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It had been four days since Lura buried her mother.

The other villagers were nice enough about it. Lamyra had cried and told her she could come live with her family, which caused the young girl's own mother to shush her and quickly leave for home. No one had anything particularly nice things to say about Rubera Veloren or her family. Lura couldn't remember a time when she and her mother were not confined to the outskirts, the "bad part of town" in their village of less than a hundred miserable peasants. The little shack in which they lived had seemed so large when Lura was growing up. Now it was barely large enough to cast a shade over the resting place of the last person Lura had left.

What a horrible feeling, to know that you would never again see the person who loved you the most in this broken world.

Lura hoped her mother would understand the shady spot near the house was the best she could do. Both women knew there was no money to afford any kind of a real grave. Not that anyone really understood the point of money anymore. And with Lura's father gone so long ago, it was not as if there were any need for a family plot.

Lura's father was a good man. She knew this because her mother told her this almost daily for as long as she could remember. That and the fragmented images she had of him. He was a strong man, a tall man. Or at least he was to a ten year old girl. She couldn't remember the sound of his voice, only that it made her happy.

He had made her mother happy, too. After he left to find the Traitor of Man, her mother stayed inside the shack and cried for three long days. Lura couldn't understand at the time what upset her so. Later when her mother sat her down to have "the talk," Lura cried for another three days.

Her mother, ever practical, thought it best to try to find another man to settle down with. Lura knew that this was something her mother would give up anything to avoid. But times were hard, even back before the world died. Their little farm couldn't hope to sustain them without someone to work the fields. But the neighbors had a little pity and did their best to help bring in her father's crops before the end of the year. That was before the people started avoiding Lura and her mother in every way they possibly could.

And it was all because of the Traitor. Lura knew as much about what happened as anyone, meaning almost nothing. Except that wasn't true. As of two hours ago, Lura probably knew more about the Traitor than anyone still alive. Other than the hateful bastard's Butcher of course.

The world hadn't truly ended, but it was now well on its way. Because of something the Traitor did, the skies had turned dark gray even in the daylight. Crops refused to grow. Game seemed to become more and more sparse. Streams dried up or began to taste so funny no one would go near them. Men did what men always do when they feel the gods are against them. War broke out. Men from every remaining village were called to join what was left of the faithful and purge the unclean things they felt responsible for the state of the land. Death had fell on the people of this world, and their response was to bring about more and more death.

People called it the Tearing of the World, or just the Tear. After that, food became so scarce it was all any loving parent could do to provide for their child, though that word didn't fit Lura anymore.

Lura was not an unattractive young woman. She was rather short, but had sad brown eyes that her mother told her any man would fall in love with. Her dark hair was always messy, which Lamyra always said made her look cute.

Her family owned a decent lot. What little food could be grown seemed to grow in their dusty red soil as well as it did any other family's. Before Lura's father left, the neighbors had always joked about one of their sons being a good suitor when he came of age. After he had left, the jokes stopped. After the world ended, everyone other than Lamyra wanted to forget the Veloren family still existed. What little food they had stored went to keeping the two of them alive, and her mother always made sure Lura was the better fed of the two.

The survivors of the Traitor's army spoke of when they traveled the globe, looking for something their master needed for some sort of ritual. No one was sure what the ritual was intended to do, only what it ended up doing. Lura supposed it was intended to grant unimaginable power. That was what the villains in all of the old stories always seemed to want. Some of the survivors believed that the Traitor was attempting to open a door to the realm of the gods. If that were the case, Lura hated the gods and wanted nothing to do with them. If they were cruel enough to take a father from his daughter, they were cruel enough to break the world.

After whatever had happened happened, the remnants of the Traitor's forces fled in droves. Most fled into the wilds and became bandits. Crime and murder were their jobs for so long, and these skills were still valuable tools to have in the days that followed. Some returned home to their families. Most were executed for what they had done. A thousand thousand deaths could be laid at the door of these murderers and their lord. A few were accepted back with open arms into families that believed they were dead. With the world so assuredly drawing its last breath it became much easier to forget anything that had come before.

Lura would not forget. It had taken four days before she felt comfortable looking through her mother's keepsakes. When she finally did, she found letters her father had written to her mother. These letters came regularly at first, but became less and less frequent. They stopped altogether when the world ended. Lura couldn't bear to look at the letters so soon after her mother's death. She was afraid that what she would find would only make the tears start to flow again.

However, one parchment was not a love letter at all. It was in her father's own hand, and must have been delivered shortly before his murder. Attached was a note that read that her mother was to keep this and never open it until he was safely back at home. Obviously, her mother hadn't waited.

