The Story Of A Faun
 

It was the Kingdom, which was the proud proprietor of one of the most beautiful forests mankind had ever laid their eyes upon. He trees went up, as tall as the skies were far up, eventually shading the bottom of the forest for the sunlight. It wasn’t dark, though, because a few beams of the sun’s graceful light, would sometimes shine through the leaves in the tall trees, and touch the forest floor.
It was the forest that no one dared to touch with blades or saws – no one dared to cut it down, because it was such a beautiful place.
And it was in that forest where you could find the best hiding places, especially if you truly wanted to hide yourself from the people walking through the forest from time to time. Hiding, from the people who you were sure would hurt you or hunt you down. There would frequently come a few people, riding through the forest on their way to the kingdom on the other side, even though it was a rare sight, since the two kingdoms around the forest, were at war - so the people passing by was mostly soldiers.
Those soldiers were the people who scared him the most, which was why he always hid himself from all the people in the forest. He could easily melt together with a tree, and hide in it, but since the soldiers got more and more talented in sneaking and such, he might get surprised one day.
And a faun like him, would never want to be surprised by a soldier, especially not since most soldiers didn’t believe in fauns or the like, which would just make the whole situation even worse. No, no one believed in the magical creatures in the woods anymore, which was probably a good thing – then no one would come look for him.
“What’s wrong, Luhan?” a deep voice asked from behind, making the young faun, Luhan, look back at his taller brother. Luhan was the most beautiful faun in the whole forest. His bare chest were slim and white, his shoulders covered by a few brown dots. His legs were the ones of a deer, auburn, with a few bright brown dots on his hips – dots that matched the ones on his shoulders. His eyes were dark brown, almost black, and were the most perfect eyes that could look directly into anyone’s soul reading their deepest secrets that they wanted to hide from the people around them. His hair, however, was quite special. The most fauns had dark hair, but Luhan’s hair was bright brown, which was unusual.
“I’m just thinking, Yifan,” Luhan said with a soft smile, as the both of them stood in the middle of a small, open field – a place which usually wasn’t a good idea to go to, because there were limited hiding places, in case humans passed by.
“You should get ready for the feast tonight,” Yifan sighed, “You know, Minseok’s getting married tonight, just in case you forgot.”
“No, I didn’t forget, Yifan,” Luhan murmured quietly, looking slightly down to hide his sorrow. Don’t get him wrong, he was glad that Minseok found his one and only love, but the thing that troubled him, was the fact that Luhan would be the next faun to get married, since he was the oldest faun, after Minseok, and he didn’t want to get married to anyone, especially not since he didn’t love anyone.
But he had to, because fauns were a rare species, and they had to do their best in order to keep being a species.
Even if it meant, that Luhan would have to marry someone he didn’t really love, and he definitely wanted to try loving someone, at least once! He had heard, that it would be the best feeling in the whole world! A feeling that you both loved, and hated, and a feeling that you couldn’t live without.
Suddenly, both Yifan and Luhan’s deer eyes popped upwards as they heard the sound of someone walking on the forest floor somewhere near by. It wasn’t the sound of another faun, or a deer or a rabbit – it was definitely the sound of a human.
“Luhan, go hide,” Yifan said with a serious voice, earning a worried glare from his elder, yet smaller, brother.
“What about you, brother?” Luhan asked carefully, turning partly away to run to a hiding place.
“Don’t worry about me, I’ll go find Zitao first, he’s picking berries somewhere near by,” Yifan assured his older friend, who shot him a small smile.
“Take care,” Luhan said, before he hurried away, running through the small field to get to a big tree near by. He looked back shortly, seeing as his younger brother had left in the opposite direction, looking for his own mate.
In Luhan’s eyes, Yifan was the luckiest faun in the whole forest, because he loved another faun, and was even loved back.
“This way, hyung!” a whisper sounded from somewhere behind Luhan, making the young faun gasp quietly in shock, as he hurries to find a tree to hide behind. The voice was slightly deep, but still young and beautiful, but it was still scary to Luhan. He could hear, that it was the voice of a human, since their dialect was quite different from the faes’.
“My Prince, are you sure this is the right way?” another voice, which was rather breathless from keeping up with the other human, tried to ask.
“I think I heard something from this direction,” the first voice whispered.
Luhan, who was hiding behind a tree still, was just caught with the word “Prince” stuck in his head. Was there a human prince in his forest? And was it a good or a bad thing? Should he run, hide or stay and watch?
With the most of his body hid behind a thick tree, he watched the two people, who still seemed far away. He just hoped, that they wouldn’t notice his small, dark antlers from far away – they would give him away immediately.
Why was he so stubborn, that he just wanted to see, what a human prince looked like?
