Hawthorn: Warden of the Wilds
⊱━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━⊰ ⊱━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━⊰
Twenty-six years ago, a young albino doe seeking the love of a cervine clan’s chief visited a Moon Priestess. She had heard rumours pinpointing the Moon as a Mother and held hope that perhaps the Priestess could unlock the key to rejuvenating her barren womb. She was a coveted beauty, with berry-coloured eyes and a mane of the softest ivory. The chief was an imposing man of authority; someone the doe admired greatly for his leadership and strength. He had kept the clan of cervines safe during the Blood Moon, a monthly occasion which roused the wildest of wildlife and forced the docile, peace-loving clan to fight back.
The doe got her wish, for that night she came upon the Priestess’ temple in a distant, moonkissed valley within the Wildlands. For a small price, the Priestess agreed to heal the doe’s ailment. It was simple; all the Priestess requested was that she be allowed to bless the firstborn child of the pair, granting the unborn child a gift which would benefit all. The doe thoughtlessly agreed - not daring to ask what the gift could be for fear the Priestess would change her mind or deny her - and drank the herbal, milky medicine given to her, healing her womb and causing the doe to regain the confidence to woo the chief with her mystique and beauty.
Geodoes are the rarest species of Cervine to ever exist. A lovechild between soil and sky, Geodoes represent a union of the Earth and the Heavens, the Moon & the planet’s satellites coalescing into seven bejeweled female deer of differing hues. As of yet, only two are known of: Lady Yurei of the White Moon and Hawthorn of the Blood Moon.
What was intended as a blessed day - the birth of the Chieftain’s daughter - became a day of dread and despair, for the birth of a blood-eyed Doe with ruby hooves & claws upon the Blood Moons’ rising was quickly deemed a curse upon the clan. In her mind’s eye, the blood-eyed-doe’s mother believed she had been cursed with this demonic child for her defiance against nature itself - believing her act of restoring her barren womb a violation against the will of the Earth.
She was named Hawthorn - for the berries scattered across her homelands - her own eyes as scarlet as the fruits’ ruby skins. Hawthorn was strange, and hardly expected; her mother had been hopeful to behold a blessed child, but when she saw those blistering red eyes, she felt nothing but fear and regret. Apart from those eyes, she was a fairly normal fawn...until her fangs appeared.
From that day forth, Hawthorn was seen as a blight upon her clan, the animosity which her mother held for her spreading like wildfire amongst the clan. Even from the youngest of her years, Hawthorn would remember her mother as a bitter, cold doe who ignored her after she became old enough to walk. Her own mother denied her, claiming that the child was not hers’, but the Moon’s. She had grown up and lived on a diet of herbs and vegetation, knowing nothing else, but she felt a thirst that none of her fellow deer did. She longed for the warmth of blood, the sensation of her fangs sinking into meat...not just…”rabbit food”. When she expressed this desire, her mother became even more distant. After mere months, Hawthorn had been driven away from her home, with her mother actively betraying and damning her; the most vocal of the voices which cast her out.
Over time, Hawthorn survived in the wild, growing, learning and watching as her clan of common cervines was slowly devoured by carnivores. Deer didn’t last long in the wild for their beautiful pelts and their meaty nature. Unable to return due to a hex “protecting” her clan, Hawthorn could only watch helplessly as they were slaughtered for petty reasons. Left the sole survivor, Hawthorn indulged in a hearty helping of vengeance, finally allowed to experience fresh meat for the first time since her expulsion. She claimed the woodlands she was born in as her own, becoming a Huntress, donning the title of Wildflower and striking down those who violated her law with bloodsoaked fangs.
The truth was there all along; Hawthorn was a gift from the Moon to the clan, a warrior that could defend them from the ferocity of the Blood Moons’ beasts; one of their own who would not betray them. Had her abilities been honed, and had she been loved and accepted, perhaps her clan would have survived. Selfishness and denial had ended in her parents’ and clans’ downfall, leaving the doe the sole defender of the Wildlands against the wrath of the Blood Moon. However, instead of accepting the Blood Moon’s hateful nature and allowing it to ravage her kind heart, the doe gained the strength to stand against it, using the power it gave her to protect the weak and hunt the hunters.
⊱━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━⊰ ✧ ⊱━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━⊰
✎ ART BY: NYANZ | HAWTHORN © HAWTHORN./NEMUI.
Category Artwork (Digital) / Fantasy
Species Cervine (Other)
Gender Female
Size 647 x 1000px
Comments