The letter spoke of speaking with the Traitor. Her father seemed to think that he was a good man at heart. There was no mention of any of the horrors he unleashed upon the world, so Lura assumed this had been before the Traitor began his journey and the slaughter that accompanied it. Her father spoke of a ritual. No, the ritual! The Traitor believed it would make contact with the "Blind Ones", gods beyond what mankind was capable of understanding. Their power was limitless, but never driven toward any kind of purpose. If it could be harnessed by mankind, there would be no end to the wonders they could bring to the world. An end to hunger, an end to war, an end to anything that kept people from true happiness.

Darden Veloren was the smartest man in the village, and knew many things from the old days. He routinely went alone into the wild and returned with some new idea in his head that usually ended up bettering the lives of those around him. The Traitor needed people like her father to bring about this great new world.

It sounded like bullshit to Lura, and apparently her father as well. He made mention that he didn't know whether or not the Traitor was lying, but he felt it was worth learning more.

The strangest thing about the letter--even stranger than the passage at the end of it--was that the Traitor's name was always covered with black ink. Had her mother wanted to forget the name of the man that had led her husband away from her? But if that was all it was, why didn't anyone else seem to know his name either? Nothing was known about the man, sure, but at the very least someone should remember his name. Maybe the gods had stripped it from existence after they had dragged him down to some horrible hell.

The end of the letter spoke of the ritual itself. The Traitor didn't reveal all that was necessary to host the ritual, but he did mention what it would do:

Bring soil from every corner of the world. Lay the soil in a circle. Pour the blood of an old woman to the ground. Use a knife to open a tear in the world. Bring forth part of the Blind Ones in the form of a shadow. Tether it to [here the Traitor's name was blackened again]. Use this shade to close the tear.

Following this passage were words in a language Lura didn't recognize. They didn't seem to even be a language, just a guttural chant that sounded horrible to Lura's ears. She assumed this must be a magic incantation that would summon the shade to this world.

Flipping the note over, Lura found another note scrawled with a frantic hand:

Graadig is going to kill me. He knows about the soil, but nothing else. He is going to end everything we worked for.

Lura's heart skipped a beat. She swallowed her fury. Was this what had happened to her father? He was killed by the Butcher?

Graadig's name was known around the land even if his master's wasn't. Whenever the Traitor needed something, it was Graadig that got it. The rumor was that he really was a butcher once, but had joined up with the Traitor and had risen through his ranks swiftly. The man was a monster. Villages were burned, children killed, women raped at the word of the Traitor, and it was Graadig that saw his master's will carried out. Those who fled the ritual said that Graadig was still alive, though no one had seen him since.

This was it then. Her father was taken from their home following the word of a monster whose lips dripped honey, and was taken from the world by a monster whose lips dripped blood. Lura felt anger welling up inside her. She realized she had been enraged for so long at what had happened to her mother, to her father, to the world itself. And now she had the name of the man responsible for so much of her suffering. If this man Graadig was still alive, she would find him and she would kill him. As she looked down at the parchment, the strange words seemed to almost glow in the candlelight.

If whatever was brought into the world through this ritual responded to these words, then there was a good chance it was still here somewhere. If she read the words aloud, maybe it would find her and tell her how to get her revenge. It was a stupid plan, yes, but it was all she had to go on. Lura realized that she was dealing with strange things beyond what she could understand, forces that had stripped the world bare. Calling upon this force had caused this disaster, and Lura knew it very well could cause it again. The world had been destroyed once, but her world had died ten years before that. If calling this thing caused it to die a third time, Lura would take that chance in order to spit in the dying face of the man who had killed her father.

With this on her mind, she read the words over and over throughout the night.


"I think that's really stupid."

Lura was dragged kicking and screaming out of her thoughts of last night's disappointment. "What?"

Lamyra seemed annoyed that her "big sister" wasn't paying attention. "The way they talk about you."

Lura knew the way they talked about her. She looked to the ground, suddenly very tired. She had been up late reading the parchment, but there was more to her weariness than that. The chant hadn't worked. Nothing had happened, other than Lura jumping at every small sound, sure that a demon from the old stories would appear and drag her away into the woods.

"It doesn't matter. I'll get by the way I always have."

"How can you do that? What are you going to eat? Are you going to live in that little shack the rest of your life?"

Lamyra was surprisingly practical for a nine year old. She had been born after the world's breaking, and the hard times had taken a good deal of her innocence away from her. It had replaced that innocence with an appreciation for what it took to survive in these dark times.

