Nestled in the heart of a bustling city's slums is a messy apartment.
Dust blankets worn-out furniture, a lethargic haze pervades the air, unwashed dishes amass in the messy kitchen, and neglected laundry forms chaotic patterns on the floor. It becomes evident to any observer that the owner of this space is an individual of unruly habits.
Or in this case, two unruly individuals.
A man in his twenties, donned with disheveled, lengthy black hair, reclined on the sofa with his right hand rubbing his belly in deep sleep. He was by no means fat, he was athletically built, likely attributed to the demands of juggling three part-time jobs, persisting throughout the week until Saturday.
Since it was Sunday, he was getting his well-earned, beauty sleep.
But a sound woke him up, forcing him to spring up.
"Of course, it's my pleasure-!"
Azura Vadasz jolted awake from a nightmare, sweat drenching his entire body.
Pausing for a brief moment, he realizes that it was only a dream, "Man, that annoying woman from the other day is giving me nightmares. How can she slap the food to my face when I've only put the wrong sauce in? Even the manager fired me on the spot,"
"Now, how can I pay for my and Caelum's semester's tuition? I'm broke..." He sighed.
Financial burden weighed down on his shoulders.
It was unclear whether he was able to make it through this month without a problem.
"Worst case scenario, I'll just quit my study and focus on supporting Caelum's study. I know that his grade is really good—he might actually be something, unlike me," Azura smiled wryly before slamming his tired body back onto the sofa.
However, his phone on the table rang the moment he lay down.
Closing his eyes, Azura exhales lightly, "Please don't make it be any bill notice, please..."
Nervously, he took his phone and saw a message notification.
Reading the message, his eyes widened completely before he quickly ran to change.
Azura wore his hunting outfit with a few holes in it and made his way to his brother's room.
Opening the door, he already started talking as his eyes were still glued onto his phone, "Yo, asshole. I'm going out for a bit. Make sure you lock the door because I think I'm going to be back quite la-"
"Mmmhh...! Right there baby!"
Suddenly hearing a loud moan, Azura halted mid-sentence and raised his gaze.
For a brief moment, he made eye contact with Caelum.
On his right hand was a small erect devil, raging to burst milky sauce, while on the other was his phone, the source of the constant erotic moaning sounds. Caught off guard, Caelum had his hazel eyes flared open at the sight of Azura barging in.
Despite being late to react, he tucked himself in the blanket and squinted his eyes.
"Eughh~ Big bro, what time is it? I just woke up"
"Just woke up my ass! I already saw everything you stupid idiot!" Azura cursed, he had never thought this day would happen to him, catching his little brother jacking off. "It's twelve, and you already had your little wiener in your hands?!"
"If you don't want to see it, then you should've knocked!" Caelum retorted.
Rolling up his sleeves, Azura smiled in anger—he was about to do some good beatings.
But he stopped when Caelum, out of nowhere, started to cry.
"Huh, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" Azura asked, his throat feeling dry.
Sobbing slightly, Caelum forced some words out of his mouth, "I know that you're struggling, okay? I know that you can't pay yours or my tuition, and I'm- I'm sad! I know that you're fired! Just-Just...why do our parents had leave us earlier than they should?!"
Upon hearing this, Azura remained silent, he was at a loss for words.
It was too abrupt, he was not prepared for this sudden change in mood.
He grimaced for a second before putting on the brightest smile, sitting on the bed, "What are you talking about? Who said I'm struggling to pay the tuition? Where did you get that kind of nonsense? You are not going to stop studying, and neither do I. I have the money ready, just trust your big bro, alright?"
Despite the comfort, Caelum cried in Azura's embrace.
In a spark of determination, Azura clenched his phone tightly, hoping for the best.
Soon, night came.
Earlier when he woke up, he got a message from the old man he knows who runs a camping site he usually went to get some fresh air. Whenever he felt stuffy, he went to the old man to camp in the woods and clear his mind.
The old man said that he had a unique request from one of his customers.
