Natural Teachings of the Mechanical Beasts

Hello, to the poor souls who find themselves on my stories- welcome, everyone! I am aspiring screenwriter and animator and I've always had a passion for writing. So, I thought it would be a good idea to make a living out of it now, especially considering the circumstances we are in now.

Just to give you guys a taste of what's too come, here is the ever first story I wrote for a competition. It was for the La Trobe University's Young Writer's Award, three years ago, where I was Top 20 in the state of Victoria. I have improved since then but nevertheless- enjoy!

Natural Teachings of the Mechanical Beasts

The Alaskan snow was three feet high, giving the impression that the freeway was only a depression in the ground. The sky was a strange blue-black with a thin cloud waving in the air. Sleet formed on the tree branches with the rare sight of water droplets falling onto the snow. Cars and trucks of various shapes and sizes constantly zoomed left to right and right to left, letting out blaring horns and sirens as their soundwaves shattered the tranquillity of Alaska. Out in the distance, a rigid mountainside oversaw the commotion on the snowy depression. If it were not for protruding boulder, the cliff would have remained unnoticed by the human world.

On that boulder was Sakima, an alpha wolf with a coat the colour of thunderstorms in the night sky, who laid on his stomach as his head rested on his outstretched legs. His eyes would follow the movement of these mechanical beings going along with their business. They amazed him as they never touched the snow; all they did was sprint eternally in the depression. His answers were without purpose as he, only a simple being, had no right to speak his mind. The apex predator he may be, but he knew that he was a smaller part of a larger mysterious energy.

His pack slept by a fallen tree as they were not to set foot on the boulder; the boulder was their leader’s spot and their leader’s only. Only one of the pack managed to get away with breaking the leader’s orders. The one allowed was a cub born the previous spring- Takoda.

A small ball of grey with pointy ears managed to creep away from his mother’s warmth. Taking his time, he pattered across the snow, avoiding being caught by his leader, until he reached the crack that divided the boulder from the cliff side. The cub looked up from the crack and noticed that his leader never turned his head. Smiling, he crept over the crack until he saw his leader’s ears turn. The cub’s tail went under his legs as he started to shake. His leader turned around with a grin as the cub noticed the friendly glimmer in his amber eyes. Delighted, Takoda pranced over his leader’s arms and nestled himself in the fur on his chest. He looked up to his leader with a mischievous grin, to which he returned the gesture with his own warm smile.

The air was pregnant with silence, with the exception of Takoda cooing under Sakima’s chest fur, until the cub noticed his leader gazed endlessly at the long road. Sakima noticed the cub’s curiosity when he tilted his head with his ears twitching. “It’s called a road. You see the beasts down there?”

Takoda looked over the edge of the boulder, watching the trucks driving on the road.

“They’re stuck on that road,” Sakima informed, “They never get off it, and when they do they fall on their side, and become one with the earth.”

“You mean that they pass?”

Sakima nodded sombrely, “Everything does, little one.”

As Takoda shuffled under his leader’s chin, Sakima hummed intently as another blue beast zoomed past. “The road is what keeps them living. The beasts may or may not know where’re they’re going, but all we can do is let them travel.”

“Where do they go?”

“Not ‘where’,” he reminded, “It’s a matter of why; “Why do they go? Why do they stay on the road? Why do they always go forward and never backwards?”

Takoda’s little mind was starting to hurt as he gazed back to the beasts in their travels until he realised a dreadful thought. His ears drooped onto his head as he backed further into Sakima’s fur, and Sakima realised what thoughts entered the cub’s mind. Sakima’s eyes closed slowly as he took in a deep breath. The wolf cub felt the tempo of his leader’s heartbeat slowly decrease.

“They can hunt us,” Sakima answered, “I have even seen them charge at the mighty grizzly bear; they’re the apex predator.”

Takoda, with a frown of anger, jumped on his hind legs and started to shove his leader. Sakima held his amusement as he smiled down to the cub. He nuzzled his forehead with his own, “Alright, we’re the apex predator.”

The cub laughed as he struggled to climb on top of Sakima’s back. When he finally had the chance, his leader only smiled as he rolled over, temporally crushing the poor cub. When he rolled off him, Takoda was wheezing for air as he frowned between breaths. Behind a cheeky smile, Sakima apologized amusingly.

The cub pulled himself out of Sakima’s grip as he whimpered quietly. Frightened for the worst, Sakima eyes widened as he inspected every corner of the cub. Takoda backed away, giving the notion that he was not hurt.

“What’s wrong?”

Takoda whimpered until he looked up. “Where do they come from, Sakima?”

Sakima contained his hilarity as he thought of a more sophisticated answer. “I do not know. They don’t either. However, it’s not about how they started or how they end; it’s about what they do in the middle that counts. The road is what keeps them on their journey in life- to keep them going so they can advance and to prosper. They probably don’t know where they’re going, but they keep going to discover new things and to live.”

Takoda glanced towards the road, over the edge, as he bowed down his head in thought. Sakima set out the cub’s thoughts aloud.

“Nobody’s supposed to know how they came to be.”

“Do we have a journey? Do we have roads?”

In deep thought, Sakima nodded as his wise mind writhed in mental pain. Yet, the answer was quite simple. “We do. We have them already inside us. What we really need is the strength to walk down them.”

Takoda looked up to Sakima with a tear in his eye. “Do I have the strength?”

“You do.”