Alrüna wanted to do something. She wanted to scream, to wake the hunting party. She wanted to summon the energy buzzing beneath her skin to curl the limber tree branches around the spectre’s neck and limbs, strangling and restraining it. She wanted to send pressurized wind blades to sunder the creature’s body into countless, gristly, bloody pieces.

Yet, she didn’t twitch so much as a finger.

She could see the boy in front of her struggling as well. The veins on his neck bulged as he struggled against his own body, but the predator’s gaze had frozen him into a statue of ice.

Indeed, this was an apt description: the two of them had been subjected to the gaze of a lethally dangerous predator. Now, their instincts were screaming at them: ‘You can’t outrun it. You can’t fight it. Stand still and hope it loses interest.’

Their bodies had overwritten their own wills, all to give them even the slimmest chance of survival.

The horrifying moment seemed to stretch on for an eternity. The thing was too quiet for something its size. The poor, frightened hunter couldn’t even hear so much as a faint breath behind him.

Then, it started moving.

Alrüna watched as it lifted a long shadowy limb, moving it toward the boy who had wet himself in fear, the strong smell of urine permeating the surroundings. The incredibly long limb unfolded slowly and with abhorrent grace, as if it were underwater.

The limb reached forward ever so slowly, extending and extending. She realized that it was not standing right behind the male hunter; it was standing some distance behind him. It was frighteningly tall.

Finally, the limb revealed itself. The wicked green moonlight fell upon it, and a shape could be seen against a background of faintly glowing leaves. Pitch-black hairs covered its surface with thick sinew and wiry muscle coiling underneath.

Its handlike claw was brutally sharp and long. The paw had six fingers - a second ‘thumb’ on the opposite side of its palm. That description was not completely correct, as each phalange had three digits, unlike a thumb. The third digit was longer than the others and tapered into a thin blade. This was the case for each ‘finger’. Alrüna couldn’t see where flesh ended and blade begun.

The hand closed on the tribesman’s neck gently, like a man cupping his lover’s chin. At no point did the hunter even so much as glance at the thing, frozen in fear as he was. Instead, his gaze stayed fixed on hers, desperately begging for her to do something to save him.

She watched, hypnotized, as the spiderlike appendage completely grasped his head, a finger concealing his eyes. A different finger tapped softly against his neck. Then, like a spider pulling on a silver thread, it slowly slid one claw over the man’s jugular to leave a gaping, bloody wound in its wake. Before the poor lamb could so much as give a dying choke, a different finger swiftly curled around, strangling him completely.

His limbs twitched as he died, his body still struggling for survival. At no stage did Alrüna’s face show even a hint of sympathy. She couldn’t even if she wanted too. Two burning coals were fixed on her, leaving her unable to move a single muscle.

The many-fingered hand slowly lowered the lifeless body to the ground. Warm blood flowed from it, tinting the surrounding flora a sinister crimson.

Sweat dripped down Alrüna’s back as she watched the thing approach her. It glided across the forest floor like a ghost, making no more noise that a midnight breeze rustling the underbrush leaves. Her mind was overcome with an all-consuming terror that left her unable to form a single coherent thought.

She could feel her bladder relaxing as the monster revealed itself. However, she’d drunk the bare minimum of water on their journey, afraid of being drugged by her comrades, so she didn’t wet herself.

The hunched form tip-toed over to her, placing one paw carefully in front of the other. Its posture was relaxed, almost casual, as it tilted its shadowed head to the side where it was hidden beneath leafy branches. Its many-fingered claws hung limply at its sides, with the fingers slightly curling inwards.

Her eyes flicked up involuntarily, pupils expanding in the faint green light to get a clearer look at the beast in front of her. She could make out a long maw beneath the owl-like eyes, but no further details were visible to her.

Suddenly, a shout shook her from her stupor. So consumed was she by the petrifying atmosphere that she couldn’t identify the shout as coming from her own mouth until a few moments had passed.

It was a long, keening scream, one that would make the listener’s teeth hurt and cause the hairs on the back of their necks to stand up.

In a moment, the camp came alive like a disturbed anthill, hunters scrambling to their feet to grab their weapons. Their curses and shouts went silent the moment they saw the tall thing in their presence.

The thick sent of fear fell over the camp. The brave warriors who had been ready to do battle a moment ago were suddenly frozen. It was the chieftain’s son who regained his senses first and stormed at the demon, heavy flint axe raised high.

The beast watched this in silence until the boy was just outside its reach.

Then, in a motion like a scorpion whipping its tail forwards, a long, clawed limb swept up and then down in a reverse scooping motion, the fingers all held together to form a single bladed point.

In a manoeuvre that could be attributed to the spirit of fortune and nothing else, the warrior managed to slip under the beast’s piercing strike. He shouted courageously, weapon swinging to cleave at an exposed flank.

