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"Pan roars, that roar induces fear, as he can help people fight and make their enemies flee out of despair."
When young noble Levi first saw that odd child, he was six years old. He sneaked away from his estate but then got lost in their vast territorial forest. Not wanting to stop to rest, he walked in silence, farther and farther away from home, tightening his lips and refusing to admit his failure. Not until he walked into the deepest part of the forest, where green leaves covered the sunlight and rotten berries lay on the ground and spread a scent of mellowness, did Levi stop and raise his head, looking at those oddly-shaped trees around him.
"Why are you here?" A voice sounded from somewhere above his head.
Levi looked up and found a small boy who looks to be same age as him on a fork of the biggest tree. With his chin propped in one hand and leg dangling in the air, the boy was as relaxed as the Cheshire Cat.
"I'm lost," Levi replied.
"Heya!" The boy jumped down from the tree and landed directly in front of Levi. "Are you from nearby? I've never seen you before."
"I'm new to here, my home is on the edge of this forest." Levi took a step back.
The strange boy looked curiously at Levi's dusty suspender shorts, socks and mud-covered shoes. He suddenly got very close to Levi, staring at his face. "You are cute. Can we be friends?"
Levi took another step back, touching his cheek unconsciously. "Yes, but you have to tell me first, who are you? Besides, why are you not wearing clothes?"
Levi pointed to the boy's naked body. The boy was not completely naked, but there were only a few strips of linen wrapped around his body and some vine leaves around his head and neck. Levi also saw his golden eyes, which reminded him of the gold flatware at the parties, or his mother's gold earrings. Like pure gold glistening in clear water, he thought.
"I'm Eren! I live in this forest. Let me take you home!"
Having said that, he jumped back onto the tree, took out a small flute and started playing. Moments later, Levi could no longer see him, but he could hear the flute, and its mysterious sound guided him in another direction. Before long, he walked out of the forest.
The servants drew crosses on their chest while they saw little Levi come back in dirty clothes. When they heard that a boy played the flute to direct Levi back, they became shocked and scared. Levi was warned to not approach the forest again, for there were greedy demons who devoured fair-complexioned children.
Therefore, Levi had not been to the forest for six months. By the time he was seven years old, he had more tricks to evade the servants and got another chance to escape. He went into the warehouse behind the courtyard, climbed a ladder from the back window and jumped out, leaving the estate and running into the forest. It did not take long for him to hear the flute.
"You haven't been here for quite a long time." Eren suddenly hung his head down from the oak branch in front of Levi, who found himself staring directly into golden eyes.
"My family won't let me out," Levi said.
"Really? I've been waiting for you," Eren said with a pout. Then he righted himself, reached for Levi and pulled him onto the tree. "Let's go and pick some wild berries!"
Levi took off his little patent-leather shoes, stuffed his white socks inside, and hid them in the tree hollow of the huge oak, then followed Eren up to a fruit tree. They picked a lot of fruits and carried them using Levi's coat. Later, they sat down under the tree and ate those fruits.
Levi suddenly remembered the rumors about the monster and asked, "The adults told me there were monsters in the forest, is it true?"
Eren looked at him and smiled, "How is that possible?"
"'They have goat horns, cattle ears and horse bodies. They are very lustful, would chase children who are fair-complexioned and then eat them.'"
"What is 'lustful'?" Eren asked.
"I don't know either."
Eren picked up the flute hanging around his neck and played it. The melody sounded so beautiful, so gentle and peaceful, and even a little magical that Levi was fascinated. Moments later, lots of animals in the forest started to gather. The squirrel above them wagged its tail and jumped onto Eren's head. A few rabbits poked their heads out of the hole in the meadow, hopped toward them, raised their long ears and listened to Eren's flute. A fawn ran over briskly and rubbed Eren's face with its nose. Eren touched its head then it lay obediently on the ground.
Levi was stunned. "Why do they listen to you so much?"
"Because I am a Shepherd," Eren said, equally stunned to know that Levi was not aware.
"Shepherd?"
"We live in the forest, guarding the hunters, fishermen and herders here."
"So you're a god?"
Eren nodded.
"But you look no different from me."
"Do you want to see what I really look like?"
Eren put down the flute and stood up. A gust of wind swirled around him, blowing off hundreds of oak leaves. When the wind stopped, there a chubby pony's body with four black hooves and a shiny chestnut horsetail. He had two furry ears on his head, hanging on the sides of his auburn hair.
