Trick or Treat: Day 1

Vice found himself sitting on a rocky outcrop, staring off across the vast deep violet sands of the region of Antikutan. It had been a long time since he had visited this accursed place and just seeing those eerily empty dunes made a pit of unease well up in his stomach. Long ago when he had been wandering the world after leaving his home pack Vice had entered the war torn wasteland while on his travels. He hadn't traveled there for any reason in particular, he was curious to find out if the old horror stories of undead monsters were true but personally, he was fairly certain those tales were just meant to scare pups into behaving. 

The cocky black ketucari confidently strode across the bizarre purple sands while disinterestedly gazing at his surroundings. He had been trudging across the vast empty purple sands for what felt like hours but it was hard to tell what time it was due to the ever present eerie light cast by the barrier in the sky. The light purple sand was one of the prettiest things Vice had seen before in his life, the particular shade of purple cast by the malignant magic around him was simply ethereal and breathtaking. The unending stretch of sand was almost perfectly flat, save for the tiny wave-like dunes that scored the sand's surface. As far as his eyes could see there was nothing around him except for sand. Vice smiled as he confidently strode across the dunes, there was something about this place that he felt drawn to. The air might be unnaturally heavy and the magic around might be overtly hostile but there was also an unnatural calmness to it that he loved.

As the ketucari wandered he eventually came across a new area that was even more interesting than the last. The seemingly endless stretches of flat sand were suddenly broken by odd unnatural shapes protruding from the ground. When Vice drew near he could see bizarre metallic objects that resembled creatures lay broken and decaying partially submerged in the purple sands. Vice had no idea what these objects were, he had never even heard of metal creatures before but here these colossal titans were, all left broken and abandoned in the sand. Around each object large pools of melted sand seemed to stretch out from them no matter what position they were laying in. As Vice stared in wonder at the pools of glass around the objects he realized that the objects must attract lightning during storms. He nervously glanced up to the sky but thankfully the air was clear above him.

Reassured that he wasn't about to be electrocuted, the dark ketucari decided to give in to his curiosity and moved in for a closer look at one of the objects. As he examined the object he realized the shape was rather familiar. With one of his paws he gently brushed off a small pile of sand that was covering part of it, and Vice was shocked to realize the object looked like a massive human face. Were all these objects somehow creations of ancient humans? All of the humans he had met were nowhere near the level of knowledge of craftsmanship to create something like this. Judging from the looks of the objects they were definitely ancient which made Vice feel strange. Something about the fact that these things were far more advanced than anything he had seen in modern times and the fact that they were all just decaying here made a pit of unease form in his stomach.

Suddenly a lot less confident, Vice started to back away from the large metal head when a shadow darted across the edge of his vision. He wiped his head around and scanned his surroundings not seeing anything which only added to his unease. Slowly and stiffly the large ketucari started to stalk around the metal head, the feathers along his neck rising as he moved. He circled the head slowly, hackles fully raised and yet when he found himself back where he began there was nothing. Vice frowned feeling slightly disturbed as other than this head there was only one other buried metal thing a little ways off. Other than that there was literally nothing around him, zero hiding places and yet something was definitely nearby. After not seeing anything out in the open, he scanned the sand but didn't see any other footprints beside his own. He walked another circle around the head scanning the sand for foot prints when something caught his eye. Partially obscured by his first set of footprints there was a partial print in the sand pointing away from the head.

Vice's blood ran cold for a moment as his adrenaline spiked. Something was here! But where was it and what was it? The print in the sand had been badly smudged when Vice had stalked through earlier but its general shape was still clear. It was distorted, long, warped, twisted and it had long finger-like spikes sticking out from it. His heart started to pound in his ears as the ketucari nervously turned his gaze toward the metal head. The paw print was pointing away from the head which could only mean... whatever it was, was inside the head. Slowly Vice moved toward the opening in the bottom of the head at the small hole from the base of the head where its neck would have been attached. The opening was mostly buried in the sand but a tiny gap loomed out of the metal. As Vice approached a faint shuffling sound could be heard coming from inside, making Vice flinch nervously. The black ketucari leaned down to peer into the black hole.

