It was a beautiful night in the savanna. A blanket of stars draped tenderly over the darkness, illuminating the grasslands below. The wind furled through the air, whistling a quiet tune cloaked by the creaking of old branches.
Two giraffe calves venture across the land, hooves crunching the grass below. “How much further, Milo?” demanded the youngest. “You don’t even know if the ‘raffes you’re looking for are here. You haven’t known for the last two years. He’s not here.”
The calf in question huffed, tired eyes peeling through the darkness in search of a legend, a story intertwined in the veins of every giraffe.
The giraffes being tracked were the mystical protectors of giraffes in the savannas: The Emerald Guard. They carried the spirit of the earth in every bone, drop of blood, and muscle in their bodies. The Guard altered the land beneath them, shaping and tearing terrain to protect the giraffes. Not a single soul had ever laid eyes on them, yet the emerald glow they left behind made their presence unmistakable.
The Guard saved Milo’s life two years ago. They couldn’t save what mattered most to him, however.
“I’m not sure how far it is, Lily. It’s too late to turn back now.” Milo turned his good ear away from the other calf.
A twig snaps mere feet away.
Pawprints pad against the grass, covert yet regal. A storm of menacing gold catches the starlight.
A pride of lions shift through the branches, encircling the giraffes. Milo ushers his younger companion close. He stands tall, he is not strong enough to flee or fight.
It was too familiar to a scene he’d lived before.
“Yes, it is too late now,” muses a lioness, eyes falling on Milo’s right ear. He stiffened at the predator’s voice. “Ah, I remember you. Our pride got that friend of yours some time back, no? Heard a rumor that you’d been looking for him. Cute.”
Milo hissed. “Your pride didn’t get anyone.”
An amused glint shone in the lioness’ eyes. “Enough talk. Attack.”
A wave of sharp fangs billow towards them, but before a single claw can graze their coarse skin, the ground beneath them tears open.
The fissure is a scintillating green. Grass blades dance through the picking winds and dust blinded every creature there. The land beneath the calves spirals in cracks and tremors, as if a divine earthquake had come to save the young giraffes. The lions disperse, paws catching whatever crumbling land they could grasp, and Milo and Lily stood stunned. The ground beneath them glittered like treasure, cutting through the gusts of dirt and broken land.
Once the pride had cleared and the tremble of the land came to a halt, the calves spoke again.
“It’s…green. Like, emerald green,” whispered Lily.
Milo stretched his neck and peered around. The light began dissolving quickly into the ground as the fissures started closing in. “He’s around here somewhere.”
Upon spotting a trail of coruscate light leading to a clearing, Milo takes off in a run. Lily yelled behind him.
“Stop, we’re going back, Milo! This was the Guard. He’s not here. Astro’s gone.”
Adrenaline coursed through the calf’s veins as he followed the dissipating color. Memories flooded Milo’s mind. Flashes of emerald green and blood red that he couldn’t scrub from the crevices of his mind.
Milo and Astro had been the closest friends in the herd. They’d grown up hearing the stories of the Emerald Guard, and had always dreamed of finding the legendary creatures–perhaps even joining them.
Until the accident.
It happened too quickly. They were searching the savanna, aiming to track the Emerald Guard. One night, a pride of lions came across the two.
Milo recalls roars rattling his brain. A claw against his left ear, swiping half of it off.
Blinding pain.
Then, blinding green.
He kept his head to the trembling ground. Minutes later, everyone was gone. The lions were escaping and Astro was nowhere to be seen.
All that was left behind was an emerald light.
The herd mourned Astro, yet Milo rejected their sentiment. He must have been taken somewhere safe by the Guard. They must know where he is.
Milo had vowed to bring him back. For the next two years, he ventured the grasslands each night, searching for traces of the Guard.
Now, he races, following the green light deep into the grasslands. At the clearing, hope drains out of him. The radiant green disappeared. The land was silent and devoid of life.
He couldn’t find the Guard today, but he would try again. Milo turned, ready to call Lily.
“Milo.”
The calf’s eyes shoot up–he’d recognize that voice anywhere. “Astro? Where ha—”
“You need to let go.”
He takes in the sight of his friend. Astro was tall now, neck longer and sturdier than before, though he still stood with the youthfulness of a calf. His hooves appear heavier, tail hitting the ground. His voice was deep, but carried the same softness of the Astro he’d grown up with.
Yet he looked… ethereal. It was as if Astro snatched the stars above and stitched them into his skin. Even more striking were his emerald eyes. He shone, like an otherworldly presence gracing earth for the night.
Behind him, Milo saw six other giraffes glimmering like Astro: The Emerald Guard.
“What do you mean? I’ve been looking for you! You vanished.”
“I’m alright. I’ll always look out for you. But I can’t come back to you, not physically. I’m safe though, and so are you. You’ll know where to find me.”
Astro began to ascend, twinkling far above the grasslands. Milo felt a delicate hoof against what remained of his left ear before the bedazzled Astro intertwined himself into the night sky. Milo’s wounded left ear rematerialized as he gaped at a constellation of stars above head, outlining a familiar giraffe with glittery emerald eyes: an eternal cosmic comfort.
Perhaps they were still close, after all.
Written by Shaivi Shankhwar from Glen Allen, Virginia, United States of America
