Echoes of Hollow

His heavy and slow breathing could be heard, and his claws marking the path to his house could be felt. The tears in the walls suddenly stopped, and without taking another step, the breaths in front of him were halted.

The guard took a step forward, raising his arms and standing in front of his family. His fangs were growing slowly, and hair spread more rapidly across his face.

"They had nothing to do with this, Lykos... let them go... please..."

In a leap, the beast struck him, sending him crashing through several houses. Without time to utter a single sound, the woman’s chest was shredded by the claws while, as the tremor subsided, the child transformed.

"Stop! Don’t hurt Mommy!"

Leaping, the small wolf in formation tried to hit him with its claws, but with its head trapped in one of the monster’s hands in front of it, its strikes barely scratched his arms.

"Please, don’t do this, Lykos... I’m begging...! Please...!"

"Daddy..."

"No!"

The guard leaps, the golden glow in his eyes quickly intensifying and rapidly shifting to red. But, after a tear from the child fell from his hands, the beast’s fist closed, and with a raising of his arm, the child’s head was easily crushed.

"No! No no no no no, please, no. Darling, please wake up...! My child... please!"

With his wife’s lifeless body in his arms, the man cried, his face rapidly changing as his transformation accelerated. Standing beside him, with fresh blood still dripping from the tips of its fingers, the beast merely watched him.

Abruptly rising, he tried to hit it with his expanding claws. However, after easily restraining him, the creature kicked him, sending most of his body flying and leaving one of his arms in its hand.

"Ahhh!"

As he rolled on the ground, his regeneration began to take effect, but there was no time. When the saliva dripped from the beast’s mouth onto the ground beside him, he tried to get up immediately. But with an inescapable force on his shoulder, all he could do was lift his head to look into the beast’s eyes that would kill him.

With a bite, blood gushed upward from the hole in his neck, and after the beast released the shoulder, withdrawing its claws, his body fell with no sign of life left.

"Pant! Pant! Pant! Pant!"

Opening its mouth and spreading the blood mixed with saliva, the beast roared again.

"It’s going to be okay, darling. Let’s..., we just need to be careful tonight."

His feet pushed desperately against the ground, and his eyes turned back constantly. As the moon rose in the sky, they broke from their usual routine and ran in desperation through the forest.

"Tomorrow, he probably won’t even remember this happened. I know Lykos, he..."

The weight of his wife’s hands diminished considerably, making him look back only to see he was holding just half of one of her arms.

"Darling...?"

Slow footsteps encircled him, and heavy breathing pursued him. With the moonlight filtering through the trees ahead and hitting his golden eyes, combined with the acceleration of his transformation, his instincts took over his body. However, with the emergence of red eyes amidst the darkness of the trees, despite partially yielding to his instincts, what could he do against a being that had completely lost itself in being a monster?

In those eyes, there was no more rationality, only the vile awareness of a predator. What’s the point of the hunt, after all? Isn’t it obvious? Watching your prey struggle for a life that has long been under your absolute control.

With the fall of his fingers to his feet, the guard shuddered. After the head of his beloved rolled from the darkness and came toward him, only one certainty remained, for with the intensification of his senses, even this became obvious to him at this moment: he was nothing more than the prey.

The beast’s claws tore through the trunks, causing both trees ahead to fall, and thus began its instinctive attempt at survival because, yes, if this was the role given to him, while his paws pushed against the ground and his eyes constantly sought the best path, he would accept it with great fear.

The dark forest blurred past him, contrasting with his tremendous speed. But amidst the darkness and trees, why did it seem that the creature was not getting any farther away?!

The red glow intensified, not beside or behind him, but at the instant his eyes returned to the path ahead. With its mouth open, the beast’s fangs came so quickly that he barely felt when he was struck.

Generating palpable pressure and shaking the leaves of the trees around, the beast roared again.

As the moon rose to its peak slowly, no one dared to leave their homes, at least not willingly. Back in the city, the blood in his mouth dripped into the river and was carried away. His eyes followed the path previously created by his claws, and again, he found himself at the location where the trail was most intense... in front of the red door.