The Life and Death of a God

Cernunnos a former God whose compassion for humans has turned the other Gods against him. Jealous, the Goddess of the forest, Danu, strips him of his godhood and his identity, placing the curse of beasthood upon him. However, she gives him a chance to redeem himself: he must find her within the forest within 3 days. Determined, Cernunnos begins searching through the forest and encounters a young woman who is chained to a tree. Despite his pressing time limit, he stops to aid the young woman, risking his immortality in the service of another. Helping her escape and tending to her wounds, he soon realizes that he has wasted his whole first day. Continuing on his quest, Cernunnos must brave the darkness of the forest for the first time as a mere mortal instead of a god. While running from a pack of vicious wolves, he hides inside a mysterious cabin and encounters the old man who lives there, discovering that he is the first worshiper of a fledgling god that Cernunnos has never heard of: The Great Horned One. Put off by the old man's actions, he attempts to leave only to be attacked by the man who believes that sawing off his horns will save him. Running from the cabin, Cernunnos sees that he has lost another night in his search for the goddess of the forest. Running out of time, he ventures through the forest encountering an inhuman creature. Scared by the similarity between him and the creature, he rejects the being in a violent manner by taking the creature's life. Shaken by this interaction and his diminishing compassion, he finally finds Danu - only for her to reveal that every encounter had been her in disguise and that Cernunnos had failed the trials she had set out for him. As punishment, Danu returns his Godhood - not as the compassionate God he was before, but as Cernunnos: The Lord of Beasts.