Irina sighted down the length of her barrel, grinning as yet another moose walked across her field of fire. This little ‘National Park’ held quite possibly the dumbest animals she’d ever seen.
The blonde chuckled, sidling back as she lined up another perfect shot. It had been around ten years since she’d graduated college, the best days of her life. Now, the only way she could get close to such happy memories was by basking within the thrill of the hunt. There was a sport to it, a certain element of natural grace.
It was animal versus man. Moose y mano. Antlers versus sixty caliber PTRS-41. So what if Irina’s weapon of choice wasn’t technically ‘sporting’ or ‘legal’? It got the job done; her every shot almost erasing her prey’s head. And on that note… She wiggled a little as the moose trotted over to its next watering hole. Its horns would be magnificent over her fireplace.
‘This would be an easy shot.’ She thought with a grin. Even if she was at an odd angle, this would work out just fine. The blonde woman grinned viciously, pulling the trigger. As expected, a thunderclap roared through the woods, and Irina beamed as the moose’s head seemed to literally explode.
That was the beauty of the 14.5 x 114mm cartridge. Intended for hunting tanks, it always left her with a kill. Even if they weren’t always the cleanest in the world.
She beamed, standing suddenly from her odd position. Too bad if its head was unsalvageable; she’d leave it for the crows and find another. “And the Russian judge gives it a ten!” She announced, slamming the butt of her gun into the ground cockily.
And it misfired.
Irina dreamt she was in the void, her perfect form floating naked in white space. She reached up a hand in front of her eyes and cried out in fear as it began to look different. Before her very eyes her fingers were joining, hardening into a solid lump that could only be a hoof.
The woman’s shriek became a bellow as her neck lengthened out, and Irina squeezed her eyes shut as ty slid to the sides of her head. She opened them to find that she now had a good view of a deer’s muzzle. To be more specific, it looked almost like a moose’s.
‘But…’ She shook her head out as it began to ache, a pair of mighty antlers bursting from the sides of her head. ‘Since when did female moose have antlers?’
Her silent question was answered a moment later as she felt herself grow what could only be described as a massive set of male genitals.
‘Oh. I’m dreaming.’ She reasoned, feeling her body barrel out, her spine cracking as it re-shaped herself four four-footed travel. ‘I’m dreaming and apparently I’m a male moose.’ She snorted through her muzzle, wiggling out her rump as a cervine tail slowly slid from her backside.
The once-attractive former woman looked down her blocky muzzle, smacking her big lips. She let out a low grunt, shaking her head as longer fur extended under her muzzle, giving her an almost bearded appearance. ‘As if I needed another reminder that I’m a male.’ She hissed internally, flicking her ears with more than a little irritation.
Irina looked down to her body, refusing to self-identify as male, and let out a low bellow. ‘Now what?’
As though it was answering her thoughts, the dream collapsed around her, leaving her with only darkness.
Irina started with a cry. She smacked her lips tiredly. ‘That was one hell of a dream.’ Was what she intended to say. Instead, it came out as “Whhrnargn.” She blinked, noticing that there was a muzzle directly in her vision.
With a cry, the woman stood up to find that she wasn’t a woman anymore. Or even human, for that matter. She looked down in terror to see that her dream was in fact a reality, and it looked like she was standing on a set of hooves now.
Her new form was so large; so cumbersome! Irina grunted loudly, looking around to find a gorgeous woman eying her with interest. ‘Please, you have to realize who I am! You have to help me!”
The woman smiled with interest, seeming to grow ever-larger as she approached the moose. Her body glowed with an ethereal light, and her eyes spoke of centuries of knowledge beyond her form.
Irina quaked in terror as the goddess-like woman drew closer. She had to be dreaming again, this had to be some sort of nightmare!
“Oh, it is a nightmare. But you’re not dreaming.” She scowled, reaching a hand out to grab Irina by her neck.
The woman-turned-moose squirmed in her foe’s terrible grasp. Even with all of the new power held in her big body, she was still helpless to move in the woman’s iron grip.
“You killed for sport, slew my animals for your own amusement.” She spat at Irina, her grip tightening. “Murdered them, mounted them above your wall—at least, you did with those who you didn’t simply erase!”
‘I’m choking!’ Irina pleaded. She gave the goddess a bug-eyed look, her eyes wide and pleading.
“And?” The goddess glared.
