A rhythmic pounding surrounded you as you floated in an endless sea of white, mind unfocused and body feeling numb. With each beat of sound red cracks splintered across the landscape, lighting everything crimson in split second bursts before they subsided, leaving everything a pristine white once again. You closed your eyes, splitting pain lancing through your head suddenly as colour burst across the back of your eyelids, the world around you becoming solid as your feet hit the ground. You cracked your eyes open to see you were standing in a forest, lit up by the glow of the full moon overhead. You looked around cautiously, noticing that a lot of the trees were darker in patches, though it wasn't from being burnt. You reached out a hand, pulling away from the surface of the tree with a red liquid staining your fingers.
Blood.
You stumbled back, yelping as you slipped on a liquid beneath your heels, landing in another horribly sticky puddle that was still warm to the touch. You scrambled up, breathing shallow as you took in the trail of blood leading further into the woods. You followed it hesitantly, wondering how on earth so much blood had gotten out here in the forest. Surely this was far more than one person was capable of? It coated every surface you saw like gruesome abstract splatter art, and the smell...though you generally enjoyed the smell of blood, this thick cloying meaty scent was choking you; something was just so deeply unpleasant about it, but you couldn't put your finger on what. You entered a small clearing and had to slap a hand over your mouth to smother the scream that rose in your throat as you watched an eye patched wolf ravaging a screaming vampire, judging by the long fangs in his gaping mouth. As if sensing your presence the wolf looked up, its one golden eye locking with yours as it dropped the vampire, hackles rising as it growled, a deep and resonant sound that seemed to quake the very ground beneath you.
"No...no no no—" you whispered, feet frozen to the forest floor as it sunk into a crouch, muzzle peeling back from its bloody teeth in a snarl. You shrieked as it suddenly lunged, finally able to move as you dropped down, the blood that had soaked the mud beneath you actually helping as you used your momentum to slide right under its leap, immediately staggering to your feet and sprinting for the other side of the clearing. You ran straight through the forest, hearing the heavy thudding of paws behind you, now more than one set. You tripped on an outcropping root, crashing to the floor with a choked scream as you heard the pace of the wolves pick up, the one with the eyepatch bounding into the clearing you had found yourself in first, circling you menacingly. Strangely enough, when the other wolves arrived they sniffed around in puzzlement, as if unable to find you despite many of them looking right at you. Still, the golden eyed wolf kept its eye firmly on you, though its movements had become rather unsure as it reacted to the confusion of its fellow wolves. Now that you had time to think, the wolf actually looked quite familiar, something you had almost seen before...
Then everything clicked into place.
"...Shin Tsukinami?" You questioned breathlessly, and the wolf went completely still, eye narrowing as it looked at you properly for the first time...moving closer and closer until you were practically nose to nose, its breath reeking of torn flesh and that horrible off smelling blood. It gave a harsh bark, the other wolves ceasing their erratic movements as they stood at attention. That golden eye never broke contact with yours as its body gave an alarming CRACK, morphing before your very eyes into a vaguely familiar young man crouching before you with ruffled strawberry blond hair and a single eye that matched that of his wolf form, the other covered by an eyepatch that also went over the left side of the pair of glasses he was wearing. He didn't move, or speak, simply observing you with an eerily wide smile. You put a good few feet between you before getting to your feet, eyeing him warily. Why wasn't he saying anything? How was he even in your dreams?
