Beast

Deep within the woods, the fog obscuring your vision takes on a blue hue, bright, like something shining lies in wait through the trees. You begin to hear things--distorted sounds, like bird calls backwards, howls off-key, heavy breathing right in your ears with no discernible source. Disoriented, you turn every which way, trying to find the origin of this haunting; in no time at all, you've lost your way.

Pawsteps alert you that you are not alone. At first, though they grow closer and closer, you can't find anyone. You call out, and everything goes deathly silent.

Then He appears.

You turn your head and He is there, staring at you with those horrible, vacant eyes, surrounded by corruption and darkness. The trail He has walked to approach you is empty of pawprints, but small, void-black flowers seem to bloom in the dirt. He stands stock still, not moving, not breathing, merely observing you.

When He opens His jaws, the ichor trailing down His face seems to increase in volume. You stare, horrified, rooted to the spot despite every fiber of your being telling you to flee this place. His teeth are coated in the corruption, as is His tongue, His throat. His mouth is a void unto itself, and it opens, and opens, and opens.

Yet when you finally hear something, it is not a deafening bellow but the tiniest whisper, right in your mind: Run.

You don't need to be told twice.

----

Beast is an anomaly, a sinister presence deep within the forests that appears on full moon nights... and in Pine Grove. No one knows why he's targeted the clan, but so far, he's done no damage. Local legend details a creature strikingly similar to him haunting these woods as far back as memory allows. One thing is for certain: when guests see him, they run screaming.

Whether he was born--created?--this way or is a normal wolf who somehow became corrupted, no one can say, and he's not very forthcoming with answers. Mythos has a theory, however: the 'darkness' the old oracle, Miracle, spoke of, was not Hallow. Hallow, terrifying though she may be, is largely harmless, and does not plague the clan so much as peacefully coexist with it. Beast is another story entirely.

Whatever his plans are, all the pack can do is wait for them to pass; Mythos gets the sinking feeling that if they tried to leave, they'd be followed. All they can do is hope he sees them as allies, rather than enemies... or prey.