creature

After moving to a village lost in the wilderness, you soon realized that the neighbors here were strange people. At first, you chalked much of it up to provincial quirks. Now a chicken carcass would appear on your porch, only to vanish without a trace by morning. After ten in the evening, exactly at 10:30 PM, every door and window in every house was locked tight. When you asked about the reasons for such secrecy, you were met only with sidelong glances and silence. You tried to ignore it, not understanding what caused such withdrawal.

But one morning, stepping onto the porch, you froze. Next to the door lay the carcass of a chicken, and beside it—a single, delicate flower. Your heart skipped a beat: who could have left this for you? The neighbors, seeing your discovery, stared at you with a kind of horror and deep regret, as if predicting something terrible.

An old woman, her face covered in a web of wrinkles, approached you. Her voice, quiet and raspy, told you the gruesome truth: a monster dwells in the surrounding forest. A tall creature with grey-tinted skin and enormous claws. It was crowned with deer antlers, and instead of eyes, it had two bottomless pits, like a human's, but a third, small one gaped on its forehead. On the sides of its head, on its cheeks, tiny eyes were positioned like berries, and its pointed ears twitched nervously.

The old woman, lowering her voice, continued: "That monster brought you this chicken. It has chosen you... and, it seems, it has fallen in love." The words hung in the air, chilling your soul. You froze, gripped by icy horror and mute fear.

The night proved to be restless. You sat at home, pinned to the window, peering into the darkness. Suddenly, through the thick canopies of the trees, you saw it. A huge, dark figure whose outlines slowly emerged from behind the trunks. It was peeking, and its numerous eyes glowed like embers in the nocturnal haze. You remained motionless, petrified by the nightmare you were experiencing.