The young man trudged through the snow, his ragged clothing barely staving off the mountain wind’s chill. He shuffled forward almost losing balance as his foot knocked into a rock, hidden under a white blanket. His movements were jerky and erratic, his breathing labored, and his skin sickly and pale.

His eyes were squinted shut against the wind’s assault and he kept moving forward only through sheer determination. A groaning noise startled him, his body jerked still. He peered around for any sight of what could have made the noise, then it assaulted him. The hunger. He moaned, clutching his stomach, his eyes brimming with tears only to freeze as they fell down his face. A long pointed tongue flitted out of his mouth failing to wet his chapped lips, his mouth watered and he reached into the pack hanging from his torn clothing, grabbing a slab of partially frozen red meat.

He greedily wolfed down the meat, still raw, and revelled in what little blood coated his mouth and throat. Wiping his red hands in the snow he continued his trek up the mountain, his dark hair whipping around in the wind, frozen at the tips. One hand still clutched at his stomach, as if by force alone, he could silence the hunger.

Upwards he climbed, as he had for the past two days. His body was tired and cold, and he shivered with every step. The sky had begun to darken, and the young man decided to try and find shelter for the night. Somewhere the wind would howl less, and his frozen body could thaw. He trekked until the moon was high in the sky, following the path towards the top of the mountain. His eyes were falling shut, slowly closing, as exhaustion caught up to him.

He sniffled and wiped his nose with his sleeve, as he turned the corner and passed a large rock that had been obscuring his vision. Around the bend was a small cave, if you could call it that, it’s size was more akin to a cupboard, or a closet. Ice formed around it’s mouth, that along with the large stone that had obscured his vision kept most of the wind out. The boy fell to his knees and crawled into the alcove, curling into a ball, he wrapped his arms around himself to keep away the cold, and finally his eyes fell shut.

-----------------

I woke with a start, the cold ground under me biting through my travel clothes, if they could be called clothes in this state. I strained my senses searching for what awoke me, I heard the same noises I heard when I fell asleep. Wind howling, snow crunching, and the whistling of wind through the crevices. I peered out into the dark, wondering if they were still chasing after me. It had been so long since I left, it was amazing they had followed me thus far.

I closed my eyes, stretching my hearing, listening for anything different. I listened long and hard until it became clear, the snow was crunching rhythmically, as if a group of men were walking in a line. The sound was too close for me to leave my small abode and attempt to run again, the only thing I could do was hide deeper into the small hole and hope they passed me by. If only fate were so kind.

I stared out of the entrance, safely hidden in the deep shadows of my new hiding hole. Rough leather traveling boots crunched deep into the snow, one pair after another, until a whole line of four people walked past me. With a sigh of relief I waited until they were further away until I began to climb out, or at least I would have if at that moment my stomach had not thundered out it’s abuse.

“Did you hear that?” a gruff voice sounded out.

“No, what was it?” another voice asked.

“Hush, you daft fool!” the gruff voice whispered out again “The beast is near.”

Suddenly quiet again, my heart thundered in my chest, I scrabbled to leave my hole knowing it was too late to attempt hiding again. On hands and knees I crawled back down the path, the dark sky above watching over me as I shuffled out of sight and behind the large rock to the side of the path.

I knew I couldn’t outrun them, not as tired and weak as I was now, I needed a distraction. Something that could give me just enough time to run and find a new hiding place. I crouched down on the snow covered ground and hastily scrawled a rune in the side of the stone, using a small knife from my pack I began a series of runes forming a glyph.

Eci for the trigger, a small circle with a straight line from the top that extended a little ways out the bottom. This would activate the following runes when an entity not marked as an ally crossed nearby.

Trei a circle with a triangle in the center. This was for making a noise to distract, it held an array of choices, while it couldn’t recreate something as complicated as a human voice it could easily replicate a wolf howl, or in this case the noise of snow rumbling down the mountainside.

