Paul Linsley Illustration

The Narkomin

"They watched a figure move through the forest. It walked smoothly between the trees, barely making a noise. It was difficult to make out its features. It walked upright on two legs, but hunched over. As the two boys shuffled into the crevice under the vegetation, the figure stopped. It propped its head up, listening to the painful silence of the still woods. It took two steps in the direction of the boys.

They could see the figure was in the shape of a large man. But his features were barely human. His skin was pale and greenish in tone with dark veins spun across its body. It was taller than any man they had ever seen. It was almost naked, wearing only crudely fastened skins and sharp bones around its body. Its hair was a gnarled mop of thick twisted vines caked in mud. Thin metal rods, hooks, and studs pierced its skin forming random patterns. Its contorted face was riddled with scars and tattoos. More creature than man."

"The bark ripped away from the boys and the brush thrashed all around them. The forest exploded with a wicked roar and the branches and debris flung through the air from the whipping reach of the creature's long arms. A wind tore through the woods and stripped the boys of their cover. The creature towered over them poised with mouth agape.

Siduri looked at its black eyes. He never blinked again."