Sep 5, 2025 4:01 am
Taresh crouches in the crook of a thick bough, gaze steady but voice low as the others settle near him among the branches. He glances to each.
"When the mist cleared from the temple grounds," Taresh begins, "the lights came. Foxfire in the shaded jungle undergrowth, all around the temple. Beautiful. Strange. Mesmerizing."
He swallows, his throat dry. "The boy wandered toward them. They danced around him like they were playing...but when he got close, they swarmed him and then darted deeper into the jungle. The child followed before anyone could blink. Rowan gave chase. And then you Khyree you didn't hesitate. You dived into the shadowed forest after the boy and your companion."
A flash of guilt flickers across Khyree’s face, but she says nothing.
"I turned, trying to gather the rest, Mischa, Tasya, Jin. But when I did they were already chasing the lights. Different ones, in different directions. All drawn out like moths to flame."
He shifts slightly, balancing against the tree’s weight.
"I ran after the circus crew, figuring Khyree would save her friends. The lights tried to take me too. They pulled at my mind with whispers and warmth. Promise of rest. Power. Peace." His eyes darken. "But I kept my thoughts sharp. I remembered the teachings. I kept my focus and my breath steady."
"I realized that it is the shadows they want us in. That’s how they catch us. I stayed in the patches of sun, using that to my advantage. I tracked the others eventually. Mischa, Tasya, Rowan, and the boy were collapsed in a dark grove, breathing, but locked in something deeper than sleep. I couldn't wake them. But Jin was not with them..." He pauses, puzzled. "...and not with you."
He exhales slowly before continuing, jaw tight. "I was about to drag our sleeping companions into the sunlight when I heard it...the beast. Heavy. Fast. Stalking."
Cordey’s face becomes serious and engaged at those words of Taresh.
"I cloaked our friends in a veil of shadow, hoping it would cause them to be overlooked by the creature. Then I moved away and made noise to draw its attention. It followed, sniffing me out like I was already bleeding. And it spoke."
"It said annoyed: ‘The lights promised a prize that was asleep.’ Then it laughed. It said, no matter, it likes the hunt too. It told me to run. So I did. I blurred from shadow to shadow, trying to confuse it. But it was able to vanish and reappear as well."
Taresh’s voice lowers, barely above the wind: "It is on my trail now. The beast is massive, the size of an elephant. It moves like a canine predator far too quiet for its size. It is not just a wolf. It is smarter, malicious. It feeds on fear. I’ve seen dire wolfs and worgs before. This...this thing is neither, and both. It is fey-touched and worse."
Below, a tree snaps...not by weight, but by deliberate force.
The group can see below, between dense trunks, something shifts. Then...
It steps into view.
The creature is enormous, easily ten feet tall at the shoulder, but moves with feline grace. Its fur is matted with vines and rot, dark as the void between stars. It stalks forward with deliberation, head low, crimson eyes glowing like coals stoked by hunger. Its jaws, bristling with teeth far too long, hang open and drool falls from them and steams where it strikes the mossy ground.
Its growl is a nightmarish sound, a deep, bone-shuddering rumble that rises into a shriek like metal scraping bone.
It passes below near the dense cluster of thick trees the group sits in, far above it.
Its massive nostrils flare.
Then stops and sniffs.
"When the mist cleared from the temple grounds," Taresh begins, "the lights came. Foxfire in the shaded jungle undergrowth, all around the temple. Beautiful. Strange. Mesmerizing."
He swallows, his throat dry. "The boy wandered toward them. They danced around him like they were playing...but when he got close, they swarmed him and then darted deeper into the jungle. The child followed before anyone could blink. Rowan gave chase. And then you Khyree you didn't hesitate. You dived into the shadowed forest after the boy and your companion."
A flash of guilt flickers across Khyree’s face, but she says nothing.
"I turned, trying to gather the rest, Mischa, Tasya, Jin. But when I did they were already chasing the lights. Different ones, in different directions. All drawn out like moths to flame."
He shifts slightly, balancing against the tree’s weight.
"I ran after the circus crew, figuring Khyree would save her friends. The lights tried to take me too. They pulled at my mind with whispers and warmth. Promise of rest. Power. Peace." His eyes darken. "But I kept my thoughts sharp. I remembered the teachings. I kept my focus and my breath steady."
"I realized that it is the shadows they want us in. That’s how they catch us. I stayed in the patches of sun, using that to my advantage. I tracked the others eventually. Mischa, Tasya, Rowan, and the boy were collapsed in a dark grove, breathing, but locked in something deeper than sleep. I couldn't wake them. But Jin was not with them..." He pauses, puzzled. "...and not with you."
He exhales slowly before continuing, jaw tight. "I was about to drag our sleeping companions into the sunlight when I heard it...the beast. Heavy. Fast. Stalking."
Cordey’s face becomes serious and engaged at those words of Taresh.
"I cloaked our friends in a veil of shadow, hoping it would cause them to be overlooked by the creature. Then I moved away and made noise to draw its attention. It followed, sniffing me out like I was already bleeding. And it spoke."
"It said annoyed: ‘The lights promised a prize that was asleep.’ Then it laughed. It said, no matter, it likes the hunt too. It told me to run. So I did. I blurred from shadow to shadow, trying to confuse it. But it was able to vanish and reappear as well."
Taresh’s voice lowers, barely above the wind: "It is on my trail now. The beast is massive, the size of an elephant. It moves like a canine predator far too quiet for its size. It is not just a wolf. It is smarter, malicious. It feeds on fear. I’ve seen dire wolfs and worgs before. This...this thing is neither, and both. It is fey-touched and worse."
Below, a tree snaps...not by weight, but by deliberate force.
The group can see below, between dense trunks, something shifts. Then...
It steps into view.
The creature is enormous, easily ten feet tall at the shoulder, but moves with feline grace. Its fur is matted with vines and rot, dark as the void between stars. It stalks forward with deliberation, head low, crimson eyes glowing like coals stoked by hunger. Its jaws, bristling with teeth far too long, hang open and drool falls from them and steams where it strikes the mossy ground.
Its growl is a nightmarish sound, a deep, bone-shuddering rumble that rises into a shriek like metal scraping bone.
It passes below near the dense cluster of thick trees the group sits in, far above it.
Its massive nostrils flare.
Then stops and sniffs.
