The Lynx

In the beginning, there were beasts in the land, but they were unlike the ones we see today. They were misty, mere shadows of the beasts we know. The beasts wandered the earth, leaving no trace of their coming and going. They wandered from the tip of the aurora to the tip of the great desert. There they wandered, there they learned what it meant to thirst.

The shapes solidified in the desert, they grew coats and their eyes began to sparkle. The animals came together in the oasis where they lived peacefully for some time. They drank the water that rose up out of the depths of the earth and they ate the leaves of the trees there. They lived in a forest unlike any we have ever known, a forest with few trees and few springs of life.

The rat was discontent with the leaves he ate and devised an evil scheme. While the other animals were asleep, he began to sneak up on them and watch them breathe. He stood over them and thought. He sat down and looked up at the stars. He was so hungry. And then one he broke. The thing that had held him back diminished and he caught one of his brothers while he slept.

The next night he did the same. He sat and watched his friends sleeping before devouring them and burying their bones.

Night after night the animals disappeared. They awoke together and wondered at their loss. They cast spells around them and hid in their desert forest. They armored themselves against the mysterious attacks, but it was no use.

Finally, the lynx decided to stay awake through the night and watch. She saw the rat awake and devour one of the brothers and she awoke the camp. They came around and saw the rat standing in front of the pile of bones. In anger they rushed upon the rat, but the owl called out from above.

“Brothers, do not do this evil deed. To destroy him would to become like him. Stand back. We will have court.”

The owl sat above them and they held court. The rat pleaded for mercy, explaining that it was not within his power to resist the urges that came upon him. He pleaded there in the oasis as the aurora skirted the sands. It hovered above them, bringing light to their proceedings. The owl looked up and read the lights before casting his judgment.

“Rat, you are cursed above all species. From this point on you will be smaller than your brothers and you will eat the trash of the spirits we call humans. You will rummage through the refuse and find there your food.”

To the lynx he said, “You are indeed blessed. Because of your vigilance you are granted the guardianship of your brothers. You will guard them through the night and protect them from the evils that threaten to ensnare them, and you will be given a gift. The powers of the sky grant you the gold of the desert for your own.”

And with that a single drop of gold shimmered in the air above them. They watched as it grew. Threads shot out from it, whispering in the night. They gathered the water of the oasis and shot toward the lynx. She sat still as the threads wrapped around her, lifting her into the sky as they grew around her and then vanished, lowering her to the ground once more.

The animals crowded around her. They watched her lifeless body as the stars turned above them. They watched as the sun began to peer over the horizon and they watched her fur as it faded into the gold of the sand around her.

They stood around her silent as the day passed, and as the sun sank once more they saw her begin to breathe. Her sides rose and fell with her life, and when the first star shone above her, her eyes opened.

The animals jumped back as she stood. Her eyes shone with a light of their own, with the light of the desert.

The Lynx at Night