World Fail

Introduction: Why are we here?

The world was once ours, then they started breeding. Humans. Filthy, violent creatures, bent on the annihilation of anything they don't understand. Most of our kind were slaughtered or captured, so we took refuge here in the Cairn. The Cairn is a stone fortress shielded from mankind by the most powerful variety of magic, witchcraft so old even we don't know it. You probably don't even know who we are..... Come with me, and meet the others before you depart.
   "Ellis! Ellis come here, your stupid plant got into my books again." I called, my voice reverberating off the walls. I smelled her intoxicating fragrance long before I heard her clicking footsteps approaching. "Sorry! I must have forgotten to feed her again..." Ellis looked anxious, which was unusual for her. She was one of our most emotional members, it's true, but she usually tried to at least appear happy. The witch turned towards her álfur plant, sighing when she saw the measure of shredded paper around it. While Ellis was crooning over her little thieving plant, Frida entered the room with Skylar trailing behind them. As usual, Frida's arms were overwhelmed with hundreds of sigils, something they wouldn't explain to us. Skylar always stayed close to them, like they were her life force. She was weakened this far into the castle, so far away from nature. We all were, but she needs her kind of tree nearby to even survive. 
   Frida glanced around at the situation for a moment, then spoke. "Well everyone else is here, so we might as well get Connor and prep for the day. One of you knows where he is, right?" We all exchanged equally as bewildered glances at the question. They shook their head and sighed at our collective response - this was customarily how mornings went. For the first time that morning, Skylar spoke. Her voice was wavery and a little high pitched, seeming more like an elf than a druid. "Lilith...you could sniff him out again." Ellis turned away from her plant at the suggestion, looking at me expectantly. I let out a growl but grudgingly agreed. I hated how they always did this - usually they only spoke to me if I was needed for a task they didn't want to do. "I'll find him you guys....try not to kill each other while I'm gone."
     Connor was the one human we brought with us. He's....different from the rest. Connor is the one human I know that finds us fascinating, instead of some kind of terrible monster. He protected me from the hunters who wanted my pelt, so in return, I took him with us when we pulled away from the human realm. He has a very distinct scent - like paint thinner and wood shavings. That was the scent I was following around the castle now...but something about it wasn't right. It had a bitter taint to it, like the tang of sweat after a hard workout. "Conner? You there bud?" The trail ended near his workshop, where the scent was masked by the smokey cloud that surrounded his workspace.  As I opened the door, the bitter scent from earlier became overpowering. I peered into the workshop, my eyes focused to see through the smoke. "Connor?... Did you set something on fire agai-" I called out again, my words dying in my throat as I saw him. His body was a bloody mess, shredded bits of skin barely holding together and dried blood caked on him, and all over the surrounding stone floor. My heart raced as I let out an enraged howl, one that echoed throughout the Cairn.
    By the time the others had located us, I was kneeling on the ground, cradling the shattered body of the one kind human I had known. It probably wasn't the best position to be in, as I was fighting the urge to taste his flesh. My human side knew this was wrong, completely twisted, but the full moon had only been a couple of days ago and I was still battling my animalistic side with every choice I made. "Lilith!" Ellis' panicked tone ripped through my inner battle and I turned my head to look at her, tears spilling down my face. Frida and Skylar just stood behind her, their eyes wide. "What...what did you do?" I blinked, attempting to bring myself back to reality. "I...I went to find him like Skylar suggested....and found this instead." Gently setting the body back on the ground, I stood, my shaky legs barely keeping me up. Frida stepped forward, a hard glare in their eyes. Out of everyone in the group, Frida and I had bonded the least. Fae and were-kind are natural enemies, and my quarrelsome disposition certainly didn't help. "Those look like claw marks." They pointed out. "You're the only one here who has claws." A quiet snarl escaped me, my fangs starting to show a little. "Are you saying I did - this?" I snapped, gesturing to Connor's corpse.  Skylar shoved herself between us, barely able to speak through the sobs that wracked her body. "Guys! Please! Look at this - Connor is dead and you two are just fighting, like nothing happened." Ellis came up and laid a hand on the druid's shoulder, murmuring an arcane word to help calm her. I sighed and stepped back, my fangs sliding back in. "I'm sorry Skylar...I just need to be alone right now." I strode from the room, heading for my favourite tower. Ellis and Skylar called my name as I left, but I blocked it out. I couldn't be quite outside here, but the windows in my tower let some natural light in. I would rejoin the others once everyone calmed down.