It lurks at night

[Iceshadow]

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It lurks at night.

It reaps and harvests those innocent.

Man. Demon. Beast.

Progeny of Varrach.

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Reports of a shadow demon, once insect now being spread around the land. It has no name known to that of the common folk of Meranthe.

Information on the elemental is scarce, only its hunting times are known. It exists at night exclusively. It refuses to hunt at dawn or past. The dusk hours of the day being its preferred rooting grounds. It carries no boundary nor preference on prey. Only that it has evolved rapidly to achieve where it is now.

Several individuals have gone permanently injured. Cattle, swine and farm animals being left eviscerated and gorged upon by the demon's endless hunger for growth and evolution.

All of these are rumors and nothing is confirmed besides people who have escaped its clutches.

Some say it took the arm of a young beastkin some time ago.

That its shattered the cores of wyverns mercilessly.

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Out of all of this uncertainty, one thing is true.

It lurks only at night.

[Iceshadow]

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Had nobody learned?

The rumors were true at this rate.

A foul entity which was as nocturnal as it was vicious.
A creature which was as silent as it was violent.

It was never spotted in the day.
Perhaps the earliest hours in the morning.
The latest hours of the day.

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Mages were permanently disfigured.

Fewer than that were able to actually best the abyssal void which consumed light at a frightening pace.

Yet-- none had learned its name.

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There were postings created in its image.
Bounties signed off, looking for it.

How was one expected to hunt shadows and chase the dark as effortlessly as the sun?

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[Iceshadow]

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Screams from the dark erupt in the woods near Gloomlight.

A squabble led to an evolution which in the scope of it all seemed hasty.

A dragon fighting off the darkness until it became unbearable.

The night grew worse.
The glow of the moon dimmed out.

Fog poured through the forests of Meranthe.

An ascension of sorts.

---

Folklore had turned into reality.
Rumor to truth.

The terrible and intangible shadows of the night had blossomed into something significantly worse.
A demon which had no spoken name exploded into an entity which was so much more.

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Was the continent truly prepared to deal with such a threat?