Deilt a freestanding square, tilted on its side, a line across the center. It was a rune used to amplify other runes, in this case making the rumbling noise louder.

Finishing the rune I slapped my hand against the stone, sharp cold biting against my bare skin, only to be thrust away by the boiling feeling of mana in my veins. The mana heated my blood, causing the veins to constrict in my arms and lift them until it looked like there were small vines straining under my skin. I reveled in the feeling of heat from my center as it coursed down my arm, I felt a warm line of blood drip from my nose and stain the pristine white beneath me.

The first rune lit up a dull red as my blood infused mana seeped through my palm, spilling into the grooves and following the lines of the rune before sliding to the next one and continuing its arduous job. It flowed like a living thing, a snake sliding across stone with no resistance, as the last rune filled with mana and blood they flashed bright red before falling back to their natural grey stone color. Feeling drained by such a small usage of mana proved how tired I was, standing up and turning I walked back down the path and out of sight from where the men were coming.

I sighed before slapping my hands into my cheeks attempting to regain feeling in them, my back hunched deeper and my steps were slower, more unsure. Where could I go? If they chased me up this mountain what was to say they wouldn’t follow me where ever I went. Sighing again I trudged along the blank white path, only sparsely populated by shrubs clinging on to life through stubbornness alone, the sheer mountainside to my left, stretching endlessly upwards, and another sheer drop ten feet to my right. I knew these men and those with them wouldn’t give up, no matter where I went, anger flashed inside of me, anger at being hunted, anger at being driven from my home, anger at being betrayed.

A dull throb began in my head, in sync with my tired steps. A smile curved my lips up as I heard the rumbling noise behind me, followed swiftly by shouting and quick footsteps in the opposite direction, why they ran further up a mountain they thought was having an avalanche I couldn’t say. The trick wouldn’t last long, as even these men would be able to see through the ruse, not many people are dumb enough to think an avalanche consisted of one part sound and zero parts deadly snow slide. I laughed out loud for the first time in a long while, it sounded hollow, strange, as if I was listening to someone else and not myself.

The hunger clawed at my insides again, tearing swathes of agony through my entire body, my eyes snapped shut at the feeling, and a low keening whine made its way from my lips. The stale and frozen leftovers of my hunt at the beginning of this mountain trek were no longer satisfying, having lost most of their delicious juice. I reached into my pack feeling around until I grabbed hold of the final piece of wolf meat, sinking my teeth into it, feeling disappointed at the lack of blood. I still devoured the piece whole, ‘At least the bones still snap’ I thought to myself. I sucked the marrow from the last bone and pondered what I could do about my current situation.

I felt the sad emptiness of my pack, no longer containing meat, I felt my small knife and rune book hidden away in the side pocket. Soon the hunger would erupt again, as even now I could feel the gnawing weakness of my limbs and the unsteadiness of my body. It would only grow worse without any flesh to devour, even the unsatisfying frozen meat helped somewhat, and I hadn’t seen a single living creature here besides the four men chasing me. If I kept going down the mountain following the path I took up, it would take another two days, by then the hunger and cold would have sapped away any strength I had left, I would be too tired and weak to hunt. I needed to get food now, and luckily, there were four volunteers just begging to sate my hunger. My laughter reverberated in the cold air, as the snow crunched under foot. I could smell the hunt, and it was good.

-----------------

“What the shit are you sayin’ right now?” the bulbous man asked.

“I’m sayin there is no damn avalanche you dumb whores’ son!” I shouted at the man, his pudgy face screwing up in anger.

“If you don’t take that back you’re gonna regret it!”

“What’re you going to do!? If you try anything I’ll break your arm boy!”

