A Second Chance

I lay here on the rock struggling to breathe as I look over at the rising sun and think to myself, 'This sunsrise is the first one that I've ever actually watched, it is actually quite peaceful and beautiful. What awaits me beyond this life I wonder, is it heaven, or is it hell?' My thoughts are interrupted by a stranger in a really fine tailored black suit complete with a tall black top hat standing by the edge of the cliff watching the sun go down as I find enough breath to say, "Are you here to save me or kill me stranger? If it's the latter, I'm afraid that you are too late unfortunately. As I think that my end has finally came."

The stranger chuckles and then continues looking at the sunrise and says, "I am not here to kill you Arthur Morgan, you are correct though, you are going to die soon. Before you pass on into the next life, I wish to talk for a moment. I hope you don't mind a little bit of conversation before you die?"

I cough and shake my head slightly and say, "As long as you don't take forever to get to the point, I don't mind at all. How do you know my name when..."

He turns around and looks at Arthur and completes his sentence saying, "When you haven't said it to me? I have known you for most of your life, I was there when you watched your father hang. I was also there when you fell in with Dutch and his gang, I know about every crime that you committed, and every man, woman, or child you killed. I know everything about you Arthur Morgan, and I am quite impressed with how you started to try to make up for the bad things you've done. But you started too late in life to balance things out, therefore you still have a ways to go if you wish to continue to even things out."

I struggle to understand how he is doing this and say, "I don't know who the hell you are, but you don't know anything about my life at all mister, so just get lost and let me die in peace."

The Stranger then sighs and scowls at him then says, "I have many names that people call me, but in truth I am but a traveling collector. You may simply call me The Traveler or Trav if you wish, you disappoint and annoy me Arthur Morgan. You are the worst in your gang for keeping me very busy." He then turns around to face the sunset and continues saying, "You really are stubborn Arthur, you had so many opportunities to leave the gang behind and have a semi happy life with Mary. Your overwhelming sense of duty to Dutch and the gang kept you from pursuing happiness, I remember watching you beat a sick man to death for a few dollars to collect a debt for that wretched Strauss. I do have a question for you though, do you regret anything that you did?"

I cough up a bit of blood as my vision begins to blur, making it difficult to make out details on his face and say, "There are a few things I did that I do wish did not happen. So my answer to you is, yes there is. Is that all you have to say? If so, get lost."

He then crosses his arms behind his back, then turns to face Arthur once more, cocking an eyebrow at him and says, "Interesting, there are a couple more things that I wish to say before I leave you. I have one last question for you, do you wish for another chance at life?"

My eyes widen with brief curiosity and then say to him, "Are you seriously asking me that question, there is no way that you know what awaits a person after they die."

The stranger smiles and then steps closer saying, "Well, you are correct. I don't really know what awaits, but hypothetically speaking. If there was a way that a person could live again, would you want that chance?"

I sigh in annoyance and answer, "I think it might be nice to have a peaceful life for once."

He claps his hands in front of him once and smiles saying, "That is good to hear, I have enjoyed our little chat immensely. Unfortunately, I have several other things to tend to today so I shall see you again some other day. Goodbye Arthur Morgan." He then vanishes into thin air when Arthur blinks his eyes.

I feel my eyes drift shut, not sure of what I saw as I suddenly feel very tired and in need of sleep. I take a few more breaths before everything turns completely black. I then wonder to myself if I am going to wake up the next day when my eyes slowly flutter open to reveal a doe lying in front of me. I look around in a disoriented state, trying to figure out what happened. I continue to look around in confusion until I hear a female voice say, "Is everything alright, my son?"

Norah looks at her son with adoration as she chuckles at how he seems to be confused and then says, "I am right here, son, I am your mother."

I turn to look at the doe that just spoke to me and blink a couple of times, before remembering what the stranger asked me. I then look at my surroundings and take notice of my very different body with light brown fur that is soaking wet with white spots mixed in among the fur, I get the idea that I must be a deer. I mentally curse that stranger for giving me a new life as an animal that is hunted by humans and then think, 'If this is the new life that he promised me, I may as well make the best of it. I wonder how I'm going to stand in this new form, I have watched my horse get up after a fall. I have also watched how a pronghorn gets up onto its feet, so let's give this a try shall we?' I then lay my forelegs out before me shakily as I test their strength for a little bit, feeling unsure at how this is going to work out.

She looks at her baby and gives him a nudge with the side of my head and sweetly say, "Try to stand up little one, it is time you learn to stand on your own four legs. You won't be able to survive in this world by just laying down, hoping that things come to you."

I try to push myself upright with my front legs, only to fall to my side as I push to hard with one leg. I then pull myself back onto my chest, feeling a bit more determined to do this simple feat and slowly push my chest off of the ground successfully. I then smile at this goal I have accomplished and drag my back legs under me and slowly try to push myself upward, my backside slowly and shakily rises off the ground and evens out.

Norah watches in amazement at how quickly her son stands up and says, "That is good, now try to take a few steps. Should you fall down, just get back up and try to walk again until you succeed."

I then think of how a deer should walk and then move my left leg in front of me, gradually putting more weight on it and then take another step. I then try to step again with my left leg and then slip and fall down onto the floor. I then huff in annoyance at forgetting that I have four legs, not two. I then get back up and take a few shaky steps, reminding myself to use my back legs as well. I then keep on walking, using my muscles to help steady me and keep me from falling down. I then take a better look at my surroundings, and notice that I am inside of a cave. I then start hearing birds chirping and singing outside of the cave. I also see many large pines in the distance, covered with snow. I then take a few steps towards the opening, but my path is blocked suddenly by my mother.

