High in the mountains, in the ancient world, lived a young boy. His hair was bright as the sun and was known for his curiosity and love for the nature that surrounded him. At eight years old he seemed more bonded with creatures of the forest than many of the eldest members of the village.
One day, as he took his normal stroll into the forest, the sun seemed dimmer than usual. A dark shadow loomed over him and every flower and tree. He heard a deep growl and turned to see a great bear lunging toward him. The boy raced to the nearest tree and began climbing hoping to escape the clutches of the creature. The bear was only slowed for a second digging its claws deep into the bark and pulling its hefty body upwards.
Just as hope seemed lost, the bear yelped and fell from the tree. The boy looked down and saw a great buck standing over the now lifeless body of the bear. The boy quickly dropped from the branches and approached the creature. It looked upon the boy with contempt and commanded him to leave the woods and never return. The darkness in the woods had grown unbearable and the buck blamed the village for their excessive hunting and cutting of the wood.
That night the boy couldn’t sleep. His mind danced with images of the buck standing valiantly at a peak near the forest. At the height of the battle, when the buck stood victorious, a sound of thunder crashed through the night and the buck collapsed. The boy woke each time the thunder crashed and closed his eyes only to be met with the same dream. With his heart pounding, resolve aflame, the boy pulled off his covers and raced into the dark forest.
His eyes led him right to the place he had seen in his dreams. His dream was no reality as the great buck clashed with a great black bear, much bigger than the one he had faced. Lightening crashed against the mountainside as the two great creatures battled. The thunder crashed moments later, but it was not the same thunder he had heard in his dream. The boy’s eyes were pulled away from the battle and locked on a lone figure standing at the edge of the forest.
He looked back to the buck and saw he had overcome the bear. At that moment he recalled the sound of his dream. It had never been the sound of thunder, but the sound of a bowstring vibrating after the firing of an arrow. Without thought the boy rushed toward the hunter and lept between him and the buck. The sound of the bow echoed in his ear as the arrow penetrated his chest.
The buck rushed forward chasing away the hunter. It knelt by the boy’s motionless body. A glistening tear fell to the ground. The forest seemed to hold its breath, the air buzzing with an invisible energy. The buck slowly crumbled to the ground. Power surged through the boy’s veins. He opened his eyes and reached out to the buck’s face. He brushed the soft fur and felt the thoughts of the great creature.
The boy never returned from the forest that night. Only the hunter returned to tell the tale of the guardian buck and the boy who became the guardian of the forest.
Jacob Gittins 