Chapter 6 - The Beast In The Dark
The front door exploded inward.
Wood fragments flew across the cottage.
Jason threw an arm over his face as dust filled the room.
A massive shape crashed through the entrance.
The floor groaned beneath its weight.
For a heartbeat, nobody moved.
Nobody breathed.
The creature slowly stepped through the cloud of dust.
Moonlight spilled through the ruined doorway.
Jason's stomach dropped.It was a wolf.
But not like any wolf he had ever seen.
Its shoulders nearly touched the ceiling.
Black fur covered a body packed with unnatural muscle.Long scars crossed its hide.
Its eyes burned with a sick crimson glow.
Drool dripped from rows of jagged fangs.
The beast didn't look alive.It looked corrupted.
Like something twisted into a monster.
Outside, villagers screamed.
The sound of running footsteps echoed through the settlement.The creature ignored all of it.
Its gaze remained locked on Jason.Only Jason.
Elena moved instantly.
She stepped in front of him.The wolf growled.
A deep vibration rolled through the room.
Jason felt it in his bones.
The beast lowered its head.Preparing to attack.
Then a silver blade flashed through the doorway.
The lead enforcer burst into the cottage.
His sword sliced through the air.The wolf twisted aside.Too fast.Far too fast.its claws swept forward.
The enforcer barely raised his weapon in time.
Metal collided with claws.
The impact launched him backward.
He smashed into a wall hard enough to crack the timber.Jason stared.
This man had carried himself like an elite warrior.
The creature had thrown him aside like a child.
The wolf lunged again.
Another enforcer intercepted it.
His body exploded into silver light.
Bones shifted.Muscles expanded.
A giant gray wolf appeared in his place.
Jason had seen transformations before.
But never this close.
The gray wolf slammed into the monster.
The cottage shook.Furniture shattered.
The two beasts crashed through a side wall and rolled outside.
The sounds of combat erupted immediately.
Growls.Snarls.Splintering wood.
Pain-filled howls.
Jason rushed toward the broken opening.
Elena grabbed his arm."No."
Her voice came out sharper than intended.
Jason looked at her."What is that thing?"
Elena's face hardened.I don't know."
Jason knew she was lying.The realization stung.
Before he could press further, the lead enforcer climbed to his feet.
Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
His eyes remained fixed on the battle outside.
"Nightborn."
The word left his mouth like a curse.
Jason frowned.Nightborn?"
The enforcer didn't answer immediately.
His grip tightened around his sword.
"They were supposed to be extinct."
Another crash echoed outside.
The gray wolf flew through the air.
Its body slammed into a nearby tree.
The trunk snapped in half.
The transformed enforcer didn't get back up.
Jason felt his blood run cold.
The monster slowly emerged from the darkness.
Not a single wound marked its body.
Villagers were fleeing in every direction.
Some carried children.
Others dragged elderly relatives toward safety.
Chaos had swallowed the settlement.
The creature ignored everyone.Again.
Its attention returned to Jason.
The lead enforcer noticed it too.
His expression darkened."It came for him."
Nobody argued.The truth was obvious.
Elena stepped closer to her son.
The beast growled.
The sound rolled through the village.
Then something strange happened.
The monster hesitated.Its nose twitched.
It seemed confused.Almost uncertain.
Jason felt a strange sensation in his chest.
Warm.Familiar.A pulse.
The same pulse he had felt near the altar.
The same presence connected to the mountain.
The wolf's crimson eyes widened.
For the first time, fear appeared within them.
Fear.Jason blinked.The monster was afraid.
But not of the enforcers.Not of the village.
Not of him.Something else.Something inside him.
A sharp pain exploded through his chest.
Jason dropped to one knee.
His vision blurred.The world tilted.
Voices became distant.The pulse intensified.
Boom.Boom.Boom.
Like a giant heart beating somewhere beneath reality itself.The wolf suddenly backed away.
One step.Then another.Its tail lowered.
The beast looked terrified.The lead enforcer noticed.So it's true."Jason barely heard him.
Pain surged through every part of his body.
His veins felt like molten metal.
The heartbeat grew louder.
More than before , it sounded so loud
A whisper brushed against his mind.
Stronger than ever before.Older than the mountains.Older than the packs.
Older than memory.Find me.Jason squeezed his eyes shut.The voice continued.They lied to you.
A flood of images exploded inside his head.
Ancient battlefields.Burning cities.
Thousands of wolves kneeling before a towering figure seated upon a throne of black stone.
Then blood.Fire, betrayal.death The vision vanished.Jason gasped for air.His entire body trembled.
Across the village, the monstrous wolf released a frightened whine.Then it turned.And ran.
No hesitation.
No resistance.The creature fled into the forest as though death itself was chasing it.
Silence followed.
The surviving villagers stared in disbelief.
Nobody understood what had just happened.
Neither did Jason.
The lead enforcer slowly lowered his sword.
His face had gone pale.
The expression in his eyes frightened Jason more than the monster ever could.Because it wasn't hatred.It wasn't anger.It was certainty.
The certainty of a man who had just watched a prophecy come to life.
The enforcer looked directly at him.
Then he spoke words that froze everyone present.The seal is breaking."Elena closed her eyes.As though hearing a death sentence.
Jason's pulse quickened.What seal?"
Neither of them answered.
A distant howl echoed from the northern mountain.Long.Ancient.Victorious.
And somewhere deep within the darkness beyond the village, something had awakened completely.
Something that had been waiting for Jason Anthony Ravencrest for eighteen years.
Something that now knew exactly where to find him.
