The wind howled a mournful dirge through the skeletal branches of the forest, each gust an icy bde that whipped snow into blinding cyes. Pine needles, sharp and unfiving, pricked the creature's thick gray hide as it moved through the suffog darkness, branches, gnarled and twisted, scraping against its massive frame. Gnawing cramps stirred from within its empty belly, a raging inferno that burned away all other thought. Its nostrils fred and its ears twitched, its heightened senses, honed by years of predatory instinct, detected a familiar st carried on the wind: warm blood, the promise of sustenanbsp;
A low growl, a rumble of primal anticipation, vibrated in the brute's chest as its pace quied. Its eyes, burning with unnatural iy, sed the snow-cround, each drift and shadootential hiding pce for its prey.
A man in bck, slumped in the saddle, rode slowly along the path, asleep on his obsidian steed. The horse moved with the silent grace of a shadow; its hooves muffled by the thiket of snow.
The animal stalked its unsuspeg quarry, its breath misting in the frigid air.
The horse stumbled on loose brahe g sound a harsh intrusion iillness of the forest. The rider, slumped and only half awake, “ughh,” he groaned, a sound of weary resignation, ping the bridge of his nose, eaent a slog. His hand instinctively went to the k his side, his fingers closing tightly around the hilt, the familiar cold steel rubbing against his gloves. The horse neighed, a nervous whinny that spoke of unseen dangers. His breath hitched, he took a deep breath, trying to calm his rag heart hammering his chest, the st of pine a fleeting reminder of the world before the darkness.
His bck duster creaked in the whistling wind. Bandoliers of ammo crossed his chest above bck armor, his hands gloved, legs strapped with stakes and a bat knife. A lever-a rifle and long-barreled revolver pleted his arsenal.
The man listeo the wind irees, a rare moment of quiet. It was short-lived. Goosebumps prickled against his skin, the hair on his neck rose, standing on end and a chill sent a shiver down his spihere was movement about, the nearby thickets thrashed violently and the sound of heavy footsteps pouhe ground. Thum-thum-thump-thum-thum-thump-thum-thum-thump! His horse stopped, neighing in fright. The wind intensified, swirling snow around them.
Betweerees, a low growl vibrated through the forest. A pair of glowing yellow eyes appeared, fixed on the man and his horse. A monstrous creature emerged. Seveall, it resembled a massive gray wolf, standing on two legs. Razor-sharp bck cws tipped its long, human-like fingers, and immense paws dug into the snow beh. Its torso was muscur, like a man's. A wolf's head, exceptionally rge with juttih, topped its body. The snout was caked in peared to be dried gore, and a thick, u mane framed its head.
The beast threw back its head and howled at the moon, flexing its body in a dispy of primal dominance. Every muscle bulged and rippled uhe swaths of fur, increasing its rge frame two-fold as its back, arched high in the air, fring its massive cws. The traveler’s eyes widened, what manner of cryptid is this? He thought.
The wind shrieked like a bahe traveler’s duster coat pounding against his legs, fpping wildly in the wind, violently shing his cold skin in a chorus of icy voices as he drew his revolver. The monster's roar, a guttural explosion of sound and fury, vibrated through the frozen ground, a primal scream that sent his horse into a wild-eyed frenzy as it bucked and kicked. Its talons, bd razor-sharp, sliced through the air, each stroke a whispered promise of death. The horse, nostrils fring, bucked, its powerful legs eg with the creature's fnk in a thunderous thud. The brute crashed into a t pine, WHAM! Snow careened from the branches as splinters and bark covered the hairy beast. "Easy, easy," The man rasped, his dry voice crag, barely audible above the wind's shriek and his horse's terrified neighs. The beast's haunting snarls echoed from the shadowed depths of the forest, Thum-thum-thump-thum-thum-thump-thum-thum-thump! The monstrous heavy paws ched closer on the snow. The traveler drew his rifle, the cold steel a fort in his trembling hands, his fiightened around the trigger, a soft exhale esg his lips as his breathing steadied. The brute lunged, a blur of gray fur and gnashih. BOOM! The rifle cracked, spitting fire and lead. A crimson mist erupted from the monster's shoulder, a spray of blood and fur against the white snow.
The wild animal howled in rage and pain, a sound that cwed at the traveler's nerves. He racked another round, the lever-aooth and practiced beh his numb fingers. BOOM! The bullet thudded harmlessly into a tree trunk. "Damnit!" he cursed, adrenaline surging as he worked the lever again. The creature, ign the wound, leaped, its massive weight smming into the man, sending his rifle flying. He crashed against a tree, the rough bark tearing his duster. Ringing cursed his numb ears, as the blurry mess of white and green streaked across his eyes. Thum-thum-thump-thum-thum-thump-thum-thum-thump! His head swam, the world a blurry mess of white and green. He blirying to clear his vision, his ears ringing. The beast barreled towards him. He threw himself to the side, the creature’s talons tearing bark where he’d been moments before. The rough bark scraped against his duster, a harsh reminder of his near miss.
