The moon was at its peak in the night sky, illuminating the cobblestone streets below. Everything bathed in white as the moon drew nearer, larger than ever. Women shrieked, and men started bellowing commands. The once peaceful night shattered in an instant, the cry of a small child piercing through the noises. Candles and torches were lit so that their holders could better see the cause of the uproar.
A figure as dark as the night sky slinked and darted throughout the town. Gold colored eyes illuminated by the flames now exposing them. Fur covered its body. It was a human-like figure with an elongated maw and piercing teeth, claws as long and sharp as knives. The beast looked akin to a wolf.
The wolf-beast wreaked havoc upon the quaint village, tearing open doors, crashing through windows, and slaughtering whomever lived inside. The bloodshed only spurred it further into its mad frenzy.
Empty eyes stared upwards, a glazed and clouded reflection of the moon within them. Just out of grasp, a small rabbit plush lay face down in the dirt. A single small hand delicately reached toward it. Skin like porcelain, splashed with crimson water. Down the middle, the porcelain skin was broken, the insides spilled out across the cobblestones below. Splinters of bone crushed into the stonework.
As the moon began to set, a howl rang out and the beast withdrew its assault; scampering along on all fours, further accentuating its likeness to a wolf. Many of the village's inhabitants were killed or injured, and the rest were horribly shaken.
For the remainder of the night, the village came together in the town hall, looking after each other. The wounded being tended to, and the strongest took up swords to defend themselves, lest the beast decided to return.
They had survived through the rest of the night.
Mothers wept as fathers scooped the remains of children off the streets, the cawing of ravens ringing out, disturbed from gorging themselves on the offal of the townsfolk. Bodies upon bodies in a grave that none of them ever hoped of digging.
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Three young ones skipped along the sidewalk, fortunate enough to not have seen any of the carnage, only hearing the screams. They were too young to fully understand why all of the grown ups were all so grumpy. "Papa says that the beast ran off toward the woods. Let's go see if we can see any tracks!" They chitter excitedly between themselves as they scamper towards the forest and towards Old Man Silas's cabin near the outside of the village.
No one ever visits Old Man Silas as he lives too close to the forest. No one dares step foot in those woods.
"I wanna see the beast first!" The eldest of the children said, a boy, no older than ten. "Do we have to go? I wanna go home," the little girl pulls on the ends of her sleeves and looks back toward the village. The other boy stays silent as the eldest boy laughs, "Of course we are going to go, 'fraidy cat. Go back home to your mommy if you really want to. Let's go!" The two boys continue toward the cabin, the girl lags behind for a couple seconds, looking between it and the village before deciding to follow the boys.
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The children walk up the road that leads to the cabin. Old Man Silas was sitting in his rocking chair with his loyal beagle resting beside him. Both were dead asleep. The kids could hear muffled noises coming from inside the cabin, and thus decided to go investigate. Spotting an open window, shielded by metal bars, they scampered over to peer inside.
They looked around the basement, there was a metal cage, and on the other side there were tables and shelves full of shiny metal objects, and various weapons and traps. "Maybe he hunts a lot?" One of the children suggests. "There's nothing here, let's just go look around for tracks," They then went to leave the basement window.