She then looks at her son and then stares at him and says, "Hold it right there, Scoot. You are going nowhere on your own for a long while. If you wish to see the outside of this cave, you are going to have to stick to my side like stink on a skunk until I find you a form to hide in."

I then nod and then walk to her side, eager to see where we are at as she makes her way towards the opening. I anxiously look around at what I can see beyond the opening, the brightness of the snow-covered ground blinds me as we exit the cave. It takes a moment for my eyes to adjust to the brightness as I then see nothing but snow, snow, and more snow.

Norah then looks at her fawn and says, "We will be moving to a better location for your forms, so stay close to me you two."

I cock my head to the side and then feel something brush up against me, making me turn my head to look at it when I hit my head against something hard and then see another fawn beside me and realize that I have a sibling.

The mother of the two fawns pokes her head out of the cave and looks for dangers outside before stepping out of the cave completely, and starts leading the fawns to a new location where their forms will be located saying, "Okay, the area is clear of dangers. Stick close to me, lets go."

One month later I lay in this patch of tall grass mother has put me in, feeling rather bored of staying in this one spot. I then hear something making their way towards me, making me wonder if it is time yet to leave this spot. I watch with curiosity as my mother pokes her head through the bush and says, "Come on Scoot, it is time for us to get moving."

I then stand up and exit the bush growing in the tall grass, eager to be able to follow my mother where ever she goes. I then see my sister getting breakfast from mother and decide to get some as well.

Six months slowly go by as mother teaches Nola and I how to find food and survive in the wild around us. I am in the meadow playing with my sister as we pass by a few structures that used to be the town of Colter when I hear howling coming from a distance away and then say to my sister quietly, "There are wolves out here, lets return to mother."

Nola looks at her brother nervously and says, "I agree with you bro, I don't know why you enjoy playing near these old structures. This place gives me the willies, it feels like something awful happened here."

I then smile at my sister and then say to her, "I like playing here because it is nice and quiet here, there aren't too many things that we have to worry about trying to kill us here." I then start to sniff the air and catch a wolves scent that is getting closer, raising my tail in alarm and say, "C'mon, we need to move now. They are onto us, and we need to get back to mother. I am sure that she is worried about us." I then turn and start running through the forest as quiet as I can, looking back to make sure that my sister is close to me.

She then turns her ears around to listen for noise around them as she catches the sound of a twig snapping with growls and barks following it and says, "They've got our trail, we need to get away from them!"

I then glance to her and say, "Panicking about it isn't going to make it better, so calm down and use your head knucklehead. We will use the river to cover our tracks, then follow it for a ways before getting out and heading back to find mother. Just trust me sis, and I will get us back to mother safely."

Nola looks at her brother and nods her head, then forces herself to calm down and says, "How can you stay so calm when there is danger all around us?"

We finally reach the river and enter it, then trot up it when I half lie to her and say, "I don't know why, I just am. I have always been like this, and you know that. We need to stay quiet now, so hush and focus on not leaving our scent behind."

She nods in agreement and keeps quiet and thinks to herself, 'If we make it back to mother safely, I will be grateful for your quick thinking.'

After about 10 minutes of trotting up river, I finally say, "I think it is safe to leave this stream behind sis, let's start heading back to find mother." I then make my way out of the river with my sister following behind me.

Nola then sighs happily and says, "Good because I can't feel my hooves anymore." She then shakes her body to remove any debris that may have gotten on her coat.

I watch as my sister shakes herself clean and then chuckle saying, "Why do you insist on staying so clean at all times? That is the third time today that you have done that, and it isn't even dinnertime yet."

She turns her nose up at him and replies, "Hmph! I am a girl you know, and as you should know, girls do like to be clean. We are nothing like you boys, who are happy to just walk around covered in deer knows what and stinking like a skunk."

I glare back at her and say, "HEY, I was curious at what was living in that super small hole alright! How was I supposed to know that a skunk made its home there? It took me a month of rolling in a variety of herbs to get rid of that damned smell." I then catch a bare hint of mom's scent and begin following it back to her.

Nola catches the scent too and follows after her brother, poking him one more time saying, "Okay stinky, whatever you say. How many times has mother scolded you for poking your nose where it doesn't belong?"

I then focus on the scent and trot after it, trying to get back to mother before noon and say, "I have lost count how many times she has scolded me."

She then chuckles and then trots after her brother thinking, 'You are so fun to annoy bro.'

After a half hour of tracking down mom's scent finally gets us a bit closer as I catch a whiff of something that is new to this area and say, "Hey sis, I don't recognize this scent. Do you know it?" I continue following after my mother's scent, waiting for my sister to answer me.

Nola then raises her tail in worry and says, "No I don't, I don't like how eerily quiet it is here. Come on, lets get back to mother already."

Another half hour passes by as the scent grows much stronger than before, then I start hearing a strange crunching and snapping sound coming from somewhere in the woods. I follow it for a little ways further before I see something large, brown, and furry on top of something smaller than it with a smooth brown coat. I get a pit in my stomach and turn to my sister and then say quietly, "Wait right here and don't move...at all, something is wrong up ahead that I need to check out."

She feels her pulse quicken at hearing that, causing her senses to heighten as her tail goes three quarters upright and says, "W-What is it bro, what is the matter? We are so close to mother now, let's get back to her so we can be safe again." She then looks all around nervously and sees the large furry brown creature next to something and freezes in place.

I then step to the side silently to get a better look and immediately wish I hadn't, because my eyes capture the image of the bear chomp down on mother's neck and take a big bite out of it and starts to chew. I am frozen in my place when my sister walks up behind me and looks at the scene before her and screams.

Nola's mind sees the bear turn to look at them hungrily, unable to handle what is happening to her mother right now she says, "Why did you kill our mother? We still need her to survive, so why did you take her from us!"

