yep XD)) gazelle-pelted doe arrose from the deer bodies, over to her daughter. Mio met her mother on the way. They nuzzled, and the old crone even let out a tear.

"I never thought I would see you again Mio." The old doe smiled.

"Mother" Mio said again, and the two deer walked side-by-side over to a corner to be with each other.

At once attention shifted back to Windhowler, who had been watching the scene with gentle eyes. He cleared his throat, and spoke up again. "We will get out of here, my brothers and sisters. We just need to work together." There were shouts of approval, and then talking spread out among the deer, finding their loved ones or deer that they knew.

Quad felt utterly alone. He watched the happy reuinions between deer silently. But then Sykora went over to the clueless-looking stag and attracted his attention by pawing the ground.

"Come sit with us" The little fawn said. Quad smiled, for the first time since he had got there, and followed the little fawn over to Lacey and a small group of deer.

"This is Mio," Lacey introduced. A young doe tilted her head in greeting. Quad tilted his as well. "And this is Emiva" Lacey motioned to the old doe who had spoken before. She looked ruff and stern, although sitting next to her daughter she looked less sorrowful.

"Do you know a stag called," pondered Lacey for a moment, "Atiq?"

"YES." Quad stated instantly. "Why?"

Lacey smiled, relief flooding her face. "He has been summoned for a quest."

It hit Quad, all of a sudden. Now it all made sense!

He smiled back.