What if the animal that crosses our path is never there by chance?
By late afternoon, the light had changed. The green grew darker, almost blue in places. Tiny glowing insects appeared between the trunks before vanishing just as quickly.
Sophie saw some of them, but not only them. Behind them, other shapes moved, lighter, almost transparent.
Once, she would have looked away. This time, she kept watching. A small figure darted through a fern without disturbing it. Then another light drifted up along a tree trunk.
Aria noticed her stop.
"Do you see something?"
Sophie slowly nodded.
"Yes."
"What?"
"I don't know yet."
She watched the shapes disappear.
"But I think I'm starting to accept that it's there, even when I don't understand it."
The Deer-Man had stopped a few yards ahead.
"You're starting to look without closing your eyes."
Sophie frowned.
"I've never closed my eyes."
"Yes, you have."
He started walking again.
"Like all humans."
Aria sighed.
"Do you ever answer a question normally?"
"Sometimes."
Jazz rolled alongside her.
"I'm beginning to appreciate his communication skills."
"You two are going to become best friends."
"Hypothesis rejected."
By nightfall, they found a place to stop.
Not a real camp, just a sheltered space between two enormous roots and a moss-covered rock.
The Deer-Man checked the surroundings before setting down his bag. Aria watched him remove part of his antlers and place them beside a tree. The mask stayed in place. But without the branches and leaves surrounding his head, he suddenly seemed far less unreal.
Much more human.
She sat a few yards away from him.
"Are we still far?"
"Yes."
"Will we get there tomorrow?"
"No."
Aria stared at him.
"You really are the least reassuring person I've ever met."
"You talk too much to stay afraid for long."
She opened her mouth, then closed it again. Jazz raised his dome slightly.
"Remarkable event: Aria has no response."
And for a few seconds, beneath the enormous trees, despite the drones, despite the Watchers and Blade, despite Soren somewhere between Biel and the Wall… they simply stopped running.
Night had completely settled around them. The sky disappeared behind the immense branches. Only a few lights danced between the trunks, as though the forest were slowly breathing around them.
Aria watched the antlers resting against the tree. They looked almost ordinary now.
Eventually, she broke the silence.
"You still don't have a name?"
The Deer-Man was looking at the trees.
"I do."
"Are you ever going to tell me?"
"Maybe."
Aria rolled her eyes.
"That's annoying."
"I know."
Despite herself, she smiled. A few seconds passed. Then she pointed at the antlers.
"Why the mask?"
"It's not a mask."
"But…"
He gently rested a hand on the antlers.
"It's my totem animal. A part of me."
Aria thought for a moment.
"So… you're a deer?"
He slowly shook his head.
"Not entirely."
"Then I don't understand."
Silence returned. Then he answered simply.
"I'm not a deer."
He paused.
"The deer teaches me."
Aria went still.
"What does it teach you?"
"To listen before running."
A breath of wind stirred the leaves above them.
"To feel before choosing."
Then a faint smile appeared behind the mask.
"And sometimes… to stay still."
Aria looked at the antlers.
"So the totem…"
She searched for the words.
"It's not what you are."
"No."
"It's what you need to learn."
The Deer-Man remained silent for a moment.
"Learn or relearn."
Sophie looked up at him.
"Why relearn?"
He slowly ran a hand over the antlers.
"Because we've forgotten. Animals never stopped listening to what moves through them. They feel before they understand. They know before they see."
Aria frowned.
"And us?"
"We learned to silence all of that."
Sophie looked at the antlers resting against the tree.
"So can everyone meet an animal like yours?"
"Not like mine."
"But an animal?"
"A companion. Sometimes one. Sometimes several."
Neris raised her head slightly.
"Do we choose them?"
"Rarely."
"Then how do we meet them?"
The Deer-Man picked up a leaf that had fallen beside him.
"In a dream. After a shock. Along a path. In a fear you can no longer run from."
He opened his hand, and the leaf drifted away.
"They come when something inside us is ready to hear them."
Aria followed the leaf with her eyes.
"And are they always there to help us?"
"Yes and no. It's up to you to see what they can show you."
The answer came immediately.
"Animals have remained pure in their instincts, unlike humans. An animal feels more than it sees. It is guided by an instinctive sphere that speaks to it, leading it through its senses."
"In humans, unhealthy spirits take over."
Silence fell again. Even Jazz stayed quiet for a few seconds.
Then Aria murmured,
"And you? Are you never afraid?"
"Yes."
"Then what's the difference?"
The Deer-Man stared into the darkness for a long moment.
"Fear isn't my enemy. It warns me. It sharpens my senses. It can save me."
He paused.
"But I don't let it choose for me."
Aria said nothing.
"The deer reminds me of all that when I forget."
Sophie watched the tiny lights between the trees.
"So… does the forest speak to us?"
The Deer-Man turned his mask toward her.
"Yes. It speaks."
"Then why am I only seeing it now?"
"Maybe because, for the first time, you're no longer trying to explain what you see."
Sophie lowered her eyes.
Aria continued.
"But humans left the forest a long time ago."
"Humans built walls, cities, machines."
His gaze shifted toward Jazz.
"But that doesn't mean they stopped belonging to the same world—the world of the Mother of the World."
Jazz tilted his dome slightly.
"Surprisingly acceptable observation."
Aria smiled.
"That was almost a compliment."
"Correction: an absence of disagreement."
Aria felt a slight shiver. She thought of Biel, the drones, Kaïssa, the Wall, then of this forest—two worlds so different from each other.
She continued more quietly.
"And what if someone feeds only their anger?"
The Deer-Man answered without hesitation.
"Then anger eventually becomes their world."
No one knew what to say.
After a moment, Sophie asked,
"Does the totem protect you?"
The Deer-Man gently shook his head.
"No. It reminds you."
"Of what?"
"The path you forget."
Sophie smiled. The words stayed with her for a long time.
Aria was still looking at the antlers. Then, almost shyly, she asked,
"How will I know which one is mine?"
This time, the Deer-Man gave a soft laugh.
"You're still asking the wrong question."
Aria sighed.
"Of course."
"You're already looking for something you want to recognize."
"So?"
He looked up toward the canopy.
"Stop looking."
Aria waited.
"Listen."
The wind moved through the branches.
"When it comes, you won't need to ask what it is."
Jazz finally broke the silence.
"Analysis."
Everyone turned toward him.
"Humans make relatively simple concepts unnecessarily complicated."
Aria burst out laughing.
"Oh, really?"
"Yes."
"If a deer chose me…"
"I would start by listening."
"You're impossible."
"Confirmed."
Neris burst out laughing.
And for a few moments, in the heart of a forest that could guide just as easily as it could lead astray those who ventured into it, no one thought about the Watchers, the drones, or the Wall.
They were simply there, learning, without realizing it yet, to listen to a world that had been speaking to them all along.
The Guardian Angel: Totem animals pass on their intelligence, awaken consciousness, and guide humans back toward dignity, respect, and nobility. They open a universal dimension within them, allowing them to enter into union with several worlds.