Corpse Devil

The Field Of Predators, Prey And Fireflies

Chapter one: The field of Predators, prey and fireflies

Many things in this world are uncertain. You never know if you will be alive to see tomorrow. You never know if you'll be homeless in the future, and you never know when your life can change in the blink of an eye- be it for better or worse. Even if very few things are certain, one thing may be: these events are part of a story. Everything in existence is a part of a story in some way.

I don't believe many people think about the stories in everyday life, though; maybe that's just how humanity is wired. We're so focused on our own stories that we sometimes forget to look at the stories being written around us. Even something as simple as a field of wheat can have the most intense or beautiful stories as long as you give it a glance.

Let me tell you a story, one you may have overlooked if someone didn't point it out. Perhaps we'll start in a field of golden wheat, a property with a small farmhouse on it. On a drive past, it might not seem like much, not if you're on your phone and especially not if you're driving, yet this field holds the possibility of a great story. Believe it or not, there was once a time when the vast field of wheat was nothing but soil, readied with the hoe of a farmer and seeds planted in place by her adopted son. The wheat's adventure starts here.

Being taken care of by the farmer, admired by her son, and never being able to do anything for all the love it was shown but be a form of profit in either the form of money or food. Food for the farmer and food for the mouse. The mouse... Nothing but a thief, scuttling through the field of gold and stealing food that was grown by the farmer. Yet it must do what it needs to survive. Just as the mouse steals wheat to survive, the hawk kills the mouse to survive. Whether that makes him the villain is debatable, because it's his story too; in that case, he is nothing but an antagonist in the life of a rodent. Maybe.. Maybe the hawk has the saddest life.

It's at the top of the food chain, its prey are all seen as conventionally cuter than it is, and nothing is brave enough to eat it. No matter what the Hawk does, he will not look good in the public eye. Isn't it weird that the fox, wolf and hawk are consistently the bad guys? In the end, even the hawk falls. Nothing is faster than death. Now in the field, the hawk's body may feed many more, like the Tasmanian devil who was rolled up inside the hawk's corpse, resting until the sun came down and the wheat glowed gold no more.

Of course, a Tasmanian devil doesn't belong in a wheat field, but this wasn't an ordinary Tasmanian devil. It was a spirit animal, one that could appear just about anywhere in the world. Crawling out the warm corpse of the hawk, the spirit animal glowed a brilliant gold, just as the wheat did before. The glow of a spirit animal, a rare sighting indeed. That glow was enough for the farmer's son to rush outside, completely forgetting the fact he was still in his pajamas. His name was Akira Amagiri, and even the cold hitting his face didn't bother him much- his hair was fluffy enough he could just cover his cheeks with it!

If there was something in the field glowing during midnight, he knew it had to be a spirit animal. It wasn't really cold, but Akira had been snuggled in bed only moments before. Now, the air gradually started to feel less cold and more like a friendly hand on his shoulder.

Often, bigger animals would step into the field, so Akira's mother put a fence around it. It was just a challenge for him, though. He had imagined it to be a mountain (even though he could have just walked in through the front). Akira had to earn this interaction the same way he earned his right to stay at the farm. (Ms. Amagiri wouldn't kick him out if he missed a few chores, but then again Akira couldn't trust that after being in 2 families previously) And at the top of the mountain-

"Oof"

Akira gripped his side (which he had landed on) and let out a cry of pain. The Tasmanian devil didn't fret, instead sniffing the ground before edging closer. Its golden fur was lined with a V-shape on its chest (V for Victory!) Its beady eyes and small- but sharp teeth were admittedly cute, yet Akira could do nothing but push himself away from the foul odor the adorable creature had emitted.