Deep within a secluded forest, far from civilisation’s reach, a beautiful white deer hunched over a round-formed pond and caused slow ripples to bloom and expand across the mirror-like surface as gently as young girls plucked flowers a summer day. She sipped slowly and grabbed every chance of enjoying the clear, sweet water as she listened to the harmonious night, softly ruffling tree crowns to bed with every breath. She liked night. Something she did dislike, on the other hand, was baby boars and tiny, sprawling birds, calling for their mothers to feed them. Especially the birds.

Suddenly, the white deer raised head and looked around the pond, a perceptive gleam within her blue, intelligent eyes. Eyes perked, she stood motionless. Someone was here and she could sense it. There was not an ounce of fear in her legs; no trembling, no shaking, only a proud firmness as they stood planted like towering pillars. Nothing could make them budge. She was the mighty white deer of her forest, the ruler no one dared provoke.

On the other side of the pond, countless of small bushes formed a thicket, in which a seabed of yellow and red wildflowers was encased. In the middle of the seabed, amidst the beautiful flowers, there lay a woman gasping for air, did the white deer discover while scanning the area. She wrinkled her forehead as she saw that the woman was clutching her stomach with both hands, grimacing from what the white deer assumed to be pain or perhaps injury.

The woman turned her head and noticed the white deer on the other side of the round pond. Her knitted brows lost in tension, a faint smile forming on top of her full lips. The white deer frowned and lightly patted the ground with her white hooves. Brittle leaves and moist soiled mingled together, creating a mix of autumn as the fragile crust of the earth shook. The white deer had lived for a very, very long time, and did not hold much respect for the human race.

She knew what they could do. But this human woman seemed different from others. There was even something inside of the white deer that kept telling her that she would regret not going over. She stomped the ground again. How annoying feeling were – always tugging at one's mind and making one restless.

In the end, she could no longer resist the urge and trudged over to the woman. She lowered her head and pushed her soft and wet nose against the woman's lap. A comfortable touch made her ease up. Her gaze flickered upward, only to see the woman’s hand– outstretched – rubbing her. How nice. She hadn’t gotten a rub in a long time.

Without thinking, she laid down beside the woman on top of the wildflowers. Time was as if it stood still. One white deer, one human, two of different worlds, enjoyed each other's present in the quiet night. The white deer soon began to sound out with soft breaths, sleeping like timber. The woman looked at the peaceful creature with melancholy.

“I wish to sleep just like you, oh great white deer,” she said and lightly dug her nails into the deer's fur. She drew through with her fingers, letting strands of snow-white slip between. It felt better than the most excellent silk. “You no longer have any ties to this world, nothing that binds you. I had. Once. But now he is gone, and it's killing me, slowly devouring me from the inside. And I'm powerless to resist."

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“You now of love, don’t you?” She sighed. “Soon, maybe today, I will be tied once again,”

She looked down to her stomach, her gaze filled with love and concern and a bit of expectation. “But I cannot do what I must if I’m still tied to this world. And that’s why I’m here. I need your help, oh great white deer. Can you carry this burden of mine, this legacy, of which I am certain will change everything that is wrong with this world?”

Dawn had already squeezed itself through the thin canopy of leaves that still refused to fall down when the white deer’s ears twitched her awake. She tiredly issued a groaning complaint as she always did, making a flock of brownish birds pale from fright, instantly ceasing to sing. They fled the scene with crisp chirps and rapid flaps.

She stretched out her hind legs and rolled over to her back, letting the sunlight smoother her white fur with rays of pleasure. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Oh, so much she felt like lying here all day, yet knew how impossible it was. There were countless of matters to handle here in the forest. Such was her life.

As she was about to fall asleep again, the white deer's ears twitched from a sound not too far from her. It was a high-pitched sound, like a baby kitten, but a lot more fleshed out. She opened her eyes, her curiosity piqued. She looked around, from the trees in the surrounding to the pond in the middle, and then stopped, whereafter her eyes widened like never before and her heart skipped a beat. She was shocked to the core.

Swept in a red blanket, a child lay in the seabed of flowers to the left. He was awake and did not scream like most newborn would, and instead looked at her with joy. His eyes were like gleaming sapphires, glinting in the sun, making her feel breathless. She had no idea a human child would be able to make her feel like this. She cleared her throat.

The boy yelled in joy. He grabbed a flower and put it in his mouth before spitting it out again, apparently not liking the taste. He stared at her, smacking his lips, singing out with high-pitched 'dah's'. The white deer blinked. It took a while for her to understand. He was hungry. He wanted her to get food. But it felt strange to her. Were all human children this smart when they were born. Were they able to communicate this young age? Amazing!

She got up from the ground in a leap and hurried over to a bush not far away. She patted the ground with her hoove, causing numerous of berries from the fruit bushes to levitate in air, surrounded by translucent bubbles of light. She tapped her hoof again, and the berries flew over to the boy, landing in front of his now bulging eyes.

He looked at her, then back at the berries, before he plucked one and carefully smelled at it. his eyes lit up and he devoured it like nothing. "Dah!" he shouted happily. "Dah, Dah, Dah!"

The white deer laughed and lay down beside the boy, watching him as the berries on the ground were swiftly eaten by him. Was this really a human child, she wondered, and would even the child of a god be this smart? After the boy had eaten his fill of the pink berries, he turned to the white deer and tilted his head. Then he used his tiny hand and touched her nose. She arched back from instinct. His smile disappeared and he seemed like he would begin to cry. She sighed and got closer, within his reach. He laughed and crawled to her, laying himself to rest beside her.