I have journeyed long and far. My hooves beat below me with each throbbing beat of pain that runs through them. My heart runs cold, bare with no thought left within them. My travels were long, weary, tiring. But at the same time it made me long and love my home even more than I did before.

Never before had I wanted to lie beside my statue, to nuzzle my beloved, to even sniff a fawn. My mind was wild with so many thoughts, yet it seemed so empty. It was so bent on focusing on moving a simple leg that it only made time in the spare moments when my feet were frozen between steps in time.

I could barely recall my travels to the statue when I returned, but for some reason I am able to recall them now. Like a river to a dam, it floods up and crashes against my strong walls, causing me to force it all back every time. But still, even as I sit in the dark abyss I can feel them overflowing and rushing forward to be told.

As I ran through the open fields, I remember feeling so free. I was as light as air, and I leaped over boulders and logs as if they were nothing but mere pebbles in a stream, and I was the stream. I had not yet felt my longing for home, no, that would be many many days later. But still, right now I was enjoying my freedom, my time alone in this amazing place.

It was not long before I tired, panting heavily. The air passed through the wide jaws of the skull mask upon my face, causing old pieces of loose bone to rattle. All I needed was the music that filled the air when I danced to accompany the lovely sound working in my head, but I was too tired to do anything more than rest up.

When I found the strength to continue forward, I took it at a slower pace, for when I turned around I could see how far I had gone! Stunned I nearly went back the other way. Tall grasses of pale yellow and gold sparkled and shone in the sun like a proud king's treasure, and great slate colored boulders stuck out like that proud king's throne. Oh, how they rose out with confidence amongst the golden hues. It was like watching peasants amongst aristocrats. They stuck out like a sore thumb, but only because they were so unique in a solid colored landscape. In a way, I felt like a boulder. But I was not hurt by this for once. They were strong. So was I. At least I felt that way in that moment.

A boulder only changes with the way the earth changes him. Although strong and seemingly solid, they adapt and change to suit their environment. They were like water, in a way, just not as flexible and free willed. They did not seep into the ground and find a route hidden beneath the earth to a stream, but what was changed became a part of the earth to help it in the journey. One day the boulder wouldn't be there anymore, at least not in this form. One day I would tread over it, and it would hold my body up in travel. To aid a weary traveler is a kind thing to do. I could not imagine wanting to be anything else in life.

The mists swirled in the distance, cracks of lighting gracing it here and there. It was a wonder I was never electrocuted. It was nearly a painful ordeal in itself, so I was happy to have simply become immobile and not fried for what creatures I was sure haunted the mists.

With that I continued on, the bones no longer rattling and my body ready to continue. Yes, I contemplated those boulders a long time. Still, I am very proud of this revelation. One day I shall pass this on to other deer, and hope they think I am wise.

I quietly passed under great blue skies and clouds that engulfed far off mountains (and mountains anywhere!) It was somewhat lonesome, this journey, when I look back upon it. Never was there a lone mountain, a single cloud, a sapling growing alone...Yet here I was, one of a kind standing beneath an ever watchful earth.

I digress (I often get off topic, you see)...

It was not long until I began to realize there were trees growing off in the distance. However, these trees were not kind and forgiving like the ones I knew back home. These trees were like burning embers. Pure black with red hot crevices lining their trunks. I admit, I was more curious than afraid (and I do believe I heard a dove tell me why all the cats in the forest have gone away.) I ran right up to the border, these trees the ones that seemed to turn white and fray away at their own rough edges. I could smell something like hot coals, much like the ground after the lightning has struck.

Already the ground beneath me had changed, already I could feel it soften and grow warm. My stomach was sick at the smell very quickly, and I suddenly longed for grass to make it feel better. It was then I realized that there was nothing by dark sands lining these woods, and I grew afraid. What place was this to suddenly appear before me? What lurked within it? Surely such inhabitants were unfriendly...

Of course I was negative, for such things often enter my brain. Still, I was never a brave deer. As I still slunk deeper into this new forest despite my own stomach kicking my heart, and my heart my brain. It was then I began to wish to be that mean birch tree. Oh, I am sure these trees would have crumbled under my reign, and death would plague the land. I would not just be a mean birch tree, but I would be the almighty king birch tree! No, Emperor Birch Tree: Ruler of the Ember Forest!

Well, it was a pleasant thought...until I realized that no amount of being that mean birch tree could prepare me for what was to come.

(To be Continued...)