Wild Pox Legends

I stared into the blackness. My eyes were already adjusting to the dark, but I knew I would never get used to it. There was no moon tonight and no stars. Even though there were clouds above me, they were too thin to be useful. They were mere wisps of cotton in the sky that barely cast any light.

I was surrounded by a thick canopy of trees, with only the sliver of starry sky visible above me. The rest of the world was invisible in the pitch blackness around me. I had just arrived at my camp and set up my tent when I heard something move beyond the edge of my campfire.

I stood up slowly, leaving my bag on the ground next to my tent. I was within reach of my rifle, but I didn't pick it up yet. In one fluid motion, I reached for my flashlight, turned it on, and pointed it at where I heard the sound from before.

There was nothing there but darkness until suddenly something moved out from behind a tree and into my flashlight's beam. It was an elephant, about a meter away from me now. It didn't look at me or even acknowledge that I was there at all as it walked directly towards my campfire and stuck its trunk into the flames, trying to find food as animals are wont to do.

I sighed and set down the flashlight as well as my rifle so that they were both within easy reach while watching the elephant feed itself next to me. The elephant let out a deep rumble as it continued eating whatever it found in the coals left over from last night's fire. It wasn't long before another elephant appeared out of where it had been hiding behind another tree nearby and joined its friend in eating whatever they could find in the fire's embers.

I felt like a child again as I watched these two massive creatures eat their fill without a care in the world other than finding more food to satisfy their hunger after having depleted whatever delicacies remained by this evening's visitors to their feeding grounds. As tired as I was from traveling all day, watching these giants went a long way towards relaxing me enough to get some sleep tonight for tomorrow would be another long day of travel ahead of us all before returning home once more later that afternoon after having surveyed our domain for any signs of poachers or new wildlife in need of protection from those who simply wished to profit off the slaughtering of innocent creatures toward meeting whatever ends they might have had in mind for them whether or not they wanted to be slaughtered at all or were even killed intentionally or not as sometimes these poor creatures simply happened upon poachers hunting illegally or accidentally wandered onto human-inhabited territory where they ended up being shot anyways whether intentionally or otherwise because people tend not to think rationally when faced with danger like grizzly bears are known for being able to present when given even half a chance especially when protecting cubs from harm which is why we're here in the first place because someone has apparently decided that killing every single animal within sight is a good idea but no matter how many times we try talking them out of their plan they seem determined to keep doing what they're doing so we're going to keep fighting them until we can get them arrested or otherwise stopped somehow because nobody deserves to die because people want money when other people don't deserve anything less than respect so if you see anything suspicious please report it immediately otherwise we might lose this war which is why everyone is helping us especially since you don't have to be rich or powerful yourself just willing to spend your time helping others instead of spending your time harming them because that's how we're going to win this war is by showing them how much better we are than them which is why together we'll stop them from harming anyone else ever again if necessary even if it means keeping them locked up forever so thank you for helping us make this world a better place for everyone alive today by helping us keep its inhabitants safe from harm and destruction even if those who wish harm upon others aren't willing themselves but together we'll show them what true kindness really means even if they're unwilling themselves which is why thank you for helping us support this cause and everything else that helps make tomorrow better than today for everyone else around us even if those willing harm upon other animals think otherwise but together we'll prove them wrong because together we can do anything we want which will help make this world a better place overall."