What are you doing here? a dark, yet strangely soft voice quietly emerges from the shadow that seemed to be following you. You happened to be roaming the outskirts of an abandoned town, not far from where you live. Empty, dark buildings were all around you, and you were walking on a gravel road, nearing an old house. The wind was lightly kissing your cheek, seducing you in the moonlight that was peeking from behind the billowing clouds, all as you listened for the noise again. Well? the voice inquires; you stand frozen, afraid of what is stalking your thoughts. You slowly turn to find out, but as you do, the dark figure turns into lines full of noise, then disappears.

The cloud of darkness reappears right in front of you. You startlingly jump back as the figure reappears again, this time in full show, flesh and blood. The dark clouds clear from the full, pale moon as it outlines a looking figure in a white glow. A long shadow is cast from him, and your shadows meet and seem to dance as your breath quickens in fear. You take a moment to look, and you see a rather large canine with thick, dark fur, blacker than a peppered night sky. You quickly glance into the eyes of the animal, and the deep velvety violet vortex that are his glare less eyes seems to pierce your mind; you get a half-second splitting headache. You raise your hand and grasp you head as you look down to see hospital bandages wrapped around the shins of the creature, one of them was coming loose.. You step back in fear of what will come of you tonight, and the dog yells Leave! You've come at the wrong time! His voice deepens into a demonic growl, and his eyes turn a darker shade of violet; his huge, dark, torn wings make a revolting scratching noise as they stretch into full length, moving far above his shoulder blades. He lunges at you, snarling loudly, baring his sharp, blood stained teeth; he swaps his powerful paws at you, so close you but feel the hard skin of his paw pads and his long, sharp claws, but you back away just in time.

Are you lost?! he screams, piercing the cold silence. In mid strike, he suddenly becomes weak, his face muscles relax, his mouth and eyes close.. The powerful, yet slim, dark, body falls to the dusty ground of the abandoned street, his paws sliding on the gravel making a painful grind; that loose bandage unravels and blood begins to seep out, slowly. You see a glint of pure white, penetrating his skin.. Suddenly, the animal calms down. His voice returns to normal as you hear him say I-I'm sorry.. y-you can stay...

You are terribly frightened by this strange encounter, and since the dog made the offer, you accept it; you back away a few steps, too quivery to say anything. You stare at the heap he has curled into, as he tries to stand back up. I'm Ironfan, wh.. he strains to say in his weak, soft voice. You, feeling strange mercy for the thing, very slowly edge closer to the weak one, your legs trembling as if there was an earthquake. You come close enough to touch him, and as you approach his gaze lifts to meet your hands. What do you wan.. he chokes out, unable to finish. You feel the urge to reach out and touch him.. just to make sure.. your fingers caress the dark, soft fur, but you feel that he is absolutely cold as ice. In response you pull your hand away, and rub your fingers together to regain warmth; he just lies there watching your hands. You squat down onto your knees to ask him a question, and after a moment of silence, the only sound being both of your heavy breathing.. you ask him who he is. I-I told you.. Ironfan.. Why do you even want to know? he peers at you with icy eyes. Feel the sting of curiosity, you want to know who, or what, he is. You reply that you were just wondering, now build up your confidence, and you ask him to tell you exactly who he is. You shift your legs so you are now on the ground, hugging your knees, only about 3 feet in front of him.. He weakly flicks his tail and closes his eyes, then opens his mouth to speak..

Cved
Suldusk
Zwhoq
Raftings
Lawlieti
Xadny
Auths
Sqedya
Skwigelfs

(sketch by shadow_123482)