Page 1 of Hoof It

One

Prologue

Jimazu

S itting alone atop a hill, I stare out at the various human towns that surround the woods I call home. Not for the first time in my long life, I’m feeling all three—or is it four now?—hundred years of my life. I think I’ve been wholly alone for at least the last century. Possibly longer. I cannot remember the last time I came across one of my kind. Though, it probably doesn’t help that I haven’t left these woods at all in the last fifty years.

Lifting the stifling mask I force myself to wear each time I leave my doorstep, I take a deep breath and, on the exhale, allow my head to drop back, looking up to the sky. My hands shift so that I’m able to roll my shoulders. I blow out another breath and close my eyes, taking in the quiet sounds of the smaller animals that are deeper in the woods. Usually, that’s enough to re-center me when I’m lost in thoughts of the past.

Not so much this time. The calming sounds of my home aren’t enough to pull me from my melancholy. I’ve felt alone for as long as I can remember. But the last couple of years I’ve had an aching loneliness deep in the core of my soul. I am incomplete. As though half of my soul is missing, and I’ll never find it.

I take another deep breath, this time holding it in for a few seconds before releasing it. I once again resolve myself to this solitary life. My kind aren’t meant to be alone. We’re meant to be surrounded by family. But this lonely life is what I’ve chosen for myself after everything that happened all those years ago.

Before I can be overwhelmed by dark thoughts of my past, I open my eyes and give my head a quick shake. Refusing to ruminate on the dark thoughts any further, I send up a prayer to Pan asking for him to quell my loneliness somehow. Even though I know that he’s long dead, it still provides me with a small sense of comfort and it pulls me out of my head.

I stand and shake the dirt from my hind end. All of my body hair fluffs out. I look out at the surrounding cities that are miles from where I stand one last time before replacing the mask and turning to walk back into the woods.