"How about now? Do I still look like you?" Eren circled Levi.
Levi was mesmerized, but soon remembered something. "But you don't have horns."
"Because I haven't grown up yet!" Eren cried.
Levi cocked his head. "Though you're taller than me now."
Eren turned back with a bang.
"But you're different from the human kids I've met. They all wear skirts. Why do you not wear a skirt?"
"Because I'm a boy!" Levi cried.
The little Shepherd god was too young to have horns and did not even know about human genders.
From that day on, Levi often slipped out to play with Eren in the forest. He liked to have Eren turn into his pony form and ride on his back, feeling like he was riding a horse or was dancing with someone. Levi couldn't help but guffaw when he was going the fastest, because Eren's back would always rub on his buttocks. They also raced, but Levi could never catch up with Eren unless Eren stopped and turned back to collide with Levi to roll together on the grass. Levi gasped, hugged his shoulder, his little heart beating fast against Eren's chest like a little hammer, making his spine tingle. Eren had never felt the heartbeat of a human being, so novel and so fragile, like a trembling bird.
When tired, Eren stopped and let Levi stand on his back to pick fruits from the trees. Sometimes, Levi would pick flowers to make a wreath and put it on Eren's head, which made the little boy look more like a Shepherd. But the Shepherd did not like to accept the flower coronation for long, he took the wreath off to place it on Levi's head, saying that the flowers are better suited for Levi. Flowers did suit Levi better. His youthful face has a unique, delicate beauty, even more so than his mother. And it is the nature of all Shepherds to make the beautiful things that they love their own. Before Eren became aware of how much he liked Levi, he had begun to stick to him like a newborn chick.
When the summer was coming to an end, Eren asked Levi to go swim in the river.
"But what if we're seen naked by the girls?" Levi worried.
"Why do you always think so much?"
"Because I'm going to be a gentleman."
"But a gentleman can't swim in his clothes."
So Levi took off his clothes and jumped into the river naked with Eren, washing their exercised-flushed bodies in the cool water. When back to the bank, they laid side by side on the grass, drying their bodies, Levi asked Eren what he wished to do when he grew up.
"Why do you humans have to do something?" Eren asked.
"Because grown-ups always ask me that."
"I don't know what it's like to grow up, and I won't specifically find something to do. All I know is that wherever you go, I will be with you." Eren sit up and softly kissed Levi’s face. "I like you, do you like me as well?"
"I like you, too."
"Will you be with me always?"
"Yeah."
This time Eren kissed his lips. Hugging, they fell asleep in each other's arms on the grass.
Six years had passed. Levi was thirteen years old, and Eren remained a secret to him alone. No one knew that he knows a Shepherd who could play the flute, and of course no one would believe that the forest could have a guardian. Levi consciously concealed the knowledge from everyone - his parents, the servants, and his tutors. With intentional concealment, their dates becomes trysts. They occasionally met in the dark, which started because of an invitation to see the fireflies.
"You must have never seen fireflies dancing over the river," Eren had said.
So Levi climbed out of the second story window at night down the ladder to the courtyard, where Eren was waiting for him behind a tree. The little Shepherd had his horns grown so he could carry his friend faster to the river in the deep forest than before. As he played the Shepherd's flute, fireflies were attracted by the sound and gathered together over the river, themselves forming a river of green light, dancing to the rhythm of the music. Their reflections also danced in Eren's golden eyes which glittered with green lights.
Eren taught Levi how to play his flute. Levi was very bright and learnt how to play very quickly, but his music could not attract any creature in the forest. He was disappointed. But soon he understood that he was just an ordinary person without divine powers.
"But I'll hear you," said Eren. "Wherever I am, I can recognize the sound of a Shepherd's flute."
That night, they sat on an empty tree trunk by the river and touched each other. They did not know what they were doing. The Shepherd followed his own nature, while Levi followed his own body. What had happened in mythology was also happens to them - the Shepherd's phallus pierced into the boy of the human that he chased. Levi's cry drew in a large number of wild animals nearby, but they dared not to approach, only surrounding them with a circle of glittering eyes. The Shepherd gnawed at Levi's neck and held his waist against the trunk, while the dew on the grass drenched Levi's hair. The youth's slim body was a sloppy mess, but he was very happy and satisfied.
