The hidden forest, a beautiful forgotten land rich with the darkest of vegetation, is also home, unbeknownst to us, to creatures of intelligence matching that of humanity. One might assume I speak of elves or dwarves or other critters among the generic fantasy pool of ideas. However, as one would know, we live in a very real world, a world of human dominance and lifeless creatures of servitude or mindless predators, but, in a forest untouched by those of modern intelligence, dominance falls in the hands of those submissive mindless beasts.

Our story began in the home of Gobi, a rather sophisticated pig, as he prepared dinner for his two elder brothers, Ralfi and Gervis. Due to his position as the youngest of his family, he strived to prepare a nice dinner, a dinner that could easily impress his siblings. His house, however, was an impressive accomplishment in itself, being that it was built of the bones of a foreign creature, bones that could be described as those of a human. While this aspect made the house a prime example of Gobi's aesthetic nature, this very same aspect negatively affected the stability of the house.

Regardless of unnecessary detail such as the faulty stability of his own home, Gobi continued to cook with neither care for his own safety nor that of his brothers. This wouldn't be the most terrible thing had Gobi not insisted on cooking in the middle of the living room. While it was fairly agreed among his siblings that Gobi was not the brightest pig in the forest, his decision was not made entirely without thought. Alexander, the local tax collecting wolf, was rumored to be in town, and none of the pig family had paid their taxes in a few months. This was reasonable as the taxes were unanimously considered outrageous. However, to Alexander, there was nothing reasonable about it.

The pigs had previously cooked in the kitchen. However, due to Gobi's lack of responsibility, an indescribably cooking accident led to the destruction of the kitchen window. The destruction of one's window serves as quite a problem when one's tax collector is prone to invading one's abode. As boarding up the window would be suspicious to the cunning wolf, the pigs were forced to lock the remaining doors and windows and retreat to the living room, hopefully able to wait the wolf out.

The ability to cook in the living room was a crafty skill indeed, a skill Gobi had not acquired among his experience. Perhaps he could have taken the time while in college to pick up this useful albeit elusive skill. However, at the time, it seemed to Gobi that video games served as a more significant means of time consumption. We sometimes sacrifice today's prerequisite skill for the sake of yesterday's recreation. Unfortunately, this may increase the chances of one's own demise.

Gobi had finished preparing the fire when his brothers chose to notify him that there was plenty of food available that didn't need to be cooked. Gobi, being the stubborn show off he was, decided to disregard the potentially good news. He began to cook a chunk of meat he had lugged from his massive freezer earlier. Coincidentally, it was the meat of a wolf. Even more coincidentally, said wolf had been the former tax collector. Perhaps the most coincidental of all was that this wolf was the father of Alexander, the current tax collecting wolf.

However, within the next hour, Alexander's father was safely being digested within the stomachs of Gobi and his brothers. The aroma of well cooked wolf on the rise within the home and directly outside the kitchen window happened to catch the senses of a passing wolf, a wolf named Alexander. Being that scent is the closest sense in relation to memory, Alexander began to remember his recently lost father. It brought a tear to his eye.

Meanwhile, the pig brothers were lounging in the living room, relieved that dinner was a success, not expecting the presence of a knock at the door. The knock did come, regardless of its uninvited status.

"Who is it?" Gervis, the oldest pig announced.

"My sincerest apologies upon this sudden intrusion," the wolf behind the door shouted. "As I passed your kitchen window, which, by the way, was broken, I recognized the territorial scent of my father. This scent brought forth pleasant memories. Might I enquire as to what is producing this scent?"

"We just feasted upon a fine chunk of wolf meat," Gobi proudly proclaimed without thought. "We still have some left over if you'd like to dine with us."

"Wolf meat?" Alexander wept to himself for a moment. He had thought just a moment ago that, if these kind gentlemen would share this memory-inducing object with him, he would revoke all their taxes. However, being that it did seem the object was the cooked remains of his own father, he no longer felt so merciful. "Well... No thank you, but I have another matter to discuss. It seems you have not been paying your taxes."

"Oh be gone with you, wolf!" Gervis responded. "We have no business with you."

"Let me in this instant, vandals!" the wolf took an authoritative tone, "or I will be forced to introduce you to the winds of justice. From the looks of it, your house will be no match."

"Go for it!" the pigs replied in unison. Given the confirmation, the wolf huffed and puffed, gathering energy from the air around him. He released his energy in an amazing exhale that caused the very walls of Gobi's house to come crashing down.

Amidst the rubble before him, Alexander could not find the pigs. It became apparent that these pigs were far more clever than he had once thought and that they had taken the time of his energy gathering to escape through the broken window.

The nearest house of the three was Ralfi's, a massive mansion built of sturdy minerals. Ralfi was the retired former President and CEO of Ralfisoft Industries, one of the greatest software companies in the forest. He safeguarded some of his company's greatest secrets in that mansion. Now the mansion would be used to safeguard the pigs. Air could do nothing to a multi-billion dollar investment. Ralfi assured his brothers of this.

It wasn't long before Alexander found his way to Ralfi's mansion. He pressed the call button on the gate. "What business have you?" Ralfi's voice responded through the speaker.

"Why would someone like you be behind on taxes?" the wolf was puzzled.

"I am a rebel, a revolutionary. I stand up for the common people of the forest." Ralfi excused his clear stinginess.

"I will have to show you the wind of justice as punishment," Alexander threatened, and without confirmation, he huffed and puffed impatiently, eventually releasing the energy in an exhale that propelled forward with the force of something none of the forest could imagine.

As a pillar fell and crushed Gobi, the other two pigs scrambled for the exit. It was a long run to their last resort, Gervis' house. Alexander just had to be right behind them the whole time.

Gervis' house was rather small and built of two kinds of wood, an outer layer and an inner layer. The two pigs approached the house, exhausted from their adventure. However, there was no sign of Alexander.

Dark clouds crawled across the sky as the pigs, feeling as though they lost the wolf, entered Gervis' house, locking the door behind them. Lacking hesitation for fear of suspicion, they boarded up all the doors and windows. While Gervis remained calm, Ralfi seemed to be in constant panic. He tended to make numerous important calls with his cell phone to business executives of all kinds, making strange financial transactions. It seemed as if he feared death was near.

Regardless of Gervis' apparent calm, Alexander finally did show up an hour later, his arrival signified by a knock at the door. Panic stricken, Ralfi hid under the small oak table. Gervis gave Ralfi a look as if insulting his pathetic action. Gervis himself sat comfortably in his recliner. "Who is it?"

"The goose chase is over, guys," the wolf panted. "Turn yourselves in."

"Make us!" Gervis shouted in defiance, Ralfi's eyes widening in terror.

"I will show you the full power of the winds!" A drop of rain landed on Alexander's nose as he began to huff and puff. The rain picked up within seconds. How was Alexander to know that the outer layer of Gervis' house had a chemical reaction to water. It was built from a wood native to the forest, a wood that produced a poisonous gas when contacted with water.

The wolf huffed and puffed, gathering energy, until he collapsed, having inhaled a fatal dose of the gas.