I jolted upright and tore my foot out the water. My heart pounding in my throat as a small frog darted away in panic.

Sorry, frog, I didn’t mean to scare you.

The frog turned around and peered from under the water up at me. He blinked curiously, I strained to make out his thoughts.

“Worm?”

Chuckling to myself, I realized that this poor creature had mistaken one of my toes for a juicy worm. I dug my fingers into the dirt beside me and pulled out a worm, dangling it above the water for the frog to see.

“...”

The little frog watched carefully as I dropped the worm into the water. He swam furiously towards it and gobbled the worm so fast it looked like it disappeared out of existence.

I never felt bad about giving one creature’s life to feed another, this was the circle of life after all. It was natural. Except for human’s lives, there were enough animals to eat that I felt it was unnecessary for animals to eat humans - I had a strange soft spot for humans sometimes.

I watched the little frog swim away, down into the murky depths of the pond. I wished I could crawl down with the frog, bury myself in the mud and sleep for a few years.

Sighing, I put my shoes back on and stood up. It was not the best idea to sleep on the ground, it would be better if I found refuge in the treetops.

The pond did not have any trees directly surrounding it, there was enough room for a few people to stretch out comfortably on the grass. Night had fallen but millions of bright stars lit up the sky, allowing me to see the forest around me.

Surveying the scene around the pond, I saw that lots of nighttime creatures had woken up and were coming to this pond for a quick drink. The creatures were not scared of me, in fact, they barely took notice of me. This was normal, this was part of being a Sister Earth; the animals of the Earth largely ignored us and never bothered us.

That is, except for the dangerous creatures of the Kosta Woods. Those creatures were not made by Gods and therefore, we were not safe from their harm. I shuddered as I thought back to the cat creature that we had been stalked by.

A couple of raccoons splashed around by the edge of the pond, scaring away a little shrew that came up beside them. Across from the raccoons a fox slinked up carefully, hungrily eyeing the shrew that was darting away from the scene. I didn’t bother looking into the night creatures eyes, it was always the same thing on their minds - food.

I left the pond and followed in the direction of the shrew, I felt bad that she wasn’t able to get a sip of water. Closing my eyes as I walked through the forest, I saw that she had disappeared underground into her burrow.

Inside her burrow lay five small babies. This was strange as it was outside the normal breeding season for shrews, but then again, we were inside a magical druid forest. I watched in my mind as the babies squirmed around in anticipation of any food that their mother had brought.

The mother laid down sadly beside her babies, she didn’t have any food for them. Opening my eyes, I sat down outside the burrow and placed my hand overtop the dirt near the entrance. A small jolt of energy pulsed out of my fingers and into the ground, bringing up a couple of insects that were killed instantly by my power. I plucked up the expired bugs and plopped them down the hole into the burrow.

I closed my eyes again and observed as the mother startled before realizing that food had basically fallen from the skies. She happily picked up the insects and trotted over to her babies, they devoured the bugs together before going to sleep on full bellies.

There was nothing that brought me greater joy than helping out my critters. If I was the only Sister left on this hallowed Earth, then so be it. I would do my job to the best of my abilities, I would take care of the entire Earth and every single region that covered this vast planet.

If it was all up to me, I could do it. I would do anything for my Earth.

I stood up, dusting off my pants I heard a howl in the distance. Another howl followed shortly after.

Wolves? Are they hunting?

It was always a great enjoyment to watch a ferocious wolf hunt. The methodical way that wolves communicate and trap their prey was a thing of beauty.

I no longer felt any desire to sleep as I shot up into the air. Another howl, coming from my right. I eagerly flew through the night air, feeling invigorated as a rush tingled through my body.

In the distance ahead of me, I could see a small clearing. Another howl alerted me that the wolves had most likely trapped their prey in the glade. I slowed down and settled down on a branch on the outside of the clearing, excited to see the wolves in action.

