Haven Hills

Before

      Darkness. As far as the eye could see, there was only a deep, pitch black mist. Swirling and twisting almost as if dancing, the mist moved and covered whatever was hiding behind it. As slowly as the mist, a large clawed paw gracefully padded through the ominous clouds. The most terrifying beast stood proudly in the middle of a small twister.

      The dark fog slowly rotated lazily around the creature, it’s eyes red as blood, and teeth as white as the Moon. It raised its head and let out a blood curdling howl. The clouds picked up pace and circled around the beast, ripping and wrestling at its fur. Wind gushed and swirled with the mist. In a flash of red light the creature became less monstrous, and more man.

        In the pale light that hung over the valley a male figure appeared where the Beast had been. He was as naked as the day he was born and stood to his full height. Taking in the smell of fresh rain in the valley with his head thrown back, his arms spread out, and his voice rising. He chanted in some unknown language that sounded harsh and guttural. As he yelled in his language, his arms rose with the fog. Black as night, the fog darkened and rose up past the trees.

     He looked crazed, hissing and shouting. When his hands were directly above his head, long, black claws shot out of his nail beds. A second later his chanting abruptly stopped. He began to shake violently and dropped to his knees with a scream.

     His body shook as his claws dug up the rain-soaked Earth. His back bowed to an invisible force and he uttered a single last word. The man then released his grip on the earth and fell over onto his side. The black mist circling above came down on him like a crashing wave, and when it dispersed, he vanished. The only evidence of his existence were the deep claw marks on the ground and a strange rune where he had laid.