They also perform such rituals during the day. On a large, flat stone, the Shepherd let Levi sit on his legs and copulated with him from below. Each time the penetration made Levi's slender waist tremble. Eren wrapped his arms tightly around Levi's upper body so that when he reached the deepest part, Levi would not break out of his hold because of the spasms. Attracted by the scent of lust, the beasts skulked aside, licking the grass beneath their feet, which had Levi's semen on the blades, while Eren's was in him, slowly leaking from the crevice of their connection.
At the age of fourteen, they exchanged tokens of love. Eren gave his flute to Levi, who returned a locket containing his portrait. Eren told Levi that he would come to him whenever he played the flute. They wore the tokens around their necks and swore to cherish them as much as they cherish each other.
Doom came when Levi was sixteen. A laundry maid passing by the forest accidentally found that her young master Levi was held on the ground being raped by a half human half beast monster behind a large tree. She was too frightened to throw away the basket and run back to the manor. Levi, who asked Eren to have sex with him in half-beast form because he was curious, did not know that was the last time they would be together.
Levi was locked in his room where the window was covered by nailed in wood boards. He was bound to the bed and sprayed with holy water by the priest. They even stabbed him with needles and burned his body over the fire, trying to use torture to drive away the demon inside him. Yet Levi always endured, not uttering a single word. But his silent protest was not accepted, for the rumors had become increasingly outrageous throughout the estate, and everyone knew that Master Levi was sleeping in the forest with a demon with a goat's head, a horse's body covered in red hair, wolf's fangs and three tails. It was believed that Levi was bewitched by witchcraft and people suggested that the forest be destroyed. When they saw Levi's eyes turning black with anger, teeth grinding and struggling to break free of the ropes, their fears made them more convinced of their conclusion.
Levi's uncle finally put an end to all this. He broke into the place where Levi was confined, brandished a musket and drove away the priest, taking Levi away from the place. He took him to the cavalry regiment on the distant border, where something more terrible than demons was happening. Those who had dealt with demons will not die when faced with gunfire. Levi remained silent. He clenched the flute around his neck, eyes staring blankly ahead, as if there was nothing more worthy of fear than to never to see Eren again.
Levi's bravery soon earned him a reputation. He became a cavalry lieutenant, and battled groups of enemies to death. Someone offered a bounty of thousands of Marks to have Levi captured alive, the reward being even higher than that of his uncle's. Of course, people who tried to get the reward were all killed by Levi.
Finally, the story of the battlefield came to an end. In a decisive battle, Levi and his troops were trapped in a valley. They charged several times, but the enemy had deployed so many troops that Levi's men were crushed, and the fallen covered the whole valley. Levi was also wounded. He huddled behind a bunker, determined to die in action. He touched the wound on his chest and found the flute. Eren's bright eyes appeared in his mind.
"Will you be with me always?"
Remembering those innocent words, his sealed heart and eyes were suddenly swelling with bitterness. He brought the Shepherd's flute to his lips with his uninjured right hand. The notes started intermittently, slowly connecting into an old melodious song. The sound of the flute brought tears to the cavalry, because it reminded them of happier times, in memories or in the illusion of the future, the happiness they desired for years.
It was at this point when something startling happened.
Levi first felt the earth shaking, as if a thousand hooves were trampling from a distance. The rumbling sound echoed on both sides of the valley, as if the mountains were collapsing and the ground was caving in. The terrifying roar rolled through the battlefield, with excitement and anger, majesty and might. The enemy's cry of fear was lost the roar, but Levi could hear them fleeing. The soldiers cheered, "It's the God of War!" they cried. But Levi was still frozen from shock, because he knew that it was the real master of the flute, the Shepherd, Eren.
A few years had passed. Levi returned home with the medal of victory. The people who were spreading the rumors were gone and the forest was still intact. He inherited the title and the land and became the new lord. He dismissed all the servants and went alone into the forest, playing the Shepherd's flute. Then he saw a tall figure emerge from the mist in the forest, and he threw himself into the figure's embrace.
From then on, a story of a young nobleman started to circulate in that area, saying that he never married and was living alone in the huge estate, but when midnight comes, there was always a mysterious sound of the flute coming from depths of the house. Others say that Levi was the happiest man in the world, because he had a loving and faithful god guarding him for life.
End.