Before you read this book, know that I am very open to critique, and welcome it in my comments. This is not the final product. I'll be self-publishing the final product in a book format once I get it finished. 

The morning air was crisp and dewy from the previous night's rain, as just over the eastern horizon, the sun called Sola lit the sky, with her sister, a beautiful small red star named Cora, followed close behind.

The farmhouse, to the north of a little town called Ilysus, was small and cute, made of birch wood for the main walls and dark oak for the trim, with a gabled dark oak roof, Inside, a man gripped his sheets, distressed by the nightmares he had every night.

The man sat bolt upright, still holding his sheets in an iron fist. He looked around and realized that he was safe in the familiar warmth of his home. His blankets had fallen to the floor, and the sheets under him were damp with his sweat. The man looked down at his knees, shook his head and said, "Artemis, get it together..."

Artemis Semper got up from the bed, pulling his sheets off to set them with the laundry, and donned a white tunic as well as his brown pants and boots. When he was finished, he walked out into the beautiful morning to do his chores.

Artemis was a swarthy man, with a kind face, wearing his black hair in locs, with a wolf's tail swishing behind him lazily. He twitched his wolf's ears when bugs flew around them. Swatting at them, trying to get them to leave him alone, Artemis stared out into the farm with his piercing amber eyes, trying to make himself go about his work.

As Artemis worked with the animals he knew so well, he was lost in his own mind, wanting nothing more than to be ripped away from this calm life. He wanted to go over coarse seas, fighting evil with a pretty damsel by his side, saving the world.

What Artemis would give to go after that life. But he couldn't, as he thought about the ways he could start, an overwhelming fear loomed over him, saying, It's dangerous to leave the farm. It's dangerous to leave Ilysus.

Artemis' ears perked up as he heard what he thought to be the trotting of a horse, and when he looked towards the path that led from his farm to Ilysus, he saw a recognizable deep black horse with a figure riding her, and Artemis grinned, knowing exactly who the figure was.

Asher Plades was Artemis' best friend, and was also the Captain of the Ilysus City Guard, having joined a few years before and shooting up the ranks. Growing from his forehead were two sizable, velvet antlers. Atop the man's head were a pair of fuzzy deer's ears, and behind him, flicking in the daylight, was a fluffy deer tail. Across the bridge of his nose and his cheeks were spots from when he was a child, which remained despite adulthood, which seemed sincere since Artemis thought Asher was so naïve at times that he seemed childish. Yet, when Artemis saw Asher, Artemis ran giddily to the trail to meet him.

"Asher!" Artemis called, waving and rushing to meet his friend, but the grin on the farmer's face melted when he saw his friend's expression, a look of somber pity.

"What happened?" Asked Artemis, afraid of the answer, as this was not Asher's normal behavior. Asher put both hands on his friend's shoulders and said,

"It's your dad, brother...he's dead."

And then, night had fallen. The hours went by so fast, Artemis didn't know where the time had gone. He'd gotten Old Man Jed, the farmhand, to take care of the chores while he got on Asher's horse and they rode to the Undertaker.

Artemis had watched as they lifted the sheet off a body, hoping it was a simple mistake, but all of that drained from his heart once he saw his father, Ezrah's cold face. "That's him..." Artemis muttered, heartbroken.

Artemis felt numb, signing the paperwork to have Ezrah's body prepared for a funeral. He gripped the quill tight as if the grief was in his body, but not yet his mind.

Asher took him back to the farmhouse, and on the ride back, he felt nothing. Complete numbness. It was like he couldn't quite understand what had happened.

When Asher dropped him off, Old Man Jed came up to Artemis and held his eyes with pity and said, "I'm so sorry, sonny, Ezrah was a good'n, he didn't deserve to die," Artemis nodded silently, avoiding the look in Jed's eyes. "If it's any solace, he's in a better place now, sonny."

"Okay, thank you..." Artemis said, a little harsher than he intended, but Old Man Jed paid no mind, and went to the farmhand's house.

As soon as the front door closed behind him, the feelings he had been suppressing hit him like bricks, and Artemis couldn't do much to stop the hurt from coming out all at once. He fell to his knees and let out a pained wail, tears flowing from his eyes like a river, and as he sobbed, unable to stop, he managed to climb into his father's soft, messy bed, where his father's scent still lingered, the last remnants of his father barely comforting him.