“Okay, okay… Let’s split up, Joonmyeon” Luhan heard the prince say, as it sounded like the both of the humans had slightly given up looking for whatever they were looking for – though Luhan could see from far away, that the both of them were holding a crossbow, and a rather expensive one of the kind – they could definitely kill any creature from far away.
A cold shiver ran down Luhan’s spine, as he suddenly felt really frightened by the two humans, even if one of them were on his way away from him – but the prince was still sneaking closer, looking around him for some kind of creature, he could hunt down.
Luhan was a creature.
Would the prince shoot him with an arrow, if he saw him?
The prince came closer and closer, making Luhan have to hide inside the tree, as he used to do. He didn’t want to risk getting killed by a human, even though it would have been way worse to actually get caught instead, then all his brothers would be in danger as well.
So he let the tree absorb his body, letting him hide inside it, just the way fauns always hid from their enemies – or just from strangers. Even though the young faun, kept his eyes on the prince, through the bark of the tree.
As the young prince walked closer, Luhan could get a better look on him. He saw, the expensive clothing the prince was wearing – orange silk clothing, and he immediately knew, that he was the Prince of Faeroun, one of the kingdoms at war – the kingdom, that Luhan honestly liked the most, since they were the ones who didn’t want the forest to be cut down, like their enemy wanted.
This prince was of the kingdom protecting Luhan’s home, which was the main reason they were at war.
The prince was very young - Luhan could see that. He had bright skin, brown eyes, and a cute, yet cold, face. His hair was blonde, and framed the light skin of his face perfectly. He was quite tall, actually! Not as tall as Yifan, but still quite tall. His body seemed to be well shaped, too, unlike most of the humans. It was mostly the soldiers riding through the forest that were well shaped.
Luhan, who was still hiding quietly inside the tree, got wide eyes, as the prince came closer, actually stopping right in front of the tree, in which Luhan hid, felt his heartbeat increase slightly all of a sudden. He watched the prince from up close, never being this close to a human being before. He looked directly into the eyes of the young prince, only the bark of the tree separating them. The young faun held his breath, even though the thing that would give him away, would probably be the loud, fast beating of his heartbeat.
The prince’s eyes were incredibly beautiful, and there definitely wasn’t anything evil in them, Luhan could see that – they were pure.
“My prince, who’s protecting our forest…” Luhan thought inside his head, making him smile slightly. Even though he was out hunting, Luhan couldn’t help but smile at the handsome, young prince – he didn’t mind people hunting in their woods that much, because it was quite natural, and of course the humans needed food, right?
Luhan was really close to actually push his own hand out through the bark, in order to touch the prince’s beautiful face. It was a big experience for the young faun, seeing a human up this close – and even a human prince.
Luhan felt a few butterflies within his stomach to flutter around, tickling him lightly with their dusty wings.
“This way! I think he went this way!” a loud, harsh voice suddenly sounded, making Luhan’s deer ears perk up again, as he looked in the direction of the noise. The prince did the same thing, but with a way more terrified face than Luhan.
“Oh ,” the prince hissed as he tightened his grip around his crossbow, and decided to run away, making Luhan’s face turn from happy to sad immediately, as he didn’t want the prince to run away from him.
Luhan’s eyes grew wide, as he saw five soldiers, riding on their tall horses, in the prince’s direction. The prince, who was now running for his dear life.
“N-No, my prince!” Luhan heard himself say, as soon as the soldiers were finally out of reach for his quiet voice. Luhan then got out from his hiding place again, and sneaked his way towards the humans – he sneaked, because if he was found out, he was sure that the enemy’s soldiers would hunt him down. They didn’t care about the life of the forest creatures. The soldiers were all wearing chain armor, with some black pieces of cloths over their chests and crotch, making it visible that they were soldiers from the other kingdom, the princes’ enemies.
A loud scream sounded through the forest, making the birds fly from their trees in fear and shock. The small hairs on Luhan’s legs rose a bit, at the sound of the voice. He knew that voice. Maybe he didn’t know it well, but he was sure, that it was the prince’s voice.
“Is he hurt?” Luhan’s head started asking him questions, “Did they hunt him down? Kill him? What if he’s dead?!”
After running for some time, the young faun once again hid behind a tree, as the enemy soldiers returned, talking loudly on their way through the forest, with small smirks on their faces and blood on one of their swords. The blood dripping slowly onto the forest floor - making a few tears push on in Luhan’s eyes from the sight of it.
“Blood?” Luhan heard himself stutter quietly, as he looked in the direction, in which he saw the prince run. However, the prince was quite far away.
