The Night Belongs to the Wolves

Render stumbled through the forest, a full moon over head. Tears still stained his face as the memories of that scene he woke up to 3 nights ago was still fresh in his mind. The blood... the bodies, OH the bodies... torn, mauled, expressions of the most terrible kind frozen forever upon their faces. Fresh tears fell from his eyes as the memories came flooding back, memories that were not his. He remembered... hunger, hatred, pain and anguish. He remembered his bones extending, his muscles and teeth growing. He remembered the look on that poor farmer's face as he tore his rib cage from his chest and gnawed on his bones as he laid dying and watching. He remembered the taste of blood in his mouth, the taste... It was so good... delicious... NO! What was he thinking? No. That's vile, inhuman... bestial. The bite on his neck throbbed immensely. It's pain seemed to grow as the full moon rose higher into the sky. More memories, more blood. He had a still beating heart in his left hand, the bashed in skull of a child in the other. He remembered how full his belly felt when he lapped down bits of brain, blood and muscle. The taste... Oh God the taste was amazing. He slit the throat of another screaming woman, her voice be silenced as her sweet red juices spilled all down her dress. He remembered tearing her in half to get at her spine, cracking it in half and sucking out the insides as if it were crab legs. He remembered seeing the look of a wide-eyed young child, unable to comprehend seeing his mother effectively decapitated. He remembered the sound as he finally screamed when he picked up the child and sunk his teeth into the kid's neck.

Render fell to the ground, nausea and body aches consuming him. No, no NO! he was so close! Konoha was only a few miles away! No... no....... n- All coherent thought was lost in that small manner of seconds. Nausia, pain, Bones cracking, reforming, healing, muscles and tendons splitting, tearing, rehearing. Hair grew in massive amounts down his back and arms, covering him in a dusty black cloak. He coughed up blood as his face stretched out, becoming more wolven in appearance. His voice seemed to drop dramatically as he transformed, becoming a low growl. Finally, as the transformation completed, Flesh-Shredder rose from the ground, raised his head to the sky and let out a triumphant howl. The moonlight seemed to glint of his eyes, making it look as if they glowed red. Now... Flesh-Shredder was hungry. He flexed his new muscles, tested his new fingers. Time to hunt! Flesh-Shredder crouched low, zipping through the woods like a shadow, undetected. He came to the main road travelers often used to exit or enter the village of the leaf. Doesn't matter. They were all here for him to kill, to eat. He waited patiently, pacing back and forth up the road. Finally, his patients were rewarded in the form of three humans, one male, adult. The other two, children, one a boy the other a girl. He could smell them... their blood... he needed their blood! No! not yet... not yet.... closer... He needed them to get closer. If they did, they would have no chance to escape. As soon as they passed in front of his hiding spot, Flesh-Shredder jumped out from the trees, crashing into the male adult. He let out a gasp and the children screamed. He didn't care. He would silence them soon enough. He landed atop the man and slashed his nails across the man's chest. He grunted, trying to shove the large werewolf off of him but Flesh-Shredder was too strong, too heavy. The man threw a wild punch at the wolf's face but that only encouraged the beast to kill him faster. The next punch he threw didn't connect. Flesh-Ripper caught his fist in his giant paw of a hand, crushing the bones as if they were tooth-picks. The man roared in pain and Flesh-Ripper howled in delight. Kids still screaming. Barely aware of them. Hungry..... meat..... blood.... Flesh-Shredder lowered his face so that it was only an inch or two from the man's He growled before letting out a roar that could shake the sky itself. Children no longer cried, probably stunned by the suddenness of his roar. He sunk his teeth into the man's throat, growling as the soft flesh and the warm salty liquid spurted, then poured into his maw like a fountain. More... Flesh-Shredder wasn't content. More Blood! He finished with the man's throat and moved onto his chest. He sunk his claws in between his rib-cage, ripping out the whole thing, pieces of bone and blood flying everywhere, sticking to his fur coat and face. He didn't care. He tore the heart from the man's chest, dropping it into his mouth and chewing it as if it were gummy candy. Chewy and full of flavor.... exactly how he liked it... After he swallowed his treat, he turned to the children. Flesh-Shredder expected them to have run, or cry, or both. Not the boy.

