• Howls echoed through the forest, their notes lingering in the air for a moment longer before disappearing. Amongst the mist enshrouded trees a magnificent stag separated itself from under a great oak where it had sheltered itself. Unlike many of its cousins who had fur that were a chestnut brown in color, he had a fur as white as the snow that began to gather on the forest floor. He tossed his head proudly, shaking his fur and scattering snow. His hooves thudded against the forest floor, the leaves crunched under his weight. His breath was a thin cloud of white that vanished as soon as it was puffed out from his nostrils. He took a few steps deeper into the forest, being careful with his antlers and the overhead branches.
    After a few steps into the forest, tree roots started over lapping each other, a tangled mess that sprawled over the forest floor. The leaves formed a thick canopy, dabs of light pierced through the thick canopy, making little straight-edged circles on the dead leaves. The stag picked its way through the mess…and stopped dead in its tracks.
    The wolf howls filled the forest, they came from everywhere, through the gaps between each tree. The stag reared as wolves burst through the undergrowth, they filled his gaze, their tongues lolling their fur fluffed out and their tails erect, their mouths were covered in dried blood and their eyes were wide with panic. The shrieking of birds followed, and then the frenzied barking of dogs and horns vibrated in his sensitive ears. The stag hurled himself after the fleeing wolves, his long legs propelled him over fallen logs and he ducked his head, his long antlers clearing his path of drooping branches.
    The braying of horses and their deafening boom of hooves on crackled leaves sounded from behind. The stag leaped forward, the only thoughts were to stay alive. He whirled left and right, hoping to lose his pursuers. The silent whizz that passed his ear, followed by the loud thwack on the tree nearby was all he needed to push himself to his swiftest.
    How long he ran he couldn’t tell, his legs started to feel like sticks, his pelt was covered in sweat, his eyes were bordered with white, his breathes came in faster, the puffs of cloud were minor irritations that obscured his sight. Another fallen log loomed up before him, he gathered himself for the next jump…
    The deafening boom sounded from everywhere imaginable, his hooves landed hard on the floor, his left leg bent outward at a painful angle causing the crack that followed. His body slid forward, the leaves scattering in his wake, his hind legs crumbled beneath him. The explosion resounded in his brain, the feeling of feathers packed too tightly together filled his mind, and the annoying little gnat that had fixed itself there. He felt wetness spread along his back, he fell on his right side, his left eye gazed upward to see the fading sun cast its red hue over the forest canopy. The wetness spread to envelop his whole back and soaked itself into the snow.
    The little puffs of cloud were fast disappearing, his eyes rolled, he felt hands reach out to grip his insides, not his organs but the little creature that lives in everything our body had. The soul stepped out of its shell like a snake that shed its skin, the glossy eyes that were a part of the shell went dull and dead.
    The soul watched as the Huntsmen crowded around the empty shell, his own eyes narrowed into slits as he watched the slaughter of his very own corpse…Heaving a long sigh, his eyes closed, the soul broke, broke into little snowflakes that scattered off into the wind…and to the Heavens above.