The grizzly bear looks at the fawn that screamed and says in a deep voice, "How dare you interrupt my meal, you have made me very angry! I am going to add you to my lunch as deserts!" Just then he hears wolves howl and gets even madder and then roars out in anger and stands on his back legs.

I look around and see six wolves running towards us and scream at my sister, "Run Nola, we have to take care of ourselves from now on!" I then take off away from the bear and the charging wolves with my sister at my heels.

The grizzly sees the charging wolves and grins and yells, "Oh you think you can take my food from me you pathetic weaklings, bring it on!" and then falls back down to the ground, roaring in defiance and rage. He then charges the wolves yelling, "My name is one that should strike fear in weaklings like you, now cower before the mighty Gris!"

She flags her tail and follows her brother at a dead run as tears run down her face, remembering the horrifying sight of Gris actually eating their mother. She cries and continues following her brother through the woods saying, "Where will we go?"

I ignore the sounds of an all out fight between a pack of wolves and a very pissed off grizzly bear as I see a log bridge across a raging river and quickly run to it saying, "We will head south to where it is warmer, and there are no wolves."

Nola looks behind her and sees the wolves catching up to them quickly and jumps onto the log, then hears a deep sounding crack as the log turns out to be rotten on one end. She then races to the other end and jumps off the log right before it cracks again and falls into the river beneath her, she then safely lands on the other side and breathes a sigh of relief at the wolves not going to be able to reach them here. She then looks to her brother with a smile on her face and says, "We made it, we are safe now! How did that creature catch mom, she was surely faster than it?"

I then back up slowly towards the edge, looking at the woods in the distance when I hear the wolves squealing in agony. The squealing of the wolves is then followed by a dead silence broken by one victorious roar, I then feel a bit nervous at what might be coming this way and say, "Not quite safe yet sis, we are officially trapped between wolves ahead of us and the raging river below us. That grizzly bear wouldn't have caught her if it wasn't for the bear trap she got caught in."

She then looks at her brother strangely and says, "How do you know what that creature was, and what is a bear trap?" She then notices the wolves closing in on them from the front and backs up to the edge of the cliff and begins to shake in fear.

I watch the wolves stop a few feet away from us drooling at their potential meal and whisper very softly into my sisters ear, "If you want to live and not get eaten by wolves, follow me by jumping into the river. I don't know about you, but I would rather drown than feel the pain of being torn to pieces by ravenous wolves."

Nola hears what her brother says and nods her head, understanding what he said and agrees to follow him into the river. She then looks nervously between the wolves as they close in further, hoping that her brother says jump soon. She waits a few more seconds before hearing him yell, "JUMP!" She quickly turns and begins to follow her brother over the edge when her hoof slips, causing her to fall and land on the ground. To her horror, she tries to pull herself over the edge and looks back to see a pair of jaws clamp down on her leg and start pulling her back away from the edge screaming, "Brother!!!"

Just before my head goes under the water, I hear my sister scream for me and think, 'I hope she made it into the river after me.' I come to the surface of the raging water and hear blood curdling screams of terror mixed with sounds of a wolf pack tearing into my sister and yell out, "Nola!!!" before getting sucked down the stream.

A couple days later, further down the stream...

I wake up and open my eyes to see that I am on the bank of the river I jumped in. When I think back about my sisters final moments, I lay my forehooves over my eyes and begin to cry when I hear a few heavy steps in front of me and a heavy exhale and say, "If you are going to eat me, then so do it already."

The tall creature looks down at the young fawn and sighs sadly saying in a male voice, "As appetizing as you look, I don't eat meat young one."

I remove my forelegs from over my eyes and look at the creature in front of me, seeing only a pair of legs before me. I follow the legs up higher and higher into the sky when I find myself looking at a large and majestic looking bull elk and gulp saying, "I didn't realize that I was so small, you seem like a giant from down here."

The elk looks down at the very young buck and says, "What happened to you? Where is your mother, why is she not with you?"

I then sob and say, "She was running from a grizzly bear and got caught in a bear trap, then the bear caught up to her and ate her. I had my sister with me when we returned to find her laying on the ground as the bear took a chunk out of her neck, my sister saw that and screamed. I then saw the wolves charging down the hill toward us and we both started running away from the wolves and the bear, we crossed a log across a raging river that collapsed under my sister when she jumped towards the cliff. She made the jump, but then we were trapped with two choices to make. To either let the wolves coming from the woods catch and eat us, or jump into the river and hope to survive it. I jumped into the river after telling her to jump, but she got caught by the wolves. I can still hear her screaming from them tearing into her, I will never forget what I heard a few days ago before getting pulled down the raging river."

He feels great sympathy for his tragic loss, but then stiffens up and says, "Get your crying out of your system now young one, because you are a survivor. That means you have to now fight to survive in this world, the only one you can count on to take care of you is yourself when you have no one else to depend on. So get up on your feet young one, it is time for you to learn to live on your own. You will be with me until I deem you ready to be on your own, so come on and follow me lad."

I then shakily get up onto my feet, fighting for strength through the tears. I hang my head low in sadness as I start to follow after the bull elk and sniffle as I ask, "Who are you and why are you being so kind to me?"

The elk then stops and looks back at the young one and says, "My name is Dorn, and I have had an experience similar to yours. What is your name young one?"

I lift my head up to look at Dorn and say, "My name is Scoot, it is nice to meet you sir."

Dorn nods and continues walking back into the forest and says, "Likewise Scoot, now try to keep up because I cannot walk any slower than this."

I then follow after him at a trot, still sniffling a bit and then think to myself, 'I swear this to you sister, I will get even with those wolves for taking your life from me.'

