Wolves Forest

The Hunt

One of the days before the party, I was hunting a deer through the forest to serve at the banquet. The sun was setting in the west and I was entering the forest more and more, analyzing the traces left by the herd that I knew was close, with the full moon rising in the sky I noticed strange things along the way. I started to see details on the trail again, the darkness seeming to gradually diminish, small tufts of grass crumpled by the passage of my prey, traces of deer fur in some corners, the faint smell of the herd seemed extremely clear to me. Continuing along the trail, I easily found the flock in a small depression behind a hill and was prepared to hit an arrow on a doe from the herd, which I knew had been injured in a trap days ago.

With a calm breath, I positioned myself above the hill, against the wind so that they would not feel my presence, and silently slid one of my arrows into the bow. When aiming at my prey the world seemed smaller, and I could almost see the direction the arrow would take, the hunt would be perfect and the doe would die in peace and without pain. I was about to fire the arrow when I heard that same inhuman howl of a month ago, at the same time that I felt intense pain spread through my body; I shot the arrow wrongly through the air, seeing that I would miss the target as soon as it was fired.

I fell on the floor in my arms, screaming in pain and fear at the howl I had heard, the pain spreading through my body as it changed and grew. My arms were growing and dark fur was spreading across the surface of my skin, my lungs were expanding, my body seemed to be almost doubling in size. My ribs widening and taking on new shapes, my shirt started to suffocate me because it was too small and I tore it with my hands, now with deadly claws; my pants tearing with the increase in muscle and change in the shape of my legs, becoming more and more animalistic and ferocious, I felt immense pain in my mouth and when I tried to touch it I noticed sharp teeth violently breaking through my gums, deadly fangs now in a powerful, monstrous jaw. The last thing I remember was my vision becoming clearer under the moonlight, a silent scream trying to escape from my throat and then the world went out...

I woke up with a metallic taste in my mouth, turning to the side I realized I was lying on the grass. Asking me where I was, I turned to the other side and screamed, jumping in fright: the slaughtered body of that same doe that I was hunting the day before was there beside me. Looking at my hands, they were full of blood, and there was a metallic taste in my mouth, I noticed it was blood too. I was confused, naked, in the middle of the forest with the half-eaten body of an animal beside me. And I had the impression that I had killed the animal, and that scared me more than anything at that moment because the wounds and marks looked just like the bodies that were attacked by the beast of the night. I ran towards a nearby stream, unsuccessfully trying to clear my mind. I could hear the water running almost a hundred meters away, as well as the smell of freshwater, which also scared me. I went thoughtful to the stream and washed with blood and dirt on my body, thinking... "What happened the night before? Another creature attack? But I am alive and unhurt ... "I stopped at that thought realizing: the bands that covered my injuries from the previous month were lost somewhere during the night, and in their place, I just felt the scar on my back; no sign of that bite that ripped off the skin on my arm. Then I remembered the scary howl the night before, and the unpleasant memory of having replied to that howl invaded my mind.

Following the river, until I reached the village, I entered my house through the back door. Luckily I had my own house and I didn't have to explain to anyone why the hell I was walking in the back door, naked, and without the meat or my hunting gear. I took a change of clean clothes and my spare bow and went back to the forest before the other villagers noticed that I was back in the village. I still needed a deer for the banquet, and I wanted to go back to the doe's body to try to find clues to what happened...

I returned to the creature's corpse, the smell of blood was strong, but it seemed to gradually fade, as did my other senses. I wonder why these sudden variations, just now that these strange senses would finally be useful to find out what happened, they go back to normal. But it might be better not to mess with what I still don't understand. I looked with pity at the doe's body, and a pang of certain guilt as well. The destroyed carcass could not be served at the banquet, so I would have to go after another one of the herd. Leaving that thought aside, I analyzed the animal's wounds: teeth and claws marks all over the lower body, scratch marks seemed to have cut the tendons on the animal's legs, preventing it from escaping, I noticed a strong bite on the neck, probably the wound that hit the deer. Whatever killed the poor creature, it was smart. As I had noticed before, the wounds resembled those that the beast left in the villagers, but this time it seemed to have fed on the body, instead of just killing it. I remembered the metallic taste in my mouth when I woke up and pushed that thought away with chills down my spine.

Whispering a short prayer to the animal and apologizing for its death even though I didn't remember killing it, I set out on my way to the forest, as a banquet would still be served at the wedding and I needed to bring enough meat for the guests. I couldn't believe how my luck could have changed that day, because sometime last night for today, one of the deer fell into one of the traps that I had set. Perhaps he didn't notice the trap while running from the creature that attacked them last night? Returning home with my prize I came across a strange woman on the way. Black hair fell wavy to his back, his skin was pale, a light cream color. She stopped on the way and stared at me as I carried the deer along the way, the shadow of a smile showing on her lips. Assuming that she was someone from the village I didn't know, I greeted her with a gesture. She looked directly into my eyes, and I felt something strange in this woman when she said:

- Rydych chi a'r blaidd yn rhanedig, the gallwch chi reoli'r bwystfil, byddwch chi'n un - When she said those words that I couldn't understand, her eyes changed from dark brown to bright purple eyes and she threw something silver at me. I caught the object in the air before I even realized it; it was a strange amulet made of some white stone "marble?" I thought. When I remembered to look back at the woman in front of me, she was gone... A shiver ran down my spine and I put the strange object in my pocket and went on, more attentive than before, with a feeling of change ahead. Good or bad changes, it may not depend on me.