I stood on the edge of a cliff bundled up in so many furs that each movement took serious effort but I was warm. My father stands beside me in his elk form towering over me but he was fuzzy as if far away. It’s probably just because of the snow messing with my eyes. I sit down in the snow smiling up at my father as he lets out the loudest bugle I have ever heard him do. Soon I'm giggling like I did when I was a child before I had picked my name.
I try to copy him by whistling, it comes out as more of a shrill spike squeal that I have heard many of those who have just awakened do but it still makes me laugh as I try to figure out how it is done. After many failed attempts we have to return as it’s becoming late? I don’t think it's late but I don’t want to question my father. I haven't done that in years. He always knows more about being away from the camp than I do.
I slowly climb back onto his back and I struggle while doing so. Which is strange. I haven't climbed onto his back in years, not since I was small enough to do so but I really shouldn’t worry about it. It’s nice being this close to him after so many years. As we get closer and closer to the camp I seem to get bigger and bigger. The furs seem to combine like mixing water and dirt together to get mud, the color seems similar too. Steps away from the camp my head gets heavy with new found weight, surprised I reach my hands up and touch my antlers. My claws lightly run across the base of them, nothing out of the normal.
As I enter the camp I stand taking in everything that I can see now that it’s night. The camp looks so warm and inviting so i wander deeper inside my father now nowhere to be seen but that doesn’t matter not right now. There are many people about but I don't recognize any of them. They are too hazy, I rub my eyes and yet their faces don't clear up. Soon there are whispers of some language that I don't understand. I try but it's like my head is underwater. Is my head underwater? Is that why everyone's face is blurry? Soon the whispers turn to shouts and then some screams, confused. I just ran.
Running through the camp soon there are tents in my way that i can’t, don’t want to run around so i begin tearing through the walls trying to ignore the insides but i can’t entirely. The insides look like my tent and my parents a weird mix of things from my childhood personal marks carved into every single wall of the tents as I tear through the now seeming endless expanse of tents. Every wall that I rake my claws through only to open up to another tent that’s the exact same over and over again. I stop to roar in frustration about whatever trickery that is being played on me. Seeing the unripped bedroll I tear it up in frustration at being trapped and soon that anger doesn’t stop there. Every wall gets shredded but I don't head through them now. The next thing I do is bash frames in chunks get torn out by my claws and dents are put in by my antlers.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
The tent then falls on top of me causing more rage as I bite and tear through it to free myself and finally I am free. Standing up trying to get my bearing as the rage simmers down to embers. I recognize where I am. I stand in front of my totem, the mark of my exile. I grab its base and wrench it out of the ground, snapping part of it as I do so. I look into the carven depiction of me. I roar again slamming it onto the ground as the antlers break off as it crashes into the ground. Planting my foot onto it below the bear head I grab it with all my strength claws digging into the wood chunks that fall off as I dig into it over and over again. With one final huff I look at the carving of my firebearer and with one simple rake of my claws making myself unrecognizable.
People soon begin gathering around me once again. I still can’t recognize any of their blurry faces. They are yelling and pointing at me. Some children hide behind their parents' legs. Some are in their true forms looking as if they’re ready to strike me at any moment. I frantically look around for my parents but I can't see them in the gathering crowd. Soon I see them parting for a recognizable figure. Soon Elder Devlik is standing in front of the crowd with the other elders by his side. I look up at him and his towering true form larger than any other cow in our tribe he stands look down at me.
He speaks in a loud calm voice but like everyone else I don’t recognize what he’s saying. Soon the crowd disperses but they keep their eyes on me with noticeable looks of fear and disgust. Maybe hatred too but I really don’t care now that I'm an exile but as they move away into the ever present wall of tents but it seems to get colder even though my fur remains warm and dry. Elder Devlik taps his cane to the floor twice breaking my attention from the rest of the tribe. He speaks and even as i try i do not understand. Why can’t I understand anything? Why do I have to be hybrid ? Why can’t I just be normal? Why do I have to be this way? Why am I alone?
Once again I'm broken out of my stupor by Elder Devlik as he points behind me at the forest and that I do understand. I have to leave once again. I am not welcome here. I am a danger to everyone so I must leave. So I turn and leave with no place for me here, possibly never having a place again. As I reach the treeline I turn back for one last look at my home only to see just a single cliff with a bull and cow elk standing on the edge looking at me. I recognize them. They're my parents. Soon there is nothing but that cliff and me standing there. I take a deep breath and I let out a bugle, a proper one. Though it sounds like a spike squeal still but it is proper soon ending in a roar. I then jolted awake on wet heavy dew covered grass, near a long dead white stump just looking up at the early morning sky, soon forgetting what I had just dreamed.
