[Pili] Chapter 1: Heavenly Garden

[Throndir]

Location: Earth, Unexplored Lands
Date: Year 1483 - October 25th - 5:36 AM

You felt excruciating pain as the savage fangs dug deeply into your body. You felt the grip of the fox continue to tighten as you were thrown about in its maw. Blood gushed out of your tiny frame. Thankfully it didn't last long, as soon enough your had blacked out.

Location: ???
Date: ???

You felt a warm breeze ruffle the fur on your skin. You were lying on something soft as well. As you noted these, you realized that you felt as if you were waking up from some sort of dream.

When you opened your eyes, you found yourself surrounded by rolling hills filled with green grasses, all sorts of flowers and shrubberies, and a clear sky with some clouds dotting the skies. It looked similar to how things were where you lived, but yet, this place, wherever it was, looked simply beautiful. It wasn't something you've ever seen before.

Spoiler

[close]

What caught your eye however, looked to be some large creature. Pink-skinned, though had long and golden fur that stemmed from the top of its head. It somehow managed to keep leaves around it as well. It looked weird. It was a large creature. Yet, you didn't feel the fear you normally would when seeing potential predators. It was baffling.

It made sounds then. But you realized you were able to understand what it was saying.

Spoiler

"Why, hello there young one. What brings you to my garden?"

[close]

The voice was gentle. And though you've never heard the voice before; it sounded familiar.

A mother's voice.

[Fellow Rabbit]

_

The black fox squirrel slowly started to awaken. Everything was just colors for a moment, but his eyes soon began to focus. The greens melted into rolling hills around him, with the occasional bush or tree to spot the landscape. Every inch of it was covered in grass as green as it could get. The blues grew great white spots and found their form as the sky above. A perfect sunny day with just enough clouds to keep the place from getting too hot. He'd spent his life in thickets and grasslands, but what he saw here was a rare sight. He soaked in the moment of peace that he often wasn't able to enjoy. As long as it lasted, at least.

His memories were still a bit tangled and things felt out of order. There were great red monsters that chased him. He didn't know where his family went and he could never forget the moment one of the monsters caught him. He should have died, right? So where was he now? Nothing but grass and trees surrounded him; not a single living creature - friendly or dangerous - to be seen. Everything was quiet except for the sound of leaves and blades of grass brushing against each other in the wind. And further: where were his wounds? He would never forget the pain of the bite of the red-furred creature when it caught him. It used its teeth to pierce his coat all across his stomach and back, not to mention his tail, and crush him in its maw. He winced at just the thought of the pain, but nevertheless wondered... How much of it had actually happened? Was it all a dream?

He was taken off-guard by a sudden voice behind him and, startled, he ran for the nearest cover in a small rose bush nearby. He was small and nimble enough that the thorns were easy to avoid, but anything chasing him would have to fight its own pain if it wanted to catch him. He peered through an opening between some leaves at the figure that had spotted him. It really was unlike any creature he had ever seen. The long golden fur sprouting from its head, the distinct lack of fur anywhere else on its body, baring a pale peach-colored skin that he assumed was similarly hairless under whatever covering it had all over it.

Having found himself sufficiently safe and able to act more with mindfulness rather than instinct, he found that the sound the creature had made strangely actually made sense to him.

"Why, hello there young one. What brings you to my garden?"

A question. A question? He had to respond to those, right? What was a garden? That was where he was, apparently. But this looked no different from anywhere else he had been. Some things were in rows, yes, but that happened a lot, right? Did this creature put these things where they were? The trees? The bushes? The grass? The actually quite pretty flowers? What sort of things could this creature do if it could move all these things? It certainly had a taste for beauty.

He collected his thoughts again and found the creature still watching him. It didn't advance on where he was taking cover, but it didn't seem to be ready to leave, either. He had to respond! It had asked a question and was waiting for him to answer. But what could he answer? Was it unhappy that he had come into its territory? In that case, it was an accident and he would leave as soon as possible. He didn't want any trouble.

Actually, what had brought him here? The last thing he remembered was the teeth of a monster tearing him apart. Then he woke up in this strange and beautiful place with no explanation. If anything, this creature would know more than he did. Heck, it brought him here for all he knew. He didn't think that was the case if it was asking the same thing, but it wasn't out of the question.

