Lost Light

Most everything was as it were every other evening in the forest. The  sun spent its final hours creeping through the limbs of trees, fawns  played near fallen stone, pushing their parents' limits. Everything was  as it were for all but a single dark stag. It wasn't the flies that  buzzed near the remnants that bothered him, but rather the fiery figure  of something that just didn't belong there. It sat upon his master's  throne, defiant as the devil's own.

 

This creature regarded him casually, as if he were nothing but an insect  himself, something small and insignificant, easily crushed underfoot or  word. With one leg crossed daintily over the other, she cast her dark  eyes downwards, towards him. "What exactly is your problem, little stag?"

Bartemius' ears fell as soon as the question was spoken and whatever  courage he had mustered in his approach slowly crept away. "You... You don't belong there." He forced his head upwards and his brown eyes met with hers for a moment. "That is not yours."

The doe's mouth curved upwards into a large Glasgow grin and she  cackled. It was the sound of fresh lit firewood and a questionable  mentality. "You are wrong. Everything of his is mine, you know.  He only thinks that he's escaped me."

Truth be told, the black hart was convinced that he had escaped her,  too, or at least the chance of ever seeing this demon that Osias spoke  of. "No... No no no." Bartemius shook his head violently as if to reassure himself. "You are not supposed to be here. Not here in this forest. Not anywhere."

She laughed again, but not as loudly. "Ah, a smart one we have here.  I could say the same for you, you know."  That grin sprawled across her face again, as sharp, if not sharper this second time around.

She had struck a nerve with that one. Literally in some sense as  Bartemius broke down and cowered. He was but a fawn before her. "...Who are you?"

"I'm surprised your little.. friend..", and with that, she jumped off of the throne, sending the flies scattering in every which direction, "didn't tell you everything about me. We used to be.. close." Her head tilted to one side coquettishly, a playful frown forming.

That was enough for him to falter and take a few steps backwards. "...You cannot be her."

"Ha! He told you, then.  What other delicious things did he tell you, hm?" She stepped closer to him, her smirk turning into something borderline maniacal.

He in turn began to panic, losing his gift and ability to think straight. "...W-whatever I asked of him. He has always been honest..."

"Ha! Osias, -honest-?  He must really have  you wrapped around a hoof.  What'd he promise you, eternal glory for  that soul of yours?  Always dealing in nonsense, that fool."

"Not in nonsense! H-he gave me a second chance... He has always been honest..."

"You know what he wants you to know.  He wasn't very honest long ago.  I don't foresee a demon changing." She peered at him, moving closer quickly.  "Your candles.. they're a bit.. discolored, don't you think?"

He swallowed hard, noticeably, a deer caught in the headlights of something unavoidable. "Do not touch my light."

"I would think it's time to get new ones. These are a bit..dim!"  Taking her anger out on Bartemius, the demon-doe reared, knocking the  very candles out of the hart's antlers, cackling like a madwoman, and  making her escape. Turning halfway, she called back to him. "Tell Osias Yura says hello, hm?" And with that, she darted off.

There was but the sound of a racing heartbeat, frantic hoofsteps, and  wax hitting the earth elswhere. Lost, Black Hart bolted off into the  birch.

~