estion's will
It was said then that the gift was given to them long ago by Estion Himself, one of the wisest and oldest of all spirits. Stories describe Him as a tall buck with antlers that span the skies, constellations threaded throughout his antlers with thin, ethereal strings of stardust.
Estion favored his kind, the animals, first and foremost. They had soft hearts that opened more easily to Him than the humans. In fact, human hearts had long ago grown stiff to his touch, their ears as deaf as a fox kit’s to his calls.
His second favorite were the forest-dwellers who laid in the dewey grass and lived short, pleasant lives. They ate only what grew from the earth itself and lived in the pursuit of their own happiness.
Most importantly, they were just between the two beings who dwell on earth: man and beast. Because of their strange place between the two, they still held a tenuous link to Estion and all the other animals. They could open their hearts and minds to Him and to the world around them, and they could hear their voices, though they were but a whisper to their strange ears. They prayed to Him and honored Him with a reverent respect that all who speak to gods must have. They burned long willow branches and brightly colored leaves for Him in the cooler months. They poured dark berry wines into the stream for Him so that He may drink them with his brothers and sisters in the forests. They would die of starvation before they would ever dare harm one of his siblings of the earth. They were Good.
Estion loved these strange half-beasts, and decided one day to give them something that they had lost to their own evolution.
He gave them the ability to use Estra, the power that lives in all beasts.
“As the wolf imbibes, so shall you,” He said.
And it was done.
