Library:Through the Lunar Rift V

Lady FireLotus pens this Journal filled with dark thoughts about the state of Braemar and the rising undead problem. The story was first published on the Shroud of the Avatar Forum, and the first three paragraphs were excerpted in Update of the Avatar #79.

On Wolves, Bears, and the Darkness...
by FireLotus

I’ve lived in a lot of places where the wildlife can kill you. There is nothing more humbling that floating lazily in a one person kayak only to realize there are a set of eyes watching you from about 6-feet off your bow. Then the realization hits that the gator those eyes belong to is probably longer than the humble craft you're sitting in. But I’ve always been an explorer. Back home, all I needed was a camera with a telephoto lens and a leather-bound journal to document my adventures in and I was a happy girl. Having a close encounter with the local wild life just made the adventure even better. To see nature in nature… well, there was no better way for me to spend an afternoon.

That didn’t change when I ended up here, even though I no longer had a camera (I have gotten pretty good at sketching, though). Some of my very first moments away from Owl's Head were spent exploring the nearby woodland. But that was before the darkness had spread this far north. I'd seen some wolves, and even a couple bears during my excursions, but the last time I was out, they were different. I’d heard Kendra talking about how there were acting odd, and considering how in tune with nature she is, I should have headed her warning to stay put within the safety of the town walls. But Thomas was watching the Tavern and I had some exploring to do.

It wasn’t long before I got the distinct feeling that something was watching me. I've learned to rely on my instincts when I’m out adventuring, and that instinct served me well that day. I moved to a more open area, atop a large rock where I could get a vantage point, and that was when I saw him. A large brown bear stalking through the treeline. Normally, shuffling is a word I would use to describe their movement, but this one was moving carefully… silently. And he never took his eyes off of me. Then in a moment he started towards me, murder in it’s eyes. But not just murder… rage. I threw my hands out and flames shot forth, scorching a nearby patch of grass and scaring the beast away. That was the first time I manifested fire like that. And I have to say I was very grateful that I had. The small blade I was carrying would not have done me any good at all.

Since then, I’ve thought really hard as to whether what I sensed, that malicious darkness, the rage-filled eyes, was real. I've had close encounters with animals before. Dangerous animals. I’d even been in the presence of the bears and wolves that live outside the city walls before, held my breath when they took notice of me, watched in silence as they made note of me, decided that I wasn’t a threat, and moved on. But this animal had been stalking me. Not just hunting for dinner. No. There was something unnatural and dark in it’s eyes, something so dark that it lingered long after the bear had fled.

I can’t help but wonder if the darkness that has reanimated the dead has also somehow polluted and twisted the animals in some way. And if it has, then what is stopping it from polluting and twisting us?