1 The venom

I could feel the venom running through my veins, quickly spreading through my body. It didn't take it more than a few heartbeats to get to my quickly beating heart. There was no hope for me left, not from the moment the snake's fangs ripped through my side.

I felt my legs shake, loosing strength with every passing moment. My breathing was still heavy, slowly turning shallower and shallower, leaving thick clouds of fog in the chilly air. At least it was not freezing anymore.

I didn't need to turn my head to look at the two gaping holes in my side, the wound had already stopped hurting and turned numb thanks to the venom. In fact, I was starting to lose feeling in my whole body. I was glad that I won't be returning to the forest in pain, at least.

My legs were already spread wide in a useless effort to keep me standing while I tried to angle myself enough to collapse onto a heap of damp leaves, instead of onto the corpse lying by my side. If only my brother could see me now, so weak and tired. Only forest knows what would he think.

A small cry of pain escaped my throat when I finally fell to my side, my head being painfully knocked against a flat stone. The leaves didn't help to cushion my fall at all and my body was not numb enough to ignore that pain. Yet.

I shivered, tilting my head a bit to look at the dead snake next to me. Its body was quite small, barely reaching half the length of my tail, covered in dark green and purple scales and oozing a steady stream of blood from its open neck. A tiny head of a snake hatchling was lying quite some distance away from the rest of its body.

In a way, hatchlings were the most dangerous ones. Since they didn't know how much of their venom was needed to kill their prey, they just used all they had. And, by the stars, they sure did have a lot.

I closed my eyes, silently wishing I had more time to explore, to appreciate the beauty of my home. To make more happy memories with my siblings and with mother, no matter how little time together we had left. According to mother, we would all leave with the first days of spring and set off on our own paths through the forest. just like she once did. It was late fall now, almost winter.

It was just my luck to stumble against a Sikamuka hatchling hidden in damp fallen leaves. Sikamuka is one of the most dangerous creatures in the forest, their venom widely known for its effectiveness. Their hatchlings were easily visible against the early winter snow, warning most creatures to keep their distance. They would spend their first winter surviving off of small frozen or hibernating animals, moving into water when the spring came.

How had I managed to find one now was beyond me - although I suspect the early morning chill had something to do with its hatching.

I forced my eyes open again, this time turning them towards a small pond in front of us. The snake must have been moving towards it when I stepped onto it and startled it. There was a reflection of clear blue sky on the water surface, only slightly obscured with the bare branches. It was frozen solid just this morning and I had hoped to take a quick drink when the day warmed up.

The stone my head was lying on was halfway submerged under the water and I could faintly see my own reflection on it.

A pair of sky-blue eyes that once looked so bright and lively were now dull and almost dead. They also appeared a bit darker than I remember them being. My coat in the colour of dark grey, with lighter and darker spots on it creating a pattern that made it harder to spot me in the shadow.

There were feathers running along my spine, the top of my head, the length of my tail and patches of them were even on my shoulders, legs and under my eyes. I didn't have wings though; those were quite rare even among Keasi – a feline type beasts known for their wide variability. Those feathers were even darker in colour. Those very same feathers turned into big, soft and long ones at the end of my tail.

Even though we were of the same blood, all of my siblings possessed affinity with a different element. That was what my kind is known for, after all. Our elemental affinity was purely random, no matter our parents or surroundings. It was our element what shaped our bodies, not our bloodlines.

My reflection suddenly turned a lot darker and slightly red. I was startled for a moment, until I noticed how a stream of blood slowly started to turn the clear water murky. I found myself wondering if it was mostly mine, or if it belonged to the snake.

I could no longer keep my eyes open, so I didn't resist the pull anymore. The world around me was nothing worth watching anyway. The time in-between seasons is always the weirdest and this one was no exception. The forest was dark, grey and brown, cold and damp. Not the best of combinations.

I could feel my heartbeat and breathing slow down, turning more and more shallow. A whole minute since I was bitten had passed by now and I no longer fought to stay awake, Instead, I let myself drift into darkness. It was a surprise I was still conscious, to be honest.

A few brief flashes passed through my mind, mostly memories I had made with my family. How mother taught us all how to hunt. How we all had pushed through our limits together, running faster and further every day. I remembered our first winter, when mother curled around us all to keep us warm.

My mind felt lighter when I knew that my siblings will survive. Our mother taught us everything she knew in order to prepare us for the forest. I knew that they wouldn't miss me for long, rather choosing to life for me, forever carrying me in their memories, than mourning.

There were happy memories, so many of those that I wished I had the time to live through again. There were sad ones, where we mourned the loss of one of us, or ones filled with regret or shame. Though, those were few and far between.

What were my memories full of, was life. Filled to the brim with motion of the cycle of life that I had now found the end of. They were full of the forest that has been my home for my whole life.

I relished those memories, slowly letting go of them as they faded from my mind. I felt no anger, but a slight relief as I let go.

The last memory I remembered was of our mother, when she said her goodbye to a fallen Keasi. "We all will once return what the forest has given to us. No matter when or how, we all return to where we came from."

My time came today.