"Gee, I never thought about any of that." Lura had forgotten that Lamyra wasn't as easy to distract as other children her age.

"Don't be a shit." Lura had also forgotten that Lamyra had recently discovered swear words. Not being able to use them around her mother for fear of her young life, she made liberal use of them around her older friend. "You have to think about these things now. That's why I think you should come live with us! We could work in the fields, and dig for potatoes, and look for blackberries!"

"You know your mom isn't going to go for that, pup."

Lamyra frowned. "Yeah. But it's dumb as shit. I don't see what the big deal is. Lots of people went with the Traitor."

"That doesn't make it right."

"Yeah, but it's not right that people hate you for it! You didn't go! Why do they hate you because of it?"

Lura sighed. "People just seem to be a lot more untrusting these days. Nobody wants anything to do with anyone that had anything to do with the 'old ways'."

Before the Tear, people knew her father had some dealings with the strange people that lived in the woods. He would never say anything about who he was talking to, but people seemed to believe they were practitioners of black magic, or demon worshippers, or shamans, or whatever else was the shadowy force to be feared for that week. Usually they tolerated "Crazy-Eyed Darden" because he would usually come back with knowledge about what crop would give the most yield this year, or what streams had the most fish, or which forests held the most game.

"But what are you going to do?"

"Just... get by, I suppose. I'll figure something out."

"The Vyren family has a boy not too much younger than you. He's kind've a weirdo too, maybe you could marry him."

"Somehow, pup, I don't think marrying some farmer's son is going to improve my situation."

Lura hated the fact that women were essentially bought and sold like cattle, and she imagined most women in this village did too. A woman's place was at home, raising children and minding the house. She supposed men had it no better, hunting or working the field from dawn till dusk.

Lura wanted something more for her life, and she wasn't going to get that by staying in this village. Since it was now apparent that some mystical problem-solver wasn't going to appear and grant her the key to getting her revenge, Lura was going to have to come up with another way. She had enough food for a few days' journey, but that was about it. Still, it might be enough to get her to Ronae or some fishing village and she might be able to work on a boat for a while to get enough gold to get to Mardon or one of the other larger cities. If there was anyone that knew the whereabouts of the Butcher, they would have to be in a larger town.

"You're thinking about going, aren't you?"

Lura knew that Lamyra looked up to her that special way that children have of idealizing people older than they are, but not too much older than they are. Lamyra was an only child and her parents doted on her so much. They were extremely overprotective, just as all parents were these days. They hated Lura just as much as the rest of the town, but knew it was pointless to try to prevent their daughter from seeing her. They were generally as xenophobic as anyone else in town, but they were good people at their heart. At least where they daughter was concerned. Over the course of the last five days, Lamyra had attempted many times to get her family to adopt Lura. Even if they didn't despise her and her family, they were unable to support another mouth to feed.

"Just for a while, pup. I've got some things out of town I need to take care of. I'll be back before you know it."

"That's probably what your father said, too."

Lura felt a rush of anger. "You don't know a damned ting about what my father said. All you've ever known are your stupid parents and your stupid farm and this stupid village. You have no idea what things were like before the Tear. Or what people have had to give up because of it."

Tears welled in the child's eyes. "But you're just going to leave? Fine! We'd be better off without you anyway. I'm the only one that even likes you and you're going to run off and leave me just like your dad ran off and left your mom. That's fine! I hate you!"

Her words continued to make Lura's anger rise. But then Lura reminded herself she was having a shouting match with a child less than half her own age.

Lamyra had always been Lura's shadow. She looked to Lura to be the sister she never had. And since no one else in town would show any kindness toward her, Lura knew that Lamyra was her only friend. The only one she was ever likely to have. The nickname "pup" had always been a joke between them. Lamyra was always under foot, always following beside her, tripping her up wherever she went. Without Lamyra, she had not a single other soul in the world who cared for her.

Lura squatted down to be on Lamyra's level and placed a hand on her shoulder. Lura spoke softly. "I'm leaving now, but that doesn't mean I'll be leaving forever. I'll come back home after I do what I need to do. By that time you'll probably be married off to some farmer's son of your own. You'll probably forget all about me, you'll have so much going on in your life. But I'll always remember you, pup. We'll always be friends, no matter where I go."

Lamyra threw herself like an arrow directly into Lura's throat, grasping her neck as hard as she could. She wept. "Don't go. Don't go. Just stay here... mom will let you stay with us, you'll see. I don't want you to go."

Lura fought back tears of her own. "I have to, pup. But I'll be back, I promise."

"You have to now, you have to. You promised."

