Guardian Spirit
“I used to know every living thing in these woods by the sound of its footsteps. Deer, wolves, strays lost in the rain, even men. I thought if I treated them gently enough, they’d leave the forest gentle. But I realized far too late that men mistake mercy for surrender and kindness for weakness”
#skin-line-creation-gamekeeper
ashen tapir
dusky swallow
Village Guard
“I still leave scraps for the stray dogs that wander near the woods. Habit, I suppose. Winter after winter, they used to gather by my cabin like shadows. Then the guns passed through the trees and the forest slowly forgot the sound of barking. Still, I leave the bowls out in the snow, it feels wrong coming home to nothing waiting for you.”
ebon moon
Molten Hound
“At dusk the forest turns soft around the edges, like an old hound gone gray in the muzzle. That’s the hour I remember it best, so alive and warm”