For a moment there was nothing, just an empty blackness and the sound of his own pulse roaring in his ears. Just as the black ketucari was about to back away from the hole, two reflective disks flashed in the hole. Before Vice could even register that he was seeing something’s eyes a long twisted arm lashed out from the hole and slammed into the sand in front of him. A horrific screech blasted and echoed from the hole as a second arm erupted from the tiny opening, sending purple sand scattering as whatever was inside the hole attempted to exit through the tiny space. Vice recoiled from the attack and barely dodged the exceptionally long and sharp claws of the creature. As his heart pounded he realized what was emerging from the metal object. Just as the beast's claws curled around the edge of a sand pool, giving it enough leverage to pull itself free, Vice muttered the thing's name in a shaky whisper, "... Revenant." The undead beast finally surged forth out of the hole and screeched at Vice. It was a chimera like amalgamation of a creature, its decaying flesh twisted and gnarly, its appendages a horrifying and unsettling twisted mess as if god had decided to give tree roots muscles. Its face was also warped beyond all recognition and yet its black and red eyes which peered from the twisted sagging eye sockets were clearly filled with rage and hunger as the beast lunged for the ketucari.

With a panicked but powerful swipe of his paw, Vice solidly made contact with the creature's head, knocking the beast off its malformed feet and sending it sprawling in the sand. It didn't stay down more than a few seconds before it rapidly pulled itself back up and started its assault once more. This brief moment was more than enough for Vice to turn around and start running for his life. As the black ketucari traveled across the sands the beast behind him screamed in fury and much to his horror additional twisted screams joined it until there was a horrifying choir of demented voices echoing across the desert. The revenant had called for its friends and now they were all communicating like some eldritch wolf pack to coordinate an assault on the overly confident ketucari. Terror seized Vice as he saw other twisted black shapes rapidly appear from the gloom and join in on the chase. He didn't dare to look back as he charged full speed along the same path his foot prints had left earlier.

Vice knew if he could just make it to the border of the territory the beasts wouldn't be able to follow him beyond the barrier so he prayed he'd be able to make it in time. To think all those old horror stories the older ketucari in his old pack told were true, there really were horrific undead creatures out here! Vice didn't have time to dwell on the fact that this was one of the only times his elders hadn't lied to him but he did regret being so foolish as to completely deny the possibility, especially since there really had been a massive barrier over the area. He cursed himself for being so over confident even when he had felt the surprisingly pleasant malicious aura that permeated the area. Just as the fear started to turn to anger, one of the revenants chasing him got close enough to take a swipe at him, barely grazing his tail with its needle-like claws. He gasped at the pain as he felt a feather get snatched and the budding anger was quickly squashed by terror. No no no!!! At this rate they would surely catch up to him!

Vice grit his teeth and closed his eyes as he willed himself to run faster. The sound of the cacophony of screeching demons behind him consumed all his senses as Vice started to feel himself panic. Doubt and fear that he wouldn't make it consumed his thoughts as he charged head long across the purple dunes he had found so peaceful mere minutes ago. The sound of a screech ahead of him made his eyes flash open once more and another fresh bolt of icy terror shot through his heart as another revenant charged at him from the front. Its murderous eyes fleshed as the beast launched itself into a full power lunge at the black ketucari. With barely a moment to react Vice barely managed to dip out of reach of the beast's claws. He grimaced and winced at the pain as he felt the razor sharp talons slash along his hips as he sprinted past. The beast slammed face first into its brethren, sending the revenants behind Vice tumbling uncontrollably across the sand, buying the black ketucari precious distance and time.

Vice's muscles screamed in protest as the ketucari didn't let up on his pace. Never in his life had he run so fast for so long and every fiber of his being pleaded with him to slow down or pause to catch his breath but he knew he couldn't afford to do that. If he eased up now those beasts would surely be upon him once more before he could even react. So the terrified ketucari continued sprinting for his life across the gorgeous purple sands. Just as his legs were starting to refuse to listen to him anymore the edge of the barrier came into view. Hope flared across his mind as he desperately tried to breathe. Just as he let out a relieved laugh the sound of the demonic screams assaulted his ear drums once more. Vice risked a glance back, and to his horror, witnessed a massive hoard of twisted abominations charging after him. A primal terror unlike anything he had ever felt before overwhelmed him as he instinctively knew the hoard would catch up to him before he made it.

With a fresh blast of adrenaline through his system Vice pounded with all his will across the sand. The hoard of revenants swarmed and clambered over themselves trying to reach the ketucari, each greedy beast trying to reach the fleeing ketucari first and subsequently being trampled by its comrades. This discord amongst the creatures only got worse as they drew closer to Vice, giving the exhausted ketucari just enough time to leap across the barrier to the safety of the region beyond. Vice tripped over himself and tumbled end over end onto the now bright yellow sand as he found himself outside the barrier. Before he could even register he was outside the hoard of revenants slammed full force into the barrier with a sickening crunch and a new eruption of furious screams. Vice trembled from a combination of terror, exhaustion, and over exertion as he shakily propped himself up and looked back at the deep violent barrier which was practically boiling with pissed off eldritch horrors. He let himself flop down into the hot sand, as he desperately tried to catch his breath and calm down. He'd made it...