Chapter One – The End

He could remember nothing. Well, almost nothing. His mother was a blur, a shadow in the fuddled clouds of his memories. He could, however, recall the warm caress of her tongue. He remembered the rhythmic motions and velvety feel of it across his back. He remembered her life-giving milk that she so generously gave him, and its faint taste of hazelnuts. His mother was a good doe, as he recalled. Her lovely golden pictogram floating atop her head just as his did. They looked so similar, yet so alike. The symbols were their names, for spoken names were deadly in the endless forest.

His life had been normal, wonderful and delightfully normal. His mother would take him on such long, meandering walks, taking large strides as her son would run to keep up with her. They would walk all day and sleep all night. Then the next day, they would keep walking. They walked for such a long time, for his mother always told him that she wanted to see “The End”. He never had understood what she had meant by that. That was, of course, until they had found it.

They had been walking countless days when they had found “The End”. Oh, and how lovely it was! Bright sunlight peeped though the brambles surrounding the forest. He had never seen such a dazzling display of light as the two fearlessly marched through it! “We have found The End to The Endless, my son.” He remembered her say, her sweet voice still clear in his fumbled mind. He remembered the shining smile on her human-like face, and the sweet smell of her pelt as she had said,

"We are free…”

The young woman crept in, her bare feet silently pressing against the tile floor. The stag had known of her presence for a while now, but chose not to speak of it. Jergens was oblivious, although he had never been observant to begin with, and mentally fretting over his boss didn’t help any. The woman snuck up to him, bent over, and leapt up onto his back.

“Tag! Yer it!” she screamed, encircling her arms around him. Jergens hollered in surprise and sprang away from her, much to her disappointment. “Who the Hell are you?!” he gasped, putting a hand to his chest. The woman cocked her head and looked down at Bartleby, who was breathing quite nicely now. “Humm… He sleeps so much…” she grabbed his arm and wiggled it back and forth. “Faaaiiith… wake up…” she mumbled, too softly for Jergens to hear. The stag cleared his throat and spoke. “Lady Bartleby, please don’t do that.” He muttered in masked annoyance.

Nippers stood and turned to the stag. “Oh! Hello-…” Jergens saw that her eyes flicked up to the pictogram floating atop the stag’s head for a few moments, as if regarding it. She continued, “…Do you know why Faith is sleeping so much?” she smiled sweetly. The stag glared at her silently, a sign that she was not wanted. After a few moments Nippers seemed to get the idea. Reluctantly, she left, politely closing that door behind her, leaving an irked stag and a confused (but amused) young man.

After a little while, the stag spoke again. “You have questions.” It wasn’t a question; it was just a passing comment, as casual as remarking on the weather. Jergens’s head was swimming with questions, and he was grateful for the opportunity to have them answered. “Who was that just now?” he asked the stag.