The fat froglike man looked startled, he obviously had never been threatened before. I had only volunteered for this hunt because my father had always said that real men took care of their own, I was now regretting it. ‘I knew he was going to be useless, if his father wasn’t a lord I would kill him and his guards and dump their bodies where no one would see, it would be a service to us all’. This useless noble had thought he would come along on a simple mission to hunt down a dall’in, a man turned beast, ruled by his base instincts and a slave to his hunger. Most couldn’t speak in full sentences, let alone set a trap cunning trap like this one had. Most dall’in hunts consisted of entering a dall’ins’ territory and confronting the beast, it would become enraged at the trespass and charge at you presenting an easy target for someone skilled. No one knew what caused men to turn into dall’in but the main theories involved magic, curses, hexes, and of course, my favorite, drinking and premarital sex, both theories spread by the church.

The noble’s guards shifted anxiously at our little exchange, I gripped the short sword at my right hip and the dagger at my left. The bow on my back was unstrung but if the guards were ordered to kill me it wouldn’t help anyway, the fat noble’s heavy breathing and angry eyes spoke volumes of his self control. I was a little worried he would try something stupid, but I was confident I could take him and his guards. The toad sighed heavily and the fight went out of him, “I’m going to bring this up with father, let’s get this done the sooner we are home the sooner he will have you in the stocks.” the noble said smugly.

“If you survive.” I muttered.

“What was that?” he asked.

“Nothing”

“Alright, where do we go now hunter?” the flesh ball wheezed, his breathing labored “If you don’t hurry up and find this beast, I’ll have your pay reduced.”

“It probably doubled back and set the rune trap, so we just need to go back down the path and get it’s trail again.” This man was absolutely useless, I wouldn’t have taken him at all, even with his father’s pressure if it weren’t for the fact that the man’s guards were helpful. They hadn’t said a single word since the start of the hunt, but it was always nice to have extra blades, especially in this case. This dall’in seemed different, it was more cunning, and I had never heard of dall’in using mana, let alone runes. They just didn’t have the brain power.

The man nodded to his guards and we set off at a calm pace, cautious of any more rune traps. The beast’s tracks were easy to follow, at first they were near invisible but as the hunt wore on and the beast tired it was easier to follow. ‘I always found dall’ins’ to be sad creatures, bereft of what made them human, a slave to their hunger. They are dangerous though, and had to be taken care of, not even a king would be safe if he turned dall’in. They would eat their own child if they were hungry enough. Yet still I wonder how this beast felt about being run out of it’s town at the first sign of turning, betrayed and turned in by those it loved.’ I was startled out of my reverie by the sight of blood on the pristine white snow path, the snow was disrupted, as if something was dragged through it, it led straight down the path and then turned sharply out of sight as the winding path curved around the mountain.

“Ha! The dumb beast cut itself.” the noble laughed uproariously “It can’t hide now, stupid animal.”

“I don’t trust this.” it was too suspicious, a conveniently placed blood trail that just so happens to lead out of sight, I was naturally disbelieving of such a thing.

“You’re just paranoid old man, Jel, Kel, go on ahead see what’s around the bend.” he ordered bravely.

The two guards looked at each other, sighed and walked towards the turn, their leather armor creaked ominously in the moonlight. Jel walked ahead of Kel in a tight single file line, both holding their swords out ahead of them. Jel turned the corner followed by Kel, “There’s just more blood he-” followed by a startled yelp “Jel no!” the second of the twin guards called out. “I’ll kill you! Die! Die! Di-” a dull thud resounded out in the cold night air, I stood transfixed by the sight, blood pooled around the corner, and a sharp laugh cut the air. The hair on my skin stood at attention and goosebumps mottled my arms. A cold sweat ran down my back, fear gripping my heart.

“Who’s next, the fat one or the old one?” a hissing voice coiled around us “Fat or old, fat or old, fat or old.” a childish giggle followed the question, like the dall’in found the idea funny. It stepped out from around the corner, ragged clothes hung around its frame, a small pack hung by a strap on its shoulder, it looked like a tall young man, dark hair framed darker eyes, contrasting with the too red lips, in its hand was a small knife, only one palm long, covered in slick blood. Dripping. Dripping. Dripping. I stood transfixed, the noble next to stood stock still, mouth agape. His shock was understandable, his two guards had enchanted blades, they were both great swordsman and had been trained and groomed for this very role. To be killed so swiftly and without even scratching the dall’in, it was surprising to say the least.