Yet victory would not be his.

The frozen observers stared dumbly as the limb that had completely missed the wild warrior bounded backwards like a coiling spring, the pointed hand relaxing to again unfold into six fingers. Its wrist snapped like the end of a six-tailed whip, the sinews and muscle releasing incredible amounts of stored force that sent its claws whistling through the air.

Their strongest warrior dropped to the ground, completely dead.

The corpse’s head hung loosely from a neck that spurted blood like a broken faucet, attached only by a few fleshy fibers and flaps of skin. Its right arm was no more - only a bleeding stump remained.

Shortly afterwards, a flint axe head impacted a tree trunk outside the clearing. Alrüna’s gaze went downwards to find where its handle lay. She looked up from it to find a bloodied claw half-raised in the air, its fingers slightly twitching.

Suddenly, as if by some invisible signal, every member of the party scattered like a stone tossed into the midst of a flock of birds, attempting to flee from the unstoppable beast. The group of hunters and warriors, trained from birth by their elders and the inhospitable environment they were raised in, fled as one man.

A few screamed as they fled. Most, including Alrüna herself, were too consumed with survival to even consider such an action. A single leaping stride carried her outside the clearing, her head turning slightly so she could gaze over her shoulder to see if it followed behind.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

The beast was gone.

She no longer spared a single thought for anything else but flight from the horror that had visited itself upon them.

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For what felt like an eternity, Alrüna zig-zagged between tree trunks, leaping over every stream and stone in her way. Every sense screamed a warning of life-threatening danger, not just from the beast, but from the many things that now walked the earth. When the green moon hung in the sky, the world no longer belonged to mortals.

Occasionally, the energy that flowed in her veins would recoil when she went in a particular direction, warning her of the ungodly forces that were hidden there.

She fled to where she thought the forest border lay, but hours had passed without the vegetation showing any signs of thinning. Dawn should have broken long ago, so her sense of time told her. Yet it seemed not a minute had passed since midnight, that portent of doom not having shifted an inch from where it had first appeared.

Alrüna sensed that a filthy kind of power had pervaded her body. She hadn’t even noticed it. Looking around, she found a hidden alcove beneath a mossy fallen stump, covered by vines and ferns. She quickly slipped beneath it and closed her eyes, desperately trying to expel the sinister wisps of green that floated in the clear well of her magic.

The forest was unnaturally quiet. The branches and leaves waved like seaweed being stirred by the tide, but there wasn’t a hint of wind. The moving shadows were like apparitions from beyond, wanting to drag her from the world of the living.

She did her best to regain her calm while expelling the worst of the corruption. Then, she contemplated her next course of action. She had no idea where to go next – no matter where she fled, she couldn’t escape the forest. She bit her lower lip tightly in despair, a ruby red drop of blood slipping down her chin.

Alrüna felt a feather-light touch on her ankle. On instinct she slapped at it, her reaction as if she were removing an insect crawling on her. Then, realizing her current situation, her face contorted in dread as she looked downwards.

Near her ankle was the disembodied, dried head of a woman, twisted in pleasure as it licked her with its long, dry tongue.

Alrüna screamed.

In a desperate motion, she practically flew upwards like a missile, her voice desolate as she tried to escape from the thing that had risen from beneath the dirt.

The disembodied head’s expression first turned sorrowful and then furious at her departure. Alrüna had to stifle a sob as it pursued her, the head rising from the hole in the ground on its lengthening, bony neck. It pursued her like a snake, wrapping around the vegetation to pull itself forwards.

This time, she didn’t look back as she fled. She was no longer able to keep herself from weeping, the tears in her eyes obstructing her vision as she tumbled and fell through the forest. The jagged branches and stones tore open her pale skin to reveal the bright flesh underneath.

She felt as if she had lost her mind.

Sniveling, she ran without concern for her own state or her destination. This was a living nightmare.

The edges of her vision darkened due to exhaustion and blood loss, her broken mind begging for the release of unconsciousness.

Arriving in a small grove, she fell to her knees. The green beams of moonlight gently caressed her dirty and bloody head, as if it was consoling her: ‘Child, embrace death and be freed.’

She looked up from where she kneeled to a sight that made her exhale in relief. Death had finally come for her.

In front of her loomed that thing.

Its enormous, lanky form was revealed as it stood upright for the first time – muscle, vein and sinew protruding from beneath a black, hairy hide that drew tightly over its frame.

It stood on reverse-jointed legs that ended in strange taloned feet like that of a bird, the toe-like digits placed tightly together. It was covered up to the elbow in gore and blood, the trail leading upwards to a bloody patch on its chest and the to its head - it had caught and fed on the rest of her tribesman. The realization didn’t bother her very much.