And Luhan couldn’t help but hesitate, thinking whether or not he should actually care for this human prince. Humans were dangerous, and they were strong, too. Wouldn’t the prince kill him or capture him, if they met? Or would the prince be friendly towards him?
There was only one way to find out – if it wasn’t too late.
“I don’t hope he’s dead! Oh, God… Please let my prince survive this!”
The young, beautiful faun froze, as he saw the scenery of a small opening in the trees, where the beams of the bright sunlight were shining down onto the forest floor, making the bright green grass seem even brighter.
However, there was a mix of red in the grass, because in the middle of it, where the sun’s light shone the brightest, the prince lied, with his chest covered in his own blood, and his fine shirt of his clothing cut open in one go.
And he didn’t move.
“N-No! My Prince!” Luhan exclaimed as he ran to the side of the human, not thinking about how dangerous it actually was for him, to get close to a human – caring for a human.
Why did he even care for him?
“P-Prince,” Luhan stuttered carefully as he sat down by the human prince, looking down at his perfect, unmoving face. His brown eyes were closed, and his lips parted just a bit – it looked like he was sleeping.
Carefully, Luhan wrapped his arms around the torso of the human, feeling his skin tickle a little bit from the feeling of touching a human for the first time. He lifted the unconscious prince to lay with his head in Luhan’s soft lap.
“My Prince… Please wake up,” Luhan murmured quietly as he some of the prince’s bangs away from his eyes, letting the young faun examine his face completely.
Luhan could feel how his heartbeat started to increase once again, how he could almost hear the sound of it. The butterflies in his tummy didn’t ease down either – they went crazy, making his stomach tickle like never before.
Even his lips felt kind of weird all of a sudden.
“My Prince, please wake up…” Luhan whispered quietly while he looked down at him, and hesitantly planted a kiss on the lips of the human prince. He didn’t know why, but something told him, that he just had to do this, if he wanted to be able to speak with the prince ever again.
Was this what the humans called “love at first sight”?
“My Prince, please live… I don’t want you to die in such a way… You’re too young, and you’re yet to become a great King,” Luhan whispered quietly against the prince’s lips, with his eyes slightly lidded while he looked at the closed ones of the prince’s.
“Please, wake up,” Luhan’s eyes started getting slightly teary. Even if he didn’t know this prince, he still felt like they belonged together. He’d rather be with a human, than be with a faun, which he didn’t love at all.
Luhan’s silky hand found its way to the deep wound on the prince’s chest, and the faun did his very best to use his, still very undeveloped, healing powers to make the wound and pain go away.
“Please, I don’t want you to feel hurt, my Prince,” the faun mumbled quietly, almost unable to understand his own words because of the quiet mumbling, “And… I think you’re quite important to me, in some way…” He wasn’t sure about his own words at that time, and he just didn’t want to lose this beautiful person.
Because he thought, that this prince was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen – even more beautiful than himself, the prettiest fauns of all. He gently grabbed the prince’s hand, and held it against his own cheek, just wanting to feel the slight heat from the human prince, before it disappeared for forever.
“P-Please…” he whispered on the edge of crying, a few tears running down his white cheeks, and eventually touching the soft hand of the prince.
“So… Beautiful…” the voice under the faun suddenly said, making the faun gasp quietly in surprise, as the prince’s hand started his cheek gently – wiping a few tears away.
“M-My Prince?” Luhan asked softly as he looked down at him – looking down at a pair of brown eyes, which were looking directly back at him with awe.
“What kind of creature are you…?” the prince asked in a quiet, slow voice, still trying to wake up from his sleep. Luhan’s deer ears perked a bit up at the prince’s question.
“I-I’m a faun, my prince…” Luhan said with a small stutter as he lifted his own hand, to gently lay it on the prince’s, which was still his silky cheek.
“What’s your name?” the prince asked, still lying with his head in the faun’s soft lap, just looking up at his beautiful features of his face.
“My… My name?” Luhan murmured as he looked a little bit away from the prince, feeling his cheeks blush bright pink, “M-My name, is Luhan…”
“Luhan?” the prince smiled sweetly up at him, feeling a strange kind of happiness from looking at the faun.
“M-My Prince?” Luhan stuttered softly, and a small silence hit the two of them.
They just sat there, looking into the eyes of the other. None of them really wanted to move away from their position – just until the prince finally got the strength to sit up straight by himself, looking around him as he realized, that he wasn’t actually dead and in Heaven. However, he didn’t say anything – he just looked at Luhan with a pair of friendly eyes. He was afraid, that he would scare him away, if he made too much noise, just like a deer.
So he just smiled warmly at him, earning a hot pink blush on Luhan’s cheeks.
