I didn’t dare look back, I simply couldn’t. I couldn’t do anything but take one step at a time going faster and faster and away from all of my fears. When the signal was finally given we all came to a slow stop by the river, that despite how slow the current always was, it never froze. It all looked too peaceful, the soft boulders of snow unaligned with the rest of the world. But the views could never last; the orange begun to ink into my peripheral, haunting me till I just had to turn around, and there it was. Bright warm hues billowed into the sky, stark against the cold. The bright color peeked in stripes against the trees that had been left standing, the flames trying to consume what they could. Down by the water, just on the further side from us, stood the antediluvian elk – the very sun strung in its antlers. I cried out to it as it stared into my soul, attention undivided and cold – an observant spirit simply existing.

“WHY DID YOU DO THIS,” I cried “SO MUCH WE LAID AT YOUR FEET. WE PRAYED, WE SLAUGHTERED, WE BEGGED. AND ALL FOR NAUGHT? WE GAVE OUR LIVES TO YOU, AND YET YOU TRAMPLE OVER US LIKE NOTHING EVER MATTERED!”

“And you thought it did? Foolish child…” A calm voice rung coldly through the woods, radiating from the creature

“Mortals cannot command a god, let alone fathom its existence. Conjure whatever fantasy you wish, believe the dreams that comfort you, and tell the stories that enthrall your souls, but by no means, ever, assume that a god could be a kin to your kind.”