The night was silent again, but the taste of death lingered.
Havyn wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, the last traces of the creature's blood staining his skin. His limbs still trembled from the shift—his second transformation that night—but the sensation wasn't from exhaustion.
It was from the hunger.
The primal force inside him had been awakened, and now it whispered in his mind, urging him to take more.
Selene watched him carefully, her silver eyes reflecting the moonlight like molten steel. She hadn't moved from where she stood, her expression unreadable. But Havyn saw it—the tension in her frame, the barely perceptible shift of her weight.
She was preparing to run.
He didn't blame her.
"What was that thing?" she finally asked, her voice quiet but firm.
Havyn exhaled, pushing the wild energy back down into the depths of his mind. "Not a raider."
Selene rolled her eyes. "I figured that much." She nudged the corpse with her foot. Its flesh was unnaturally pale, like something drained of life. "I've seen plenty of monsters, but not this. It wasn't a beast, wasn't a man…" She glanced at him. "You seemed to recognize it."
Havyn's jaw tightened. "Not recognize. Just… feel."
Selene narrowed her eyes. "Feel?"
"The forest told me something was wrong. Before it even got here."
Selene stared at him. "That's not normal."
Havyn shook his head. "I know."
A long pause stretched between them. Then Selene crouched beside the corpse, reaching out with hesitant fingers. She whispered something in a language Havyn didn't recognize, and a faint shimmer of dark energy crackled between her fingertips.
The body twitched.
Havyn tensed, his muscles coiling, ready to strike.
Selene's breath hitched. Then, in a slow, unnatural movement, the corpse turned its head toward her.
Its lips parted, black ichor oozing from its mouth.
And then it spoke.
"You are not safe."
Selene recoiled, stumbling backward.
The voice wasn't human. It was layered—multiple tones twisting together in a sickening symphony. The corpse's empty eyes locked onto her, unseeing yet aware.
Havyn moved without thinking. He grabbed Selene by the arm and yanked her back, stepping between her and the thing she had just woken.
"What the hell did you do?" he growled.
Selene was breathing heavily, her hands trembling, but she didn't look away from the body. "I—I was just trying to see what it was."
The corpse twitched again. Its mouth stretched into something resembling a smile.
"The Hunt has begun."
Then, its body collapsed inward.
The flesh withered, the bones cracked, and within seconds, it was nothing more than dust scattered in the wind.
Silence.
Selene's breathing was ragged. "That… wasn't supposed to happen."
Havyn exhaled sharply, forcing his own heart to steady. "What was that supposed to be, then?"
Selene clenched her fists. "A simple spell. A whisper into the void. It was only supposed to—" She cut herself off, shaking her head. "It shouldn't have answered."
Havyn didn't like the sound of that.
He turned, scanning the darkness. The forest was still. Too still.
Whatever that thing had been, it was part of something bigger.
And now, it knew they were here.
The River's Edge
"We need to move," Havyn said.
Selene nodded, her usual sharp tongue absent. Whatever just happened had shaken her more than she wanted to admit.
They ran.
The underbrush tore at their skin, branches slashing at their faces as they pushed deeper into the Blackthorn Wilds. Their muscles screamed, but they didn't stop.
The river wasn't far.
Havyn had spent years hunting these woods before the raiders came. He knew the land better than he knew himself. The river was the safest bet—running water could mask their scent, and if they were lucky, they could find shelter in the caves along the cliffs.
But luck was something neither of them had ever known.
The scent of rot hit him first.
Havyn skidded to a stop just before they reached the river's edge. Selene nearly crashed into him.
Then she saw it, too.
The water ran red.
Bodies floated in the current, faces pale, eyes hollow. Some were missing limbs, others had wounds that should have bled but didn't.
And among them, standing half-submerged in the crimson stream, was something waiting.
It wasn't human. It wore the shape of a man, but its skin was stretched too thin, its limbs too elongated. It turned its head slowly toward them, hollow eyes locking onto theirs.
Havyn took a step back.
Selene's fingers twitched toward the spell forming in her palm. "What in the hells is that?"
The thing smiled.
It opened its mouth—and the same layered voice from before slithered into the night.
"You can run. But the Hunt will find you."
Then, it moved.
Faster than any living thing should.
Havyn barely had time to shove Selene aside before it was upon them.
Claws raked across his chest, tearing into flesh. He shifted without thinking, his bones snapping into the form of a massive black wolf.
He lunged.
His teeth found flesh, but there was no resistance. The thing wasn't solid.
It laughed.
Selene's spell exploded beside them, black tendrils of energy slamming into the creature. For a moment, its form flickered—distorted.
And then it was gone.
The only thing left was the river, its red waters carrying the silent dead downstream.
A Curse Awakens
Havyn shifted back, breathing hard. The wounds on his chest still burned, but he ignored them. His gaze snapped to Selene.
Her hands were shaking.
"That was the same thing," she said, voice barely above a whisper. "The same thing that spoke through the corpse."
Havyn didn't argue.
Something was hunting them. Something old.
Selene's fingers dug into her arms. "This isn't just some wandering horror in the woods." She looked up at him, her silver eyes filled with something dangerously close to fear. "This is a curse."
Havyn exhaled, glancing back at the river.
Blood in the water.
Shadows in the trees.
And a Hunt that never ended.
He turned back to Selene, his jaw tightening.
"Then we need to break it."
Selene hesitated. Then, slowly, she nodded.
The hunt wasn't just after them.
It was inside them.
And if they didn't figure out how to stop it—
They would become part of it.