Surrounding their captured prey in the middle of the clearing was eight large, grey wolves. They snarled and bit the air in anticipation of their impending meal. I turned my attention to their victim, I was curious as to what they found, a deer? Elk? Moose?

To my surprise, standing in the middle of the clearing, was a man. Focusing on him, I could practically smell the fear radiating off of him. I could tell he was a normal human, for if he was a druid the wolves would simply pay no attention to him.

“Get back!” He yelled, waving around a sword to no avail. The wolves were hungry and a simple sword wouldn’t be enough to stop them.

A massive wolf lashed towards the man, spittle flying from its merciless jowls.

Shit.

The man jumped back in alarm, swinging his sword at the wolf but failing to make contact. Another wolf that was behind the man took the opportunity to lurch forwards as the man stumbled back towards it, eager to tear his throat out.

Before I could even comprehend what I was doing, my hands acted on their own and I clutched the tree branch I was sitting on. A vein in my forehead pulsed as I released a large amount of energy down the tree, into the ground, and directly into the attacking wolf.

The wolf was flung violently to the side, making a loud crunch sound as it slammed into the side of a tree. The man whipped around and stared at the now dead wolf. I hadn’t meant to kill the wolf.

The other wolves backed away, whimpering and whining. The leader of the pack pawed at the ground before turning his scrutinizing gaze towards me. He was an ancient grey wolf who had lived in these woods long before the other wolves of his pack were born. I swallowed hard as his words flooded my mind.

“Sister Earth. Come here.”

I felt no malice behind his words, just a sense of betrayal and sadness.

I lifted myself off the branch and floated down towards the leader. The man still hadn’t noticed my arrival. Landing on the grass I kneeled down as to be lower than the leader, to show my respect.

“What the… where did you come from?” I ignored the man, I had to show the wolves that my intention was not to harm them or betray their trust.

“Hey, lady?” The man waved his hand in front of my face. I swatted his hand away in annoyance.

“Sister Earth, why did you kill one of us?”

I took a shaky breath before addressing the wolf, “I apologize, my intention was not to harm you or your pack.”

The man bent down beside me and whispered into my ear, “are you… okay?”

Holy fuck, please go away. Not taking my eyes off the leader I shoved the man, hard enough to topple him over. The wolves barked, chuckling at my harsh actions towards the man.

“Then do pray tell, why do you protect this man?”

“I couldn’t let you kill a human for food. I have seen there is plenty of other prey in this forest to eat instead.”

The leader snarled, “We do not hunt this varmint for food.”

The other wolves pawed at the ground and howled in unison.

Not breaking my gaze with the leader I didn’t say another word, encouraging him to continue.

“He slayed one of our mates.”

I felt my breath catch in my throat and my heart started to pound. Did I just protect a murderer?

I broke eye contact with the leader and turned towards the man. He was standing beside me, sword pointing towards a wolf that was dangerously close to him. Hanging from his back, was a wolf skin.

Humans killing animals for food was one thing, but to mercilessly murder an animal for no reason? That was beyond cruel.

I cracked my knuckles in anger and stood up to address the man.

“Why did you kill that wolf?”

“Huh?” The man turned around to face me. “Oh, heh, done talking to the wolves now, eh?” he chuckled.

I shook my head, “this isn’t funny. Why did you kill the wolf that is hanging from your back?”

The man took the skin off his back and laid it on the ground in front me, “She was sick and suffering. She had come up to me and she looked so sad - I was doing her a favour.”

I blinked, I was confused.

“Then why do you have just her skin? Why not bury her whole?”

The man knelt down and stroked the deceased female wolf's head. This caused the other wolves to snort and stamp the ground in anger.

“I was hungry.”

Now I was even more confused, I had never heard of humans eating a wolf. I was under the impression that they ate cows, pigs, chickens, and occasionally other waterfowl.

What am I supposed to tell the leader? He is not going to appreciate that a human ate one of their mates.

The leader wouldn’t be able to understand what was being said until I made eye contact with him again. I had to think of something that would save both sides, and save me. I preferred to be in good favour with the wolves.

