The moon’s rays filtered through the clouds like the signal fire of a lone sentinel.
Storm clouds raced across the sky, obscuring the moon’s ethereal glow.
The silence of the night was pierced by a thunderous explosion that briefly illuminated the starless void.
Thick streams of smoke slowly rose into the night sky.
A middle-aged man with a burnished beard and gaunt appearance slowly trudged across the floorboards of the now-burning two-story apartment.
Clad in a woolen overcoat and dark military fatigues, red pools of fire burned in his sockets where his eyes should have been, completing his nightmarish appearance.
The walls groaned as small webs of cracks formed from the intense heat.
The floorboards crackled as they too caught fire, briefly illuminating the wicked smile that seemed to have been curved on his hideous face. Tʜe sourcᴇ of thɪs content ɪs Nove1Fire.net
His skin burned and healed at a rapid rate as he walked nonchalantly through the house, seemingly unbothered by the flames that licked at him.
"Come out, come out, little heir of Thane, you know there’s only one way this ends".
With a monstrous strength that defied his seemingly feeble appearance, the "old man" suddenly swung a double-edged axe that seemingly shimmered into existence, splitting a mahogany cupboard in half.
" Enough of this", he growled.
The man tossed the axe to the side, letting out an animalistic roar. His muscles bulged, rippling and writhing beneath his skin. His bones snapped, filling the air with sharp cracking sounds.
He emitted a guttural growl, his body contorting unnaturally.
Within seconds, a large furred beast with jagged, lethal claws stood in his place.
He stood in silence, drool pouring from his mouth, which curled in a canine smile, revealing a row of jagged teeth.
He slowly stalked through the house, barely making a sound.
In a nearby bedroom, a boy no less than 10 years old silently clung to the underside of the single twin bed, tears streaming down his face. Images of his mother’s broken body flashed repeatedly through his mind.
Morgan shut his eyes tightly. He forcefully bit his tongue, holding back a whimper that threatened to escape.
His body was trembling uncontrollably in pure, unbridled terror.
The creature’s footfalls came to a stop outside the room, its growls reverberating through the empty corridor.
"Please, please, just go away."
Sadly, his pleas went unanswered. The abominable creature burst into the room with a savage growl, the door violently exploding in a rain of splinters and debris.
Terror-stricken, Morgan silently prayed for help.
The low growling of the beast sent chills down the spine of the last surviving Thane.
"After all this time, vengeance at long last", Zagrul thought to himself.
Maniacal laughter resounded through the house. "You know what they say; vengeance, like a fine wine, is best served with age."
With a roar, the monster violently hurled the bed to one side of the room and with it, Morgan. His fingers slipped, and he lost his grip from the shock of flying through the air.
Morgan’s body flailed wildly through the air, then violently slammed into the wall. His vision blurred, blood flowing from a cut on his forehead.
Morgan rolled and slowly got up, gritting his teeth in pain.
He clutched his chest, suppressing a scream when a wave of agony flared through his side.
His eyes widened in terror as he looked at the monstrosity that towered over him, drool dripping down his fangs that gleamed like pristine daggers illuminated in the inferno that raged around them.
His heartbeat sped up audibly, blood pounding, thundering in his eardrums. His eyes wildly searched the room, desperate for an opening that did not exist.
"Yes", the thing hissed.
"Who could’ve thought the last runt of the Thanes would die cowering in fear before me, what a poetic sight to behold".
Throwing his head back, the creature laughed, the sound echoing through the burning mansion like thunder.
"Come on, don’t you want to avenge your mother, the wretched whore! Didn’t you watch as I tore her limb from bloody limb? I can still hear her screams. Does it not fill you with fury? Come then, young one, avenge her with all the power at your disposal."
The taunting voice of the monster and the images of his mother’s last moments snapped something within Morgan. Unbeknownst to him, his brown eyes started to glow with ethereal golden light.
"Oops, it seems I touched a nerve," Zagrul laughed wildly, the sound reverberating through the crumbling building with a tone of finality.
"Come now, come at me with all you’ve got, avenge her... if you can," the creature said mockingly.
Screaming with fury, Morgan rushed forward with inhuman speed. A clawed limb shot through the air, hitting him across the face in a wicked backhand.
His body flew through the air once more, slamming into the wall with a concussive force.
The impact forced all the air out of his lungs. Morgan gasped weakly, rolling on the ground. Smoke wafted into the room, making it more difficult to breathe. He slowly rose to his knees, then gagged, spitting out a mouthful of blood.
His eyes widened, his brain registering the sight of his blood on the floor.
A shrill scream cut through the roaring of the flames.
"That’s it, once more with feeling, scream for me", Zagrul howled in triumph, his beastly nature bristling in anticipation of devouring the prey he’d painstakingly bound his time for.
Morgan stared with bloodshot eyes as all his strength abandoned him, realizing what a foolish thing it had been to fall for the creature’s taunts.
"So this is it? This is how I die."
"Mom, Dad, where are you? Help...me,"
Morgan’s vision was blurring. He faintly glimpsed the creature’s clawed limb reach for him. Its jaws opened impossibly wide, clamping down on the side of his neck with alarming finality.
His eyes rolled into the back of his head.
As his consciousness faded, he briefly saw an apparition of his mum calling out to him in the distance.
"Morgan....Morgan..." He stretched out his hand weakly towards the source of the voice, then everything went black.
Zagrul watched as the boy’s body suddenly went limp. As he leapt to snuff out the child’s life, a terrible premonition slammed into him, making his hair stand on end.
Suddenly, despite the searing heat, the room seemed to become colder.
The shadows grew darker.
Zagrul froze, all his instincts screaming at him to put as much distance between him and the anomaly that was unfolding.
"What trickery is this?" Zagrul snarled. The space in the room seemed to ripple and crackle as if under tension.
Bolts of electricity surged as a vertical slit formed impossibly in the air, as though the space itself had been sliced in half.
With a beastly snarl, Zagrul suddenly lunged forward, his razor-sharp claws whipping through the air with deadly speed.
The air exploded outwards, hurling Zagrul across the width of the room. The fissure widened, then disappeared, and the electricity dissipated, revealing the lean figure of a man.
Clad in a dark robe, sparks crackled all over the man’s body, emanating an aura of danger.
The mysterious stranger was 6 feet tall and wielded a long staff of polished rowan wood.
The man’s robe was embroidered with gold etchings depicting the head of a roaring lion that seemed to move fluidly as though it were alive.
A hood covered the man’s face, revealing only his mouth, which was curled upward ever so slightly in a gentle smile. "It’s been a while, Zagrul."