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Walker in the Dark

By the time the sun has sunk beneath the treeline every night, the town of Sherfeld has already shut completely down. Not a soul can be found outdoors after dark. The town appears deserted – windows tightly shuttered and latched, doors locked and bolted – only a light wisp of smoke drifting out of a chimney on a cold night belay any sign of habitation, and this sign is hard to spot, for fires are kept very low, as if to avoid drawing attention to the house.

Ask any cheerful citizen during the day when the sun is up, and you’ll receive naught but a shrug and a smile – at most a ‘we keep to ourselves at night’ explanation, but nothing further. No one wants to talk of it, they want to act as if nothing happens after dark – as if the world itself stops as soon as the sun disappears, and resumes at the rooster’s call in the morning.

But that is not the case.

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Frostwind Serpent

The sea is uncommonly calm for this time of year. Small chunks of ice clack and rattle against the wooden hull of the ship as it plods southward, very slightly bouncing through the small waves. You stand on the deck, peering down into the dark water, grasping the rails of the ship tightly. Your knuckles are white, and despite the cold, beads of sweat stand out on your forehead, and the occasional drop down your back send unnoticed shivers up your spine as you stare, unblinking, trying to pierce the veil of inky darkness through willpower alone. The air feels the same as before – the unnatural silence, the pale, overcast skies. Sounds made by the crew, although a mere stride away, seem to come from far away… the wind is very light, the ship is moving lazily along its course, many of the crew are reveling in the opportunity to slack off, and cheerful conversation and laughing reaches your ears… There! Something in the water! It is gone before you can get a fix on it… a shadow within a shadow. Several eternities pass while you scan the water – nothing is moving, nothing is happening. You release the breath that caught in your throat – it comes out ragged, broken – but you continue to clutch the rail unconscious of the gouges left by the remains of your oft chewed nails. You want to get back home. Your mind wanders. Part of you still stares unblinking at the water, attentive, alert, but another part drifts into a waking dream – a memory – one that has been replayed for you over and over…

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Heartseeker

In the mountainous region to the north, stories abound of a deadly creature that lurks in the woods. People that need to travel the woods only do so in large, well-armed groups, and never stray from the clearly defined paths and trails. Those brash enough to ignore these precautions usually never return… occasionally, one of these missing people will turn up – as a corpse – with a distinctive, gruesome fatal wound. The recovered bodies are all found with large, ragged holes in their chest – through their ribs – and missing their heart, and with no other wounds…

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Sorry for being late this week – guess it makes up for being early on the last segment ;)

Primeval Revenant

Something is stalking the edges of the distant, sparsely populated farmlands. Farmers have reported missing or injured livestock, family members, and damaged property. Late at night, citizens claim to hear loud noises as if something massive is prowling the area. Some even claim to hear bone chilling howls, growls, roars, and screeching in the night. Recently, after a particularly clamorous evening, an entire family has gone missing. Their remaining property looks as if a tornado ripped through it, shattered and strewn across the farm, and covered in blood, but no sign of any of the six family members, or sizable number of livestock.

Some people in the area claim that a monstrous beast is living in a nearby gorge, and has recently been disturbed by ongoing deforestation around the area, but no one has had a good look at the menace. Investigators at the scene of some of the attacks have been baffled – other than signs of damaged, knocked over, or shredded trees and buildings, no other trace of the attacker has been found – no footprints, even on soft or wet ground, no traces of the creature left behind, and the only physical evidence has been large, raking marks on some of the buildings and trees – marks that seem much too large for any known animal to have caused them. The ‘official’ explanation is that the damage had been done by localized storms or tornados, but this explanation does not sit well with the local populace. Something is definitely lurking nearby, and no one feels safe anymore.

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