So Small

Awestruck, the huntress gazed at the figure before her. Never before had she laid eyes upon a being so majestic and gracious. Its fur glimmered, almost shone, in the moonlight as petals twirled around it and foliage glowed in its wake. What appeared to be large antlers stood tall amongst the trees, resembling their twisting branches, lighting the path as though it were a beacon in the night, a house of light, basking the dark forest in an ethereal blue the huntress could not recognise.

Her fingers had long since loosened their grip on the bowstring, and she had abandoned her instincts. Enthralled, entranced, she holstered the bow and waded through the bushes and foliage of the forest floor. Her hands parted branches and leaves tactfully and carefully as she fixed her eyes on the majestic being before her.

With each slow, deliberate step the creature took, it became increasingly more difficult to break her gaze free from its hypnotic movements; the unbothered, graceful manner in which it moved. As though it were ethereal or resided on another plane, allowing it to ignore trees and branches in its wake. Even so, its path was not linear, yet the determination and rhythm with which it moved revealed a carefully thought-out track. Almost purposeful.

At first, it was a shimmer, a change in hue to the right; the mystical blue of the creature’s luminescence broken up by a slightly greener tone. It lasted for but a moment, and while the huntress registered the swift flicker, her eyes remained unmoved. Then, another flash of the mysterious green colour flickered, and the forest lit up to her right. This time, her eyes took action following her instinctive curiosity.

She gazed upon a creature of green, its hue was vibrant and far more colourful than the flickers she had registered. Its tusks were large, and its spine was laced with dark green fur resembling vines and foliage. As it moved, some trees appeared to respond to its presence by illuminating in the same hue as the creature. If these were a deer and a boar, as they appeared as such, they would not be animals of this world. If their luminous fur wasn’t proof of that, their size was surely not of this world.

Her trance was broken when the forest spoke. The sound was indescribable; it was an orchestra, a symphony, but not one of instruments or song. They were almost hymnal, and the sounds were so numerous that the huntress could not discern their origins. She could tell, if only by gut, that the green boar and blue deer spoke through the music. With sonorous voices and tremendous presence. They captivated the forest’s symphony and shouldered it with such finesse and sheer command.

Her ears were filled with nature’s music, and her mind was carried into bliss. She closed her eyes, and for a moment, everything faded, leaving only the music and the colours of the beings, which danced in her mind. She could not feel the leaves gently brushing against her hands, or the ground beneath her feet, or the cold air as it whisked past her ears. She would have spent an eternity listening if she could, but her peace was broken far too soon.

The forest fell silent, and the huntress was abruptly returned to the forest, overcome by the sadness of her lost bliss, though only momentarily, as a blinding flash of white shook her out of her grief. It was far brighter than anything she had ever witnessed. She raised her hands to shield herself from the blinding light, but even her hands disappeared into the white void before she closed her eyes again.

“Thou,” a deep voice spoke. Though its sound did not come from any discernible direction. She felt it resonate within her very being, and curiosity took the better of her as she opened her eyes.

The light had faded, revealing colourful luminous creatures gathered around the forest with a white figure standing before her. The fur hanging from its chin gave the creature an ancient look. A crown of horns adorned its head, and its slender figure and legs dissipated into fog where its feet should be. Its eyes were piercing yet not unkind, its voice powerful but not threatening. For she could tell, the creature had just spoken to her.

“Wherefore art thou here?” it spoke again, but the huntress was too dazed to respond. She mouthed her thoughts, but words did not escape her lips. The silence weighed on her as she swept her eyes over the creatures. Lights of red, yellow, purple, and green. They were numerous and comprised all the colours she had ever seen and more still that she had never seen before. So beautiful.

Again, the creature spoke, and this time, its voice rattled her core. Her heart quaked, and with trembling breath she tried to understand the words. Then it moved. Its shoulder twisted as it slowly raised its long reptilian claw, brandished with large talons at the end of every finger. Scales of white and silver shimmered in its radiance as it reached for her head. Unmoved and silent, silenced perhaps, she stood and watched.

When the first of its fingers neared her face, sound returned to her breath, which carried a small, pleading “Please.” The creature stopped for a moment, as if to contemplate its action, though it resumed as though she had not protested.

The force of its outstretched finger pressed against her forehead. Instinctively, her neck jolted back, and she looked up at the night sky. The creatures’ colours faded as she stared into the black-and-white sky for only a moment. For, from one moment to the next, the sky came crashing down. Stars fell upon her, then blew past her. Only, the stars had not moved; rather, she had been propelled upwards.

She inspected the vastness of the stars and the night sky as her mind struggled to grasp the sight. The stars were not white at all, and the sky, similarly, was not black at all. Their colours were varied and numerous, the radiance of the stars illuminated every corner of the night, and there was only light and colour. Beauty.

As though to answer a question she had yet to ask, the white creature appeared before her again, rising out of the fabric of the night. It was far, far away, she could tell, but she could see the true size of the beast as it dwarfed the stars, less than freckles upon its visage. It stretched out and twisted its body over such a large portion of the sky that she could not fathom its size.

It spoke again. Its voice, gentle and hushed, sent shivers down her spine, a bolt of electricity caused her to recoil and close her eyes. It felt like a blink, short and insignificant like anything else that had happened before, but she awoke, lying on the forest bed in the dead of night. It was dark and dim, void of music or sound. Yet, she was content with the silence and the lack of colour. She broke into a smile and broke down in tears; neither her tears nor her smile could be contained as she recalled the words spoken to her on that faithful night. Up in the night sky.