She could clearly see its head for the first time. It was something like a wolf skull, the massive, blood-soaked jaws bared to reveal black gums and two rows of unholy, wicked teeth. The hide was drawn so tightly over its head that Alrüna didn’t think it could hide its teeth even if it wanted to. On the top of its head were two tufts that stood pronounced, like the ears of an owl. Lastly, two unblinking, slitted orbs sat in its skull. Its gaze was inhuman, emotionless and completely still.

Alrüna lifted her head, baring her neck to the thing as if to say: ‘I’ve had enough. Kill me.’

She felt a calm serenity wash over her; she’d secretly been wishing for this since the day Rahl died. There was not a single thing in this horrible world that was worth living for anymore.

As if hearing her request, it arrived in front of her with a single graceful lurch. Countless fingers struck at her like a spider pouncing, only for the thing to freeze a hair’s breath away from her. She stared into its unknowable eyes, waiting patiently for the final blow to come.

Alrüna watched in confusion as the thing started shivering, its eyes leaving hers to travel downwards. She followed it with her own gaze only to discover that many of her furs had been torn during her reckless flight. A look of horror slowly dawned on her face.

“No, no, no, no…!” She denied frantically. ‘Please, spirits above, spare me from this!’ She threw herself forward, drawing on the magic that pooled within her chest.

She shouted her unwillingness as her meagre, untrained magic flowed up into her arm and then her palm where it left her fingers as arcs of blue lightning.

The beast struck her arm aside with a blindingly quick backhand, sending the buzzing electricity to arc harmlessly into the air. One claw gripped both her wrists to hold them above her head while the other encircled her ribs, slamming her into the ground. Every last breath left her lungs, sending her rolling in its grip while gasping for air.

She closed her eyes in hopeless despair; exhausted, bleeding and unable to mount any further resistance. Tears slid down her cheeks as she lay there, disgusted, humiliated and afraid.

‘Why, why, why, why, why…? What did she do to deserve this?!’

She did her best to block out the disgusting, excruciatingly painful sensation of the beast violating her. Instead, she focused on the cool feeling of Rahl’s amber necklace against her chest.

‘You said this would protect me! Oh, please Rahl... Help me, save me from this suffering!’

Deaf to her pleas, the jewel remained dark. It did not emit so much as a dim light to chase away the darkness that was devouring her.

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Alrüna lay in the black night, her body battered and ruined. After an eternity, Morr had finally left the sky. Now, the forest was so dark she couldn’t see her hand where it lay weakly in front of her eyes.

The beast didn’t so much as exhale a faint breath as it lifted itself off her frail frame, its ghastly act finally having concluded. She was unable to slip into blissful unconsciousness, the ugly sensations forced upon her had kept her awake.

It stared at the back of her head where it crouched silently above her. She heard clicking as it opened its jaws, the soft rushing sound of the wind passing through its fur telling her that it was finally delivering the killing blow.

Her one hand, now free, moved to clutch at the stone hanging from her neck. She offered a final prayer.

‘I’m sorry that I didn’t forgive you back then, Rahl. I never had a family, but I thought of you as my own grandfather. The memories of the times we spent together kept me alive these past few years. Thank you for taking care of me.’

She closed her eyes in peace. She hoped her spirit would be able to find his, wherever it was.

As she made contact with the stone, a dreg of remnant lightning energy arced between her index finger and it. Her eyes widened as she felt an enormous amount of energy surfacing from within, completely hidden from her senses until now. It burst outwards, shattering the piece of amber into a million pieces as it exploded into a wave of heat that passed harmlessly through her.

The light was so bright that she had to close her eyes. She could hear the soil being upturned, the trees and stones shattering as a wave of force slammed into her surroundings like the fist of a mountain god. With a clap of thunder, she heard the demon being knocked from its feet and into the air. Turning around, she watched it fly, flipping and slamming into the forest like a tossed ragdoll. It smashed through the trees, leaving a smouldering path in its wake.

Unfortunately for it, the wave of force had splintered the smaller vegetation, the shards of wood and rock flying with incredible speed to puncture its flesh and dig under its skin. It was set aflame, the dark pelt charring black even further as its flesh bubbled and boiled. Black blood burst forth from its chest as it slammed into a large boulder at breakneck speed, finally coming to a standstill.

Alrüna watched the spectacle in dumbfounded amazement, one hand propping her up where she lay. The beast slowly slipped from the rock, its own blood encouraging a smooth journey downwards. It flopped on the ground, a bag of skin and broken bones, laying silent and motionlessly.

It was dead.

For a moment, she couldn’t believe it. The thing that had begun her living nightmare, that had killed every exceptional young warrior from her village easily, had died so suddenly.

She felt her body and mind, which had been in a state of constant tension for what felt like days, finally relax.

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