The noble’s fat neck was quivering in fear, the dall’in apparently found this quite funny as he pointed at the noble, a wicked smile on his face, and a terrible laugh on his lips. “You.” was all the beast said, before the ground beneath him crumbled and the nobles legs sunk to the knee before he realised what was happening. An unmanly yelp escaped his bulbous lips as he fell. The beast dashed forwards, knife in hand poised to slit the toad’s throat. The knife came in flashing silver before being I struck it to the side, finally stunned out of my shock by the animal’s sudden movements, I moved into action to defend the noble, I couldn’t care less if he died but without him my pay would be nearly non existent as his father would take his wrath out on me.

Short sword in my right hand and dagger in my left I moved to strike the beast, coming in with a quick thrust with the sword at its throat, surprising me with its speed the beast ducked my blade and parried my knife with its own as I thrust again. It dodged my thrusts and slashes again and again, like a snake, it moved with unnatural grace before striking with frightening speed. If fear had gripped me before, terror took its vice like hold upon my heart as I looked into its eyes. A mad gleam shone through in those dark orbs, a piercing glare held me transfixed as its dagger weaved its way towards my eye, startled I let my knees buckle and dropped with all haste to the ground, wind whistling above me.

On the ground I kicked out towards the things leg, CRACK, a satisfying noise burst through the air as its leg buckled beneath it. I scrambled back and stood up, the beast writhed on the ground attempting to put weight on its leg to stand up, only to fail and slam into the ground again. Several small cuts leaked blood on my body, a cut above my brow blinding me in one eye. I took a step forward to thrust my blade into the injured beast and finish this wretched business, looking at its face I saw it’s mouth twist up into a grin, its razor sharp teeth interlocking, it wasn’t a human smile it was a predator’s grin. I thrust forward, yet as soon as my blade started to move, a series of multiple interlocking runes burned to life on its arm. A bright red glow flashed out and its arm and hand struck out like a viper to take hold of my arm. A sickening grinding noise sounded out as it’s magically strengthened arm and hand crushed the bones and ground them together.

I screamed in agony and dropped my sword, my mind locked up in pain I couldn’t even bring myself to stab with my dagger in the other hand, the beast crawled towards me, one leg bent unnaturally, and its eyes screwed up in focus. It crawled towards me, leaking blood. It loomed over me, and its jaw cracked and distended, its mouth opening unnaturally wide, it placed my entire head in its mouth, tongue coiling like a living beast. And the last thing I heard before my skull broke apart like a piece of pottery, was the blubbering and crying of that disgusting toad.

-----------------

Setting up my ambush was a lot of work, trying to think of a way to lure them into a series of traps was more difficult than I thought. I set up a series of earth fall glyphs on the ground before pushing the snow back over. The glyphs I used were:

Dis Circle rune with two triangle facing opposite directions in the center. Command rune used as activation for other runes, activated using your will, range of 15 feet.

Gai Square rune. Rune dictating earth.

Fal Three downward lines parallel to each other. Used in tandem with other runes to control them, cause them to fall. Combined with Gai rune it makes those standing upon the designated area fall into the earth.

With these three runes I created several fall glyphs in the area before the corner turn, hoping someone would stand on them. I also created two fall glyphs with a proximity trigger around the bend where I waited behind a series of small rocks piled on top of a larger boulder. I also created a body glyph, body runes of any kind were illegal in nearly all of the civilized world and at the very least taboo elsewhere. The problem with using them besides the fact they are illegal is that if you lose control of the rune or glyph it will drain you of mana and blood. All glyphs and runes are powered by a combination of blood and mana, most people draw their runes and power them, when they have given enough energy they remove their hand from the rune to sever the flow. The problem with powering body runes is that you can’t remove your power from the rune after activation without extreme focus and control of your mana, since the runes is connected to you. Failure to do so could drain a full grown man of his life in minutes. I created a simple strength rune, although nothing is simple when it comes to body runes.

