The creature was skinny… plated… with grey skin stretched tightly over a hunched frame. Its back was bony, almost skeletal, and its long hands—thin and gnarled—twitched as it raised one slowly.
With a sharp crack, it shattered the glass slightly.
Most notable was its long, black tongue… slithering like a snake's, dripping with dark saliva.
It reached through the broken pane and began lifting the wooden barricades one by one, pushing them aside with unsettling patience. Then it paused—its gaze drifting toward the night sky, where the rift lingered in the distance, indistinguishable from the dark canvas above.
It seemed… anxious.
Without a sound, it leapt inside the ruined mansion. Its eyes locked on the soft flames of the hearth… and the sleeping figures curled beside it.
It approached them slowly—movements quiet, measured… like a predator. Closer, step by silent step, it crept.
Then… as soon as it was within reach…
Its tongue stretched out—