Lura held the child tight. "I promised."


Lura made her way back to her lonely little shack. Whenever she came home she was reminded of just how empty this place now felt. It had always been a tiny hovel, but it had always been home. There was a warmth to it that belied its small size. As a child it had seemed like a cavern. Now it seemed like a tomb, some dark and cold place with only ghosts for company.

A rumble in Lura's stomach filled her with a special kind of dread. She would have to go to bed hungry tonight, and ration her food over the next few days. In all truth, what she had left was less than what she should be eating in a single day, and she would have to spread it across several if she were going to get to Ronae. It was a port city, one of the largest around these parts, and rumor had it they had enough fish for everyone, even visitors. But other rumors said it was a bad place, where disease and crime were now its chief exports.

Lura paused at the door, finding she didn't want to go inside. There was nothing for her here, other than the pup. Everyone hated her. There was no food and little water. There was no work to be done. Lura fought back tears again. There was no family.

Still it would be hard to leave this place. She had never really even left the village. Only trips to the woods on some childish adventure. Once she had wandered into a neighbor's field, which led her into another neighbor's field, which led to another. Before she knew what was going on she was hopelessly lost. She had sat in the dirt and cried well into the night until her father had ridden up on his large black horse. He leapt from it before it even came to a stop and before coming to a stop himself he had her up in his arms, holding her and thanking the gods she was safe. Her mother had scolded her for an hour before breaking down in tears and hugging her for what felt like an hour more.

There was nothing here anymore. Just memories that did no good, only deepening her sadness and her resolve to go.

She opened the door, wincing at the long screeching noise that had existed for as long as Lura had. She reached for the candle on the table by the door, lighting it before stepping inside. As she closed the door, she suddenly felt like something was wrong. Mist came from her mouth when she exhaled. It was far too hot a night for that, and winter was still a few months off. She turned around, looked into the corner, and immediately wished she was in the ground next to her mother.

It hadn't been there when she came in. She knew it hadn't. She had been looking into the corner on her way in, and it was not there. There was only one door and the windows were all shut, so it would have had to walk through the walls to get inside.

There was nothing to it, that was obvious. It was just a shadow on the wall, but the light of the candle was casting its own shadows and these abruptly stopped when they came close to the figure in the corner. It was as if it was a hole in the world, something that absorbed darkness, making any other shadow into a pale imitation.

Not daring to move, she stood staring at it for what felt like a very long time. The sun was getting low on the horizon, but it was not quite dark, thank the gods. She didn't want to imagine what it would look like in the darkness. The blood quickly drained from her face the first time she saw it move. Whatever it was, it was alive. Two faint white lights appeared near the top of it, what would be its head if it was a man. The light in its eyes grew until they seemed like two bright lights far away suffused in a thick fog. Still bright, but obscured by the shadows that made up its being.

The eyes, if that's what they were, didn't hold to the front of its "face." Instead they stayed lodged in the middle of what would have been its head. The rest of its body reminded Lura of a scarecrow her father had made when she was a child. A poorly imagined thing, it was more or less a barrel covered in an old coat. Lura had a lot of fun painting the eyes onto the old gourd that they set on top of the barrel, serving as the head for their new watchdog for the field. This was the same. No arms, no legs, just a column with a head on top. As she continued staring into the eyes, she felt like she was in the middle of a vast ocean, many leagues deep, with sharks swimming around her in ever-smaller circles.

When it finally spoke, Lura found herself almost disappointed. It was a high, whispering voice, but seemed rather normal compared to the rest. It's tone was one of genuine interest as it uttered a single word. "How?"

Lura tried to force her words out, even as she inched back towards the door. When no words came forth, it seemed to grow impatient.

"How?"

Lura finally spoke. "I-I don't ..."

"How?"

Lura finally assumed it was asking how it came to be here tonight. "There was a note in a letter. My father sent it. It had these words, and ..."

"And you thought it wise to call me here? You are a fool." Gradually the shade started to fade and Lura realized it was leaving.

"No, wait! There was a man named Graadig. He killed my father. You have to help me find him and--"

"That man killed many. If it is of any consolation, he will meet his end at my hand sooner or later. Goodbye, little fool."

"I want to kill him too! You have to help me, this is all I have left. The note, it described what the Traitor did and my father helped him, but Graadig killed him."

The fading stopped for a moment. "How closely was your father involved?"

The room seemed to grow even darker at this. Frost started forming on the inside of the windows and Lura's frantic breaths blew forth more mist. She could feel hatred flowing towards her in waves. She felt like her life would come to an end base on her next few words. "I... I don't know exactly, but the Traitor came here and sought out his help. He knew enough about it to write it down in this note. Soil from the four corners, an old woman's blood."

