THE MOSIAC

the MOSIAC
EPISODE 5

He leaped and danced through the canopy of trees in joy, the aliveness of the forest washing over him, reviving him, filling his heart with all the wonder and happiness of a child. A brown speck in a sea of green and gold, he spun left, adjusting his angle in mid-air, catching a hanging vine and letting his momentum swing him wide and far until he finally let go, launching himself into the air once again with a backwards somersault, arms wide. At last, when gravity finally caught up with him, he dove like a dart through the misty air in the shadows of the forest below, twisting as he fell only to reach out and snag another vine at the last moment, severing one end with his claws to swing out fast and high, ever higher, into the tops of the trees with a huge smile on his broad face.

His mass seemed not to matter at all, he was a leaf on the wind, a creature of the forest. He burst through the emerald ceiling in an explosion of leaves, high above the tops of the trees with a graceful spin, basking in the momentary warmth of the sun and the gentle summer breeze across his golden brown fur, before slowly arcing back into the embrace of the living forest below.

As he fell, he grabbed a massive limb of an ancient tree, swung himself up and sprinted down its length, before leaping fearlessly into an infinity of green above and below. He dodged past a family of squirrels, danced around an owl, and winked at a snake nestled high in a tree as he slowly made his way to the heart of this sacred forest. Few of these creatures even reacted to his presence, so much he was a part and apart of the great cycle of life all around him.

This was joy, he thought, as if joy was something you could just wrap yourself in. While the others thought his form a curse, he secretly knew the truth.

It was a gift.

Once, he had lived as a man. He had done the things that men do. He had known love, bright blades, magic and war. He remembered wine and song and friendship and all the beauty of the simple moments before. And he had known pain, great pain and loss as well...

But that was all past.

Now, he simply was. His rebirth had been his deliverence, his freedom.

But some ties could never be broken, nor would he want them to be. There was still a legacy and the reason for this pilgramage.

It was the early evening. The night and the stars above were just making their presence known against the purples and oranges of the sky when he finally got to the clearing. The first cool breeze from the forest washed over him as he scouted the area, clinging lightly to the highest branch of a tall tree on the clearing's edge. He drank deeply from a waterskin at his side, enjoying the sensation of the breeze and the cool water as he rested in this scenic spot.

Stone ruins of a civilization long past lay scattered across the grassy floor of this sacred place. These people had lived in harmony with the world long ago and he thought they would be pleased by all they had been being reclaimed by the world they had so loved.

His eyes fell upon the remains of a once great temple. Its roof and many of its walls had long ago collapsed and only a few high columns remained as ancient reminders of its glory and beauty.

He made his way there. He was a whisper in the wind, a shadow against the twilight.

He rounded a stone column to see two young people, a boy and a girl sitting on a fallen pillar, admiring the night sky as more and more stars winked through that dark curtain. The slightly older boy got to his feet, turned and grinned. Whisper was always surprised that the boy knew he was there, but the bright eyes, so familiar, told him volumes about the man the boy would one day be. The girl stood and turned as well, adjusting her green cloak as she moved. She knew the smile on her face became his world, his everything.

"Father." she said, running to embrace him.