The more Belladonna listened to the rattling of the chains, the more her brow creased into a frown. She rose to her feet, walking forward a few steps with Beans still in her arms, as she stared down the crimson eyes in the darkness.

A few of the other guards had noticed the rattling of the chains, and were starting to look around and gather their weapons, preparing for whatever came next, but Belladonna was locked onto the eyes.

Although they were not the ones from her dream, there was something weirdly familiar about them. Yet that wasn’t what was annoying her about the chains.

She tilted her head, turning her ears back and forth as she honed in on the source of the sound, and that was when she finally understood the issue.

The eyes were not the source of the chains, like she had expected. Not just that, but there were three sources. Three separate chains rattling, at three separate points that surrounded their camp like the points of a triangle.

Those eyes seemed to curl, as if they were smiling, before another sound drowned out the chains. The snap of fingers.

SNAP!

The world turned silent at the snap. Everyone that heard it held their breath, the sounds of nature dulled and even the crackling embers of the fire snuffed themselves out, leaving only a whisper of light that cast heavy shadows.

Most important of all, the chains rattled no more, as what they contained was let loose.

An ear piercing scream cut through the silence, and whipping her head around to the source all Belladonna was able to see was the tail end of a hand disappearing into darkness as its owner was dragged from the safety of their camp.

Another scream, another victim, as someone else was yanked into the darkness by a furry mass.

Belladonna cursed under her breath, wishing the fire had doused completely. With those wisps of air, her eyes were adapting to the light and not the dark. Until she was actually in the dark, her dark vision would not activate.

If she wanted to see clearer, her only recourse was to doom everyone else to darkness or to leap head first into it herself, without knowing what dwelled within.

The screams had naturally woken up the rest of the camp, as bodyguards rushed to their employers side. Magical barriers shimmered, as the more affluent merchants activated the defences of their expensive carts, leaving the fate of those who did not have such wealth to the mercy of the wolves.

Movement in the dark caught the attention of the panicked and on edge mercenaries and bodyguards, as a shadowy blob rapidly approached the camp. A shadow blob that quickly revealed itself to be a blob of a man.

A pudgy merchant hobbled quickly, holding his pants as they threatened to fall down to his ankles, as he had been interrupted in the middle of his midnight relief.

His bodyguard stepped forwards, shouting orders to his employer, but before he could even get a single syllable out before claws erupted from the merchants pudgy belly. He hacked up a lungful of blood, spraying it all over his expensive shirt that was currently being ruined by five new holes.

He was lifted off of his feet, his body hanging completely off of the claws as he convulsed and let out strained, cries of pain, before he was ripped into embrace of the shadows once more. Leaving splatters of blood and his pants on the ground behind him.

The hair on the back of Belladonna’s neck stood on end, and her entire body flooded itself with adrenaline as she sensed the bloodlust behind her. She moved quickly and completely on instinct. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

She tossed Beans to the side, onto her Bottomless Bag which she had been using as a pillow and whipped around, immediately lifting her arms to catch the feral man that was lunging towards her. Her hands planted onto his biceps as she was forced down to her back, where she got a good look at her attacker.

She had called it a man, but she wasn’t even sure if that was right.

He had the general shape of a man, two arms and two legs, but he appeared more like a beast. He had an upturned nose, a deep set brow like a neanderthal and a jaw that extended forwards into the beginnings of a snout to make room for the extra teeth that he had.

Much like Belladonna, his teeth were razor sharp and jagged, with so many filling his mouth that they poured from his lips and even cut or pierced them in multiple places. But most striking of all was his canine fangs. All four, bottom and top, were huge.

Easily longer than her hand, as they resembled the type of fangs that a tiger would have.

Matted and blood fur covered his parts of his body, which wore ragged and torn clothing that looked decades old. It burst through the skin, looking like it had grown from underneath and not like true body hair, and only covered some areas leaving it looking patchy and hinting at the man beneath.

His hands were large and bony, with extra long fingers that ended in claws that burst through his skin, and were currently piercing into Belladonna’s. They dug through her armour and deep into her shoulders, scraping against the bone as she grit her teeth.

Even with the pain being dulled, it was still agony.

Her arms trembled as she tried to hold him at bay. One hand planted against his shoulder whilst the other was holding his neck, trying to force his face away from hers. Globules of thick saliva dripped from his snarling, tooth-filled maw and down onto her face.

Her muscles strained and bulged as she used all of her strength to push him back, but even with her putting her everything into it his head loomed closer and closer, until she could smell his rancid breath as it curled across her face.

The crystal on the back of her hand glowed, as a notification projected itself from said crystal and appeared before Belladonna’s eyes separating the two of them like a translucent wall.

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[Familiar Name: Beans

Status: Healthy

[Awakening Progress: 120%]

[Conditions have been met. The Awakening Process will now begin.]

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