"What was the name of your father?"

"Darden. Darden Veloren."

The shade became darker. It seemed it was no longer interested in leaving.

"Your father was Darden Veloren. And now you want to kill Graadig?"

"That's right. Please, I know I can't do this on my own. I know you have the power to help me."

The room slowly warmed again as it seemed to consider this new information. "It seems we may have a common goal."

Lura fell onto her mother's bed. "What are we supposed to do? And if you want him killed, why isn't he dead already? The note said you were part of the Blind Ones. With that power you could find him anywhere, right?"

The eyes seemed to stare down at the floor for a moment. Was this thing actually sad about something? "There are... complications when I involve myself directly in such matters. Complications I would rather avoid." Its eyes rose to look at Lura once again. "To avoid these complications, I need to work in proxy. I have not found a good agent to work directly against this man your people call the Butcher. That is, perhaps, until now. Do you know what Graadig did to your father?"

Lura was afraid of what was coming next. "I know he killed him. That's enough."

"No, it isn't. Graadig fed your father the rich dirt of the good earth until he choked on his own vomit. I'm told this took nearly an hour. I imagine it was most unpleasant."

Lura knew the shade was trying to make her angry. Instead she just felt sad. "I know what you're trying to do. I want to kill the son of a bitch. Nothing you can say will make me want his death more than I do already."

The shade paused. "No. No, I suppose not. Perhaps we should speak of how we intend to bring that about, hmm? You know I have the power to make this happen?"

"Yes. But... what are you?"

It seemed somewhat amused at this. "I don't tell this story often. I hope you understand how interested I am in an arrangement between us. The one they call the Traitor of Man believed the Blind Ones were gods, and he wanted to be an instrument of their divine will. With this will, he believed he could shape the world in whatever way he chose. He was a fool on every account. The Blind Ones are mindless. They have no will of their own. In trying to summon their will, he shaped me out of something that doesn't exist. A false shadow of the idiot gods that surround this world." It sounded almost resentful, almost disgusted by its very being.

"So you're a-a shade of something not real. What do I call you?"

"I have no name. Call me whatever you will. 'Shade' will do."

"But if the Blind Ones have no will of their own, how are you even capable of doing anything?"

"An excellent question. I'm happy you're paying attention. The Traitor forced me into this form with the intent of using his will to control their will. He momentarily succeeded, and died because of it. From that brief connection, I learned from him what it meant to want something, to desire something to happen. I suppose that is how I came to be able to make decisions and freely move about this world. Such as it is."

"And that was what caused the Tear? You showing up?"

"Not exactly. In order to draw me into this world, the Traitor had to open a literal tear into the outside. It is like being underwater and taking a breath. The water is not supposed to enter your lungs, and your life is quite worse because of it."

"What about the complications you spoke about?"

"If I were to attempt to remove the water from your lungs, it would cause more harm than good. More water would enter and you would be closer to drowning. Do you understand?" It seemed to like its own analogy.

"But I can be your proxy? How? People think Graadig still has some of the Traitor's followers surrounding him. How would I be able to even get near him?"

"It will not be easy. But I can grant you the power to end his life."

Lura did not feel very reassured by this.

"This is the part in the old stories where someone wishes for something and the demon grants it. But it ends up being something she didn't want, right? 'You should have been more specific' and all of that."

Shade seemed annoyed by this. "I am not some spirit in a bottle fished out of the town well. I have no interest in tricking you, and I have no time to entertain these childish notions. If you want the power, I will give it to you. Yes, there is a price to pay. For both of us. If you want it, I will tell you what I am going to do. If not I will leave, and you will have wasted my time and your own."

She believed him, but it didn't make her feel any better about what was about to happen. "What will the power be? What will it do to me?"

"You will become stronger, faster, able to tear a man apart as you would pull apart a leaf. You will be able to find Graadig wherever he goes and make him pay for what he did to your father. And you will have allies, others like you that will help in this fight. You will never grow old, you will never fall ill. You will become part of something greater, part of a spirit ancient while man was taking his first steps upon this earth."

Lura waited. "And the bad?"

"You will have to leave this place. Mankind will ever be an enemy to you. You will never be able to live among them."

Lura thought of Lamyra. She would be the only thing in this village she would miss. "That sounds just fine to me. But that's not all, is it?"

