by Stray Stranger » Sun Dec 22, 2024 10:52 pm
Username: Stray Stranger
Name: Atlas
What task would he get? Traversing a frozen lake at it's widest point.
The whole herd was preparing for winter festivities, and as one of the stronger horses among them, he had been tasked with finding a good pine tree for the occasion and bringing it back for the foals to decorate and for friends and family to exchange gifts under.
He had been searching for the perfect tree, going deeper and deeper into the forest, the mist getting thicker the further he went on, until he came upon a strange creature, a mountain goat with fur so white it seemed to blend into the snow and sky.
It looked at him with cloudy white eyes, as if it's blindness didn't affect it's ability to pinpoint his location at all. It spoke to him in a thin whispery voice that sounded like the winter winds more than the winds themselves.
"Wanderer, do you seek strength?" It asked.
"No, I have plenty of that." He answered.
"What about speed? I can make you faster than the fastest winds." The goat offered.
"I'm as fast as I need to be. No bear nor wolf nor mountain lion has been fast enough to harm me still."
"What about knowledge, wisdom, information? I have a vast array of information about healing herbs and how to tell when a storm will be particularly bad and how to survive it and forgotten spells that bend the very will of nature to your intent. Invaluable information that could make your herd's life exponentially easier."
He didn't understand fully everything the goat was talking about, but he was very familiar with the importance of knowledge, for it had been a particularly wise herbalist who had saved his life from sickness once as a colt. He thought about it for a while, time seemed to pass slowly and quickly at the same time, and yet the goat stood perfectly still as his hooves shifted his weight the longer he stood. Finally, he spoke again.
"Yes." He said. "I would accept an offer of wisdom."
The goat did not move and took a moment longer to speak, almost visibly holding back a grin. "Excellent."
"And what cost do you want in exchange for this wisdom?" He asked, unwilling to wait for dramatic pauses.
"You see this lake here?" The goat asked, and the mist surrounding them, as if on command, cleared just enough to reveal the edge of a frozen body of water of indeterminate size. "If you can cross this lake from this side to the other, I will grant you instantly all the wisdom I have gathered across eons of traveling from realm to realm." It said.
"That's it, just cross this lake?" He asked, not in disbelief, as he was well aware of how dangerous a task like this would be, but for clarification, to make sure there'd be no hidden twist.
"Yes." Replied w the goat. "Nothing more, nothing less."
"You drive a hard bargain," he began "but I'll do it."
Now Atlas was bright and he was experienced, but he knew, even with all his knowledge of keeping his weight even as he took slow steps wouldn't guarantee success. And though he knew this lake well, he also knew that the mist was so thick that even a lake he knew as well as his own hooves would become an unpredictable hostile obstacle in these circumstances. But he thought it was well worth the risk. It took him a very long time, as he was being exceptionally cautious about not moving too quickly or suddenly, three days, he'd wager, according to his own senses. He finally made it to the other side of the ly, exhausted, starved, but somehow dry, and in one piece. He didn't search for the goat as he continued walking on dry land. As he walked on the mist cleared, but his mind felt incredibly foggy as he started noticing the massive amounts of information he was now aware of. He smiled as he walked through dense trees, he had been right, it had absolutely been worth it. He walked on heading towards his herd, but he had noticed that everything seemed incredibly different, the rivers he recognized ran deeper, the trees were a different kind and the clearings and meadows were all in different places, he finally made it to where his herd usually grazed only to find he recognized none of them. He saw only one horse he recognized, but he had known them as a very young foal, and they were now old and grey, much older than him. They saw him and smiled, and he realized what had happened. He heard the wind whisper with a laugh "you were too cautious!" It cackled in the goats voice. He ignored it and approached the old horse. "Atlas, we thought you had frozen beneath the cold waters. What really happened all those years ago?" He wept as he began to explain. The old horse frowned with compassion. "You know what you must do, then, yes?" They asked. "Do I?" He said through tears. "I know how to move through the most dangerous winds and avalanches, how to cure the most persistent diseases, how to fight off the most stubborn predators, but I do not know what to do with myself without anyone I know!" He cried.
"You must make the most of your sacrifice. Spend every moment you can teaching the foals of our herd everything you possibly can, for we will need this knowledge for generations to come." He got a hold of himself in that moment and took the old horse's words to heart.
From that day forward, he taught everyone in the herd with a will to learn. Horses from other herds began to hear of him and seek him out for knowledge and to feed their curiosity and hunger for knowledge. He happily taught them as well, seeing the immense value of as many horses knowing as much as possible. He found peace in what he had become, and he came to no longer regret his decision to be cautious enough to survive along with the information that he gained that day.