1036: Story 1036: Fang and Flame 1036: Story 1036: Fang and Flame The forest of Ashmere Hollow had always been cursed—older than the town that dared to live beside it, and hungrier than anyone knew.
Long ago, before roads cut paths through the wilderness, before names claimed land and fire held meaning, there was a pact between two ancient forces:
Fang, the wolf god of the midnight hunt.
And Flame, the fire witch who devoured sins in smoke and ash.
They kept the Hollow in balance—Fang feeding on the guilty, Flame purifying what was left.
But humans broke that pact when they buried their dead in sacred ground and salted the trees with industry.
The Hollow slept, but it never forgot.
Marla Dorne, a traveling fire-dancer with a burn-scarred past, arrived in Ashmere one blood-orange evening.
She bore a necklace of charred bone and whispered to her flames like they were family.
Locals watched her street shows with awe… and unease.
They said she came with the wind.
They didn’t know she came to rekindle a promise.
That night, as the moon fattened and the town celebrated its autumn festival, she danced through the woods, barefoot and unafraid, scattering saltless embers behind her.
She sang a song in a dead tongue, a lullaby once known to wolves and witches alike.
And the forest answered.
First with howls.
Then with fire.
The ground trembled.
Tombstones split.
From the mist, the shape of Fang emerged—massive, skeletal, fur like falling ash, eyes glowing like dying stars.
With him came his brood—smaller beasts of claw and curse, shaking the rot from their pelts, snarling with ancient hunger.
The festival burned first.
Tents ignited.
Laughter turned to screaming.
Smoke danced with shadows, and amid it all, Marla walked untouched, her eyes two molten suns.
“You took,” she said.
“Now give back.”
Their skin split to fur, their teeth lengthened—descendants of the forgotten pact, born of man and beast.
Fang claimed them.
Flame judged them.
And the Hollow bloomed again in blood and fire.
By morning, nothing remained of Ashmere but blackened bones and a deepening silence.
Marla stood alone, one hand pressed to the scorched earth.
The last flame flickered in her palm before vanishing into the soil.
Fang circled her once, then faded back into the woods with his kin.
The pact was restored.
For now.
They say if you walk the Hollow paths under a crimson moon, you might see her—spinning fire into sigils, eyes burning through the dark.
Or hear the growl of something too large to be a wolf.
If you do, don’t run.
Don’t speak.
And never, ever light a match.
Because Fang remembers.
And Flame forgives nothing.