The forest east of Valdarin had always been old.
Not simply old in the way houses grew old or roads cracked with time, but ancient in a way that made the air feel heavier beneath its branches. Some of the trees there had trunks so wide that three grown men could not encircle them with their arms. Moss hung like dark curtains from crooked limbs, and the ground was layered with centuries of fallen leaves that had long ago turned into deep, soft earth.
During the day the forest was quiet but alive.
At night…
It became something else.
Most people from Valdarin avoided it after sunset. Stories had always circulated through the taverns—whispers of strange lights between the trees, of hunters who heard voices when no one was there, of animals found dead without wounds.
But hunters still came.
Because the forest was also full of game.
And some men were simply too stubborn—or too poor—to care about stories.
Kael Renar was one of those men.
---
Kael crouched low behind a fallen trunk covered in dark green moss, his weight balanced on the balls of his feet. His eyes moved slowly across the forest floor ahead, scanning every shadow and branch with careful attention.
The moonlight barely reached this deep beneath the canopy, but Kael did not need much light.
His pupils were narrow and golden, reflecting faint silver from the sky above.
The mark of a Shapeshifter.
He inhaled slowly through his nose.
The scent of wet soil filled his lungs.
Rotting leaves.
Damp bark.
Faint traces of deer somewhere deeper in the woods.
But beneath all of that…
There was something else.
Something wrong.
Kael frowned slightly.
He had been hunting for nearly two hours now.
Normally by this time he would have seen at least one deer crossing through the clearing ahead, or heard the low grunt of boars digging through the undergrowth.
Tonight the forest had gone silent.
Completely silent.
No insects.
No birds.
Even the wind seemed reluctant to move between the trees.
Kael muttered quietly under his breath.
"That's not normal."
He shifted slightly, resting his hand on the hilt of the short blade strapped at his hip.
The knife was well used but carefully maintained.
A hunter's tool, not a soldier's weapon.
Still, it had saved his life more than once.
He lifted his head again and sniffed the air.
The strange scent was still there.
Cold.
Metallic.
Almost like stone soaked in rainwater.
Kael exhaled slowly.
"…New smell."
That alone was enough to put him on edge.
Hunters learned quickly that unfamiliar smells in the forest rarely meant good news.
---
The first sound came moments later.
A faint crack.
Kael's head snapped toward the noise instantly.
Somewhere ahead, a branch had broken.
But not like a deer stepping carelessly.
The sound was heavier.
Slower.
More deliberate.
Kael lowered his body slightly, muscles tightening.
His eyes fixed on the dark space between two massive trees.
Another sound followed.
Step.
Drag.
Step.
Drag.
Kael frowned.
"What the hell walks like that?"
The noise grew closer.
Branches shifted slightly as something moved through them.
Kael quietly drew his knife.
The metal glinted faintly in the moonlight.
He waited.
Breathing slow.
Steady.
Then the bushes ahead parted.
And something stepped out.
---
At first Kael thought it was a man.
The silhouette looked human enough.
Two legs.
Two arms.
A hunched figure moving slowly between the trees.
But then it stepped into the moonlight.
And Kael felt his stomach tighten.
The proportions were wrong.
The creature's arms were too long, hanging far below where a human's hands should reach.
Its fingers were thin and crooked, ending in curved claws that scraped lightly against the forest floor.
Its skin…
Was gray.
Not pale.
Not sickly.
Just gray.
Like dead stone.
But the worst part was its face.
The creature's eyes were completely black.
Two empty voids staring directly at him.
For several seconds neither moved.
Kael slowly straightened.
"Well…" he murmured quietly.
"That's new."
The creature tilted its head.
The movement was slow.
Curious.
Like it was examining him.
Studying him.
Kael felt a cold sensation creep along his spine.
"Alright," he said, tightening his grip on the knife.
"You've had your look."
"Now back away."
The creature did not move.
Its head tilted further.
Almost sideways.
Then its mouth opened.
Rows of thin needle-like teeth gleamed faintly.
Kael sighed.
"Of course."
The creature lunged.
---
Kael reacted instantly.
His body twisted sideways just as the creature's claws slashed through the air.
He drove his knife forward.
The blade sank into the creature's side.
But instead of blood…
A cloud of thick black mist burst from the wound.
Kael blinked in shock.
"What—"
The creature did not scream.
Did not slow.
Its arm swung toward his head with frightening speed.
Kael ducked barely in time.
The claws cut through the air where his face had been.
He jumped backward, pulling the blade free.
Black mist continued leaking from the creature's side.
Yet it showed no sign of pain.
No hesitation.
No fear.
It simply turned toward him again.
Kael stared.
"That should've hurt."
The creature stepped forward.
Slow.
Relentless.
Kael exhaled sharply.
"Alright."
"If stabbing doesn't work…"
His muscles tightened.
Then the transformation began.
---
The change was violent.
It always was.
Kael's bones shifted beneath his skin with sharp cracking sounds.
His spine lengthened.
His shoulders widened.
Dark fur burst across his arms and neck.
His fingers stretched, nails hardening into curved claws.
His jaw pushed forward as long fangs replaced his human teeth.
Within seconds the man was gone.
In his place stood a towering wolf-shaped warrior nearly two meters tall.
His golden eyes glowed in the darkness.
His chest rose and fell with slow, powerful breaths.
The creature paused.
For the first time…
It hesitated.
Kael grinned.
"That's better."
He stepped forward.
"You wanted to see what I am?"
His claws flexed.
"Now you get the full show."
Then he attacked.
---
The impact was brutal.
Kael's clawed hand struck the creature's chest with crushing force.
The creature flew backward and slammed into a tree trunk.
The wood cracked loudly.
Leaves shook loose from the branches above.
Kael advanced slowly.
"That should do it."
The creature twitched.
Then slowly…
It began to rise again.
Kael stopped.
"…You're persistent."
The creature's chest was visibly broken.
Black mist poured from the wound like smoke.
Yet somehow it still moved.
Still stood.
Kael's eyes narrowed.
"That's not natural."
The creature tilted its head again.
Studying him.
Then something strange happened.
Its mouth moved.
A sound came out.
Broken.
Raspy.
"…world…"
Kael froze.
"…Did you just talk?"
The creature's head lifted slowly toward the sky.
"…open…"
Kael followed its gaze.
Through the branches above…
He saw it.
A thin black line stretched across the night sky.
At first it looked like a crack in glass.
But it moved.
Slowly widening.
Kael's voice dropped to a whisper.
"…What is that?"
The creature spoke again.
"…door…"
Then its body collapsed.
Black mist poured out of it and dissolved into the air.
The forest fell silent once more.
Kael stood beneath the trees staring upward.
The crack in the sky widened slightly.
Just enough to notice.
The air trembled faintly.
Then something moved beyond the fracture.
Something enormous.
Far larger than the creature he had just killed.
Kael slowly stepped back.
His instincts screamed danger.
"…That thing wasn't hunting me," he murmured.
"It was scouting."
He looked again toward the sky.
The crack stretched wider across the heavens.
And for the first time in his life…
Kael Renar felt truly afraid.
"Gods…"
"…what did you let into this world?"