It was probably the lack of oxygen to her brain, but Irina thought of something completely out-of-place. ‘I’m going to die at the hands of a woman… A goddess whose name I don’t even know.’
The glare in the woman’s eyes softened, and her grip eased. “I’m Mother Nature.” She sighed, letting the moose go. “And killing you now would be meaningless.”
Irina gasped for air as she was let to the ground; then she turned to run. It was time to go—anywhere but here. She let out a long bellow in fear, bracing her every muscle to flee.
And a .30-06 round tore itself through her head, popping one of her eyes as it crushed her skull and liquefied her brain.
There was a sudden surge of the worst pain she’d ever felt; then nothing. Irina barely even felt the bullet exit the other side of her head, a trial of her own grey matter leaking from the hole. Her body slumped lifelessly to the ground a moment later, one of her horns cracking against the stone below her.
"Aw, shit!" A loud voice announced, its accent making the word sound like 'shee-it'. "This one's no good to us, you cracked its antlers!"
Irina shivered in fear. Her ruined eye faced upwards, so she could only see the boots of the men who'd killed her.
"I didn't mean to, pa!" A younger voice said. "He just kinda fell wrong, you saw!"
A moment passed, then: "Mhmm. You're right. We'll just leave this one for the buzzards, I suppose."
Irina watched from her unruptured eye as the pair turned to walk away, leaving her to decay in silence.
'Is that it? I got brought back only to die again?' Irina whimpered, mentally curling into a small ball of self-interest.
"Yes." That same melodious voice from earlier answered her thoughts. "But you didn't get brought back to die only once."
'Why?' Irina pleaded, Mother Nature cupping her head so the girl-turned-bull-moose could see the woman. 'Why do this to me?'
As Irina 'spoke' with the goddess, she felt some of her brain leaking from the wound, trailing out along a constant stream of blood and cerebral fluid.
Mother Nature scowled at the moose, holding her it by its less-gory antlers. "Why did you hunt my animals, hm?"
'I... I don't know, okay?' Irina sobbed. 'For fun, for relaxation, for... I don't know! Please, just change me back or let me die!'
"Oh, I'll do both." Mother Nature's smile grew predatory. "You've killed how many moose again?"
'In my life?' Irina gasped. 'I don't know! It has to be somewhere around a hundred, at least!'
"Eighty-seven." Mother Nature frowned at the girl. "Eight a year for ten years running. So I'll give you a deal. One death for each of theirs, to help ease their passing."
"Eighty-seven deaths?' Irina repeated numbly. 'I'll go mad!'
"Eighty-six, now. And let's sweeten that, then. For every cow you fertilize, that'll count for five."
'Only five?' Irina protested. 'I don't to have sex with an animal, and certainly not as a male! Make it at least ten!'
"It could be four." Mother Nature frowned. "But I suppose people might miss you. Let's call it at 'eight'. Each cow you mate with will make up for a year of your hunting."
'Yes, thank you thank you thank you.' Irina sobbed, feeling her skull continue to leak. 'Please, just let me come back and end this torment!'
"I will, in time. And I hope you'll learn a new appreciation for those you've hunted." She dropped the bull's head, letting it fall to the ground with a thump.
Irina woke up a moment later, her skull pounding with a throbbing headache. She shook her antlered head out, looking around nervously. There weren't any humans in sight, and she didn't smell any... Her nostrils twitched as they picked up the scent of a moose in heat.
Irina's ears twitched, and she felt herself growing hard with anticipation. 'Perfect! I'll just claim her as my own and knock off eight years! This won't be so bad!' She thought with a grin, bounding out with anticipation.
Irina bolted out open to a clearing, her eyes wide as she searched for a cow. Instead, she only found a little glass cup that had been left open. She flinched back, turning to leave a second too late.
An arrow hissed its way from the underbrush, catching her right in her flank. 'Oh, come on!' Irina hissed, nearly blacking out from the pain. 'I never even used those on the field!'
The hunter, a young native woman, crept from hiding. She had a kind smile on her face as she held Irina's dying head in her hands. "Ssh. There, there." She muttered.
'Yeah, you try being calm when there's a hole in your side.' Irina scowled mentally, trying not to gurgle as more blood poured from her wound. Irina's legs kicked faintly, and the native woman looked down in alarm.
Before Irina could register what she was about to do, the native woman had torn out a knife, slashing it across the moose's throat.