Heart pounding, palms sweaty, I turned back to the leader and knelt down in front of him.

“Why do you converse with this criminal?”

“It- it was not a sinful killing. The she-wolf was suffering and this human felt sympathy for her and put her to rest.”

I felt the man shuffle and stoop down beside me, “uh, you do know that wolves don't talk, right?”

If he doesn’t shut up, I will murder him personally before the wolves can even get a paw on him.

“Then why does she have only her coat and no flesh or bones?”

“Uhm, the human wished to honour her existence by freeing her soul from its flesh prison. This is a human tradition, I’m sure you have heard of it?” I felt awful lying through my teeth to the leader, but the truth would do no one any good here.

The leader blinked tepidly at me, digesting my words.

“The human has still committed a grave sin, regardless of the reason.”

I was sweating through my shirt, I couldn’t tell if the situation was getting worse or not. Maybe I should just leave the wolves to eat him, after all, he had eaten one of them so it was only fair.

Turning my head to face the man again, I stared into his chestnut eyes. The fear that he felt was palpable. I decided that I couldn’t just leave this man to die, even if he had committed a sin it was out of the goodness of his heart.

“What should the punishment be?” I asked, staring at the leader.

I felt the man grip my arm, “punishment?”

I shook his arm off and continued, “you are right, great leader, he has committed a sin and he needs to pay the price.”

“What the fuck is going on?” The man whispered frantically.

The leader sighed and moved his eyes from each wolf to the next in his pack. I averted my eyes so I could give them privacy as they came up with a punishment, I just hoped they would spare this human’s life.

“His head.”

I gawked. This was not going well.

“Great leader, please reconsider. The human did not act out of malice but out of love and sympathy for her,” I gestured towards the skin of the she-wolf.

“A head for a head, this is only fair.”

“How about… an arm, instead?” He could live with just one arm.

The leader shook his head.

“A leg?”

The leader glared, unimpressed by my meager offers.

Come on, Yin. Think of something!

“Elk?”

The leader's ears perked up. He snorted softly, waiting for me to continue.

“Uh, how about twenty elk?”

I stood up and examined the other wolves, they were pacing around impatiently waiting for the leader's word to kill the man.

Okay, twenty elk wasn’t going to cut it.

“One hundred elk!” I was getting desperate and that would be enough to feed the pack for a long time.

The leader cocked his head, “how could you guarantee one hundred elk?”

Excellent question, even I don’t know the answer.

I didn’t let my nervousness show, I put my hands on my hips and challenged the piercing stare of the leader.

“Hah! I am a Sister Earth, there is nothing I cannot do!”

“You’re a what-now?”

I swiveled around and frowned, “shut up, I’m saving your life.”

The man raised his hands up in mock defence and sat down on the ground.

“I am a God! I could make a thousand elk if I so wished!”

The wolves snickered and the leader let out a chortle, “no need for that, Sister Earth, one hundred elk will suffice.”

“Excellent, give me one day to make the necessary preparations and then I shall personally deliver the elk.”

The leader walked up to me and I knelt down in front of him once again. He placed a singular massive paw on my shoulder and then turned his head up to howl at the moon - the other wolves howled with him.

“We shall await your visit tomorrow night.” Without another word, the leader turned and disappeared into the thicket; the other wolves followed suit.

I let myself plop onto the ground, still shaking from my encounter with the wolves and having promised them a hundred elk.

“Okay, now can you tell me what is going on?”

I shook my head slowly, trying to shake away the anxiety.

“I just saved your life and now you’re going to help me get one hundred elk.”

The man's mouth gaped, “excuse me?”

After everything that I had been through the past few days, I didn’t care about the Imperial rules anymore. I reached my hand out towards the man, “since we’re going to be working together we may as well get to know one another. My name’s Yin and I’m a God.”

The man leaned his head back and let himself drop onto the grass, “what the fuck is going on.”