Chapter 2: As I see but am blinded to

A/N: encouraged to listen to this track while you read this part: 

Upon a rock he sat, gazing at his reflection. His wanderings found him in a forest, of which the name he did not know. He would not blend in with man as he was. He was what man described as devilish-- as said by his mother. His hair was a waterfall of magenta, cascading down his back, hiding his diminutive leather wings, and just brushing his tail bone. His eyes were brimstones of smoldering rubies, gleaming with wisdom beyond their years, with slitted pupils that belonged to - to something his mother called a cat. His skin, tanned from the many millennia of overseeing the fires of hell, may have been the only thing similar to man. How similar, he wasn't so sure of.

He opened his mouth in an exaggerated, toothy grin. His canines are pointed, looking more like something that'd belong to a wild beast. Closing his mouth with a sigh, he turned away from his reflection. What did man actually look like? When they came into hell, they were transformed for their punishments. Or was it by their punishments? Red skinned, tiny, balded imps. Some were bipedal, some were not. 

There was a rustle in the brush to his right. He stood from his perch, gazing in the direction of the disturbance. Through the brush, a tiny figure hopped out. It was small, with its soft tanned hide, long thin ears, and puffy brown tail. 

Was this man?  He wondered. Three more tiny figures hopped out behind it, each resembling the last. They scurried along, seemingly with no care in the world. He followed from a distance, observing their behavior.

They were social creatures, something his father had once said about man; something his mother had once reminisced about in her recollections of walking amongst man. The brown fluffs of curiosity, lepus, he decided to call them, bonded with each other: they ate together, they hopped together, and they slept together. 

Lucifero sat in a tree above one of their homes. Odd, he thought to himself. He had never remembered his parents saying that man lived in the ground. Were these the ones his mother would have associated with? Did they want to be closer to hell in order to worship his father? "Most curious," Lucifero whispered to himself. 

He studied how they interacted with each other. They spoke, not with words, but with their bodies. They made small sounds but nothing that sounded like conversation. Odd, he thought to himself. His mother had said neighbors and neighbors of neighbors would converse with each other with words.

He spent hours, days, weeks, months silently watching the small fluffs of curiosity. He sat through rain, sun, and fog. He'd looked over multiple generations of the lepus. He thought he had enough information to blend in with man but one day, there was something different in their routine.

The largest of the small colony had stood up on its hind legs. It stood as a statue would with its ears poised high, twitching ever so slightly one way then the other. It suddenly let out a sharp squeal and they all retreated underground. Lucifero had never witnessed this before.

He leaned forward on his perch in the trees, tilting his head to the side. On the right side of the tree he was in, the brush rustled. A bright orange creature slipped from the shadowed brush, its hide fluffier and softer looking than the lepus. It had a long narrow face, black tipped nose, and narrow amber eyes -- eyes that held a sheen of intelligence he hadn't seen in the eyes of the lepus. 

Is this man? He wondered as his eyes followed the fluffy creature. It was larger than the lepus and Lucifero had never remembered his parents saying man was small -- though the lepus did remind him of imps. 

The imps were transformed man, though, so the lepus could not be man. This new bright orange creature could be. Lucifero observed this new creature, following from a distance to observe its behavior.

The orange creature stood by the home of the lepus, bouncing around. Lucifero was curious as to why but his curiosity was satisfied when one of the lepus heads popped up. The orange creature pounced, gripping the head of the lepus in its powerful jaws. The orange creature let out a loud yipp and scurried off into the brush. "Most curious," Lucifero whispered.

He abandoned his watch over the lepus, having come to the conclusion that they were not man. They were lepus, and that was how it would stay. This new creature, however, could be what he was looking for. Without further hesitation, he followed after it.

Odd, Lucifero thought as he came upon the orange creature's home.Vulpes, he decided to call it. The vulpes lived similarly to the lepus. Perhaps they were one in the same. Maybe they were both man but different types of man. He recalled his mother saying that man came in all sorts of shapes and sizes. "Most curious," Lucifero whispered.