Irina gurgled wetly as a hot stream of blood poured out from her throat, and she expired in the woman's arms. Then the woman turned her knife lower, and Irina had the uncomfortable sensation of being skinned and gutted.
It was... Unpleasant, to say the least.
That had been death number two.
By her fourth death, Irina had realized how bad of an idea it was to venture into clearing in moose season. She went from dying five times in the same day to once in a week; then in a month; then in a year. Necessity proved a cruel teacher, and Irina had started to get clever. She'd realized that it was much easier to look for a mate off-season, and even then she would stick to the thicker woods.
When the next hunting season came around, Irina simply toughed it out. Her libido could wait a bit if it meant that she'd be spared the agony of death. That said, finding a cow certainly wasn't easy; she'd had two mates stolen out from under her nose by larger bucks.
But she'd managed to find one who had remained hers, even after Irina's occasional miscall led to her death.
She couldn't explain how, but it was like this moose recognized her bull, even when Irina was reborn in a new body. Having found a mate, Irina had been able to stay sane, and she chose to stay loyal. Granted, it took her a little longer; but it meant she reared a family, got to watch her children grow. Better yet, some of her kids were cows; useless to hunters looking for mountable trophies.
And now, six children and over a dozen deaths later, Irina was finally riding her mate, that special moose, for the last time. She thrust into her mate with a bellow, shaking out her antlers as she loudly fertilized the moose again.
Irina slumped onto her mate's back, panting tiredly as she bucked a few last times. And yet this time felt different than the rest. It felt like her form was shrinking down, loosening up as she claimed her last mate. Irina grunted, her eyes squeezed shut at the odd sensation of her antlers pulling back into her scalp.
Then, just like that, she was a naked woman with her arms around a moose's rump.
Irina scrambled back, her eyes wide. "Um... Hi." She said anxiously.
To her surprise, the moose didn't charge. Instead, it trotted up to her and licked her cheek affectionately.
"H-hey! Ease up, will you?" Irina chuckled, petting her mate's cheeks.
"I'm not sure if he knows how." Another voice spoke up from Irina's left, and she spun with wide eyes.
Sure enough, Mother Nature was standing in a clearing, bathed in heavenly light. Irina stared at the woman, trying to work out what she'd just said. "He?" Irina finally managed.
"Yes, Volden was much like you, I'm afraid. But I think he's learned his lesson, and after this child you two just might be able to live together. After it's been raised, I mean."
Irina blinked in confusion, looking back to the female moose with wide eyes. It looked as sheepish as such a beast could be, its ears flat against its head.
"W-wait! Then make me into a bull moose again!" Irina looked back to Mother Nature worriedly. "I have to keep him safe, then!"
Mother Nature cooed with amusement. "The fact that you care enough to say that is protection enough. You've had survival training, haven't you?"
Irina nodded eagerly. "But I don't have my gear and I won't leave him alone!" She crossed her arms, her nostrils flaring as she stared down the goddess before her.
"Well, I'll be." Mother Nature chuckled. "Looks like you just learned something after all." She held out a hand, materializing a knife, a bow, and a set of leather armor. "In the past, I'd give these to my champions. But I think they wouldn't mind you honoring their memory by using these fine tools for a bit."
Irina eyed the bow dubiously, but took the knife and armor without complaint. "And you're fine with me hunting now?"
"If it's for survival and not sport? Of course. I'm Mother Nature, I know that there's a circle of life." She leaned in closer, glaring at the huntress before her. "But never hunt to excess; only kill when absolutely needed."
Irina nodded meekly, taking the bow and flexing its string in her hands. It had been years since she'd last used one, but she'd learn. She'd have to, to live with her mate for the next few months.
The moose licked Irina's face, letting out a low grunt. She giggled, cupping its nose in her hands and kissing it. "Don't worry. I'll be with you for the long run."
Mother Nature clapped loudly, a huge smile on her face. "And the Russian judge gives that a ten for sweetness!"
The two looked at her funnily, and she tilted her head.
"Or was that not the right human expression?"
Irina laughed at that. "Close. Come by our home from time to time and I'll teach you."
Mother Nature smiled back. "I'll keep that in mind." Her smile faltered, and she looked to the sky. "But for now... I think that a certain whaler needs a lesson."
Irina giggled, cupping her mate's head in her hands. She waved farewell to the goddess. "And... Thank you."
Mother Nature's only reply was a smile.