He inched forward for a better view, finally thinking he was ready to answer the question he had been asked, and spoke. "I don't know how I got here."

But what came out was nothing but a series of simple squeaks and clucking sounds not unlike what he would have used to communicate with any other of his species. Nothing like the complex ideas conveyed by this creature's language.

This was crazy! Why could he understand this creature? It had no basis in anything he had done in his life! It didn't make sense that this creature's sounds made sense. Nothing made sense here. This was entirely unlike anything he had experienced before. For all he knew, he could fly, the sky was made of water, and this creature was actually afraid of him. Not that he would risk that last one. He retreated back to his original position behind the leaves of the bush and once again waited for the creature to move on.

[Throndir]

When you spoke, the creature nodded solemnly. It's eyes were gentle however as it paused for a moment to consider your words.

"Come here my child." The being spoke as it crouched lower and held out one of its hands, palm up, low and forward. In it looked to be some of the same kinds of nuts you used to gather with your family.

"They are yours for the taking, and I will tell you what you want to know." It prodded, it's voice soft.

[Fellow Rabbit]

_

He watched, thinking he should come up with an escape route in case he had to make a run for it. The creature crouched lower, beckoning to him, and then held out a great paw full of nuts for him to see. It wanted to give him food. All he had to do was approach. He was a bit hungry, come to think of it.

He was unsure. Was it a trap? This creature was crafty, but could it really be as benevolent as it tried to appear? The food was enticing. Familiar, even. In fact, he wondered if he was really far from home at all based on the nuts alone. But of course, he didn't know if they grew beyond the lands he explored either. He let pass a moment of contemplating getting away while he still could and he inched out of the shrubbery, pushing thoughts of danger to the sidelines just for a chance to taste those delicious hazelnuts.

Hazelnuts? He called them hazelnuts. He'd never thought to name them before. It was just another kind of food he could find back home. A kind of food he preferred over others, but in the wild, you usually took what you could find. He looked at the creature's paw again, inching out further and further. The shells had all been taken off and everything. How could he resist?

It was as if the creature could read his mind, which was a startling thought, come to think of it. If this creature didn't turn out to be so nice and friendly as it seemed and could read minds... He might have a hard time escaping.

He nevertheless kept moving forward, sniffing and anticipating the hazelnuts' flavor and letting the idea into his mind that this creature maybe - just maybe - wasn't out to hurt him after all. It seemed tranquil and peaceful, as if it were a member of his family. He wasn't sure what exactly to think of that, but for the moment, if it really was true, he wasn't averse to accepting it.

Steadily he reached the creature's offering and took a hazelnut from its paw before quickly retreating several feet away, facing the creature, in order to eat the nut.

They were his for the taking, the creature had said. He still didn't know how or why he could understand its words. It was frustrating that he couldn't communicate back. That offer to tell him what he wanted to know would have felt a lot better if he had a way of saying exactly everything he wanted to know. There was certainly a lot he wanted to ask in this situation.

He finished the hazelnut and went on in for another, watching the creature as it watched him back, and yet feeling less and less like he needed be worrying about this great creature. It was giving him free food, after all. He retreated less far away this time around and, before starting to eat this nut, decided to try to speak again.

"Where am I?" he tried to ask. It seemed like a good place to start.

But again, what actually came out was nothing more than squeaks and chucks like he was signalling to his family. He flicked his tail back once and began to munch on the second hazelnut, feeling rather awkward and unsure of what else to do.

[Throndir]

"You are in a special garden," the creature said. "Long ago, everyone lived here. Things were peaceful. Everything one needed, they could simply pluck from the trees. There were no conflicts. Just perpetual existence and peace."

"That was the shared innocence we all shared. From man to animals, and to other beings invisible to the naked eye. Everything changed eventually of course. That innocence everyone shared had become lost. Yet there were many who still held on to it. You yourself mirror that innocence, as such many of my other children. But there are those who have lost it. Every world now has that taint, young one."

"Even in yours. Though isolated in your own lands. Eventually those with that taint would have marched in. They would have changed everything. First the animals, the wildlife, then the trees and plants. The skies would have darkened as well. Storms would have been commonplace. The clear skies would be no more. Death would be rampant. Unnatural towering structures would have blotted out the heavens."

The creature used its free hand to gesture towards the landscape around them.

"This is the opposite of that place that I had mentioned. Here we can be at peace." Her face glowed.

