Rodwood Academy

Chapter 1: The Masked Figure

Behind the rustling sound of tossed around shrubbery and broken tree branches were two pairs of footprints—well three if hind legs count.

Sprinting through a forest just outside of town, a figure in a full body cloak was quickly fleeing the scene as another, more hairy, beast of a man chased closely behind growling as he sprinted with all of his might.

They ran through the cold forest with only the moon and stars as their witnesses.

By the way the chase played out it would have appeared that the one dressed mysteriously in a cloak would have gotten away from the beast. And that would've been the case had the figure not gone down the shortcut they so foolish choose to take.

Cutting through a rough path filled with deep curves and steep hills, the figure ran with security from the beast as the landscape made it near to impossible for the hairy creature to follow after.

But the speed of the four legged beast greatly outweighed that of the cloaked being. Racing down another pathway, the beast easily caught up with the figure. The wolf could hear them panting as they desperately ran towards an abandoned human lodge in hopes of safety.

As the growl behind them grew louder and the figure was running out of room to run with the lodge closing in on them, the mysterious being frantically looked around for another way out.

The only thing that could be seen through their hooded cloak was their golden tan skin, pink full lips, and small amounts of hair that could be seen on their chin. But their most notable feature was the two long white fangs that dangled out of their mouth.

As the space around them started growing smaller and the lodge came more into view, the masked being was huffing in distress as they realized they were at the back of the lodge with no doors in sight. Throwing their hands up against the back wall of the lodge, that spanned a little over a mile long, they grunted as the tall wooden wall laid as the only barrier between them and their freedom.

The masked figure would've ran off in another direction, but snarling noises and crackling sounds of branches became too loud for comfort.

The cloaked being heard the beast's growls turn into the cries of a man grunting and panting as every bone in his body snapped and cracked back into place, the beast had returned back to his preferred form.

A man.

A man with glowing green eyes and messily trimmed brown hair. His muscles could be clearly seen behind the leather material of his jacket.

Swiping his hair back the beastly man approached slowly as his deep heavy growl remained the same. "Explain yourself you filthy Fanger!" He shouted to the hooded figures back as their hands slowly fell from off the lodge wall and back to their sides. "I saw you on our grounds! You should know better than to have come banging on deaths door!"

"Turn around." The figure heard the man demand strongly into their ear. Feeling the beast of a man's presence on their back made their fingers curl. "Or are you too much of a coward to face me and explain yourself."

Still with no response the man in leather was getting tired of their games. Grabbing hold of their shoulder firmly, he violently swung the figure around. Getting close into their face with only the moonlight shining down on them, the man snarled loudly.

And yet to his surprise the figure before him didn't event twitch.

"If I didn't honor our code you would've been dead the instant I caught the smell of your rotten flesh!" He threatened.

"You want to know something." The being standing steadily in front of the man finally responded as their voice trailed out slowly.

Prompting the beast to get closer the masked figure curled their finger repeatedly in a motion that would draw him near.