It all happened so fast. The fog appeared from nowhere, and moments later so too did Elwin. When his hand left hers, she groped blindly in the haze. Unable to find him, she drops into a low defensive crouch, alert, eyes sweeping the veil. A swift movement. Bodies hitting the ground.
The pungent scent of blood freshly spilled.
In the same instant, the diffused light cast by the torches fell to the ground, extinguished. Genesis's fear vanished almost immediately. In its place a smoldering anger swelled, a predatory rage focused entirely on a singular point. Her body shifted and transformed, becoming less human by the moment. An otherworldy sound, haunting and grim, escaped her throat. By the time the fog had vanished, something else entirely crouched low to the ground in Genesis's place. The creature could only be described as an amalgamation of many. A predator by all accounts, but natural it was not. An eldritch abomination, shifting and writhing like a nightmare yet retaining all the grace of the tiger stalking its territory. A pair of tendrils extended from the back of her shoulders, drifting from side-to-side threateningly as if seeking out prey of their own. Six featureless silver orbs reflected the light of the moons over a hideous fanged grimace. This was the beast denied entry.
The hostage balks. "No, please, I'm sorry! I have a family!" Genesis puts one foot forward, talons clacking against stone, mouth literally dripping with anticipation in response to Elwin's third offering. Traipsing forward on all four, the guard only squirmed harder the closer she came. His fear. The scent of it only served to excite her further. "Please! Please!" The commotion was drawing attention. Someone screamed as both barbed tendrils zipped through the air, embedding themselves between the layers of the guard's half-plate.
The effects of the sting didn't seem apparent at first, but as the tendrils remained embedded small differences started to appear. Bruises and contusions started to form wherever the screaming guard's flesh was exposed. He struggled, and yet it did little to stop her from worrying the sheets of metal protecting his soft abdomen. The guard falls over and his skin splits against the concrete, further evidence of the changes triggered by Genesis's sting. It was only skin deep, but he had all the qualities of a cadaver. It made it all that much easier to sink her ravenous maw into the man's belly and devour. The stink of death soon replaces the wails of the damned, as terror takes root in the surrounding slums. People start screaming for help, but none of it stops the beast. Steam swirls about her in the cold night air. Delicious … Exquisite …
No more than a few moments go buy before she's satisfied. Little remains, not even scraps, save the sullied clothing and armor left behind. A parchment unrolls - a missing add. The paper has been magically etched with the black-and-white image of a young girl, somewhere in the range of eight to eleven years of age. Genesis prowls low to Elwin, brushing herself against him like a cat might. As she passes around him, her body changes again. A small girl, a poor imitation of a human with a variety of traits just barely out of place.
Somewhere around eight to eleven years old.
She reaches for Elwin's hand calmly and without hesitation.