Shade hesitated. "No. You will become a monster, more animal than human. You will change into a beast whenever you are afraid, angry, or aroused. And you will feel all of these emotions far more powerful and often than you have ever felt them before. Every moment you are awake, you will be afraid that you will lose control, that you will lose your mind, that you will lose those you love. And it will be this way until the day of your death or the day the sun sets forever upon this world." It paused. "Do you still think, dear child, I am attempting to trick you?"

Lura stared at the floor, overwhelmed. "No. No, I suppose you aren't."

"I am tired of this exchange, and of you. Your answer?"

Lura knew what her answer would be, but still stared out the window, making herself consider. In one form or another, she had run this question through her head a thousand times since yesterday. Now that it came to it, it was much harder than she had expected. She thought of Lamyra's face, of her mother's. And then her father's face. Murdered by a man he must have once called friend.

"Do it."

Shade seemed almost relieved, either because she had agreed or because his time was no longer being wasted. "It is done. Tomorrow you will go east to the forest."

Lura felt the room grow slightly warmer and brighter. Looking into the corner, the horrid thing was gone. Lura closed her eyes and waited for the change to begin. She pointlessly counted down from ten, knowing that the change would happen when it was ready. The stillness of the shack was almost unbearable. She could hear the crickets chirping outside. The water from the stream. The neighbor's cows lowing loudly.

Nothing.

"The bastard! He tricked me! He--AAAGH!"

Unbearable pain suddenly flooded from Lura's core to every limb. Grasping her stomach, she felt as if she had swallowed fire. Briefly she wondered if this was what her mother felt like when Lura was being drawn into this world. That strange thought fled her mind as the pain grew and grew. Gritting her teeth so loudly she could hear them grinding against each other, she shook her head back and forth slowly, attempting to refuse the pain that now wracked her.

She forced her eyes open. Everywhere she looked, the room seemed to be floating back and forth. She began to feel dizzy. Trying to focus on the candle on the table didn't help. Soon enough there were two candles, then three. She closed her eyes again before it became four.

Sweat dripped from her forehead almost audibly. She could feel her messy brown hair matting to her face. Reaching up to brush it aside, she felt her skin was hot to the touch, hotter than any fever she had ever known. She pulled her hand away and looked at her palm. It was drenched from just the small touch she had given to her forehead. It began to cramp, and she clenched her fists to try to drive some of the pain away to no avail.

The grinding of her teeth became louder and louder until she finally realized they were actually cracking. She tried to open her mouth, but it was too tight, like her jaw was clenched to her skull. Gradually she found that her attempt to open her mouth was being helped by her teeth growing. She could actually feel them expanding, pushing further out from her gums. She tried to reach up to feel them, but her hands still didn't want to open. Turning her hand over, she looked at her wrist. She half expected to see blood falling from her palms. Instead she saw her fingernails were also attempting to flee her skin. They continued growing in size, growing longer. She finally forced her fist apart just enough to see each fingernail was growing into a point.

"No! No no! Stop, this wasn't what I wanted." The change had only been going on for a few minutes and she was already lying to herself. She had agreed to this to gain the chance of hurting a man she had never met, who could be on the other side of the world for all she knew. Regret filled her, but she knew enough about the old tales to know that Shade--whether a demon or evil spirit or no--had only given her exactly what she asked for.

Lura tried to pull at her collar to relieve some of the heat pouring from her skin, but could only futilely rub at it with her clenched fists. Sweat was now pouring from her in a way she had never seen. Her clothes were saturated. Her mother's bed was being soaked. It was so bad she could smell herself. Unclean. Dirty. But something else, too. She feared she smelled like an animal.

Gradually her hands allowed themselves to be uncurled. Her fingernails extended a few inches past where she expected them to be. They looked like they could tear the bark from an oak. Small hairs were popping up now and then on the back of her hand, and she could feel more appearing on her now-drenched arms. A terrible pain in her feet signaled the same was happening to them. She attempted to kick off her shoes, but they were far too tight now. She grit her teeth once again, marveling at how long and sharp they felt, as she waited for the pain to ease as her shoes were pulled apart. At first she could only feel her toenails pushing against the front of her shoes, but soon every part of her foot felt like it was swelling. Small tears could be heard as the tough cow skin was pushed apart. Soon she could see her skin splitting the seams before with a loud pop the bottoms of her shoes fell away. She gasped in momentary relief before the pain seemed to return. She noticed the same dark brown hairs starting to cover the tops of her feet.

Lura went back to pulling at her collar, hoping to release some of her body heat now that her fingers seemed to work again. Feeling there was no use delaying the inevitable, she pulled her hand down, tearing the front of the shirt open. She was disgusted when she looked at her chest.

