((This song was my inspiration for this and I recommend listening to it as you read this story to get a better feel/immersion into it Hamrer Hippyer by Heilung ))
Soft, leather boots indent into dew crested grass. Scarcely a sound was made by the hunter, quiet as the prey he sought. He moved slowly and purposefully through the forest, each step thought out and with purpose. His breath clouded the cold, autumn air. The cold was enough to numb his face and fingers slightly, though not enough for him to worry about wearing heavy furs yet. Golden sunlight of early dawn filtered through the trees of colourful splendour of the harvest season.
The hunter spies movement, dropping down to a crouch behind a large oak, peering out slowly. He held his breath at the sight-
A stag as white as new snow under moonlight picked his way through the clearing, unaware of the man's presence. It was far larger than any stag should be, each of its antlers the size of a normal stag themselves. Its eyes glowed an unnatural white light. It lowered its head to graze at the grass. Everything around it seemed to thrive in serenity.
Egfor stood up slowly, arrow already nocked onto his bowstring from earlier. He raised his bow slower than he stood up, an eternity later, it was aimed for the neck of the stag. Just as slowly, he draws the bow, the fletching brushing his beard. He lets go of a breath he didn't know he was holding.
The stag looks up, straight down the shaft of the arrow to the hunter behind it. Egfor tensed and froze, unable to fire or look away. The white stag walked towards the man, neither one blinking or looking away. Egfor swore he heard whisperings in a strange, primal language he never heard before grow louder with each step. He swore his heart was going to beat out of his chest, then realized that sound and feeling was not his heart, but some rhythmic beating of hide drums beat by unseen hands somewhere. He heard guttural singing and chanting join in the chorus, filling the area as the stag advanced to him.
This song and words he was hearing was primal and ethereal, building in speed and intensity as the stag advanced. He felt like his soul knew what it meant, though he himself had no clue. The stag stood before the man now, having to lean down to maintain eye contact, his face inches from the arrow head, antlers encircling around the man. By now the song was frantic; the drums indecipherable from one another, the whispers and singing which was gentle and melodic at first was now hysterical screams. Screams of ecstatic ritual and primitive energy. The hunter's face became slack, losing himself in the sound and seeming to enter a trance, eye to eye with this celestial being. He felt this song weave its way into every fibre of his being, his entire body seeming to radiate and sing along with it.
The stag broke the trance first, lifting one hoof and stomping it onto the ground. The drums and the voices ceased abruptly, a chorus of horns erupted suddenly and filled the air, snapping Egfor from his trance. The stag exhaled, snorting in the man's face, the horns ceased to exist and there was nothing but silence, an unnatural fear filled Egfor.
———~~~———
Egfor bolted upright, woken from his sleep by a strange dream. He clutched a hand to his racing heart, panting a bit as he calmed down. He carefully pulls out of the arms of his lover and pulls on a shirt, stepping into the main room of his house.
He goes about stoking the fire and putting on the kettle as he thinks about his dream. He brews himself a cup of tea and settled in a chair looking out the window, overlooking the forest. He wraps himself in the fur placed in the chair, nursing his tea and taking a moment to observe the gently moonlit forest. He freezes, lowering his mug as his heart leaps into his throat, seeing a white stag step out of the woods. He blinks once, the stag vanishing.