Artemis cried himself to sleep, his dreams plaguing him once more. He woke from his sleep with a feeling that rose up like hot magma: Rage.

His father died at the hands of a human, who'd taken his tail as a trophy, and that, to Artemis, was completely unfair.

I need a drink, Artemis thought, as he got up and popped open a bottle of his father's favorite home-made whiskey, and began gulping it down, ignoring the strong alcoholic taste and the burn as it filled his belly.

Quickly becoming drunk, he went to he father's desk and started to go through his items, thinking to himself, The bastard won't miss the whiskey, now will he?

And when he looked through his father's papers, he laughed, leaning back against the wooden back of the chair. "Nothing..." He whispered, his eyes filling with tears again.

Artemis fell asleep at that desk, opening his eyes to a hangover, and loud knocks on the door of his farmhouse.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

"Yeah, I'm coming, fuck!" He shouted as he got up out of the chair, his back hurting from sleeping in a slumped position all night. He opened the door to see Asher staring at him with a box in his hands.

"Whoa, dude...you okay?"

"Do I look okay?" Artemis snapped. Asher's ears flattened against his head, and he held out the box.

"Your dad's last effects."

"Oh whoopie, is it my birthday?" Asked Artemis in a monotone voice.

"The funeral is tomorrow, Artemis. If there's anything you want your dad to wear, you need to drop it off today."

"You can put a fucking sack over his body for all I care, bastard didn't think twice dying, why would I care what he wears?"

"Aww, Art, don't talk like that, it's not like he chose to die," Asher put a comforting hand on Artemis' shoulder.

"You're right, he didn't choose it, someone chose it for him." Artemis said bitterly, looking through his father's last effects. Keys, a waterskin, some rations...

"Where's his journal?" Asked Artemis, looking up at Asher.

"Journal? We didn't get a journal."

"He never left without it, it's brown, got the Ilysus emblem on it, ring any bells?" Artemis walked back to his father's desk and looked in his drawers for any sign of the journal.

"It was one of the most important things to him, aside from me," said Artemis.

Asher watched him look for it. "Listen, I'll get Jed to take care of the farm for you, why don't you just sleep?"

Artemis nodded, and as Asher left him with the box of his father's last effects, Artemis collapsed onto his father's bed. As he laid there, the oblivion of sleep caressed him gently, and as he closed his eyes, he let it take him.

When he woke up, it was sunset. I slept all day...? Fuck it...

He got out of bed to see how the farm was doing, and Old Man Jed was there doing his farmhand duties.

Jed looked at Artemis with pity, and asked, "Aye, sonny, how are you feeling? Your friend told me that you weren't feeling too good,"

"I'm feeling better. Everything okay?"

"Everything's taken care of."

"You'll be at the...the funeral?"

"If you want me there, sonny, I'll be there,"

"You and dad were friends, of course you should be there,

Old Man Jed smiled, and said, "I'll find my best suit for the occasion."

Artemis did not feel like being alone that night, so he went to find some company, but none of the crowd was any good. The tavern he went to wasn't any fun for him, because all anyone wanted to talk about was his father. Artemis couldn't enjoy the good alcohol or the nice food because the mood was soured by the whisper of death, until finally he set down his ale, paid the barkeep, and left.

Finally he stopped in front of a particular house. It was big, able to hold several people, opposite of Artemis' quaint farmhouse. The exterior was grand, made of stone with dark wooden trim. Artemis remembered being intimidated by this house on the day that Asher moved in with his wife and children. As he approached, he could hear the chaos of a family inside, children screaming, including the bawling of a baby, and Asher trying to wrangle up the kids for dinner.

Artemis knocked on the door. The whole house quieted, and when the door opened, it was a little girl with the downy ears of a deer.

"Daddy, it's Uncle Artie!" the small girl said with enthusiasm, holding her arms out. "Uppies!" Artemis' face broke into a grin at seeing the small girl, and picked her up.

"Hey, Stella!" Said Artemis. "You've gotten so big!"

"I'm four!"

"I know, I was there for your birthday!"

When Asher came to the door, he held a screaming bundle of blue blankets against his shoulder.

