The Malfigured

"James, James wake up!"

Drake was yelling to wake his brother in a very frantic manner. "The sky…the sun it hasn't come up yet." Confused and shaken, James stood up and looked outside. "About how late is it? It's past noon, the bells have already rung."

In Ezmalis, bells ring every day to signify when it's noon. No one knew what cause them to ring, and it was forbidden to go near the bells. This was taken into action after a craftsman who was curious about the way the bells worked went missing when he went to investigate them. There were two bells that rung every day. They were made from obsidian, which made for a very unique sound and a brilliant glow in the moonlight. This much the villagers were able to find out about the bells.

"Are you sure you heard the bells," James asked his brother. "Yes, I'm positive." Both James and Drake left their home to try to get some answers. Outside in the middle of town a crowd was forming. Torch in hand, they joined the crowd.

The fear was quite clear on the face of all those who gathered. James and Drake followed, hoping to get some answers. Standing atop a few crates was the village elder Hodwick.

"Everyone please calm down. We have nothing to fear, this is merely a test of our resolve in these dark times." Hodwick spoke with such confidence and offered many assurances to everyone in the crowd. It seemed to be working.

As he spoke, the veil of darkness began to disappear. Whether this was a mere coincidence or the power of his words, remained to be seen. Village elders are believed to have the power of the voice which is said to be able to speak almost anything into existence without the use of magic. No one in Ezmalis dared to question this belief.

The sun finally fully lit the town again. As everyone began to feel at ease, screams could be heard in the village's sleeping grounds. Closer and closer they grew; everyone including the village elder stood where they were at. The fear evident on their faces once again.

"Beast! There's a beast!"

The words rang loud towards the crowd. Everyone stood frozen in fearful anticipation looking in the direction the words came from. It was the village fisherman Jack. James thought to himself that he has never seen Jack look so afraid in all the time that he's known him. He was a heavy built guy and some of the villagers believed he may had served in the royal army because he showed up one day out of nowhere claiming to be a wondering fisherman just looking for a new home, that coupled with the numerous scars that littered his body. That at least is the story James knew. He was quite fearsome, so the look of fear written on his face gave James the impression that he should be afraid too.

Not far behind Jack, a malformed creature could be seen chasing him. It had one huge deformed right arm with large veins protruding from it. Half of its face was also huge as if it had been hit really hard by something. The creature moved much faster than Jack did and in a flash, it grabbed him by the head with its huge right arm. In an instant, Jack's head exploded like a watermelon being hit by a giant rock. After that, the only thing overshadowing the beastly roars of the creature was the screams and cries of the other villagers as they all tried to run away from the creature.