We Were

Prologue

My people and I, we did no harm to those around us. It was not like us to start wars with the creatures of this world or for those creatures to want to quarrel with us. My people were called the Dainei by the humans. Our bodies are that of a human with the addition of large horns that grow out of our heads and long tails that drag on the ground as we walk. The humans call us myths, legends that don't actually exist, so we lived in peace, deep in the forests in the mountains of what the humans call 'Montana.'
Occasionally we send some of our youngest to explore the human world, seeing as their horns are just starting to form and their tails are not as long. Many come back saying the same things. How strange the humans lived. How they were always fighting amongst one another for land or what they called 'money.' It was a strange life that they all led and it was far different from our own.
We lived in huts made of sticks, leaves, and dried mud. The biggest houses indicated that was where our leader and their family would live and the smaller the house, the less important they were to our settlement. As well, we had no such thing as currency, for we traded anything we gathered or made for something else that we needed, food and water were shared throughout the village as well. If you killed a remma, or what the humans call deer, you would put it in our storage home, the one that held all of our food, water, and resources.
Our lives were quaint and peaceful until one day when that all changed. The Weshna, a creature as big as a bear with giant fangs and huge claws, scaly bodies and gills on their cheeks, for the Weshna lived in water and were violent, nasty creatures. We never stole water from them, we always asked before taking from their lakes and rivers but the Weshna got tired of us taking and stormed into our village one cold winters night. They attacked every Dainei they saw, eating us alive and ripping us apart. My parents lived in a fairly big house with my brother and grandmother. My parents were the head hunters of the village and the best ones at that. They put a straw pack on my back and handed me my little brother. I fled my village for the human world, the screams of those I loved echoing behind me. I haven't gone back since.