Chapter 4: Battling A Fallen!
The roar cracked through the valley like thunder shattering stone. It was low, guttural, and unnatural, like a wolf being strangled by a man, or perhaps the other way around.
The sky dimmed, the wind hushed, and even the corpses littering the hideout seemed to shrink into themselves.
From the mouth of the canyon, where sun met shadow, the Fallen appeared.
It stood tall, easily seven feet, its hunched back bulging with twisted muscle.
Coarse fur sprouted in irregular patches across its body, thickest at the shoulders and neck like a beast’s mane.
Its face, a grotesque blend of human and wolf, twitched with erratic spasms, the skin pulled too tight across bone.
Two blood-red eyes burned in its sockets, glowing with hunger and madness.
Its arms were too long, knuckles dragging across the ground, and in its clawed hands, it held what looked like a bent iron spear—bent, no doubt, from sheer force alone.
Its chest, though vaguely human, was ripped open in a Y-shaped scar, where black essence writhed like liquid smoke. It was horrifying. It was monstrous. And worst of all, when it moved, it was fast!
Swoosh!
Kael’s face stayed calm and stone cold even in the face of death. Panic, fear, or surrender had no room in his mind. Instead, it ticked like a war machine, gears grinding for a path forward.