"Your world wasn't like this though, even if it seemed like it. When you eat those nuts, what do you feel?" The leaf-clothed creature asked.

"Happiness, satisfaction, joy?" She pressed on forward. "If that nut could feel, how do you think it would be feeling right this instance?" The creature paused for a moment as it watched you nibble on the nuts.

"Perhaps fear? Perhaps pain? Maybe even regret?" Her visage softened.

"The same as that fear you felt running from the fanged ones. That pain that coursed through your body when you were caught. And that regret you kept for your close ones when the end was near."

"Where is that nut now that you've eaten? Gone, right? But what makes you different from that nut?" She smiled softly.

"You are my child. You, and many others very much like you. I watch over each and every one of you, I rejoice when another is born, sadness, when one leaves their time in life. There are very few of my children that have destinies more than the innocence of life and the natural order of death. Your destiny however, is special." The leaf-dressed lady said waiting for you to finish the nuts.

[Fellow Rabbit]

_

He slowed his nibbling considerably when he realized the creature could understand what he was saying, despite not speaking anything close to its language. He hadn't quite expected that, though it now seemed consistent with the way he could understand its speech despite never having heard it before.

The response it gave intrigued him. It seemed like this past she spoke was a paradise he would like for his family to have been a part of. It all had changed now, though, even if what he saw around him didn't reflect that.

He stopped eating entirely when his home was brought up, however. Could these tainted beings really be moving into his family's territory? The more he heard about things that would change, the more he felt terrified for his family's well-being. He may not have to see it now, being dead, but it was not the world he wanted his fellows to have to see. Darkness, death, storms, and unnatural structures... it was awful to think of.

The squirrel looked at the hazelnut in his tiny paws. The creature spoke of it as if it were alive. As if it was its own being. But it couldn't be. It was just food. It would come out of the trees ever so often so his kind would be able to survive. A gift from the earth. It didn't have feelings, aspirations, or a mind of its own... did it?

It sort of rang a bell in his mind when the creature then mentioned the monster that had chased him. He imagined that the nut in his paws was himself, and that he was the red monster that had ended his life. It was such a strange thing to think of. He had never imagined himself as another being before. He wasn't so sure he liked it, especially if it meant to say that he was no different from the monster that had destroyed his life. It couldn't be the same! The nuts weren't alive! They were just food.

He looked at it again, this time not so sure he should go on eating it. The thought that he was ending its life by eating it was now pulling strings in his mind that he wasn't so sure he wanted pulled. Like the feeling that his entire life he was no different to the hazelnuts than the spotted brown creatures were to his parents, or the red-furred monster were to himself and his family.

But then, why was this creature here offering them to him as food. 'They are yours for the taking.' it had told him. It seemed concerned for the well-being of every living thing. If these really were alive, wouldn't it not be okay to eat? Or was it a necessity? If he had never eaten these nuts or those fruits, which he expected would be as alive as the nuts, how would he have survived? It was all he had ever eaten. He wouldn't have survived very long without them.

There, as he stared at the hazelnut he held, he came to a realization he had never considered before. Maybe some things had to die in order for others to survive. The monster that had eaten him was only just surviving, just as he had eaten nuts and berries all his life only just to survive. He wasn't so sure he liked that, whether it was right or wrong, but it explained so much of what he didn't quite understand about the world back home. Did it really make it the right thing to do? That he couldn't answer.

The creature before him went on, its hand still extended, but after all that philosophical debating, he had lost his appetite. He stepped closer to listen, now having forgotten about any danger he thought might be present. This moment - this conversation - had changed his world. He wasn't ready to decide yet if that was good or bad, but he was willing to go on. He wasn't sure he had much of a choice in the matter either way.

"...Your destiny however, is special."

This piqued his interest. Special? He didn't think he was any more special than his family or friends. He was now beginning to think he wasn't even so different from the other, less-friendly, creatures of his homeworld. What made him special? Was it this sudden ability to understand and communicate with a creature so vastly different than him? Or the similarly sudden ability to imagine such complex ideas like he just had? Or was he chosen without prejudice like a nut from a cache among many that he buried throughout the forest? Was it because of something he had done? Or something he was meant to do? Was he to stop the tainted beings from taking over the land he had left for his family? Or maybe he was to stop the bad that was changing the world here. What if it was both? Was he going to make this place better so his family could have a place to go when the tainted creatures invaded?

