• The moon is beautiful tonight.... A shimmering spectacle, glittering on the lake below. I don’t know why I like this ridge but, somehow, the clear sight of the moon soothes me and makes me feel more at home than any of the damned city buildings I have to walk around almost every day. The light was different tonight, however; it seemed to flow up from its usual position, on the lake, across the trees on the side of the ridge and finally settling on me.

    A sudden pain shot through my body, causing me to fall to my knees before slipping sideways. I lay, gasping for breath, hoping the suffering would cease. Rolling onto my other side triggered another jolt of agony; this time, however, was worse, much worse. I convulsed and scrabbled atop the ridge, the immense pain increasing to the point where I screamed.... My screams were no longer human though. The only sound that escaped my lips were wolven snarls and an honest to God howl! Bones lengthened and shifted as my spine, arms, legs and face elongated; my pathetic teeth enlarged, sharpened and crowded each other, forcing my jaws apart. My fingers snapped and protruded into claws, while my hands transformed into paws. Strong muscles glide under the fur rippling across my whole body, blending into the darkness of the night until it reached my spine, where a crimson red streak stretched from the back of my head to the tip of the wild, thrashing wolf tail behind me. My back legs grew long and powerful with wicked claws extending from the tip of my toes.

    I can’t see anything but the glowing silver disk dominating the night sky; can’t hear anything but the sound of my boiling blood pulsing with a rage more pure and powerful than anything living or dead and older than mankind itself. I can’t feel anything but the bolt of electric rage travelling through every nerve, every essence, of my body, to finally coil itself around my heart. The only noise that escapes my lips is the bestial cry of rage and desire, something no-one has heard and yet.... none will forget. The muscles around my shoulders suddenly burst outwards and two, giant bat-like wings explode out with a chunk of fur and flesh. Everything my body had fought so hard to control had finally come shrieking out, under the full moon’s light.

    One last primal howl ripped from the centre of my being before I stumbled off the ledge and flew down the ridge, smashing through small saplings and over craggy rocks until I crashed into the floor of the clearing and lay, exhausted and bleeding, in Lunar’s embrace. My last sight, before the deep abyss of unconsciousness claimed me, was my reflection in the lake; a piercing pair of feral amber eyes stared deep into my soul from that lake, a faint glow of red emanating from within the depths of those eyes, my eyes....