The forest was quiet now, save for the soft rustle of leaves in the breeze and the occasional thud of the creature's massive feet. Aric glanced back at the enormous beast, still towering beside him. The crimson glow in its eyes had dimmed, its earlier aggression replaced with a calmness that Aric could feel in the air around them. It was an odd sense of peace, one he hadn't expected so quickly after their first encounter.
Aric couldn't help but marvel at the creature's power. It was a force of nature—wild and untamed, yet now somehow connected to him. He could feel the bond between them pulsing beneath his skin, a deep, resonant hum that made him aware of its every movement. It was like a part of him had awakened, a part that had been dormant for far too long.
But there was something else, something unsettling about the bond.
The forest around them had started to feel... different. The trees were taller, their branches twisting in unnatural angles. The air was thick with a strange, oppressive energy. Aric frowned and stopped walking, sensing something was wrong. The beast paused as well, its large head tilting in a way that mirrored Aric's confusion. It, too, felt the change.
"What's happening?" Aric muttered to himself, his eyes scanning the darkening landscape. The wind had shifted, and the scent of something foreign—something sinister—was in the air.
Before he could make sense of it, a voice rang out from behind them, cold and commanding.
"Well, well, well... what do we have here?"
Aric's hand instinctively went to his dagger, but he quickly stilled himself. The voice was too smooth, too controlled to be a random traveler. This was no chance encounter.
A figure emerged from the shadows, stepping into the faint light of the evening. Tall and cloaked in dark robes, the stranger's face was hidden beneath a hood, but his presence was undeniable—powerful and dangerous. At his side, a smaller, beastly creature with gleaming black eyes growled, its body coiled and ready to strik