He fumbled inside his jacket, his fingers closing around a smooth sphere. The e fluid within pulsed with a faint, internal light, radiating a palpable heat, its waves dist the red lining of his jacket as if it had a life of its own. He gripped it tight, the heat a weled difference warming his palm from the staggering cold. A desperate pn f in his mind, I will ighe beast, he thought. His knuckles tightened, creaking his leather gloves, and threw. The gss sphere shattered against the wolf creature's thick hide, sh it in burning liquid. The stench of burning fur and flesh filled the air, acrid and siing, mingling with the monstrosity's agonized roar. Fmes danced across its fur, casting grotesque, flickering shadows against the snow-covered trees.
But even as the fire ed the beast, its gaze narrowed, burning with unnatural yellow light, still glowed with malevolent i as its lips curled bato a snarl. As the fmes subsided, the monstrosity stood, a bed, sm silhouette against the white, its life force seemingly untouched.
“Impossible.”, the man snarled, his eyes wide staring in disbelief. Wolves, like any other creature are vulnerable to fire, he thought. Something is terribly off.
His gaze darted around, searg for a on, anything. Then, a glint. His rifle, tantalizingly close, was half-buried in the snow. The charred titan, a gray shadoon him in an instant, hurtling through the air. He threw himself to the side, the titan's cws tearing through the air where he'd been moments before. The traveler lunged his body forward, muscles ignited, desperation lending him speed as he scrambled for the rifle, his cold fingers closing around the cold stock. He twisted, brought the on up. CLICK-CLACK. BOOM! The Ly roared, another crimson bloom staining its burned fur. It staggered, momentarily thrown off course, but its yellow eyes burned with renewed fury. He worked the lever-a, adrenaline sharpening his sehe beast’s immense speed blurred reality as it closed in, its massive frame a mere shadow against the pines as approached. Thum-thum-thump-thum-thum-thump-thum-thum-thump! He knew he wouldn't get another shot. The titanic wolf was too fast, too relentless. He scrambled back; his gaze fixed on the hilt of the k his side.
The wind softeo a whisper, its once powerful gales now a deceptive lull iorm as the snow fell gently across the air. Steam rose from the rifle's barrel, a thin plume against the cold air. Snowfkes drifted down, a gentle terpoint to the violehick, viscous, red ichor dripped from Grimm's bandana. The blood filled his nostrils with an iron tinge, A st all too familiar to the grizzled traveler. A gash on his head trickled blood down his cheek, a burning line against the cold.
The creature staggered, limping slightly every other step a pained reminder of the man’s fury. It threw back its head and howled at the moon, the spectral wailily rising and falling, carrying a sense of dread. Then, it turoward the man, gore dripping from its snout, pupils stricted to pinpoints, staring ily.
The monster's wounds began to knit themselves back together with unnatural speed, tendons and ligaments reeg in the blink of a was no mere wolf; it was a Ly, extinct by Order decree, yet here.
The Ly roared, a guttural challenge eg through the night air. It moved with blinding speed, its talons tearing the rifle from the man's grasp as if it were a toy. A cwed hand shed out. The maed instantly, his left hand defleg the blow, the thick leather of his glove barely proteg him from the razor-sharp cws. His right arm, a piston of raw power, drove into the creature's chest, sending a shockwave through the snow. It growled, staggering backward, blood spraying from its snout. Then, a hook from the left to the body, crushing ribs with a siing crabsp; The wind seemed to hold its breath as the man reared his right arm ba a deep stretch, bending at the knees before hurling his flexed fist upwards delivering a thunderous uppercut, sending the hairy demon a foot into the air.
The titan's massive body smmed into the snow, sending a swirling cloud of white around them. It groaned, a sound of pain and fury, but the man was relentless. He threw himself onto the creature's heaving chest and unleashed a storm of savage blows. Each punded with siing force, bone against bone, a wet, g sound reverberating amongst the trees. "AAAARRRRGHHHH!!!" he roared, his knuckles a bloody, broken mess. He prepared to deliver the final, crushing strike. But as his battle cry echoed through the trees, the Ly's chest ripped open, a monstrous tendril of mucus and muscle bursting forth, hurling the man backwards. He nded heavily, his world a haze of pain as the mutated abomination writhed ahead of him. Broken ribs screamed with every hitched breath, throbbing rhythmically with his heartbeat, eae a searing agony.
A screech, inhuman and terrifying, ripped from the monster's throat, a sound that made his blood run cold. This was no natural sound. This was something else, something a and evil. The realization hit him a split sed before the beast moved, its eyes now swirling pools of crimson. He ihe creature's weight a crushing burden, its breath a siing wave of decay. As he struggled, the Ly's jaws began to distend, stretg and ing in a grotesque transformation, revealing a maw filled with rows of impossibly sharp teeth, writhing in the saliva.
