The trees crackled. They fell like dominoes, collapsing. Crouched, I just stood there and cowered as they all seemed to crumble and pile in mountains around me.

Roe... Roe...

I took a running leap, hooves clipping and using springy trunks to leap over the mounds.

This must be the Cataclysm, that was what I feared. The things I put away but knew would happen to our precious forest.

Clouds of dust were everywhere. They clawed at the sky, the clear blue expanse above the devastated forest, golden like flame as they floated away on the wind in clouds of heavy smoke. This heavy smoke clouded my vision, I could not find my mate.

Thud thud thud thud thudding beneath me my hooves fell hard and quick in rhythm. I raced the beat of my heart, which ever-sped higher and higher. Piles, like mountains, loomed and cast shadows as I passed through the thin crevasses that formed between the timbers. The stumps seemed to have been rent from the ground, roots creating expanses of dirt-clod rope, seeming to wish capture upon those who ventured close. I steered away, my face raised to the wind, scenting through the earth-and-dust air for my mate. Frantically I drove forward, trying in vain to smell her.


I heard her first. Crying out for me. The sound ripped my soul.