RED CROW

Red Crow knew the wendigo was there. That neither of its intended victims realized the imminent peril they were

in was not a surprise to him. He had the advantage of being able to perceive the immense murderous flow of anger

and rage-energy which gushed out of the wendigo’s black soul. While in his spirit animal form, Red Crow could

easily see another spirit’s soul glow. But with a wendigo such as the one he was spying on, even an inexperienced

apprentice Soul Walker would sense its presence.

Every soul in existence casts a shadow in the other dimensions that parallel our own physical universe. As an

experienced Soul Walker, Red Crow could sense hidden shamans or creatures which travelled through and in and

out of those hidden dimensions. The soul shadow of this particular Wendigo was immense and red hot with hatred

for not only his intended victims but for all of the Children.

Wendigos were ancient shape-shifters. This is why the young couple now walking up the path that wound towards

their village remained blissfully unaware of the death dealer now stalking them. The wendigo was currently in the

shape of a large dog. An old dog; sleeping on a patch of long grass, which bordered the path. If he wanted to save

them, Red Crow had but scant moments to somehow intervene. But doing so would expose him to great danger. A

wendigo such as this one would not accept interference, and would instead turn his attentions towards the most

threatening presence in what would soon become a murder tableau; him. That was not a risk he thought he could

take, because he knew it was a fight he would most likely lose.

Yet Red Crow had to act. These two young warriors were crucial to his plans for the upcoming battle against the

Everliving. Having made up his mind to save the couple, he burst into loud screeches. Louder than most normal

such bird calls. Loud enough so that the young couple stopped their slow stroll and turned in his direction.

He had succeeded in getting their attention. But when he looked to where the old dog had been laying he suddenly

realized that he had also managed to warn the wendigo, but before he could fly down to their aid the wendigo had

shape-shifted out of his dog form, and appeared behind the couple.

In a matter of seconds, the wendigo had decapitated the man with his massive left hand while with his right he had

grasped the woman by the head, in such a way as to make it impossible for her to scream, or even do more than lay

limp in the massive beast’s grasp. Then, with the ease of a child killing an ant, the wendigo squeezed her skull into

something the consistency of bear dung.

Red Crow knew the wendigo could just as easily shape shift now and come after him. Yet the wendigo remained

by the corpses. The massive shape shifter looked up directly at Red Crow and stared at him for what seemed like

an eternity. He then looked away and licked his hands. Both hands. Very delicately too. Surprisingly so for such

a massive beast. Without so much as another glance in his direction the wendigo shifted back into his true soul

shadow walker form and stepped into the shadow world beyond this mortal realm. It was as if the massive creature

had never existed. Silence was all around the now bloodied path.

It was only then that Red Crow realized he had been holding his breath all of this time. Though the couple’s

execution could not have taken more than a few seconds, his chest burned as if he had been holding his breath for

hours.

Clearly things were now getting very hot, as it were. The Everliving were stepping up their attacks and now they

were becoming more brazen in their aggression against the Everchanging.

Surely something had happened to incite them into such reckless actions. It was time he found out what. But before

leaving, Red Crow decided to take took a closer look, maybe it was morbid fascination, maybe he just wanted to see

the result of the wendigo's handiwork, so he flew down to the dead couple to take one last look at their headless

corpses. It was then that he saw that the wendigo had, somehow, without Red Crow ever seeing him do it, removed

the spinal columns of both of his apprentices. Their spines and rib cages were no longer in their mutilated bodies.

Such savagery. Red Crow understood, that in the end the wendigo had needs as well. It seemed the creature wanted

to satisfy his hunger away from prying eyes.

The wendigo had allowed Red Crow to remain alive so he could witness this brutal act of double murder, simply

because the wendigo wanted to deliver a very clear message “be warned, we are coming for you all...”