Beld small droplet shape, similar to a teardrop. Used to specify the type of rune in this case, blood or flesh.

Dur triangle shape missing the bottom line. Strength, changes meaning depending on what your runes are on, on a stone it would make it harder to break, when using body runes it makes you physically stronger.

Using these two runes I enchanted my right arm, making my grip and arm stronger when activated. Getting the Beld rune was a difficult prospect, through back alley dealers and rogue mages I was able to obtain it. Even before the changes began my morality when it came to progress was lacking, though after, morality at all is quite suspect.

After setting my traps I carved my arm with the strength glyph, and used the blood that leaked to set a trail of blood towards my ambush. Finally the four hunters came into view, I peered around the corner at them, one was more fat than man while two of them had well kept armor and blades. In the back was an older looking man, he had scars on his arms and face showing his time as a fighter. The fat man said something which set the older one to scowling, after a moment the fat one said something to the similar looking warriors and they began to walk towards the traps. I debated activating some of the earth fall glyphs, they walked over several of them before I decided to wait until they turned the corner and activated the proximity triggers.

The first one turned the corner and neared the first trap but barely missed it, he peered around, completely missing me as I hid behind rock and snow. He called back to his group telling them I wasn’t there before taking a step back, he fell in range of the glyph and his legs were suddenly engulfed in snow and stone. I stood up slowly, still exhausted after using so much mana. The man that fell was flailing wildly attempting to get up, I drew my dagger and sprinted at the man, my blade was about to pierce his throat when I hesitated, I had never killed a person before and my hands were shaking.

He looked up at me and opened his mouth to scream, a voice ancient and timeless crashed through me, Spill blood for me child of mine, feast of flesh and bone, I offer you blood and flesh. Will you drink deep and eat much? For if you do my path will become yours. Strike now. The voice shook me out of my stupor, unknown feeling welled within me, bloodlust so powerful that my knees felt weak, joy so pure that sleet addicts would weep, and a hunger so deep it felt as though there was a hole straight through my body, there was no pain in this hunger, just emptiness.

I struck without another thought, my blade entering his neck before tugging deep inside him to rip out his throat. Blood poured from the wound soaking me, I looked up from my first kill, his eyes still wide and arms flailing. I looked up from my kill at the other, his eyes were wide with shock at first before changing to anger, then to rage, and finally to hatred. It seemed as though his eyes were red and he let loose a roar, screaming nonsense as his sword streaked towards me. In his rage he forgot about how his brother had fallen into the earth, and he suffered the same fate.

His legs fell into a hole that had not been there before, a sickening crunch sounded out as his upper body tried to carry forwards with its momentum, but his legs could not follow. The joints in his knees wrenched and his bones cracked, he cried out but found his voice missing, and in its place blood poured forth. After killing the two brothers the voice came back, carrying with it a sense of more, more power, more strength, and more promises, Drink deep child, eat your fill, the time has come. Sate yourself. I leaned down in front of the second kill lapping at the blood pouring from his throat, bliss poured through me like a wave, warmth filled my throat and mouth as my tongue snaked out into the fountain of blood, drinking deep.

I opened my mouth wide, my jaw making a cracking noise I took a large bite out of his throat, the warm meat not even putting a dent in my hunger. I stood up, I needed to kill the others, maybe with all four I could sate myself, at least temporarily. Walking around the bend I saw the old man standing with the fat one. They looked comedic standing there, mouths agape, the fat one like a frog waiting for a fly to fall into its grasps, I contemplated aloud which one to eat first, only the fat one was standing on a earth fall glyph. An image floated through my head, of the noble falling, his fat trailing after him attempting to catch up. A laugh escaped my lips and the two of the men seemed afraid. “You.” I said pointing at the toad and activating the glyph. The hilarious scene I imagined came to fruition as the fat one fell, his body jiggling as he struck bottom.