Azura, holding a rifle he borrowed from the old man traverses the night woods with caution.
"I can't believe a rich guy would give 10,000 bucks to anyone who could get him a fresh moose's carcass. I don't understand how the rich minds work, but I really need to get that money," He muttered to himself, bravely going on a hunt in the night.
Doing it early in the morning is the best, but the rich guy said he needed it this night.
A limited-time offer.
So Azura has no choice but to go hunting right now.
Making his way through the outer ranges of the woods, his eyes flickered at the sight of a couple of familiar faces, two middle-aged men that Azura had gone hunting with a couple of times.
Both of them seemed to come from the inner ranges of the woods.
"Hey, are you guys hunting for the moose too?" Azura asked, waving his hand with a smile.
But instead of answering, the two men walked past him.
It prompted a frown to appear on his face as he found it odd for the two are usually friendly, and didn't shy away from a conversation. "Weird... I've never seen them acting like that. But their faces, it almost as if they had seen a ghost"
Not giving it too much thought, Azura went further into the woods.
Reaching the inner ranges, the sound of nature resonates in the background, filling the night.
Some mountain lions, bears, and wolves inhabit these woods alongside the moose, so Azura would need to be extremely cautious of his surroundings. He was scared, however, because of Caelum's outburst earlier, his fear was suppressed.
Fortunately, it didn't take long for him to see a moose, drinking from a running river.
Given a broadside shot, this was the perfect opportunity for him.
Azura was smiling from ear to ear, he got this in the bag, the moose would be hunted by him.
Exhaling steadily, he poised his finger on the trigger, ready to take a shot.
However, when he was about to take the shot, a chilling air brushed against his body.
Azura lowered his rifle slowly at the sight of something floating above the river near his prey, something inexplicable through logical means. "W- What is that...? What kind of creature am I seeing right now?"
Beheld in front of him was a skeletal humanoid creature, donned in ancient black robes.
It was levitating above the streaming river, its feet were not touching the water, and in fact, the icy aura it was emanating was able to slowly freeze the water beneath it. A sinister air swirled around its body, gripping the hearts of those who laid eyes on it with icy grasps.
Such a creature should only belong in fantasy stories, not reality.
Covering his mouth, trying to minimize any sound he made—Azura observed as the moose attempted to escape. But in mere seconds, the creature closed the distance. With a simple touch of its index finger, the moose was struck with intense cold.
A painful wail escapes its mouth as it desperately tries to escape.
Visibly, the part this creature touches resulted in immediate, horrifying frostbite.
Crash!
Under Azura's eyes, the moose's body exploded into tiny meaty bits.
What the fuck?! What the fuck?! Am I dreaming right now?! I- I need to get out of here!
Realizing that there was something inherently wrong with this particular night, Azura quickly turned, and sprinted—exercising every ounce of his energy to flee from this place. He panted heavily, clenching the rifle firmly in his hands.
As he sprinted, he could feel that something was watching him from the darkness.
But the worst part is the fact that he knows it is not an animal.
"Waaahh-!" Azura exclaimed and fell backward when a shadowy figure intercepted him.
In reflex, he pointed his rifle, aimed it at the figure, and pulled the trigger.
Bang!
The gunshot echoed through the woods loudly, yet Azura's face was stripped of all colors when the figure—a towering figure obscured by a mass of jet-black furs—had its muzzled head yanked backward, but it was undeterred, showing that it caught the bullet with its bared teeth, crushing the shells with a bone-chilling snarl.
At that moment, extreme fear gripped Azura's heart.
He was not facing an animal, rather, he was facing a beast of supernatural force.
Smiling deviously, looking down at Azura with fiery red eyes that glowed with malevolence, the air quivered with an unsettling presence as the beast was shadowed by the moonlight, belonging to the moon that was shockingly bigger than the norm.
It was also tainted with a silvery hue instead of the normal color.
Only at that moment did Azura realize that he was not dreaming, everything was real.
He came to the realization that he had stepped into the woods on the wrong night.
"J- Just what is happening here...?"