I am a body without a voice,

without limbs, without choice

But my marks, my scars, my words enounce

divine and dreadful accounts

My words please you hear

Although you might fear

Yet, hear them, O friend

Should you ever come to this bend

Mistake. Fault. Crime.

Each fill one's soul with grime

But the judgement that befalls,

Is it fair to all?

Is light shone?

Or into darkness are we thrown?

Is there a way to prevent such injustice?

Is only indemnity suffice?

I don't remember how I was born or whether being born is the best way to describe the beginning of my existence.

But when I first grasped the meaning of the 'feelings' I felt at the time of my 'birth', I realized that I felt neither hot nor cold. I saw something big and round, with what looked like an orchestra of dancing colors beneath it, singing a song made of crackles and roars.

Those were the first colors I saw. Most of the time, they were only red, yellow, and orange, but something made them momentarily turn green and blue.

At those times, that thing above them would gurgle violently.

At those times, a wind would blow in the surroundings.

And at those times, my body would start to dance.

It was a wonderful sensation to be able to move my otherwise stationary body.

But the wind gave me more.

For the wind blows all over the world, and it has blown since the dawn of time.

It has seen all, heard all, and known all, and it has passed on this knowledge to me.

It told me that I was in a small, dark, dingy hut, deep in the woods, where a cauldron of water had boiled away all night and that a man, who called himself the 'Master', had poured uncountable potions into that mass of iron, with his 'Apprentice' running around all over the place with potions in his arms.

I couldn't see them due to the absence of something called 'light'. How they could see anything was a mystery to me.

Suddenly, I felt my body being raised by a force on my right.

I heard the Master deride me as I felt my body getting wet.

Then, I was lifted to a height, then back down, then up again, while I heard the sound of something thrashing against what seemed to be the floor.

The Master laughed like a maniac.

"I've done it!", he shouted excitedly. "I have finally created the means by which I'll be the most powerful creature in this world!"

Then I felt myself being held tightly in his hands.

Oh! What cruel hands he had!

They took me upwards, to a place where I felt hot, periodic blasts of air on my body. It was a terrifying experience.

And, from the faint, whimpering sounds I could hear, I wasn't the only one who was afraid.

I asked myself, "What has The Master created? What was he going to do?"

CRA…SH!

Silence

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!", The Master roared.

"P-P-Please forgive me, M-Master. I-I d-didn't… I-I … I-I'll c-clean it up… "

"You stupid, imbecile creature!", the Master gritted his teeth. "Do you even know the value of that potion? Do you know what it is?"

"Some kind of a p-plant?", The Apprentice whimpered.

"A PLANT?!" The Master shouted, "Just a plant?! It was THE PLANT! Only this could reverse the—you very well know what. Oh, you devil! How painfully did I have to obtain it! Oh, where, where shall I find another?"

The Master sat down and cried pathetically.

Then he got up and spoke once again in his frightening voice," You demon! You shall pay for this."

"N-No, Master, please forgive me!", The Apprentice pleaded.

But his pleas were in vain.

I felt the Master move towards the Apprentice.

The Apprentice ran in the direction of a wall.

Then he opened the door and rushed out.

And in his wake, something bright and warm rushed in.

It was the first time I saw sunlight, the light that guides all beings, big or small.

But in the wake of what was going to happen, it was the darkest light I ever saw.

For it darkened the meaning of my very existence.

The Master rushed after a boy who was the Apprentice, who himself ran like a deer, trying to escape from the monster coming for him.

The boy cried for help.

The man cried for revenge.

I prayed to the wind to speed the poor boy, the unfortunate Apprentice to safety.

But the wind only affected those things that weighed nearly the same as me.

And so, to my utter dismay, the boy got cornered among some trees by the man.

"Now where will you run, you imp? My creation, my ultimate achievement, shall now test its powers on you, my 'Apprentice '. Prepare to face your destiny!"

The Apprentice's tears begged for mercy.

But the Master had none.

Then, for the first time, I felt a sensation—one that I was to feel the most.

One that I was to dread the most.

I looked down at my body and saw the Master's hands mark it with the help of a feather dipped in ink. Those were the first words written on me. The Master repeated them gleefully.

"Surrounded by the evergreen, one among the evergreen. Be the evergreen, till your companions are evergreen."

The Apprentice screamed.

A horrifying silence followed him.

And before I knew it, all that surrounded us were the trees and the forest.

The Master turned back, a malicious smile on his face.

But suddenly, he stopped. Something had broken the silence.

The Master turned towards it.

Then it was his chance to scream. His hold on me disappeared, and the wind picked me up.

As I went up and away, I had one last look at that place.

At the trees that bore witness to the event.

And at the beast that brought the end of it.