The wendigo stares down the group—a towering, deer-like creature, its ribs fully exposed. Its face is a grotesque skull—perhaps a mask, or perhaps its actual face; who knows? The creature grunts as two black tentacles sprout from its back, each forming a deadly weapon—one a roaring chainsaw, the other a massive spiked hammer. Its hands bear massive claws, each resembling jagged swords.
In the blink of an eye, Luna is smashed against the wall. JJ pulls out his pistol to fire, but before he can even pull the trigger, the wendigo slams him into the ground. Sunny swings her sword, slashing the creature and leaving a wound across its chest—only to watch in horror as the gash rapidly closes. The monster turns to Jamal and kicks him toward the wall, but Sunny dashes forward, catching him before impact.
The wendigo barely acknowledges them before a gunshot rings out, a bullet striking its head. It turns to face JJ, giving Luna just enough time to unravel her fist and attempt a strike. However, the creature catches her punch effortlessly and flings her toward JJ. As she crashes into him, the wendigo sprints forward, grabbing Sunny and suplexing her into the ground before driving its claws into her body, making her spit up blood.
Jamal snaps his fingers, igniting the creature in flames. It roars in agony before swinging its hammer-like tentacle, smashing into Jamal's side and sending him flying. The wendigo revs up its chainsaw and brings it down toward Sunny—only for her to whip out her revolver and shoot it point-blank in the face. As it recoils, Luna fires a concentrated blast of light-force at its head, staggering it.
Realizing it's outnumbered, the wendigo turns invisible. Luna barely has time to react as she feels something nearly stab her—only for Sunny to swing her blade with such force that it splits the ground and wall, severing one of the wendigo's tentacles. The creature screams, letting out a deafening roar that momentarily paralyzes Sunny. In that second, it brings its claws down on Luna, impaling her before slinging her against the wall like a ragdoll.
She coughs up blood, her vision blurring as she clutches her stomach. Is this it? she wonders. Desperate, she instinctively begins using her threads, attempting to stitch up her wound. To her surprise, the blood and flesh clinging to the wendigo's claws begin unraveling into threads, drawn back to her. She reweaves her wound shut, knitting her insides back together. The pain is still there, the blood loss severe, but she is still standing.
Luna stares at the blood on her hands before unraveling it into threads. Concentrating, she twists them into thin, spear-like tips and points them at the wendigo as it reappears, its invisibility fading. Realizing she has more control over her threads than she thought, she flicks her fingers, sending them flying toward the back of the wendigo's neck. The threads wrap tightly around its throat as she slowly closes her hand, trying to choke the beast.
A sickening snap echoes through the air, followed by a firebolt slamming into the monster's head, scorching its flesh. The wendigo howls in agony, but Luna keeps her focus. Twirling her fingers, she commands the threads to grind against its throat like a ripcord. The monster desperately tries to regenerate, but the threads keep tearing into its flesh, making it nearly impossible to heal.
The monster prepares to sprint at Luna, but before it can, JJ grabs its remaining tentacle and slams its own spiked hammer directly into its spine. Concentrating his psychic energy into his fist, he strikes the hammer again, embedding it even deeper and pressing it against the creature's spinal cord. The wendigo howls in agony before kicking JJ across the head, sending him crashing to the ground.
However, before it can recover, an intense, piercing shock shoots through its body—it realizes its spinal cord has been severely damaged. As it struggles, Jamal charges another firebolt, this one spinning faster and faster until it becomes a blinding blur. He fires it at the wendigo's leg, and with sheer speed and force, the blazing projectile rips through its limb effortlessly. The beast collapses onto one knee, trying to regenerate its wounds.
Just as it begins to heal, the threads wrapped around its neck tighten. The wendigo turns its head, searching for the woman it had smashed against the wall earlier—only to realize she is gone.
Then, it hears a piercing scream directly behind it.
Luna, now standing, connects her unraveled threads to the ripcord wrapped around its throat. With a fierce yell, she yanks them with all her strength—decapitating the monster in one swift motion!
For a brief moment, the wendigo believes it can simply regenerate.
Then, two voices ring out in unison:
JJ shouts, "Sundown Flames!"
Sunny roars, "White Lotus Engulfing Flames!"
A surge of white and blue flames engulfs the wendigo's body and severed head, consuming it completely. The intense heat prevents any chance of regeneration, burning the creature into nothingness.
The battle is over—the monster is dead.
Luna takes a few steps forward, staring at the burning corpse. She gazes at her hand, manipulating her threads, wondering what else she can do with her power. Then, she clutches her stomach—the pain still present now that the adrenaline has worn off. However, she feels it slowly fading as Sunny places a healing talisman on her wound.
Luna lets out a sigh of relief as the pain washes away. "Thank you!" she exclaims, her face melting with relief from how good it feels.
Sunny then rushes over to place a talisman on Jamal, helping to heal his injuries, and does the same for JJ.
After a brief break, the group started examining the room they were in. The place had clearly been ravaged by the monster, yet curiously, the tanks holding people were left untouched. Sunny looked around, her mind struggling to piece together the strange scene. "I know these people are turning into wendigos, but why keep them in tanks like this?" she pondered aloud.
JJ approached, scratching his head. "I'm still trying to figure this out myself. Wendigos usually come from rituals or when someone cannibalizes too much and transforms into one."
Luna and Jamal joined them, Jamal asking, "What's the difference between the wendigo we just fought and those that ran away earlier?"
Sunny turned back to the tank, explaining, "Those wendigos that fled are weaker, maybe forced into transformation or they could be animals turned into wendigos. The one we fought was a tribal wendigo, a real threat. But it's odd—this one had tentacles sprouting weapons, which isn't typical for any wendigo I've heard of. This whole setup is bizarre."
The group gets ready to explore the rest of the facility. As they exit the lab-like room they're in, they find themselves heading down another hallway. It's eerily quiet until they hear what sounds like a crying child asking for help.
As Luna prepares to move, Sunny grabs her arm. "Partner, that's a trick. Wendigos can mimic voices. The closer it sounds, the further away it is. The further it sounds, the closer the monster is. Don't fall for their tricks."
Luna nods, though the crying still unsettles her. What if there really is a child who needs her help? But she decides to listen to Sunny—if she runs into one of those tribal wendigos, she wouldn't stand a chance alone.
The group presses onward. The sounds of people pleading for help, women and children crying, grow louder and louder until they come across someone who appears to be a hunter lying on the floor. They let out a groan.
"Help me."