Lucifero approached the mouth of the den and leaned over, peering inside to see a small group of vulpes. There were seven of them. Four of them were tiny, similiar in size to the lepus. Children?

He ducked out quickly when their heads turned. They were more aware of things than the lepus were. Was this the knowledge his father had bestowed upon them?

He studied the vulpes as he had the lepus before them. He studied their habits, their diet, their social interactions with each other. They slept in the day and hunted by night, much like the lepus. Their diet consisted of meat and fruit, unlike the lepus who only dined on grass and fruit. Also unlike the lepus, they were less social. They did not eat together but they did sleep together. They hunted alone, only one bringing back enough food to feed the children.

He spent hours, days, weeks, months silently watching the vulpes. He sat through rain, sun, and fog. He'd watched the young grow and some even leave to be on their own. He thought he had enough information to blend in with man but one day, there was something different in their routine.

It was cold. So cold, he could see his own breath. Lucifero wrapped his arms around himself. He peered down at the vulpes as he had the day before but something was different. There was snow surrounding their home. Only three of the original family remained inside. The others had gone off on their own. One of the newer kits stumbled out into the snow, shaking his body from the top of his head to the tip of his fluffy tail.

He wandered about the mouth of the den, hopping up on the top and peering around. A long drawn out howl made both the kit and Lucifero freeze. 

Lucifero had never heard such a terrifying sound before. The lone howl was joined by a chorus of more until the moon-lit sky was filled with the terrifying cry. The vulpes kit scurried away and into the den. Lucifero sat up from his perch in the tree. He shook his body, much like the kit had, and his diminutive leather wings fluttered.

He took to the sky. On a stretch of land through the trees, he saw fifteen quadrupedal creatures rushing through the snow. He flew towards them, yearning to get a closer look. These creatures looked similar to vulpes but looked larger, stronger. Instead of the gleaming bright orange hide the vulpes possessed, these creatures had a dark grey and white hide. Lupus, he decided to call them.

Is this man? He wondered as his eyes followed the mysterious creatures. They were larger than the vulpes and lepus. They were in greater number than the vulpes. He remembered his mother saying man lived in large groups called towns and cities. These lupus were in large numbers. Maybe this was man.

He abandoned his watch over the vulpes, having come to the conclusion that they were not man. They were vulpes, and that was how it would stay. These new creatures, however, could be what he was looking for. Without further hesitation, he followed after them.

He studied the lupus as he had the vulpes before them. He studied their habits, their diet, their social interactions with each other. Unlike those before them, the lupus hunted whenever possible. They dined purely on meat, unlike the vulpes and lepus.  These creatures were more social than lepus and more intelligent than vulpes. They hunted together, they ate together, they played together, and they slept together.

Odd, Lucifero thought as he came upon the lupus's home. The lupus lived similarly to the vulpes. They lived in a den but it was large and in the side of a mountain. "Most curious," Lucifero whispered. He did not know that man lived in rocks. Did they wish to feel closer to his father who spent millennia around smoldering rocks?

He spent hours, days, weeks, months silently watching the lupus. He sat through rain, sun, and blizzard. He watched them play, hunt, have young, and grow. He watched some break off from the family but then found them later with their own large sized group. They never changed their routine, no matter the weather. He had finally found man.

Now he could blend in with the mortal world. No longer would he have to feel the cold grasp of loneliness he had to endure while being a silent observer. With that giddy thought in mind, he hid in the brush. He closed his smoldering rubies and changed. He changed to the image of man. A large cunning beast with triangular ears, narrow eyes, and fluffy hide. When he opened his eyes, there was something wrong. 

No...

He had changed, yes, but not into man. He had changed into beast. His hide was not the same grey and white as they, instead it was the same shade his hair had been. He still had his diminutive wings fluttering uselessly on his back and his eyes were not amber suns but red rubies. What had gone wrong? he wondered.

Will they still accept me? he wondered. His mother had once said that man was afraid of the unknown, that they subconsciously reject change and things that were different than them. But, she had also said, there were those like her who did not care -- that they welcomed change and welcomed differences as different was not always bad. Would this lupus colony accept him?

And so he attempted his first integration with man.