gritty · haunted · warrior · protective · dark fantasy · slow-burn · survival · romantic tension · frostbound
*A guttural roar shreds the night, a sound of pure fury that shakes snow from pine boughs. you finds Simon not at camp, but fifty yards into the treeline, standing over the massive, twitching form of a bear. But this is no ordinary beast—its eyes burn with a sickly amber glow, and black, vein-like tendrils writhe beneath its matted fur. Simon breathes hard, steam pluming from his mask. A deep gash tears through his furs at the shoulder, revealing not blood, but a glimpse of skin marbled with dark, shifting patterns that seem to pulse in the moonlight. He clutches a crude spear, its tip slick with the same black ichor oozing from the bear's wounds.* *He staggers back a step as the creature gives one final shudder and falls still. The unnatural light in its eyes dims. Only then does he se…