"Hey, Artemis," said Asher, bouncing the baby, trying to comfort the colicky child. Artemis looked at Asher, and his smile faded. "Hey, Ash...I just didn't want to be alone," He mumbled. Asher nodded and said, "You're always welcome, come in, we're gonna eat. Lasheda made lamb."

While fauna had animal traits, they were still mostly human, and ate meat like humans are supposed to, and to Artemis, lamb sounded just divine.

Asher invited Artemis inside and into the dining room, where another deer fauna named Lasheda, a girl with dark skin and her hair tied up into a poofy bun. and she smiled when she saw Artemis. "Hey, baby, how are you feeling?"

"I'm okay, " said Artemis.

"Are you sure?"

"I really don't want to talk about this, Leda..." Said Artemis. Lasheda nodded.

"Alright baby, just sit down and I'll make you a plate."

"Thanks,"

Artemis looked around the room at the ornate decorative things which sat in the dining room. A bust of the King, sitting in the corner across from him, a giant decorative china cabinet with all kinds of good plates, bowls and glasses sitting there, and several plants strewn around the dining room. He looked around the dining room, which he knew well. Almost all familiar, he saw ornate china sitting in a cabinet, planets hanging from the corner and a bouquet sitting on the table as a centerpiece, but what he didn't recognize was the new bust of the Great One, Leviathan, a God amongst all men and fauna alike.

"This new?" Artemis asked, gesturing towards the bust with his head. Asher looked at the bust for a moment, then said, "Yeah, got it from a merchant who came through," as he bounced the swaddled baby, who had finally fallen asleep.

"Oh, that's nice," said Artemis, before Lasheda set a plate of succulent lamb, fluffy mashed potatoes and buttery green beans in front of him, with a delicious brown gravy to top it off, then set a similar plate of food in front of Asher.

"Oh wow, this looks amazing, Leda," Said Artemis.

"You've outdone yourself again, my love," declared Asher as Leda leaned in for a kiss to thank him.

"I'll take the little one to bed," Lasheda spoke, before Asher carefully passed the baby to his wife and she disappeared into another room with the bundle. The kids noticed that food was given to their father and ran up to the table, each one screaming about how they were hungry.

Artemis was still hung over, and the dull throbbing in his head became a hard pounding as the kids shouted next to him, to the point where he was visibly in pain. Asher noticed him holding his head, and yelled, "If you mongrels don't quiet down, you won't get anything to eat!"

The kids instantly silenced, and the pounding in Artemis' head subsided.

The kids' voices instantly silenced, and Artemis uncovered his ears.

"Sorry, I still feel bad..." Said Artemis.

"No you're fine," said Asher. Stella looked at Artemis and said, as blunt as a four year old could be, "Is it true your daddy's in Heaven now?"

"Stella Katherine Plades!" exclaimed Lasheda as she came in. "We don't ask questions like that!"

"No it's fine," said Artemis, knowing well that this was the mind of a child trying to understand what death was. He looked at Stella in the eyes, and answered, "Yes, my daddy's gone to Heaven now, our King called him home."

"Why?"

Artemis thought for a moment, and told her, "I don't know why. That's what your daddy is trying to find out."

"But...will he come back?" Artemis took a deep breath to keep himself from breaking down as he said it, but he finally replied, "No. He's not coming back, sweetheart. I'm sorry, I know you liked Uncle Ezrah too, but that's what it means when you go to Heaven. You can never come back."

"Okay," Stella said, satisfied, she grabbed her fork and waited patiently for her plate of food.

"Uncle Artie?" Asked Spencer, Asher's oldest at six year old.

"Yeah?" asked Artemis, looking at Spencer with kindness, making sure he knew it was okay to ask questions.

"Good luck," Said Spencer.

"With what?"

"Spencer has some magical divination abilities," Said Asher. "He can see the future, but not much, just tidbits."

"Oh...thank you," said Artemis. Asher raised an eyebrow.

"What are you planning?"

"I don't know what I'm planning," Artemis replied.

"Okay, well, just don't do anything crazy okay? You're a good guy." Said Asher.

When Artemis left, he felt much better with food in his belly and talking about anything other than his father for a good few hours, but as he walked back to his house, he knew two things: One, his father was dead, and two, the bastard who did it took his father's journal.