‘Refuge? What for?’ cried the General loudly, startling some of the smaller creatures.
‘Every day, selfish humans enter our homes to kill us, to a point where some of us had become
extinct, never to be seen again. And the ridiculous pollution they made suffocated us, poisoned
us, and tortured us. We had no choice but to leave, and escape to one of the most unpolluted
places on earth, the Gobi Desert,’ Deer murmured, as her eyes glistened with tears. ‘We built this
underground sanctuary to escape from humans. For centuries, generation after generation, we
have been living down here. But, I really hope I will one day experience what they call “sunlight”
and “sky.”’ She stopped, then continued in a softer, sadder tone, ‘We just hate humans…’
The General was flabbergasted. He did not know that his ancestors had done so much harm to
these creatures.
They passed a few minutes in awkward silence, until they had arrived at a huge oak tree.
‘Bookworm, we have a newcomer.’ said Deer, who had apparently recovered. There was a rustling
of leaves, after which an old white worm, the size of a human palm, crawled out from within.
‘A “what?”’ cried Bookworm, who apparently could not hear well.
‘A newcomer,’ Deer repeated, more loudly.
‘A newcomer? It’s rather rare to have newcomers these days. Most of them came centuries ago,’
said Bookworm in a hushed tone. He stared at the General suspiciously and asked, ‘Who are you?’
‘I am Nesofy...’
‘Oh! A lesovik! This is rare, very rare!’ the surprised Bookworm interrupted, writing in a
teeny-tiny book. ‘In fact, you are the first lesovik ever registered.’
The General was speechless for a moment, for he didn’t know his name was similar to that of a
mythical creature. But then, as creatures here disliked humans so much, he decided not to reveal
his identity, and just make the best of a mistake.
‘We hope that you can continue your role of protecting the forests and creatures,’
Bookworm continued.
‘…Which is totally the opposite of what we have been doing,’ thought “Lesovik” as he walked
away from the oak tree, after Deer.
Bookworm grinned happily at the thought of having a new kind of resident, and seemingly
forgot his suspicions. But no one noticed Vulture, who had been on the crown of the oak tree all
the time, glaring at the “lesovik” cautiously.
At “night,” when the vol-corona rested and stopped emitting light, “Lesovik” was given a place
to nap, beside Deer. However, the “Lesovik” could not sleep, tossing and turning in the middle of
a meadow, for so much had happened on one single day. He thought of his missing fellow soldiers
and the plane. He thought of how ‘non-grey’ things were under the Gobi Desert. But most of the
time, he thought about Deer, about how much pollution humans had created, and about how the
creatures had suffered to the point that they needed to leave and become “mythical.”
‘Indeed,’ he thought, ‘pollution is continuing to worsen, as more and more people died because
of poisonous gases and disease. We have used up much more resources than we need to, until we
have only one source of energy left…’
Hours later, when “Lesovik” finally managed to doze off, when he heard a voice, the same
mysterious voice, ’Your lie won’t last long. You must act quickly.’
Meanwhile, up on the surface of earth, the grey soldiers found consciousness at last, on grey
sand. All of them were alive, but one was missing.
‘The General is not here!’, cried one.
‘But can’t do anything on this island,’ cried another, looking at the surrounding great, grey ocean.