I charged the man stuck in the ground aiming at his throat only to be stopped by the older man, his eyes were still wide with fear but his movements were sure and quick. His sword and dagger flashed forwards, I dodged down avoiding the sword and knocking the dagger of course with my own, he attacked with a wild flurry of stabs, thrusts, and slashes. Many connected but were only superficial.

I saw him hesitate and launched my body forwards, feeling faster and stronger than I ever had before. My blade flashed towards his eye, closing in quickly, then suddenly the man fell to the ground and kicked my knee hard. I felt it pop out of its socket and felt my leg crack and sag underneath me. The man stood up and hesitated as I struggled to stand, leg sagging beneath me twisting out of place further. I scrambled with an animal’s wild survival instincts, attempting to rise as death came closer. I forced myself to focus as his blade closed in on me. A smile flitted to my face, showing my sharp teeth, splattered in blood. My arm flashed the same red color as my teeth and my arm flew out crushing his arm, he screamed in agony. I wrenched my arm to the side forcing the bone to crack and shift out of place even further. Eat. I obeyed.

My mouth opened wide like a snake and I took his entire head in my mouth before snapping shut with a satisfying crunch and splatter. The skull provided satisfying resistance before the warm insides filled my mouth with a delicious treat. The fat one whimpered and attempted to wriggle his way out of the trap, if he had more upper body strength he could easily pull himself out, but with his bulbous upper half and lacking lower he was trapped. Hunger was filling my mind, but with an effort of will I forced myself to wait, dragging my body towards the noble I left a trail of blood behind me before snapping my mouth around his head like I did with the old man before him. Where the old man was lean and gamey, this one was greasy and sweet. I reached down and tore his body out of its cage placing it next to the old man. I smiled, and dug into my hard earned meal.

After I gorged myself eating more than double my bodyweight in flesh, I felt a tugging sensation as my left leg twisted and pulled. A wrenching agony lanced through it as my leg whipped around into its original state before clicking into place. I was thoroughly soaked in blood, my ragged clothing no longer even a semblance of what is used to be. I stood up testing my new leg, bouncing on it a few times before stripping and taking the cloak from what was left of the old man, the clothes were torn beyond use as even rags. I turned away from the gory scene, taking a deep calming breath. My body felt lighter, and my mind faster. I stalked over to the two trapped men around the corner, lifting them up easily before stripping them and taking the clothes that fit the best.

Hiding my head in my darky grey cloak, and clothing myself in a black tunic and rough spun pants, I slipped on a pair of leather boots. I took their corpses and dug into a nice after meal snack, their meat was tougher but the liver and heart were veritably bursting with flavor. As I was finishing with my final morsel, a bright white light burst in front of my eyes blinding me. A searing feeling coursed through my mind, images of blades clashing with another, sparks flying, blazed through my mind. I reeled back rubbing my eyes, my long pointed tongue flicked out of my mouth to wipe up the blood around my lips, I wiped my hands in the snow and stood. I grabbed the blades next to the corpses and stared at them, along the flat of the blade were runes and glyphs. I had never seen them before yet inherently knew what they meant, as if I already knew what they were. I held one of the blades awkwardly, and instinctively knew I was standing wrong, I also knew that my grip was slack and that I should move it up the hilt. I took the two sword belts and tacked them onto my waist, one longsword on each hip. Some time during the fight with the old man my bag’s strap had torn, I stored the knife in my boot and the book of runes into a pocket inside of the cloak.

Breathing deep the coppery scent of blood I looked off the side of the mountain path and watched the blood red sunrise, and perfect white clouds, like a mirror image of the blood spattered snow all around me.