The brightness of the moon shone over the city as night fell. Unlike cities buzzling with people, the forest stood silent. The whistling of the wind through trees carried with it a strange cry.
The cries of a child swept with the wind across the forest. As if in reply, howls of different animals echoed through the forest.
A middle aged couple was carrying the child in a basket through the forest. Its cries never breaking as they did made no attempt to hush the child.
“Should we really do this?” the woman asked holding the torch and nervously looking around them.
“We have no choice. If we offer the Gods this child, they’ll spare us from a harsh winter!” the man replied in a raised voice trying to whisper.
“But… but what if the parents is looking for the child now? What if they find us?”
“They won’t! Nobody saw us. It was just abandoned anyway. Now be quiet and walk!” To which he increased his pace, the woman reluctantly followed.
With several hours of walking and climbing, they arrived on the slopes of one of the largest mountains in the world. They had not even climbed a tenth of the mountain and they were trudging through snow and the icy cold wind. They were met with a surprised visitor. A white wolf stood before them and growled.
The couple, having no even an ounce of strength to fight even in their village, had no strength to retaliate in this situation. They could do nothing but turn around and run. Of course, not before dropping their burden, the child.
The wolf curiously sniffed around the basket, and gazed its eyes on the child. As if some connection, their eyes met and an understanding swept past. The child’s eyes slowly seemed to close. The icy weather on the mountain taking its toll, slowly took the reins of life on the child.
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The wolf without a moment wasted grabbed the basket handle with its move and ran towards the top of the mountain. Each second, death got its hands closer and closer to the child.
Within minutes of manuvering past inside tunnels familiar only to the inhabitants themselves, the various monsters that reside there, they had arrived at the near peak of the mountain in front of a looming cave.
The wolf dropped the basket and howled, the voice echoed through the cave. Seconds later, a growl so powerful shook the mountains came in reply from the cave. The wolf took a second look at the child, and ran.
2 red eyes shone from the cave as it slowly walked out. It looked around, and noticed the basket. It grabbed the basket between its mouth and returned to the cave and sat where it always had sat, staring at its new found possession.
It looked at the new being in front of her, and realized that death had mostly already claimed its grip. She blew a soft wind towards the child, and his face shone with life.
The child moved and scrambled around in the basket. Finally, their eyes met for the first time.
“hehe..” small giggles came from the child as it badly attempted to reach for the being in front of him.