Mercy is a Human Luxury and Responsibility

     As the sun recedes from the sky, glimmers of golden light show through the swaying tree branches. Disappearing, returning once more with the slight shift of the wind, then retreating for the last time. Soft sounds are heard of woodland creatures scampering in great haste across the mossy forest floor. In a desperate chase for the warmth of the fading light. Among the trees, curled up in the shadows, is a fox who does not share the love and longing for the sunshine. She sits along the twisted tree line, huddled against the moist bark of a giant oak tree. Completely still, she waits. "Is it truly necessary for me to succumb to the natural ways of the wood?" She asks herself daily. Desperately, the fox longs for more.

     With her sleek white fur, and long fine-coated tail, she is very exotic indeed. No ordinary fox, she has a strong connection to the magic, mystical forces in the universe. She does not camouflage herself, and she is beautiful for this truth. As her golden irises finally adapt to the growing darkness, she waits in silence for some innocent creature to stray along and it's life to be claimed by her. She would feel no remorse as she draws the life out of her future prey. The fox prayed to become a creature to fear, to decimate all those who dare challenge her.

     This longing was strong, a force to be reckoned with in her own mind. It is as if her skin is ill-fitted, like she is not meant to be a mere animal. She needs more. A transformation is desperately in order for the witty vixen. A very cunning creature, she absorbs the magic within the leaves, in the rushing river, in the once-beating hearts of her victims. She will soon become human in the eyes of everyone else. Upon the peak of the full moon through the trees, her sleek pelt retreats and is shed from her skin, though her whiskers remain the only evidence to have ever been a fox. She gains an enormous sense of strength, a force that she had searched for in her entirety. A true intoxication was this newly formed state of being. The hunt must resume.

     Unsuspecting wanderers of the wood fall breathless when confronted by her, as she slowly and torturously takes their lives. Many innocent people made minuscule victims by this malevolent being. An ocean of bodies now lay in her wake. Anyone who challenges her will be forcefully shown that she is, indeed, all-powerful. She needs to prove she is more than them. Being ordinary is not, in all means, acceptable to her. However, as she stands over the many broken and bloody bodies, a sense of regret soon settles upon her heart.

     Morality soon overwhelms her flesh body. It is a feeling she had never experienced as an animal. Her prey has always been seen as just food, a means to survival, all about the hunt. "Please!" A small, broken voice cries out to the fox girl. As she listens to the young boy plead for his fragile life, she feels mercy and shame for the first time. As soon as she looks into the eyes of the wounded child, she grows increasingly troubled over her actions. A realization occurs at the very moment their pupils align. The slaughter abruptly cease. She takes a moment to regain her stature as she slowly turns towards her abandoned home. She realizes now that being human is too much for her true animal nature to handle. Selfishly, but also not, the fox girl never wants to feel merciful again. As she leaves the boy, a transition begins to occur as her fur fox coat returns as quickly as it disappeared. Her stunning tail raises high into the air once more. She becomes more stunning then before, she becomes beauty incarnate. She feels simply happy. The young vixen is exuberated by the experience, and she gains a fresh outlook on life. For she had never felt more alive as she sits among the desolate trees once more waiting for the next hunt to ensue.