"No! Oh gods, that's wrong." Dark hair was covering the space between her breasts, trailing all the way down her front to the seam of her pants. It was faint, but becoming thicker. Sweat dripped from every pour along the front of her torso. She could feel it running in rivers down and down to a wetness growing in her waist. It was so hot. She ran her fingers through her hair, trying to push it from her face. Her hair felt thicker, and she could tell it was growing longer. It would soon reach her waist. Trying in vain to move it away from her eyes, she felt something pushing her hair upward. She inwardly cursed at never being wealthy enough to own a mirror, but she could tell what was happening. Her ears were coming to points and pushing up through her hair. She pressed against them, for some strange reason wanting to feel them as they grew. They seemed to slightly twitch under her touch. "Gods no, they aren't supposed to do that."

Her clothes now soaking wet, she started to pull at her breeches. The dirty spots on their knees from so many years kneeling in the dirt had been replaced by the same slick sweat that covered the rest of her body. She noticed her feet were still growing larger, the dark hairs becoming longer. She tried to stand and immediately fell back to a sitting position on the bed. Every muscle ached, and it was all she could do to sit upright. Standing was out of the question.

Unbelievably the heat seemed to get even worse. "Huh... huh... hah..." She panted, gasping in the increasingly humid air. She looked to the ceiling and felt her hair cascading down her back. The sweat actually seemed to be slowing now, although it was still everywhere at this point. She felt a heat build from inside her bones, pushing against her skin, pushing into the air. Hair was now covering her chest, growing in a thick trail down below the hem of her pants. "UGH... gods... No..." Desperately seeking relief from the terrible heat, she tore the rest of her shirt off. The hair was everywhere now. Little patches of skin could still be seen here and there, but even these were slowly giving up to the terrible onslaught of... fur? "It'll... be fur soon... gods please no."

As if to mock her prayers, the pain returned tenfold. If she thought it had been unbearable before, it was even worse now. Screaming into the ceiling, she felt her muscles twitch. Her legs ached horribly as she felt her feet getting further away from her body. She was growing taller! She struggled to her feet and managed to stand for a few moments before losing her balance and falling forward onto the floor. Pushing against the floorboards, she managed to flip herself onto her back. The cool floor soothed her skin for a few moments before growing warm against her. Slowly banging her head against the floor, she felt her teeth again growing steadily longer. She stifled a sob as she felt her spine growing longer, popping violently. Her arms and legs were so sore, but she could feel strength emerging as well. Raising her arm a little to try to get a look, she was surprised at the heat and the strange smell coming from her armpits. When she finally got a good look at her arms, she could tell there was a definite tone appearing to her muscles.

Her thoughts were brought back to what was happening to her legs as she felt the seams of her trousers start to give way. Thick black hair was poking through the splits, and she could feel strength building in her legs as well. For a moment, she felt like sprinting through the woods, not after prey but for the sheer enjoyment of being able to run so fast. That thought disappeared as she felt her ears finally reach their destination near the top of her head. Reaching up to touch them, she felt something stretching in her chest and stomach.

Looking down, she noticed a definite swell in her breasts. The gods had not seen fit to grant her the curves of some of the other girls in the village, but this was now being remedied. Slowly running her monstrous hands across her chest, she brushed against her nipples and felt an almost painful sting as they swelled. She gasped as she felt a growing wetness, one altogether different from the sweat that still covered her form. Reaching for what little cloth still covered her body at the waist, she felt two more stings of pain from just below her breasts.

"Oh... Oh gods... no, that's just wrong..." Her voice was growing steadily deeper and raspier, but she had no time to consider what this might mean. She saw that below her breast, two nubs were pushing out of her skin. They continued to grow until they stood an inch longer, and then rose higher as her new breasts swelled. This was too much. Despite what was happening to her body, she still felt like a person, a human. But this... These still-swelling teats belonged on the body of an animal, something feral. "No, no please..." Her hand trailed lower and lower, and as if following its lead she felt two more nipples push into existence. "No, stop, please stop, gods, not more!" She felt the hair--fur--all over her body thicken, only adding to the terrible heat.

And then a heat of another kind appeared.

