Chapter 24: The Cursed Ones

The air grew thick, suffocating with an unnatural stillness. Lyra's breath hitched as she stared through the wooden shutters of their temporary shelter. The village was silent—too silent. The once-watchful villagers had vanished behind locked doors, their fear palpable in the way they had moved, in the way they had whispered.

And now, in the shadows of the trees beyond the village, something lurked.

A pair of glowing red eyes.

Then another.

And another.

One by one, they emerged from the darkness, stepping onto the narrow dirt paths of the village with slow, deliberate movements. Their bodies were humanoid, but twisted—elongated limbs, hunched backs, clawed fingers that twitched as if barely containing their hunger. Their skin, if it could even be called that, was darkened and cracked, like burnt flesh barely holding itself together.

Lyra felt her heartbeat hammering against her ribs.