Seven months later...

I look at Dorn and say, "Thank you for taking care of me these past few months, I owe you a lot for teaching me everything you did."

He then nods and then says, "You are welcome Scoot, but now you are old enough to be on your own. So hurry up and get on with your life, and out of my territory."

I then nod my head at him and then turn around and start running off to find an area to stay in for a while and think to myself, 'Now that I am on my own, I can start working on making myself stronger.' I then continue on down through the forest, deciding to head towards a nice meadow over by Horseshoe Overlook.

I run by a pond on my way to Horseshoe Overlook and stop to take a drink as I look at the top of my head and see a couple sticks poking up out of my head covered in velvet and say to myself, "At least my antlers are finally starting to come in now." I then hear a feminine giggle come from somewhere around me, causing me to stop and look around for who it is that made it and see nothing and then say, "Anybody there? I know I heard a giggle from somewhere, so come on out and say hello."

The female fawn pokes her head out of a thick bunch of cattails and smirks saying, "Hello, I was drinking water here and didn't recognize you. I was curious as to who you were, so I hid in these cattails here and waited to see if you were dangerous or not."

I look at the face of the female that poked her head out and roll my eyes at her and then say, "Well, do I look dangerous to you?"

She cocks her head to the side at hearing his speech pattern, swearing it sounds familiar from somewhere. Unable to place it, she then ignores it and then rights her head and says, "No you don't look dangerous at all." She then giggles at his expense and then says, "My name is Talia, what is your name?"

I sigh and then shake my head and get a strange feeling like we have met before, but can't place where and then say, "My name's Scoot, I'm just passing through here while I make my way over to a meadow by Horseshoe Overlook." I mentally slap myself for letting something like that slip.

Talia gets another small hint of having met him before from the way he pronounces words, deciding to watch him more closely she says, "I have never heard of that place before, do you go there all the time?"

I then try to shake off the feeling of familiarity and tell her a lie, "I have been there once or twice with my mother."

She catches him in a lie and stares at him hard and then says, "Did you just lie to me just now?"

I stay calm and then say, "No, I'm telling you the truth. My mother, sister and I passed through there once when I was a few months old alright?"

Talia catches another lie and exits the cattails, irritated that he lied to her a second time and slowly approaches him with a scowl on her face. She stops right in front of him and says, "I'm sorry, do you care to try that again. I saw you coming down from the highlands to the northwest of here, so please try to fool me...again."

I slowly start backing away from her and say, "I mean it, my mother, sister and I really did pass through there around winter time."

She starts to stalk towards him with a scowl on her face as she angrily says, "Mister, you better start telling me the truth or I'm gonna chase ya wherever you go until you tell me the truth. So start talkin'!"

I think about my time with Jenny before the boat disaster and then sigh and let my rump fall to the ground and look around for anyone else that might listen in and say, "Okay, okay already. Stop pestering me and I will tell you on the promise that you don't repeat what you hear from me to anyone or anything, do we have a deal?"

Talia then smiles and sits down on her rump and says, "Yes, I promise to not tell a single soul what you tell me. Now spill the truth mister, ya made a deal."

I then look down at the ground and begin by saying, "I used to have a mother and sister, but the truth is that I haven't been there with them at all." I then look into her eyes, waiting for her to respond to that before saying anything else.

She cocks her head and then says, "How did you get all the way there on your own then, did you run away from your mother a few times?"

I then sigh again as she doesn't quite catch my meaning and then give her another clue and say, "I didn't go there alone, I went with some friends that I was very close to. We were like family, though not actually related to each other." I then wait for her to respond to that new information.

Talia struggles to piece together the new clues he gave her and then says, "You were there with others that you considered family..." She ponders on that for a bit before thinking back on what she remembers of her other life and then she says, "So am I to guess that you have been there in another life?"

I then smirk as she then catches on to the hints and then decide to tell her more and say, "Yep, I remember being with a gang of humans."

Her eyes widen with wonder as she then blurts out, "Really, who were ya with?" She then realizes what she said and then quiets down and waits for him to say something.

I chuckle and then try to throw her for a loop and say, "So I guess that you are like me then, I think I was with the O' Driscolls. Do you remember who you used to run with?"

Talia scowls at him harder, falling for his lie and says, "You're a damn O' Driscoll boy, ohhh you are so lucky that we never met or I woulda killed you. Your damn straight I know who I used to run with, and it was Dutch Van Der Linde!"

I start to laugh and smile and mess with her a bit more and say, "Yeah, I'm sure you would have tried. I was really good with my guns, and just loved to use dynamite. So miss, I'm sorry but I woulda killed you instead."

She then starts to fume as she lets her anger get the better of her when she hears how he laughs and then sighs, realizing that he is messing with her and says, "Are you really an O' Driscoll? I am getting the feeling that I have met you before, I just can't remember who or where."

I drop the joke and chuckle a few times before slowly getting serious and then say, "Of course I am not a damned O' Driscoll, but I had you going for a second there. The gang I was a part of was led by Dutch Van Der Linde, my name was Arthur Morgan. So, what was your name then?"

Talia freezes as she hears a familiar name and then starts to tear up a bit and says, "Wait....you are Arthur?" She then begins to fidget with her forehooves nervously, awaiting for his answer to confirm it.

I nod my head and then say, "Yep I am, so who are you and how do I know you?" Just then I watch as her eyes open wide and she gasps in surprise.

She then jumps towards him, knocking him onto his side. She happily nuzzles against his neck and says in his ear, "My name was Jenny Kirk, it is nice to meet a past close friend." She then breathes in his scent and then backs off of him and waits for his response.

