XXXVI. The Crow

Without the fire on fire, it was difficult to distinguish the animal whose moon-lit contours could only catch a glimpse.

The bird kept standing there, fixed on the windowsill.

He was looking at Dag.

He felt a feeling of discomfort on him: that crow seemed to be similar to one of those who gave birth to the undead who attacked him in the cave.

To know this though, he would have to see the color of the beast's eyes.

He didn't have time to turn on the torch to point it at the crow, he would fly away.

Thalos kept sleeping in the same position.

"Craa"

The crow croaked again as if inviting Dag to communicate with him.

He got out of bed and began to walk slowly toward the window.

The moon illuminated the bird's shiny black feathers.

Dag came up to the window: the crow remained there, perched on the windowsill of the farm.

Suddenly, Dag heard other sounds coming from various directions. Concentrating, he materialized in his head other crows, at least 8.

They were all flying in that direction as if the crow that made him get out of bed called them back.

In a moment, in the darkness of the night, a flock of crows dive-swooped on the two corpses!

Croaking madly, the birds began to tear the bodies, tearing pieces of meat and cloth from their clothes.

The voracity with which they fed was not natural at all: they must have been the same crows who attacked him.

As his companions dilated the dead bodies of the two Renegades, the crow on the windowsill continued to stare at Dag.

Dag and the crow were a few inches away, separated only by the glass.

When the animal croaked for the umpteenth time, Thalos woke up with a start, beginning to growl toward the door.

Dag was paralyzed.

He sensed the look of that being on him and felt cold.

The same inhuman cold he felt that morning, when he entered the Great Court, in front of the crowd of Xis.

By now he had no doubts: the Xis were keeping an eye on him. Crows were just a few of the animals

they used.

He remembered the deer, then the rabbit. Who knows, maybe even the rabbit was controlled by them.

He looked at Thalos.

He still looked like a normal wolf, perhaps the Xis had not been able to take control of his conscience for who knows what reason.

Outside the house, the two corpses had now been completely devoured.

The crows had snatched the flesh off them as if they had sharp teeth.

Dag looked more closely at the crow on the windowsill.

Its beak was large and sturdy, pitch-black. Its eyes fixed on him.

At last, he took courage, took the sword and opened the door.

All the crows flew away, except the one there.

"I know who you are," said Dag, pointing his sword at the crow.

As he spoke, Thalos hurled himself at the bird, trying to catch it between his jaws, but the crow soared, biting his ear.

The wolf groaned and resented soreness.

"I said I know why you're here!" shouted Dag.

Finally, having changed his perspective, he was able to verify the color of his eyes. They were purple and vitreous.

"Why do you keep obsessing over me? You sent me to this planet and I obeyed you, what do you want from me now?!"

The crow kept flying in mid-air.

Thalos was still growling when he suddenly stopped, beginning to whine.

"What's going on?" said Dag, looking at his wolf friend without realizing why he was scared.

Just as it was turned, the crow stopped flapping its wings and fell to the ground, as if it had died suddenly.

Thalos kept messing around. Then he turned and went back into the house, terrified.

Dag stepped back.

The crow looked dead.

He tried to approach, when the bird moved again, emitting a strange noise of broken bones and writhing.

Within a few seconds, the being changed shape: its wings became feathered legs and its head rotated completely, deforming itself.

The undead crow rose from the ground: he was alive again!

Dag was paralyzed. The bird had turned into an abomination and was ready to attack it.

The crow emitted a metallic and grotesque verse, charging towards Dag like a fury, running uncoordinatedly on his transformed paws.

When it was close enough, it jumped towards him trying to scratch him.

Dag managed to hit it violently with the sword, cutting off one of its paws.

The being fell to the ground, screaming in pain, with the severed paw spraying blood.

Dag remarked well: it was not simple blood, it was the same magenta liquid that came out of the severed head of the undead in the cave!

The beast raised its severed paw and a sharp blade appeared from the wound.

Dag was terrified.

That being was in pain. Something was possessing it from the inside.

"Leave me alone!" kept shouting Dag.

He attacked the beast, with a blow.

The crow tried to dodge the shot and hit Dag who intercepted it and with a clear shot beheaded it.

The crow's deformed head rolled away, continuing to make moans. The bloodied body writhed on the ground as if it had a life of its own.

Thalos scrambled back through the farm door, checking if Dag was okay.

"What the hell is going on, Thalos?" said Dag, staring at the body of the feathered being.

Dag grabbed his head: the crow had grown 3 more eyes and 2 small appendages next to the beak. It was a terrifying scene.

Soon after, both the head and the corpse began to decompose, releasing that thick, black gas.

The magenta liquid was still on the ground. Dag passed over it a finger, to smell it. It was a sweet smell and was more viscous than normal blood.

He didn't know why, but something in the smell and texture of that fluid attracted him, he was hypnotized.