Stories

The forest stretched wide before them, golden with the touch of autumn. Leaves whispered secrets in the wind, and the scent of damp earth and cool water filled the air.

Nestled among the towering trees, a stream wound its way through the land, its waters weaving over smooth stones, bubbling in small cascades. The sound it made nearly carried a melody, soft and shifting, never quite the same twice.

Woodbine stood at the water’s edge, his paws resting lightly on damp moss. He had heard this song before, countless times, yet today it sounded different. More urgent. His ears twitched in concentration.

“I think I hear words,” he murmured, his sharp eyes locked on the water.

Pollox pranced beside him, dipping a paw into the cool current. “Nah, you’re imagining things. It’s just splish-splash, woosh-woosh, gurgle-gurgle.” He flicked water toward Lumi.

She stepped back, unimpressed. “Pollox.”

He grinned unapologetically.

Woodbine ignored them.
His ears twitched again, his mind tracing the delicate rise and fall of the stream’s song. It was speaking. He was sure of it.
And then, just at the edge of hearing—something shifted and words fell into place.

Follow, follow…

Woodbine froze.
The words weren’t spoken aloud. They curled in his thoughts, soft as the wind, carried in the music of the stream itself.

Pollox cocked his head. “Woodbine? What is it?”

Woodbine didn’t answer. He took a cautious step forward, lowering his nose toward the surface. The melody of the stream curled around him like a whisper, urging him onward.

He touched the water with a single paw.

The current responded instantly. A ripple spread outward, but this was no ordinary ripple—it shimmered, twisting unnaturally, as if something beneath the surface had stirred.

Something watching.

A flicker of silver and blue moved beneath the surface. For a heartbeat, Woodbine thought he saw eyes staring up at him.

Pollox yelped, leaping back. “Did you see that? Lumi, tell me you saw that!”

Lumi’s fur bristled. She took a step closer, her stance shifting to alert.
“We’re not alone.”

The stream’s song rose again, faster this time, as if calling them forward.

Woodbine swallowed. “The stream wants us to follow.”

Lumi frowned but nodded. “Then we go together.”

Pollox, always the first to act, plunged a paw into the water.
“Race you!” Water splashed wildly. Lumi sighed.

Woodbine, however, stepped in more carefully, with Lumi following him.

The moment all three of them touched the stream, the current changed.
The water quickened, pulling them gently forward. It wasn’t deep—just high enough to lap at their legs—but the force of the current grew stronger with every step.

The trees around them stretched taller, the light filtering through the leaves shifting to a soft, golden glow.

And then Woodbine felt the melody changing.

A new note wove into the song, deeper, richer, vibrating through the water like a heartbeat. Woodbine’s paws tingled where they touched the riverbed.

Lumi’s ears flattened. “This is more than just a stream.”

The current swirled around them, growing faster, as though something beneath the surface was gathering its strength.

Pollox squinted ahead. “Uh… guys? The water is moving the wrong way.”

Woodbine followed his gaze—and felt his breath catch.

A towering wave rose before them, impossibly high for such a small stream. But it wasn’t just water—it had shape. The wave curled into a great lupine form, its body shifting and flowing, made entirely of liquid.
Two glowing eyes, like moonlight on still water, fixed on them.

The water-wolf spoke—not with a voice, but with a vibration through the stream, carried in the melody.

"You have heard the melody. You have followed its path. But do you understand its meaning?"

Lumi stepped forward, her muscles tensed. “What do you want from us?”

The water-wolf’s form rippled, its translucent paws barely touching the surface. "Not all who listen truly hear."

Pollox puffed out his chest. “Well, that’s vague. Can you be a bit more ‘I am a mystical river spirit, here is a direct answer’?”

Lumi shot him a look.

Woodbine, however, didn’t move. He let the melody fill him, let the patterns of the stream weave into his thoughts. The song was not just sound—it was language, ancient and fluid.

Softly, he spoke.

"It is a guide. A message carried in the current. The stream sings so that those who listen may find their way."

The water-wolf watched him, its flowing form shifting. Then, slowly, it inclined its head.

"You listen well, traveler. The river remembers you."

Woodbine felt something shift - not in the earth beneath his paws, but in the way the water sang around him.

For his whole life, he had followed what was left behind—pawprints in the dirt, the scent of something long gone. But water did not leave footprints.

It moved. It sang.

It knew where things were going, not just where they had been.

A slow realization filled Woodbine’s chest.

Tracking had never been just about scent. It had always been about paths—and water carried paths unseen, shifting, changing, but always leading somewhere.

Water did not stand still.

Water was motion. It was a story that was still being written.

And now - he could hear its song.

Woodbine had spent his whole life following trails of the past.

Now, he could follow the future.

With this thought in his head, the wave collapsed.

The water rushed past them, clear and gentle once more. The presence beneath the surface faded, but Woodbine could still feel it—the knowledge that the stream had a voice, and now, he could hear it.

Lumi exhaled, shaking her head. “Well. That was… something.”

Pollox let out a breath. “I’m just glad we didn’t drown.” Then his ears perked. “So. You talk to water now?”

Woodbine tilted his head. He couldn’t quite explain it, but… yes, in a way?

“The water sings as it flows, and now, I can hear it.”

As they stepped onto solid ground, the forest felt different—as if the trees had been waiting for this moment. The stream’s melody continued, familiar yet changed, carrying something new in its song.

Pollox wagged his tail furiously. “That was amazing! What’s next?”

Woodbine smiled, his gaze drifting back to the flowing water.

“Next?”

He took a deep breath, feeling the melody settle in his heart.

“We follow.”