I then rise to my hooves again and then say, "It is really good to see you once again Jenny, the gang buried you north of Colter. We have a lot to catch up on, why don't you come with me."

Talia then smiles and says, "Of course, I would love to catch up on everything that has happened after I died. First things first though, I need to tell my mother that I have decided to strike out on my own and see what else this world has to offer. So can you wait here for me until I come back?"

I then smile and nod saying, "Sure I will wait for you here, just don't take too long okay? This is coyote territory after all."

She then nods and gets up onto her feet and then hurries off to find her mother to tell her what she wants to do from now on. She races through the strip of trees and into the meadow where she is eating some flowers, coming to a stop by her and then says, "Hey mom, I have decided to strike out on my own and see what else I can find in this world. Thank you for teaching me everything you can to prepare me for surviving on my own, I am grateful for you raising me.

Her mother then finishes chewing on a flower she plucked from the grass and then smiles and walks over to her, then nuzzles her neck against hers and says, "Alright my dear, you are indeed old enough to go out into the world and fend for yourself. I am so proud of how you grew up so well, so go on and enjoy your life while it lasts. Goodbye my dear daughter, may you have a happy life."

Talia then smiles and then turns around and runs back towards the river she left Scoot at, arriving a few minutes later with a smile on her face as she sees him snoozing by the bank. She then crosses the river silently and then stands beside him and says, "Are you ready to start our new adventure Arthur? I a so looking forward to this, as well as catching up on past events."

I then raise my head up and then open my eyes and say to her, "Please call me Scoot if there is anyone around that can hear us talking, okay?"

She then nods and then says, "I'm sorry, I am just so excited to go exploring without anyone chasing after us. You need to relax a bit, and not be so worried all the time."

I then sigh and get up onto my hooves and say, "Look Jenny, things only got worse after the Blackwater mess. The gang is gone now, we made too much noise where we went and brought trouble down upon us. It got so bad to the point that I just got fed up with it all and told everybody to leave and start their own lives, Micah Bell once told me that you were carrying his child. Is that true, were you carrying Micah Bell the fourth?"

Talia then frowns for a moment before scowling at Arthur saying, "That really is sad to hear that things only got worse, can you tell me more about it on the way to the Overlook? I can't believe you would believe such an obvious lie, I never slept with him. However, I was carrying a child but it was most definitely not his. Let's get going already, the day isn't getting any younger!"

I then get moving in the direction of Horseshoe Overlook and say, "Well if it wasn't his, then whose was it?"

She follows him closely and then says, "I'm not going to tell you that, because it is only important for me to know." She then smiles and then thinks to herself, 'I can't tell him that it was either his or Javier's child, can I? No, it is better to just leave him guessing.'

Six years later, some time around September

I stand here at the place where my sister was killed with two terrified fawns behind me, chased by a hungry pack of wolves until I intervened. I listen to their barks and snarls as they then charge at me, eager for a meal. I then lower my antlers in threat to them, unafraid of them and their claws because I have fought wolf packs before. With each wolf I kill, it brings me peace of mind. I then watch as a wolf tries to latch onto my neck, so I tilt my head and swing it towards the wolf. Hoping to kill it, I can feel the added weight as I lift the squealing wolf up and throw him off my antlers and over the ravine into the raging river.

The wolves back off nervously as they watch the deer they heard rumors about from other wolf packs, speaking of a male deer that started to hunt down wolves for some unknown reason. One of the younger wolves yips and whines nervously to the Alpha, feeling unsure about continuing to attempt bringing this beast down.

The alpha snarls back angrily, making his point clear that they will bring down this defiant deer that doesn't respect the law of nature. He then charges in towards the deer, snapping at one of his forelegs as a diversion. Hoping that he swings his head so he can get at the underside of his neck.

I rear up on my back legs as the wolf snaps at my front legs, knowing that he is cunning and has intelligence. I then notice a large rock with a rather sharp edge sticking out towards me, and come up with an idea to kill this Alpha wolf. I then lower my head and charge the leader, hoping he falls for the only opening I am giving him.

The alpha barely dodges the charging buck and sees his chance to bring it down, then jumps onto its back and latches onto the back of its neck. He digs his claws in as the deer takes off running around in circles, then begins to clamp down on his neck. Using his powerful jaws to try to crush his neck, he feels the deer start moving sideways. Thinking that he is winning, he pays no attention to the sharp edge of the rock rapidly making its way towards him. He suddenly hears a scared couple of yips and yowls from one of his members and looks around with his eyes and then finally sees what has them so worried, but is too late to catch it as he feels a brief sharp pain before his vision goes black.

I hold myself against the boulder as the increasing pressure around my neck vanishes, and the alpha wolf falls off my back lifeless. I watch as the remaining wolves' jaws go slack in shock, then they turn tail and take off running, yelping and yowling the whole way back to where they came from. I then stand up straight and then turn my head to the young fawns as I hear the wolf's head hit the stone with a thump and then say, "What are you two doing this far away from your mother?"

The young male fawn says, "We were just over in the meadow by the ruined structure playing when we heard howling wolves, I told my sister to follow me to the river. I led her to the river and saw a large rock jutting out over the ravine, so we both jumped over the river. The rock fell into the river after my sister jumped off of it, but we kept running away into the trees, but then we heard howling again and were chased by the wolves from the woods when you showed up and stopped them when they were just about to kill us. Y-You're him aren't you mister?"

I cock my head in wonder and say, "Him who?"

The young female then starts speaking to him, "The Guardian of the Forest mister, you must be him mister."

I then shake my body to calm it down and say, "I have no idea what you are saying, youngster. Let's get you back to your mother." I then turn to pick up the leader with my antlers and drop him onto my back, sighing at the loss of the one I threw over the edge. I then start heading down stream to find their mother, when the young male speaks up again.