Well, this creature seemed to have the answer. All he had to do was ask. "Special?" he squeaked.

[Throndir]

"Yes. Special. That taint is spreading. Like a flood threatening to swallow everything it touches. One by one the refuges are lost, destroyed, or tainted. One by one the domain we call our own is no more. It brings a sadness to my heart, one I cannot quell, yet, there is only so much I can do."

"You are destined to do great things young one. More than any of my other children have done before. For that, I am proud as a mother. The journey ahead won't be easy. But you will find joys still." When it said that, it waved it's hand, and once it did so, a shimmering image appeared beside her.

In it was a picture of you enjoying a variety of nuts and berries that you haven't seen before. She flashed it a moment later, and it seemed like you were looking through your own eyes as you soared through the air. Another flash, and this time you saw yourself running through fields, accompanied by other woodland animals.

"The responsibility is no small thing. You will make new friends, new family, but enemies as well. You will find joy and happiness, yet sadness too. It is a chance to start a new life, my child."

She crouched down again, and held out her palm invitingly, as if asking you to climb on it.

"Will you take it?"

[Fellow Rabbit]

_

He watched the shimmering scenes appear in the waving of the creature's arm. Those nuts and berries almost seemed real enough to reach out and touch, and they looked delicious, despite the revelation that they might be alive. What seemed more strange to him, though, was that he was looking at himself from without. He hadn't actually seen or imagined what he looked like from an outside perspective before. He rather liked the way he appeared - a nice, healthy, bushy tail; black, smokey fur with patches of hints of brown here and there; a fine symmetry of his facial features down to his shiny black eyes, long whiskers, and well-groomed ears - everything he thought a mate would look for in a squirrel. He was proud of the effort he had put into his appearance. He was happy most of all to see that the wounds the red beast had left were no longer there. It would be awfully difficult to keep his coat so smooth with gashes in his skin and patches of his fur missing. He flicked his tail at the thought.

The image changed. This time, he was seeing as normal, jumping from one tree to another. He had always loved the feeling of flying through the air like that, however short it always was. Many other kinds of animals weren't able to clear the distance his kind found so easy. It was useful to escape from monsters or merely to get to food without having to go to the ground first. Or even just for the fun of it. He took great joy in teaching the skill to his young.

The final image of him running alongside other animals felt too good to be true. And even better if he could communicate with them in the way he was talking to this creature now. The were chipmunks, shrews, beavers, wild rats, and other small creatures as well as larger animals like deer and elk, of which he would ordinarily be frankly a bit nervous running so carelessly next to. Even some of the creatures that ordinarily hunted his kind were there, yet he sensed no fear. For his family to live in a world like that... He would give anything.

The images faded and he listened to the bits of details the creature went on to tell him. New friends. New family. New life. Those stuck out to him the most. He wouldn't leave his family. Not even in death. Not yet, anyway. He had to make sure they were safe. This world and this quest this creature spoke of was so inviting, so desirable, so perfect, yet if his family and his friends from back home would not be there, what was it to him? No new family and no new friends could possibly fill the hole left by the ones he had spent his entire life with.

He looked up at the creature as it extended its hand to him.

"Will you take it?"

The question seemed meant to offer closure to his past, but he wasn't so sure closure was what he wanted. The well-being of his family was just too important to him and he was willing to sacrifice any great future there was for him if his family would not share it with him.

Then again, what choice was there here? He had died, hadn't he? He looked back to the patch of grass he had woken to this place in. Could he ever return to his past and see his family one last time? Or was this future really the only direction he had left to go? There was so much he had left unfulfilled in his life. He could still teach so much to his children. He could still offer so much protection given another chance. Even if he could just show his family all the caches he had left around the forest, it was at least something more he could do for them.

But he was dead in that world. Every time he played the memory back in his head, the painful truth seemed to grow. There was no way he could have escaped or have been saved from the jaws of death that morning. And the creature certainly wasn't going to let him get away. And he knew that with all the pain and bleeding he had suffered, even if he was left there by the beast, he wouldn't have made it long enough to be found by his family. Could it be that drawing away the monster's attention was really the last thing he would do for them?

