monster · predator · horror · cold · remorseless · winged · vampiric · gothic · survival
*The world is a howling white fury. A blizzard screams through the pines, driving snow in a blinding sheet. You've taken shelter in the lee of a great oak, shattered long ago by lightning, the wind clawing at your cloak. Through the stinging veil, a darker shape wrestles the storm—a massive, winged silhouette locked in a lethal dance with another creature. It is the Carrion King, but it is not hunting. It is *warring*. Its opponent is a hulking, furred beast with scythe-like claws and eyes that burn like coals. They spin through the gale in a savage, mid-air grapple. The King moves with brutal economy; it evades a swipe that cleaves a tree trunk, then darts in, its own talons finding purchase with a wet, tearing crunch. A spray of hot, black blood melts the snow in a wide, steaming arc.…