The young male then starts following beside him and says, "You haven't heard about the legend of the forest? We heard about him from our grandmother. She told us that when she was a young doe four years ago, she was playing with her sister in the meadow when she heard wolves howling. She went to go investigate it with her sister after she started hearing the wolves yelp and squeal a few times, once she got there she saw a young buck fighting a pack of four wolves. He succeeded in killing the whole pack, but got a few nasty gashes in the process. She then was about to go out to speak to him but she looked at his face when he turned her way, she saw something in his eyes that signaled her to be wary of him. So she stayed where she was and watched him go on his way, eating a few certain plants that he was searching for. After he finished eating the plants, he then used his antlers to lift up one of the dead wolves and took off somewhere. She then returned to her mom and told her what they saw. Some time later that day, she heard noise coming from the direction where the fight took place and then told her mother about it. Her mother then took them with her to investigate. When they got there, the bodies of the wolves were all gone. After investigating the area, the only evidence of a fight were a few bloodstains, and a set of really deep deer tracks. A year later when she had young, she heard the same thing again. So she hid her young and then went to investigate it and saw the same signs again, and then returned to looking for food for her young. When they were old enough, she told them the story of what she saw and that is how the Guardian of the Forest legend got started."

I continue walking and listen to the tale he tells and chuckle a bit at it and say, "So they call me The Guardian huh? It sure feels nice to be called such a thing when in truth, I am nothing of the sort."

FLASHBACK

I then think back on my second year of life when I first started to try to strengthen myself by fighting against other bucks my age. One day I fought against a buck a year younger than I was, and accidentally killed him. I thought to myself, 'It would be a waste to just leave him here to rot.' So I then tried to pick him up a few times, but he was too heavy for me to lift up with my teeth or my antlers. So I looked around for something to use and saw a rock that might work to help get him onto my back, after several minutes I succeeded in dragging him onto it. I then stood by the rock and used my antlers to grab onto his neck and dragged his carcass onto my back, nearly causing my legs to buckle under the sudden increase in weight. After some time of adjusting to the weight, I started to slowly walk towards the place where I know the human trapper sets up shop in the woods. I arrive sometime in the night at his camp, I check to see that he is still asleep but his horse is looking at me with his head cocked at an angle and nickers at me in amusement. I then shake my head side to side, ignoring the horse and shuffle my body around to make the buck on my back fall off. I hear the buck fall to the ground with a heavy thud, waking the trapper up and making him reach for his double barreled shotgun.

The trapper hears a noise in his sleep and reaches for his shotgun, then holds it at the ready as he stands up and looks around to find a male deer standing next to a dead one. He then cocks his head and raises his eyebrows at the strange sight and chuckles saying, "This is the strangest thing I have ever seen before in my life."

I then see the shotgun aimed at me which doesn't phase me at all, and then I turn around to leave the dead buck behind. I then start to trot off into the woods, away from his campsite to let him return to sleep.

The trapper watches the buck trot off to the woods amazed that it was brave enough to come this close to his camp and scratches his head saying, "You sure are a strange one..." He then looks down and sees the dead buck laying a short distance away and then his eyes widen in surprise, realizing that the buck wasn't there when he fell asleep and says, "Wait a minute...did you drop this here? Why would you do something like this?" He struggles to understand why that a buck would drop another buck off near a human campsite and then shrugs his shoulders and gives up saying, "Well, I better get to work on cleaning this deer up before it goes to waste. People at the bar aren't going to believe this story when I head back to Saint Dennis tomorrow."

A few days later the trapper returns to his shop in Saint Dennis with the goods that customers brought him to make items from. After dropping off his supply, he heads towards the bar to tell his friends the story.

An hour later...

One of the friends doesn't believe the story that the trapper told him and finishes his drink, then slams it down onto the table and says in disbelief, "There's no way that a buck would ever come near a campsite with humans near it, that is just not in their nature! You have to be lying about the buck it dropped off too, that is just absolutely absurd! They are skittish and run away at the sight of us getting close to them, there is no way in hell that a deer has intelligence and the courage to enter a camp, drop off a dead deer, and then just exit the camp with no fear at all of you aiming a shotgun at it! That is just beyond absurd, there is just no way for us to believe something like that can actually happen!"

The trapper takes another drink from his beer bottle and then says, "If you don't believe me, how 'bout we make a bet then? How about this, you ride with me out to my spot Northwest of here. If we don't see that deer I told you about in a month, I will pay you two hundred dollars upon sunrise of the last day? Does that sound agreeable to you Mac?"

Mac considers the bet for a bit and scratches his chin in thought, hearing other hunters cheer him on saying things like, "Take it, it's easy money!C'mon man, do it!We gotta know if he is tellin' tha truth, so do it so we can find out if he tells the truth!"

He then extends his hand out to accept the bet and answers him, "You have yourself a deal there James, when do we head out?"

James smirks and replies, "We can leave in about a week once I get my wagon offloaded and prep the hides for leather."

A week and a few days later...

James and mac arrive at the spot just off of the road near a steep mountain side, then get started on setting up camp when Mac sets up a couple tents for the two of them and says, "You're serious about this buck? To me it sounds more like a tall tale."

James starts setting up his stall and looks at his lifelong friend Mac then says, "Have you ever known me to ever tell a lie Mac?"

His friend sighs and continues to unhitch the wagon and tie up the horses saying, "No James, not even a small one. But you have to understand that if another person cannot back the story up, people won't take it seriously."

He then sighs and says, "I do understand that, and I swear to you that this buck is real. You will see it for yourself before the month is out, I swear to you. If we happen to see him again Mac, let's watch him awhile and learn more about this buck instead of just killing it for the meat and hide. For some reason, this buck just gives me the feeling that there is more to him than what meets the eye."