Grimm screamed, his own gaze burning with a desperate fury. SHIK! His silver bat knife, his st desperate resort, plunged into the creature's abdomen. Warm, viscous blood slicked the cold steel, a grim harbinger of his own likely fate. SHIK! SHIK! SHIK! The serrated edge ripped through the beast's thick hide. A guttural roar, thick with pain, tore from the titan's muzzle. The vise-like grip loosened, and it staggered back, clutg at its ravaged waist. Agony and a chilling despair saturated the frigid air. Grimm, breath ragged, stared at his khe silver bde dripping with the monster's vile ichor. With a final, earth-shattering roar, the demon lunged. Grimm's wrist she knife flipping, the bde now a rigid extension of his hand. His arm, corded with muscle, whipped back, then blurred forward, ung the kh all his remaining strength. THUD! The monster's snow-covered corpse crashed at his feet. Damned beast, he thought, pnting a boot on the creature's head, yanking the knife hilt. The knife was stuck. Then, with a shriek that defied mortal prehension, the beast erupted in fmes, its screams eg through the trees until it was nothing but ash and smoking pink pulp, the stench of burning fur and flesh ging to the air.
The man rose, clutg his left shoulder. The Ly had pierced his axilry artery. Bleeding out, he thought, his vision blurring. Desperate, he reached into his duster and pulled out a glowing green vial with a needle and plunger. I know I shouldn’t, he thought, if not I will perish. A sensatio from his hand, it was shaking, as he jammed the needle into his shoulder, his breath caught in his throat, “AAARRGH!” His eyes widened and fred; the pain jerked his body forward as if he were being tugged by a rope. As he squeezed the plunger, steam seeped from the wound. Terrible cries echoed from the vial, as if a thousand souls were trapped within.
He crashed into the snow, a wave of pain igniting every nerve in his body. A tapestry of white and red smeared across his eyes as a prig numbness crept into his fingers. Blood soaked the snow beh him, a dark stain spreading through the pure snow. Each breath was a ragged struggle. Then, a warmth spread through him, chasing away the encroag cold. The green fluid coursed through his veins, mending the torn flesh, knitting bone and sinew. However, as his body mehe man’s mind fractured. No-no, he thought, memories of a long-lost life fading away before his eyes. For with every use of the mysterious potion that was used, a cherished memory was lost.
Minutes passed. He grunted, a mix of pain and relief, as he pushed himself to his feet, clutg his shoulder.
He spotted his rifle, buried in the snow a few feet away. He approached, grabbing the stock while dusting off the loose snow. A worn inscription, "GRIMM", was carved on the forearm. Old reliable, he thought, his firag the inscription. Seen some things, haven't we? He holstered it and whistled for his horse.
He crossed his arms, a frown creasing his brow. How had the Lys returhe Order had eradicated them years ago. The grotesque image of the mutated monstrosity seared itself into his memory. He pohe implications. This…this was no natural resurgenbsp; Something else y, but what?
The snow swirled around him, a white curtain closing in. He whistled again, a long, pierg call. A neigh, full nition, answered from the distanbsp; His horse was fast approag. He waited, his furrowed brow loosening as the horse emerged from the swirling snow. He ran a hand along its neck, feeling the warmth of its coat beh the falling snow. "Good girl," he whispered, a e passiween them. The horse nuzzled his hand iurn. He mouhe familiar feel of the saddle f. A gentle squeeze of his legs, and the horse leaped into a gallop, their journey tinuing.
He felt a phantom ache in his shoulder, a lingering throbbing fading his body. Instinctively, he opened his jacket, revealing the stark trast of red blood ging against his vest. He touched the wound gingerly, expeg to find torn flesh, but instead only scarred ski aory I may never remember, he thought. He touched the scarred area, nothing, The pain was gone, a ghost of its former iy.
Up the path, A signpost, half-buried in snoeared in the distahe man reigned in his horse to a slow walk and peered over the sign:
Barrowham
Popution: 500
Protected by the Grace of The Order
Let no one disturb the peace. Amen.
He turned his horse toward Barrowham and spurred it into a trot. The town was several hours away, but he couldn't shake the feeling of impending danger. His skin was still full of goosebumps, prig gingerly against his cold skin. His hair still standi on his neck. Was the Order's prote a shield, or a cage? He thought, And the Lys...why had they e babsp;
As he rode, a single aterialized from the shadows, its bck body a silhouette against the pale moonlight. It nded silently on a swaying dead branch ahead, its glossy obsidian eyes fixed on him with unnerving iy. A single, guttural croak echoed through the silent forest. Then, with a fp of wings, it uself into the air, heading toward Barrowham.