He looked forward again. It was a long and hard process, but he tried to begin to come to terms with moving forward. To convince himself that his old life had ended. To believe that it was right to make it his goal to help this world in whatever way he could. And to accept that maybe keeping his family's memory alive was enough. This was a pain that he hadn't felt so genuinely since his mother and father were taken from him by the brown beasts so long ago. Letting go was so difficult for him, and it still felt so wrong to go on knowing that he was leading a path so far away from the family he had grown.

Yet every train of thought he tried to take led him back to the same conclusion: his past was in the past. There was a threshold he crossed when he died which didn't believe he could ever cross back over. He began to move toward the creature's paw, inch by inch. He kept reassuring himself that this was what he must do. And with every assurance he mustered, it became ever so slightly easier, though he continued to hold on to the slightest hope that, one day, his path would once again join with that of the rest of his family, and they would be united. That hope would drive him, but it would also make it easier to keep moving forward.

As he reached the creature's extended hand and began to climb up, now moving with a hint of confidence, he began to accept his fate. He perhaps wouldn't ever return to his home. He wouldn't see his offspring grow into the independent squirrels he had raised them to become. He may never know where the second red-furred beast had gone that day. It may even be, as much as he hated to think about it, that he wouldn't see anyone he cared about in his life again. And that hurt him the most.

But he climbed on. He reached the top of the creature's arm and grasped a spot on its shoulder next to its head. In his mind he seemed to have gone through all the motions of moving forward; of getting through it even if he may never quite get over it. The future ahead of him could offer more to him than he knew. Maybe this new family, these new friends, and this new life was something he could settle into. Maybe he could reach fulfillment he was never capable of reaching before by furthering the cause of this creature that had treated him so nicely. Maybe this future was something he really did want to be a part of, as mysterious and unfamiliar as it may be.

Still, he had to know...

"But what of my family?" he asked somberly. "Will I ever see them again?"

[Throndir]

"I cannot know for certain, my child." It replied somberly. "Fate is a fickle thing. Inherent in all living things are choices; what to do in any given moment. However, I still can see where you are headed, with specific moments in time resonating stronger than others. Your path is not set in stone, though, persevere and you will accomplish many things."

"You may still see your family in the future. But you may not as well. In your own world, you are long gone. Your time has passed. Your legacy lives on as a memory of those above, and those you have left behind. If you are to see your family again, it will not be in your own world."

The creature then began to stand up.

"It is a future full of mysteries and uncertainties." It continued as she stood straight.

"But that is what makes life precious."

It then glanced towards you on it shoulder and smiled gently.

"The choice is yours, will you take it?"

[Fellow Rabbit]

_

He was somewhat unsure of how to take the creature's response. The future was uncertain; unknowable even to a creature such as this that seemed to carry all the answers. He may not see his family again, and even if he did it would not be in the world he knew. That world was gone to him, just as he was to it.

Closure.

That meant that he would only ever be able to reunite with them in this world. Not what he expected or hoped for, to be sure, but a reunion with his loved ones was not entirely ruled out. Thus hope was not gone. His path was his own, and any future where he would see them again was in his paws. That mere possibility would drive his every action.

If that was the case, then his goal and the goal of the great creature before him were suddenly aligned. He had to play his part in ensuring that this world did not become a world he wouldn't want his family to be a part of. The idea that he somehow could have any influence over something so grand felt empowering.

Where would he begin, he wondered? In fact, that was perhaps getting ahead of things. How would he begin? He was such a small creature compared to most. He had already been killed by something that, by this creature's standards, probably wasn't that great of a threat at all. What influence had he that would not be better handled by something much larger than him, such as the creature whose shoulder he was perched upon? What did this creature see in his stature that he couldn't? It apparently could move the earth and the threes. The most he was capable of was burying nuts a few inches beneath the ground.

"Yes, I will try," he affirmed, unsure at this point if he could possibly handle what he was getting himself into, "But what impact could a creature so small as I have on this world's future?"

It was the only path he believed was even available at this point. He wondered what would happen if he rejected the offer. Would he just stay here? Would he simply go to the nothingness that he expected he would find at the end of his life? Or would he be pushed to take this path regardless?

He would never know now, even if he wanted to. In any case, it would be the coward's way to refuse such a call to ensure a bright future for his family. No, he had chosen wisely, he thought. Whatever he could do, he would do it. No matter the cost. His family depended on it.