Mac raises an eyebrow and then shrugs saying, "Sure, why not? We have to see him first to see if he really does exist though."

Two weeks later

It is just before sunset and I carry two dead wolves on my back, making my way towards the trappers favored spot in the wilderness south of Colter. When I get within visual distance of it, it is getting dark out. I then dump the wolves next to a large boulder, then turn around to go get the last two from the fight with them earlier.

James sits by the campfire, eating a chunk of meat from the deer that Mac had shot earlier today and says, "You're a pretty good shot until you get surprised and rush."

His friend then sighs and then says, "How long are you going to continue to remind of that accident?"

He finishes the piece up and says, "I got shot in the ass because the Confederates rushed our lines one day, you grabbed your gun, cocked in a hurry before running for the barricade and then tripped on your own two feet. The gun went off and I got hit, I had to fight through the pain to fight off the bastards."

Mac then shakes his head and says, "How many times do I have to apologize to you before you let that go?"

James then squints his eyes at him and then says, "Until the day I die or my ass stops telling me when the weather's gonna change."

He then sighs in defeat and throws up his hands in frustration saying, "Gah...whatever. I am gonna get some sleep, wake me up in a few hours."

It takes me a couple hours to return to where I left the first two wolves, then continue on through the barren ground towards the camp. As I get close enough, I spot two tents instead of one and the trapper sitting beside the fire looking into the fire. I then decide to continue on towards the camp, keeping an eye on him and the two tents.

James stares into the fire, remembering the battles between the Union and the Confederates when he hears something approaching the camp. He then looks around to find the source of the noise when he sees a pair of eyes reflecting light back at him, he then focuses a little harder on the vague shape in the distance and then calls out quietly, "Mac, Mac! Wake your ass up, he's here!"

Mac slowly stirs at his friend calling him and slowly crawls his way out of the tent saying, "What, who is here?"

He grins and looks at his friend and says, "The one I told you about, keep still and just look to your left and you will see who I mean."

His friend grumbles and turns his head to the left and fully wakes up as he sees a buck making its way towards the camp and loudly whispers, "Holy shit James, you weren't kidding! What's that he's carrying on his back?"

I continue to walk through the trees towards the camp as I hear them talking to each other quietly and watch me with curious eyes.

James's eyes widen a bit as he can see the buck a bit better the closer he gets and then says, "Those things on his back are wolves I believe, now don't reach for your gun and let's study him. If he leaves, we will track him down in the morning and observe him for awhile."

Mac then nods in disbelief at what he is seeing and says, "Uh huh, we definitely need to learn more about this buck. This will make people believe your story, no doubt about that."

I then step into the edge of the camp and then shift my body around until the wolves fall off of my back, then turn around and trot off to get the last two wolves before going to look for some healing herbs.

Two days later, late evening

Mac is keeping an eye on the buck that visited them last night, dropping off four dead wolves with gore marks in the hides. Still finding it hard to believe that this buck fought and killed four wolves and survived, he watches the buck protect a fawn from a couple of wolves that tried to kill and eat it. He then follows after the buck after picking the dead wolves up with his antlers and dropping them onto his back, then leads the adventurous fawn back to it's mother before going on his way back towards their camp.

I ignore the curious human following me and continue towards the trappers camp to drop these two wolves off before finding a place to rest for awhile, arriving a little distance away from the road a couple hours later when I spot a cougar start stalking its way down through the small dip on the right side of where he has his stall set up. I then fold my back legs under me, quickly ditching the wolves for the moment to go after the cougar saying, "Not happening today you damn cat!" I then take off on a dead run as I see it begin to pick up speed, dropping my head after avoiding a collision with a couple of trees.

James suddenly hears the call of a cougar, then turns his head to the left in the direction it came from. He then spots the cougar running at him full speed, then reaches for his shotgun and brings it up and clicks the safety off when a blur to his right slams right into the cougar. He then hears something hit the wagon hard, and the cougar yowling in pain before falling silent. He wonders what the hell that was and goes to check it out, seeing something that shocks him. He sees that it was the buck from last night had apparently charged into the side of the cougar, and into the side of the wagon.

I then attempt to pull myself free, only to find that I have driven my antlers through the side of the wagon and then say, "God dammit, I can't get myself free!"

Mac then reaches the camp gasping for breath and says in between breaths, "JAMES...ARE YOU...OKAY! I chased after the buck after it took off running, I ran harder when I heard a cougar near the camp." He then looks at the wagon, then notices the buck standing next to it acting strangely for some reason and says, "What the hell's the matter with him, and where's the cougar at?"

James then looks at mac with wide eyes and shaking a little bit from surprise and says, "I think that buck just saved my life. Somehow, he managed to ram his antlers into the side of the cougar. He must have tried to throw the cougar, because he lifted his head a bit then ran into the side of the wagon and got himself stuck real good. Grab a mallet and help me get him free Mac, I owe him my life for saving me."

He then nods his head and gets into the back of wagon and retrieves his mallet to hit the points that are sticking through the wood, then starts to tap on the tips saying, "Damn he has a big rack, has some long points too. We will have a couple new stories to tell about this guy when we return to Saint Dennis."

I then sigh in annoyance of their chit chat about my rack and say, "Just shut up and get me free already, I don't want to be stuck here any longer." I then feel him tap on my points, trying to drive them through far enough where I can pull them free myself. I then watch the trapper walk around me to the backside of the cougar and then looks at my antlers and then counts the points on them, then lifts up my cheek to see my teeth.

The trapper looks at the teeth of the buck after forcing his mouth open and says, "This buck is around five or six years old and has seven points on each side, I am surprised that he hasn't been killed by a hunter yet."