“I-I wanted to thank you, for protecting my home, my Prince,” Luhan said shyly while looking down at the forest floor, “Too many people don’t care about the forest these days…”
“You’re welcome… It’s nothing, really,” the prince mumbled, feeling a bit weird at the fact that he was speaking with a strange creature which he had never seen before, “But…”
Their eyes met once more at that word.
“I think… I might have found a new reason to protect the forest,” the prince said, making the butterflies in Luhan’s stomach flutter around once more.
“R-Really?” the faun asked with a small smile.
“Luhan!!” a loud voice suddenly sounded, making Luhan turn around to look at his brother, who was walking directly against him.
“Y-Yifan…” Luhan whispered quietly, getting up to stand between his brother and the human prince, wanting to shield him from his stronger brother.
“What are you doing here, Yifan?” Luhan asked carefully, but let out a small whine as soon as his taller brother grabbed his wrist, and started pulling him along.
“I couldn’t find you anywhere, so I was afraid the humans got you! And then I find you here, speaking with a human!” Yifan exclaimed, attempting to pull Luhan along, “We’re leaving now, Luhan.”
“But gege! He’s a prince! A human prince! He’s not dangerous!” Luhan protested with a pair of sad deer eyes. Yifan, however, ignored the pleading from his older brother, as he kept pulling him along, away from the human. Luhan looked back at the prince, who still just sat on the forest floor with a pair of confused eyes.
“My Prince! What’s your name?!” Luhan asked, before Yifan got the chance to stop him. The prince sent the faun a slightly confused glare, before he quickly opened his mouth to answer his question.
“M-My name is Oh Sehun!” the prince yelled back, earning a soft smile from the young faun, just before he got pulled away by his younger brother. A light pink blush on his cheeks as he said the name, which he would never forget.
“Sehun…”
And with that, Sehun and Luhan got separated, because a faun wasn’t allowed to be with a human, even if the human was the prince. That’s just not how fairytales end. Even if, Luhan was partly human, he was still partly animal, and the other fauns didn’t want him to be with Sehun.
But still, you know that love just can’t be stopped, right? Because it was love, what the two youngsters felt for each other, right?
So, there might have been a few days, when Sehun would visit the forest, and Luhan would watch him from afar, with a sad, yet wanting, look on his face. He would just stay there, inside one of the many trees, and watch Sehun, as he would sometimes walk through the forest, looking for him. Luhan would clench his fists, whenever Sehun called his name, searching all the corners of the forest for him, not knowing how much Luhan wished, that he could be with Sehun, even though it was impossible.
Luhan was a faun, Sehun was a human.
Luhan would always serve his prince, from afar. He would watch him, from afar… And he would love him, from afar. Even as the day came, when his prince would become his King, a few years later. When Sehun was a young, grown up man, twenty-four years old, to be exact. Luhan, however, hadn’t aged a bit, and he knew, that he wouldn’t age while he watched Sehun live his own life, in his kingdom.
Because Luhan belonged in the forest, and Sehun belonged in the castle, and no matter how many tears Luhan shred, he couldn’t change that hurting fact.
The young faun was just happy, that he actually got the chance to feel love, before he would have to get married to another faun. Because that was his destiny, and he’d known that for so many years.
“I wish, I could at least see him one last time…” Luhan whispered for himself, not wanting any of his brothers to hear him – they all knew, that Luhan still loved that human, and none of them really seemed to like it.
But what could they do about it? Nothing.
“Luhan,” Luhan’s youngest brother sighed as he walked up to him on Luhan’s wedding day. The younger watched Luhan with his dark eyes, framed by his even darker, short hair.
“What’s wrong, Zitao?” Luhan said as he looked away with a saddened, weak look on his face. It wasn’t like he could actually hide his thoughts from Zitao, because the younger had always been able to read Luhan like an open book.
“They’re ready, you should get it over with,” Zitao murmured, “I know you don’t like it, but it has to be done, right?”
“Y-Yeah…” Luhan mumbled.
So many years had passed already.
“I’m sure he’s forgotten all about me already… He hasn’t even been out in the woods sine he became the King of Faeroun…” Luhan thought for himself as he walked towards the sacred tree – the tree of life – where he would get married away, to some stranger. He was sure, that Sehun had already found himself a beautiful woman as his bride – since he would have to get married, too. He was the king, after all.
He probably had girls, too… That thought just hurt Luhan even more.
“Luhan?”
Luhan let out a small gasp as he tilted his head up again, to look at the person in front of him, and he couldn’t stop the tears streaming down his cheeks, and his wide smile on his lips, as he swung his arms around the broad shoulders of the stranger, beaming with happiness like never before.
“My King~!”

Name: Caroline Middelhede Kragh
Country: Denmark
Age: 18 (19 in 2 weeks)
Title: The Story Of A Faun