Rudy had always hunted at night, he enjoyed the look of everything at dusk and the not-quite silence that came with the darkness.  No loud noises but instead those small things of crickets or the coo of an owl.  It was night now and had he been in better shape he would be out hunting for a good size kill.  He could maybe catch a rabbit if he could just sneak up close enough for a short sprint and grab.

The wolf was a perfect mismatch of grey shades to blend in well to the shadows of night.  The stars technically were bright but against the full moon backdrop, they might as well have been pinpricks.  Glowing blue specks of fireflies could be seen in clusters in the grass here and there.  It was odd as it was never just a lot of fireflies spread out over all the plains but instead tight-knit clusters and big empty spots.  Just looking across the wide expanse of grass it was like small glowing balls floated in place just tickling the tips of grass.

Whenever Rudy got close to one of the clusters they would rise up and swirl about him.  They didn’t seem to mean any harm, they weren’t trying to do anything but, what could a firefly do anyway?  They tasted horrible but when one had gotten irritatingly close it just kind of came to him to bite and spit it out.  Something about flickering light in front of your face that just says ‘bite it.’.  What made a stupid little bug taste bad?  Fireflies did not count as seeing something neat glowing.

Hunting was the excuse Rudy had given himself but honestly, he was just hoping to find a bit of fun and see something really weird glowing.  Gwynn had seen a rabbit glow!  Could whatever cause a rabbit to glow cause other things to glow?  Hey!  Could a wolf glow?  Deer?  Trees?  The young wolf's imagination was taking away some of the dour thoughts from before as he imagined all manner of fun concepts.

Rudy was thrilled when he smelled the rabbits and he had just nearly passed up the scent!  His mind had been so busy on imagining what he might find that he’d forgotten to be observant.  Had he passed anything else?  If he wanted a chance at killing the rabbit he’d have to get close and until he found something neat he might as well carry on the hunt.  Glancing up at that big bright ol’ moon he mouthed silently, “let it be glowing.”

The concept of being unnerved by something abnormal was hardly ever a thing Rudy would do.  New things needed to be explored with a love of life Rudy should be over by now.  He’d seen enough suffering through mom’s sickness, from dire attacks, from a feeling of separation from his brother and now the horrors his family had experienced while he was out cold.  Was it terrible something like a glowing rabbit could so quickly strike his fancy and eagerness?

So what if the wolf was still in physically poor condition.  His paw steps were slow and his ears set up high listening for every twitch of the rabbit's feet against the earth.  The stupid rabbit wasn’t glowing.  There were a lot of fireflies a short span away from the rabbit but it was just a plain gray bunny.  Oh well, food didn’t need to glow.  Rudy got as close as seemed possible before darting towards his rabbit but as he got close to snap at it the bunny zigged and Rudy hadn’t zigged enough with it.  He was entranced with what was in front of him.

Those little bugs had formed a perfect circle.  They were just a foot higher in the air than his head and only the length of two wolves away.  The outline shape was perfect and they were just flying in that perfect circular line for no good reason Rudy could fathom.  The moonlight seemed especially bright inside the circle as if it was a special stage just set up for them.  Yeah, Rudy had totally forgotten about the rabbit now.

Slowly Rudy moved towards the fireflies mentally trying to count them but then giving up.  It took a good number of fireflies to make a circle this large.  Rudy could have just squeezed into it, well, except he assumed the bugs would fly off should he try.  They were annoying things generally but this was kind of neat.  “You aren’t glowing rabbits but I guess this is neat also.” Talking to a bunch of dumb bugs but hey no one was out there to hear him.  “So, what else can you do?”

Perhaps his feelings of disinterest to the bugs were mutual as they seemed to have no desire to answer him.  Rudy watched for a few more moments but then turned to trot off.  His meal was gone.  Glancing back across the plains realizing he would need to go back home soon.  His head turned away from the castle thoughtfully.  His quest for glowing rabbits could be just a few strides beyond his sight.

The truth was it had been a long day and desire for a world glowing was not going to keep away his energy seeping out.  Turning back he started a slow walk back to the castle.  He was heading back home but he certainly wasn’t rushing.  Now he’d stop near every group of flying bugs, step through their patch to scatter them and then look about to see if he could find anything that could cause them to act so strangely.  

To Rudy, not knowing was a terrible thing.  It was probably even worse for the fireflies though as some were surely bounced about as he crashed through and if any were unfortunate enough potentially stepped on had they been too low in the grass for a moment.  Still, after the third cluster of fireflies, it felt like Rudy might be going home empty.  No dinner, no glowing animal to see, no glowing object to find.  A waste of time.

Rudyard Carpathius

Rudyard

You feel an unmistakable sense of dread. You also find 2 crystals. Maybe these are worth keeping…