Lura's eyes opened as wide as they could. "Oh... Oh... What is--?" Her question was cut off by a growing warmness centering below the tattered remains of her underclothes. She started panting, harder and harder, craning her neck to look at her crotch as if expecting to see something amiss. Instead she just felt more of the horrible... almost wonderful... heat radiating from her maidenhood. She slowly lowered her monstrous hand to the waistband of what was left of her pants and dipped them below, trying to find the source. Immediately the heat increased, and so did her panting. Frantically she pulled the last vestige of clothing apart, dreading what she would find and wanting it at the same time. Drool was falling from her nether lips just as it was falling from her fangs. "Oh... oh gods... oh no... oh... yes." She could feel an orgasm slowly building. This had not been the first time she had touched herself. Her mother had told her that was a gift to her future husband. In truth, that only made Lura want to touch herself all the more often. Slowly, carefully she ran her clawed finger up and down her slit, feeling a tinge of revulsion at the fourth pair of teats on either side of her mound. It was so wet to the touch, sickeningly wet, far more than she had ever felt before. Her cunt almost begged for something inside it, invisible hands pulling her finger closer and closer. Fearful of what her sharp claws would do to the sensitive flesh, she instead contented herself with carefully running the thickly-padded end of her middle finger against her clit. "Feels... good... gods help me, it feels so good..."

Suddenly her pleasure was interrupted by more pain centering on her lower back. Again, she could feel new bones being added to her spine, her legs stretching further away from her arms. Her muscle tone seemed to grow, still feminine, but making her feel stronger than she had ever felt in her life. More pain came from her feet as her toes grew longer, the balls of her feet slowly growing away from her ankle until they were stretched almost as far as the distance between her ankle and her knee. More pain radiated from her tailbone. "No! No no no!" She knew all too well what change this was going to be.

Slowly a small nub pushed itself from the skin right about her ass. Being in this position also made Lura feel the pleasurable sensations return again, stronger than before. Her body wanted her in this position, ready to be fucked by whatever stray beast happened across her. She flexed her ass, pushing it higher into the air, begging for a mate that was not there. All the while her new--gods be damned--her new tail pushed steadily forward, covering itself in luxuriant brown fur. It felt almost silky, almost sophisticated if it weren't attached to the body of an animal. She could feel her nether lips pulsing, eager for a mate, eager to find release.

Instead, the worst pain she would experience all night centered on her face. She felt confident that her scream, low and guttural, had shook the windows. If the neighbors heard this, if they discovered what was moaning and drooling on the floor of the weird shack owned by the weird family, she imagined the village would come for her and she would be dead by the morning's light. Thankfully, the cows outside still seemed to be lowing, louder than Lura had ever heard them before. This might have been some small blessing, but right now all she could do was scream her fury at the horrible pain behind her nose and jaw. Her muzzle pushed itself into existence, drool falling like a waterfall down her black lips to the dirty floorboards. She could feel her pointed ears flattening, primally signifying her distress. She could only shut her eyes tight against the pain as her long moan turned into a silent scream as all strength fled from her body. She tried to close her mouth, but her jaws didn't seem to want to cooperate until they were finished with their journey. Finally the tide of pain subsided, and Lura's eyes opened wide. She was breathing fast, inhaling and exhaling deep lungfuls of the humid air inside the shack, thankful in a strange way that her change was nearing its end.

As the pain drained from her face, she felt it slowly disappear from the rest of her body as well. The pleasure, the perverted lust, was still present, and growing stronger. It was as if her body was apologizing for the agony it had put her through and was now trying to make amends. Her breath came fast and faster and more and more heat flooded into her crotch. Now standing completely on all fours, she attempting to once again touch herself before realizing two things were wrong. First, her hands had grown much in the same way as her feet and had lost nearly all of their movement. She could only try to rub herself with her awkward limb, not quite a paw, not quite a hand. The second problem was slowly making itself known as her maidenhead pushed further out of her body, angling in a triangle and facing behind her.

"No! Nooaaawwwwrrrrr! No!" All pleasure denied her, Lura felt the last of the changes wrack her body as her tail finally finished growing, lengthening to nearly half of her now-considerable height. She moaned in frustration and anger, pawing at the ground, tearing chunks out of the floorboard with surprising ease. Thankfully the pleasure continued to rise until suddenly an orgasm she could never have imagined hit her with the force of a bolt of lightning. Her eyes bulged as this horrible nightmare at last completed itself, ending with a feeling that radiated throughout her body that almost made it all worth it. As the pleasure built and built, her moans turned into sound that would have filled the town with dread, but made Lura feel wonderful, powerful, connected and suffused with the world itself. Lura howled, and howled, and howled until the pleasure faded and Lura's consciousness started fading with it. The last sight she saw before sleep blessedly embraced her was her father's note, laying beside the bed just out of reach. Her last thought was that Shade had stayed true to his word, and had given her what she desired. Gods damn him, and bless him and keep him always in their hearts. She would use this gift, this curse, to uphold her end of the bargain.

Soon.