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Dial Coyote: Prologue (Beyond)


Dial awoke to a slight growl in his belly. He went out into the dusk and tracked for hours and only a few mice were added to his flesh and helped him last another day. By the tenth day of this the heat of the desert increased and dial grew weak. He was half dead when he found water. Though it was nearly dried up and filled with mud and disease. He was nothing but a simple animal that only knew basic needs. The following week he became ill. At deaths door he wondered into the desert though it was cooler at night. He was too sick to hunt prey and too dehydrated to run. He collapsed in the sand and awaited death. He may survive the night but the hot summer sun would turn him into meat for other creatures. Only a few of every litter survive and prosper. Dial had not even mated with another coyote. Survive or die and the strong pass on their genetics. It would seem that there was no point at all to the life of the coyote. He was born and now he would die and his bloodline would end. His life would be for nothing. He passed out.

Breathing stopped and then so did his lungs. He was awakened by a sound that sent fear down his spine. He tried to move but his limbs only twitched and could not respond. His vision blurry and his mind dizzy. In the night he saw a ghostly coyote. He thought it was there to kill him but it did not. It watched him with an ancient gaze that made it look wise. Dial was just a simple animal; he was thinking thoughts he never had before. Ideas and imagination were coming to him that was not possible for an ordinary coyote. Something had changed but he had not yet noticed as he was too focused on the mysterious ghost in front of him. It approached him and he wanted to run but then realized his feet were not touching the ground. He was floating impossibly above his body but his tail formed a rope like tether that attached into his actual tail. His spirit had left his body but seemed still attached to it.

The being spoke directly into his mind, in coyote speak. "Relax my kin; I am here to save you. You are not yet dead and I have an important mission for you. Only those that have been to the other side and back may be granted my power. You had to die so that I could enlist you but your heart only will stop for a moment. I am out of time"

Humbled Dial asked what it was and the spirit simply told him that it did not matter now. Then it touched him and he woke up suddenly. He felt warmth and a current in his body and then it was gone and his heart started to beat once more and he inhaled a deep breath. He opened his eyes stunned. Had He dreamed a great impossible thing? Was the trickster spirit also a dream or was he real? As he slept his mind reworked itself and slowly he healed just enough to stay alive. Maybe he just was not ready for death. He awakened in the morning and the disease had passed through his system. He had no fever but was so thirsty. He struggled to move and could not. It seems it was nothing more than a fever dream but the coyote started to dream a day dream. As he lay there helpless as a puppy his mind wondered and he thought about running and the joy of living and started to notice the beauty of the world around him. He had always been nothing but an animal driven only by survival and reproduction. This is the first time he truly contemplated his existence and felt alive.

"I think" the coyote thought. "I think therefore I am".

What had taken men many years to philosophize, had taken an animal mere minutes. He was aware of his own existence in the world. Though he knew little more than a coyote should know. He was smarter. Had the very illness that infected him given him newfound intelligence? Or had a magical spirit visited him. So much of things he did not understand seemed scary and magical to even an ordinary coyote. Though now he was confused what had happened at all.

Suddenly he heard crunches in the sand. Something was approaching and it had weight. he was in trouble. He squirmed but was too weak to lift himself up. He tried to crawl but he could not pull or push himself. What rotten cruel fate to be the first thinking coyote in history and now he would die. Not many things bigger than a coyote would not wish to eat one that seemed lame or sick. He tried to scream but his iconic coyote danger bark spouted out of his mouth. He did not know language so nothing else would have made sense. He was filled with fear but like most cornered animals they try to act tough. His lips sneered with a silent growl with black coyote lips. This sort of thing makes a coyote look demonic and even a wolf does not do it. Though he yipped when he looked up and a strange human being was standing before him holding a gun.

Even an animal knows that the loud bangs kill whenever humans are around, but even with newfound intelligence he did not know what the gun was for. A hand reached down at him calmly as if to help but his animal instincts took over. He could not help. He snapped his head as best he could. Even while impaired he was fast. He nearly bit off the man’s finger but just missed it. The man reacted surprised as he thought the animal helpless. He retracted his arm and stared down cautiously. Then he raised the gun. Dial looked at it and though he was ignorant of it, he could sense it was a threat. He tried to whimper. He was begging for his life the only way he knew how. If another coyote had him in a neck hold he would submit and beg. It is not wise to expose your belly but sometimes it may save your life. He chose to signal the human his surrender and ask not to be killed. He squirmed onto his back and raised his paws into a humble curl and the man paused for a moment and watched him.

Every instinct in his body told him to flee or fight but he now was smart enough to try something else entirely. He squirmed up to the man as best he could though his arms were too weak to stand. He then rested his head at the man’s feet. The hunter was now confused as wild coyotes just do not act this way. It then spoke aloud to him language he did not understand

"Hmm you must be a tame one; perhaps someone raised you as a pet?"

Dial would have proudly stated his wildness but knew not of this and simply whined as submissively as he could hoping the man would leave him be. Though that is not what happened. To his horror the man raised his gun. Feeling it was a stick or something pointy he tried to escape but his effort was pathetic. He stood up and wobbled. The soft sand he was laying on cushioned his fall. He tried again and then felt something pinch him in the left the height. Something had bit him, stung him. He heard a whoosh and started to feel dizzy again. His heart raced in fear and then another thing bit him and he felt sleepy. He looked back and saw the creature was still in his side. He tried to spin around to bite it and did not know where it came from. It had big red feathers and a stinger. He blacked out before he recalls actually snapping at it.

His mind was cloudy; he was half awake but suddenly did not care. He was to tired and weak and wanted to sleep. He felt himself being picked up and held. He felt the rhythmic motion of a biped human walking with him. He felt light and he curled up. Looked up at the human who was smiling at him but his newfound brain thought that it was a pleasant look. Perhaps he had been saved?