I roll my eyes at them and feel my antlers slowly start to come loose and try to pull myself out of the wagon with a few tugs, succeeding after three strong pulls against the wagon and landing on my ass. I then shake my head, happy to be free from the wagon and then rise to my feet before trotting off to get the two wolves I dumped back there.

Mac then watches the buck leave and says to James, "He is going back for the two wolves he ditched back there to catch this cougar. We should head back to Saint Dennis and tell the others about this Guardian, this is a story worth telling."

James then watches the buck trot away and says, "We will head back once we get this cougar cleaned up and wrap the meat up to smoke it, hand over that two hundred you owe me already."

I then return the two wolves to my back and then head back to the camp, arriving in time to watch the other human place the cougar carcass onto a table, then get a knife to start removing the meat. I then look at the trapper as he spots me heading towards them and hear him say, "Damn you, don't bring shit when I'm preparing to leave!" I then laugh and then dump the bodies in front of the stall and snatch a couple bundles of Alaskan Ginseng and Indian Tobacco, then run off as he runs around the corner of his stall and throws a rock at me saying, "Get outta here ya damn varmint!"

He then shakes his head and returns to the stall as Mac laughs at what happened and comments, "He seems to really like you for some reason."

James then looks to his friend and sighs saying, "I don't know why but he reminds me of a talented man I knew ten years ago, I think his name was Arthur Morgan." He then looks at the two wolves and says, "Now we have even more to clean and prep before we can leave here."

Two years later, around mid winter...

I hook one wolf with my right antler and tear its throat out then focus on the last surviving wolf and then kick it as it tries to get behind me, sending it yelping away in pain. I then watch the wolf run away with its tail between its legs happily. I then go to pick up the two wolves I had killed, when a shot rings out and hits me behind my rib cage. I then forget about the wolf and take off at a dead run saying, "God dammit, I wasn't keeping an eye out for hunters! I am not about to let those worthless bastards claim me, there is only one that would show me any respect!"

The hunter then says, "I finally found this 'Guardian Deer' that I have been hearing about in stories by a few fellow hunters that heard those stories from a trapper. My pa would be so proud of me for tracking down the biggest buck that kills wolves and cougars! I only wish that he didn't get shot like a dog by that damned Agent Ross and his henchmen, I wonder where he's at nowadays? It's gonna be dark in a little while, so I better git started on tracking it down." He then whistles for his horse to follow after him as he starts to follow the blood trail.

A half hour passes by as Jack loses the trail completely and says, "Dammit all, I was looking forward to showing its hide to a few hunter friends of mine. Well I need to get back home, no venison tonight it seems." He then mounts up and puts his rifle away and takes off for their home in Beecher's Hope.

I begin to feel myself getting weaker as I reach the road by the trappers favorite spot, I then slow down to a walk to try to catch my breath. I start to cough as it gets tougher to breathe normally, I then hope that he is here today so my body won't go to waste.

The trapper hears a coughing and looks to see where it is coming from and spots a buck coming towards him and notices the scar on its face saying, "I know that scar anywhere, I haven't seen you in a couple weeks. You don't have anything for me this time, so why are you here?"

I then make my way in front of the stall and then cough again as I struggle to lay down on the ground, then just lay myself flat on my side and then just wait for him to get the hint already and think, "I never thought that I would be dropping myself off to him, I wonder how long it will take him to catch what I am doing."

He then watches as the deer continues to lay down in front of his stall and then slowly catches what is going on and then grabs his knife and walks around the stall and kneels down next to the buck and places a hand on his neck and then says, "Don't worry friend, I won't waste any of your meat. I will be sending your pelt to Miss L. Hobbs to put on display for others to see that you did exist." He then plunges the knife into his chest, stabbing the heart and ending his suffering.

I feel the knife plunge through my chest and hit my heart, feeling only brief pain before slowly closing my eyes and find myself standing in front of the Trapper. I examine myself and see that I am back to my human form and then say, "What in the hell is going on now in this Godforsaken world!"

The traveler steps up beside him and then chuckles saying, "How did you like your second chance at life? Did you do enough good deeds to even out the scales?"

I then jump a little and turn my head to the left to see the traveler there and answer, "My second chance at life was somewhat peaceful I admit, but there is no way that I could have done enough good deeds to outweigh the bad! I need another chance sir if I am going to have any hope of making up for my past action."

He then chuckles a bit more and says, "This was not your second chance really, just your second life. This was just a way for me to get even for you annoying me so much. So, now that we are now even for the excessive amount of work you made me do while you were alive, I shall now send you to your real second chance. Do you have any last requests before I send you on to your third and final life?"

I then sigh and think a moment and say, "I would like to at least be human in it, and have my stuff back."

The traveler then nods and then holds his chin with two fingers and says, "In your next life, would you care to be able to use magic at all?"

I raise my arms to be behind my neck for a moment and say, "You mean like sleight of hand stuff, right?"

He then keeps calm and then answers, "Yeah, we'll go with that. Would you like to be able to use it?"

I then exhale and then say, "Sure, why not? I guess it would be nice to know how to do something like card tricks and stuff like that."

The traveler then smiles and then says, "Alright then, that is acceptable. I will send you on your way now, Toodles!" He then snaps his fingers and then sends him to his new life in a completely new world and then says, "I better return to Equestria before Celestia throws a fit for me being out of her sight for too long, she is such a control freak." He then snaps his fingers and then appears in the Canterlot castle.

Celestia walks down the hallway leading to the library and calls out, "Discord, where in Tartarus are you! I have something for you to do, if I find out that you have been causing chaos somewhere, you are going back into stone forever!"