The night passed in uneasy silence. Elara lay wide-eyed in her bed, staring at the shadows that danced on the walls, cast by the faint glow of the street lanterns outside her window. She had done her best to ignore the eerie howls that had echoed through the woods, but sleep wouldn't come. The warning of Elder Oren, the threat of the blood moon, and the fear in Corwin's voice haunted her thoughts, each one more unsettling than the last.
She had always dismissed the village's superstitions as childish nonsense—stories meant to keep children in line, to scare them away from wandering into the forest. But tonight felt different. The howl had sounded too real, too close. And the elder's words… The wolves who walk on two legs. Her body shuddered involuntarily at the thought.
The wind outside began to pick up, rattling the old windows of her house. Elara pulled her blanket tighter around her shoulders, though she could still feel the chill creeping into her bones. There was something unnatural about the quiet, something that felt like the calm before a storm. She knew sleep wouldn't come tonight. Instead, she lay there, staring at the ceiling and listening for any sounds—anything to reassure her that the world was still as it should be.
Then, just as the clock struck midnight, there was a knock on her window.
Elara's breath caught in her throat, and for a moment, she was too paralyzed with fear to move. Her mind raced. Was it a dream? A figment of her imagination, twisted by the unsettling thoughts of the evening? But then the knock came again, sharper, more insistent.
She threw off the covers and crept to the window, her heart pounding in her chest. Her eyes strained to see in the darkness, but there was no one there. The wind howled again, and the trees outside swayed ominously. Her eyes flicked back to the window. The latch was still securely fastened. No one could have knocked from the outside.
It was just the wind, she reasoned. It had to be.
But something gnawed at her, urging her to look again. She pulled back the curtain just a fraction. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up as she caught sight of something moving in the shadows. It was too dark to see clearly, but she could make out a figure. Tall. Lurking. Watching.
Before she could even react, the figure moved, vanishing into the woods as quickly as it had appeared.
Her heart raced, adrenaline pumping through her veins. She knew it was foolish to go outside at this hour, but she couldn't ignore what she had seen. It was him—the thing from the howl. The creature. The one the elder had warned her about.
Without thinking, Elara grabbed her coat and slipped out of the house, careful not to wake her parents. The air outside was colder than she expected, biting at her skin as she made her way toward the edge of the forest. The village was quiet, the only sound being her hurried footsteps on the cobblestone streets. As she neared the tree line, she slowed her pace, feeling the weight of the darkness around her.
The forest seemed different in the dark. The once-familiar trees now towered over her like silent sentinels, their twisted branches reaching out like skeletal arms. The air felt thick with something—something she couldn't name. The howl had come from somewhere deep within the woods. She had to know what it was.
She ventured further into the forest, the distant howl still echoing in her ears. The moon above was full, its pale light casting strange shadows across the forest floor. As she walked deeper, the familiar path vanished, replaced by thick underbrush and tangled roots that made it difficult to move without tripping.
Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw something move. A flash of motion in the trees. Elara froze, her breath catching in her throat. She knew she wasn't alone.
She took a cautious step forward, her senses heightened. Every rustle of leaves, every snap of a twig seemed to echo in the silence of the night.
Suddenly, the ground beneath her feet shifted. Her foot caught on a root, and she stumbled, crashing to the ground with a grunt. For a moment, the world spun, and she groaned as she tried to push herself up.
That's when she saw it.
The figure stood just ahead of her, partially obscured by the thick trees. Elara's breath caught in her throat as she gazed up at him—a tall man, his broad shoulders hidden beneath a cloak of dark furs. His eyes glinted silver in the moonlight, and his hair, wild and untamed, seemed to ripple with an energy she couldn't comprehend. His face was partially obscured by the shadows, but there was something feral about him—something wild that made her heart skip a beat.
"You shouldn't be here," the man said, his voice low and rough, like the growl of an animal. He stepped closer, and Elara instinctively backed away, her mind racing.
"I—I saw you," she stammered. "You were at my window."
He didn't answer. Instead, his eyes flicked toward the path she had come from, and for a moment, his expression darkened.
"Go back," he growled. "Now."
But Elara couldn't move. Something about him held her in place. It wasn't just fear—no, it was something deeper. There was a pull inside her, a connection she couldn't explain. She stared at him, her heart racing, as the sound of her breath echoed in her ears.
"Who are you?" she managed to ask.
The man didn't answer immediately. Instead, he seemed to study her, his eyes scanning her with an intensity that made her feel exposed.
"I'm not who you think I am," he said, his voice heavy with meaning. "But I'm the only one who can keep you safe."
Before Elara could respond, a flash of pain erupted in her chest. She gasped, stumbling back as a sudden heat spread from her heart, radiating outward like fire. The world around her seemed to blur, and she clenched her fists, trying to steady herself. Her breath became shallow as her body began to tremble uncontrollably.
"What's happening?" she whispered, panic rising in her chest.
The man's gaze softened, but there was no time for comfort. "You've been marked," he said quietly. "By the curse. And now, there's no turning back."
Elara's vision blurred, and for the first time, she felt the terrifying weight of his words. Marked?
Before she could ask another question, the man's figure began to fade, slipping into the shadows like smoke.
The fire in her chest surged again, and with a cry of pain, Elara collapsed to the ground.