The Beast, It Comes

The Beast, it comes, from woods old and dark, hunting and lurking and seeking its mark.

Its prey is found, the scent remembered, its hackles raised, its focus centred.

The hunt is on and swift does it move, it gnaws and it bites, and rends great wounds.

The hunt is over but a new one begins, to deceive and betray, to hide in our skins.

“Don't go into the woods,” their parents would say. “Or the Beast will eat you.” A silly story for children, one that Abigail would soon come face to face with as her sister, Breyla begs her to sneak out and explore the woods. But there is more to the Beast than a simple child eating monster, it is a dark past Abigail will soon discover.

Haunted by a cruel tragedy, Abigail will come face to face with great horror as the harvest draws near.

Coming in at just over 40,000 words, The Beast, It Comes is a short horror story written for my worldbuilding project. Set on the world of Len, a dark fantasy world where humanity lives within megalithic cities to shelter them from the cruel world outside. There are those who strike out into the frontier to try their fortunes, but there is danger, monsters roam free and dark gods cause chaos, to die is to suffer eternal.