Dukes, lords, and esteemed merchants filled the hall, their laughter rising over the gentle clinking of goblets. The evening felt grand, almost untouchable, yet beneath the surface, something stirred. A faint noise-distant, unnatural-whispered through the air. The guests dismissed it as nothing, too drunk on wine and revelry to pay attention.
But Elias, only a child, felt the wrongness in his bones.
Then, it happened.
The sky darkened, not with clouds, but with wings. Crows, hundreds of them, descended upon the hall like a living storm. Their beaks tore through fabric and flesh, their talons raking across faces. Panic erupted. Wine spilled, goblets crashed, and screams replaced laughter. The great hall, once a place of pride, became a chamber of horror.
Elias fell to the ground, heart pounding as the storm of black feathers swarmed around him. Then, as suddenly as they came, the birds were gone. The room was silent except for the moans of the dying. Elias' small hands trembled as he tried to move, only to feel a sharp, burning pain on his arm. He looked down.
A bite.
It was deep, pulsing with something dark. He was the only one left breathing, but he was not the same.
The Curse Takes Hold
Days passed, but the nightmare did not end.
The village awoke to another horror-a werewolf attack. The beast tore through homes, leaving nothing but destruction in its wake. The people, filled with rage and fear, took up arms and hunted it down, driving it beyond the borders of the kingdom. The creature was never seen again.
But rumors spread. The werewolves were once human. Cursed souls who could not bear the shame of their transformation, banished before they turned on their own people. The plague of the beast was not just a curse-it was a death sentence.
And now, Elias was next.
A Fate Sealed in Shadows
As he grew, so did the whispers. The village elders watched him closely. They knew the signs-the slow change, the hunger in his eyes, the nightmares he could not escape. Soon, he would no longer be one of them.
His fate was written. Exile.
But in the farthest reaches of the land, beyond the known world, there were whispers of a cure. A secret lost to time, guarded by those who understood the curse.
The question was-would Elias find the truth before the monster inside him took control?
Or would he become the very thing the world feared most?