Balanar prowled silently, stalking the woods for any intruders. The moon was full this night, much to the chagrin of the beast. This was his time, and the cursed light of that blasted bird was reflected upon him as the Light of Selemene.
He snarled unconsciously, with seething hate, even in his element light invaded his domain, cursed sun and cursed moon.
The Nightsilver woods were to be his and his alone. He alone had stood against the will of the creators on the First Day and he no longer had a sliver of patience left within him. She would submit, and she would pay for her defense of Selemene and the Princess.
He looked to his belt and took solace his job was half done. Various trinkets from warriors, feathers, beads, and fur. Only two servants remained, the defender of the Dark Moon and the princess herself, Mirana.
With an animalistic warcry he silenced the ambience of the night, the moon dimming as if Selemene herself recoiled in fear.
Tonight was the night.
**
Luna opened her arms and inhaled deeply, taking in the power of the moon. Naked from the waist up she focused on her nightly prayer to her Goddess. The irregular cold nipped at her skin, nipples perked from the chill.
For weeks she felt the power fading, now reduced to merely a trickle of what it once was. She had returned to the Nightsilver forest to seek out fellow Defenders Of The Night. She had been roaming the woods for well over a week with no sign of anyone.
Nova's ears perked suddenly and he looked outside the clearing, to the west.
"Do you hear something, Nova?" She asked, still trying to regain her power from the waning moon. "Tis friend or foe?"
Nova stood and sniffed the air, muscles tense, eyes flashing with divine gifted, night vision.
A flash of blue, a sweep of wings and an icy wave of dark shadow with the smell of winter wafted from the shadows. Luna ran, panicked to her glaives, resting out of reach near Nova.
Three steps away from her companion she heard a terrible cry as something swept past her, knocking her down. Nova's blood splattering across her as his yelp of pain was silenced with a crunch.
The creature turned, wings revealing a face split in three, razor sharp teeth lining every surface and a wicked pronged touch salivating as if about to devour a decadent meal. The beast towered over Luna, her hand upon her lips in a moment of shock before her warrior senses kicked in. She tossed her glaives at him and then ran into the night.
The voice hissed before she made it to the edge of the clearing. "Tonight, your divine light shall be snuffed out."
**
Blood pumped through his veins, the rage rising as he felt the blasted waning light of her goddess struggle to weaken him. He bounded off into his domain, the foolish prey would only make him stronger, he smelled her sweet sweat as she ran, riding that useless beast has made her easy to track, easy to hear.