The morning after Selar's warning, Magnus could barely think straight. He kept glancing at the old book on the kitchen table, its weathered pages still open, almost as if calling him.
The coffee in his hand had long gone cold when Selar barged in again, looking even more panicked.
Selar: "Magnus, you need to see this."
Without waiting for a reply, Selar dragged him outside to the town square.
A crowd had gathered around something lying in the middle of the cobblestones. Magnus pushed through, his stomach twisting.
It was a man — or what was left of him.
His body was distorted, half-human, half-wolf. His mouth was frozen mid-growl, and his hands were twisted into claws.
Whispers rippled through the crowd.
"Another disappearance," someone murmured.
"The curse is back," said an old woman, clutching her rosary.
Selar leaned in close to Magnus, whispering:
Selar: "It's happening faster than we thought."
Magnus swallowed hard.
"Was this what the book warned about?"
"Shape-shifters losing control?"
Back at the house, Magnus and Selar pored over the Ledger again. They found a chapter about "feral shifters" — creatures who, once corrupted, couldn't return to human form. Their instincts would take over completely unless stopped.
"Only the bearer of the Ledger can bind or destroy them."
"Failure to act will result in the infection spreading."
Magnus felt the weight of the words. *He* was the bearer now.
That night, determined to learn more, Magnus and Selar patrolled Eldergrove's outskirts.
The woods were unnervingly silent — no crickets, no owls. Just the wet slosh of their boots through the underbrush.
Then, a growl.
Low. Hungry.
Magnus barely had time to react before a creature lunged at him from the shadows.
It was grotesque — the twisted form of another townsman they both recognized: Mr. Howell, the butcher.
Magnus froze.
Selar shouted, tossing Magnus a silver dagger they had found described in the book.
Selar: "You have to mark him! It's the only way!"
Heart pounding, Magnus dodged the creature's snapping jaws, stumbling backward into a tree.
In a surge of desperation, he slashed the dagger across the creature's shoulder. A bright silver light erupted from the cut, and Mr. Howell collapsed to the ground, reverting slowly into his human form — unconscious but alive.
Breathing heavily, Magnus stared at the dagger, his hands shaking.
Magnus (whispering): "What... am I?"
Selar clapped a hand on his shoulder.
Selar: "You're the only one who can save this town now, Magnus."
Magnus looked up at the moon. Deep down, he knew — this was just the beginning.
The darkness had awoken.
And it was hunting them.