The boy had picked up a large stick and held it in front of him like is was a sword, his sister standing not far behind, hiding behind him. Flesh-Shredder looked at them and cocked his head to the side in wonder... Such brave little meat bags... perhaps he would play with them... He got down on all fours, walking in circles around the brave little kid, growling lowly. As he stared into the angry red eyes of the wolven creature, his resolve wavered for just a moment. Then, he would steel himself and charge the wolf, bringing the stick down on his head. It broke over Flesh-Shredder's skull, not even really catching his attention. The child stumbled back, horrified that his courage and resolve didn't count for anything against this demon. It was as if his world had crumbled all around him, damning him to the will of the beast. Flesh-Shredder lashed out a hand, wrapping his gnarled fingers around the child's throat. He heard him gasp, but not struggle as Flesh-Shredder held him off the ground. It seemed the kid had lost all hope. He tightened his grip suddenly, causing a loud "crack" followed by the boy going limp. Flesh-Shredder wasn't even hungry anymore, he just wanted to kill. He then showed the girl her brother's limp body, and smiled darkly, silently. She seemed to be in the deepest state of shock, the one where she was frozen, as if she was incased in ice. She only watched silently as Flesh-Shredder ran his claws along the girl's brother's stomach, spilling his innards across the ground with a sickening splat. She only stared as Flesh-Shredder placed a hand atop her head and squeezed, causing it to pop like a ripe melon. The girl's body slumped to the ground, and Flesh-Shredder lapped his hands clean of blood, having done his killing. Normally, he would have devoured the corpses, but tonight, something had come over him. For some strange, inexplicable reason, he did not feel the desire to crunch their bones, to munch their hearts. For a reason beyond explanation, he even had half a mind to bury them. BURY THEM? What, and leave their bodies for the worms to feast on? Never! These were his kills and were his to devour... And yet... why is there so much resistance? His frustration was such, animalistic instincts struggling with this new sense of humanity. The inner battle was so intense, it caused his head to spike with pain, and Flesh-Shredder clasped his huge palms to the sides, howling in massive discomfort. Only when movement caught his eye did he become aware of his surroundings again. A new person... this one, the same age as those other two children, had some metal tied to his head... knives, metal, blood on him, in him... Smells old... metal smells of blood as well... red splattered about his face and clothes... not animal, human... Difference... Slowly the thoughts within his animalistic mind become more Coherent, more complicated... Not Human animal... yet kills humans.... no eat... just kill... Flesh-Shredder roared. Nothing made sense! Why do humans kill humans? Need to eat... no kill unless eat! He growled and lunged at the kid, claws and fangs outstretched. He knew that if he could only taste the kid's warm fluids... it would all make sense. What he didn't know was how agile the kid was. He side-stepped the werewolf, throwing a kick into the side of his head that left him stunned. It growled and lunged again but instead of being met with another attack, the child threw an herb at his face. Flesh-Shredder recognized the smell immediately. Wolf's Bane! He snarled and jumped back, holding a large palm over his mouth and nose. Wolf's Bane to a werewolf was like garlic to a vampire. It wasn't necessarily fatal but it overloads their senses and leaves them stunned. His anger rose, but somehow, he knew he was unable to win this fight. A small, meek voice that spoke in words only the wolf could understand. He howled into the night once again before fading back into the brush. He could hear the kid's pursuit but he knew not of the terrain like Flesh-Shredder did. After an hour of pursuit, he heard those footsteps stop coming and he knew the child had given up. Suddenly, a sigh of relief fell over him. He was safe... wait... RELIEF!!? Suddenly, he had blacked out... He woke up again, his body had become it's normal self, body battered from the transformation, but otherwise undamaged. Render shakily got to his feet. How... long had he been out...? The moon didn't seem to move that much...? If he remembered correctly, the road was just up this way...

As he had gotten to the road, he saw that grizzly sight. Three more victims. An older man with his chest ripped open, heart and ribcage missing, a Little body with his neck snapped and disemboweled, and finally the little girl who's head was somehow smashed. Render held up a hand to his mouth as tears came. Who murdered children...? Who... for some reason, Render's mouth felt very sticky. He pulled his hand away and saw a red viscous fluid. B... blood..? His mouth definitely had the taste of the salty fluid now that he was aware of it... Inside... what he felt inside... heavy, warm, as if he had eaten a full meal not to long ago. But it wasn't just that. it felt as though another creature was under his skin, trying to tear itself free of it's fleshy confinement. He almost thought he heard a howl in his mind and he tried to fight for control of his body from this presence. After hours of playing cat-and-mouse with this mental beast, It seemed to snort in disgust before falling back into some kind of dormant state. He knew that all it took was one slip, just one slip, and that creature would rise to the surface faster than he could contain it... Maybe that was what happened here... Maybe he did this... Render felt more tears come on as he realized what this meant. He was a monster. A FREAK! He slumped up against a tree and cried there for a good 10 minutes before they stopped coming and all he could do was morn without tears. A few minutes later, Render felt the dried blood cake his face and decided it was time to wash himself clean. This bloodied look would only remind him of what he had done and  he had no intention of being reminded. He wandered through the forest before coming upon a small stream where he dunked his face into, washing all the blood from his body and clothes. As he put them all back on, he headed back into Konoha, still mourning the death he had so mindlessly caused.

WC: 2015

Claiming 10 stat points and Pack Leader Form