Full Moon Night

The Goat Inn was bustling with activity. Kraun squeezed past two drunken men blocking his way and walked up to the counter.

"Old Jason, have those two foreigners checked out?"

He had come looking for Geralt to ask whether he'd be willing to spar with him, but after knocking on his door for ages, no one had answered.

The innkeeper scratched his scalp, which gleamed alluringly in the lamplight, and thought for a moment.

"You mean that white-haired fellow? The two of them left first thing this morning. They said they wouldn't be back until tomorrow."

Had they found some Monster to deal with?

Kraun wondered to himself. Witchers made their living by killing Monsters, selling their materials, and collecting bounties. They had no steady income, much like the craftsmen who wandered from street to street.

"How about a roast leg of lamb? We slaughtered a fat sheep this afternoon. It's very fresh."

Old Jason began touting his food. In his eyes, the young man before him was someone who didn't mind spending money.

"Hmm, I'll pass. I haven't had any income for quite a while, and buying herbs takes cash upfront. I'll come back to your place to treat myself when the caravans arrive in spring," Kraun said truthfully. But the main reason he wasn't eating here was that the food was nowhere near as good as what he made himself.

The skills of a third-level cook were no joke.

"Haha, you have to spend a little to make it through the winter."

After chatting a little longer, Kraun said goodbye and left.

As dusk fell, Kraun emerged from his Visualization.

For some reason, he had felt extremely restless while practicing today. He couldn't calm his mind at all, no matter what he tried.

That restlessness refused to go away. If anything, it seemed to be growing worse.

In this state, he couldn't continue his Visualization, so he had to stop.

The You Hour was one of the most important times of his day. The sun rose so late in winter that nearly all his Golden Light Incantation proficiency came from practicing during this period.

It's Full Moon Night. Shouldn't Moon Radiance be at its strongest? Could I be too weak to handle such a potent tonic?

Standing by the window, Kraun frowned as he studied the crimson full moon.

He had been in this world for some time now, and Father had told him that ever since the world underwent its changes, the moon turned a ghastly Crimson on Full Moon Night.

He remembered the strange words Father had said that afternoon.

Tonight is when spirituality is most active. All sorts of strange things will happen. Don't do any extra training tonight. Go to bed early.

"Awooo!"

A wild wolf howl shattered the silence of the night in the distance.

Kraun gazed into the distant night sky. For some reason, he heard savagery and cruelty in the sound, along with faint traces of pain.

Unable to figure out what was going on tonight, he stopped trying to Visualize the Golden Light Incantation and went to bed.

In the dead of night, Kraun woke with a start, drenched in sweat.

He had dreamed a strange dream. He had fallen into a dark abyss where a grotesque Monster lurked.

The Monster was as huge as a mountain of flesh. A dim green glow shimmered across its body, which was covered in octopus-like tentacles.

The tentacles had no suckers. Instead, each was studded with scarlet eyes and tiny mouths.

Its eyeballs were yellowish-brown, with narrow red vertical pupils embedded in them.

Its mouths were full of sharp, triangular teeth.

The abyss was filled with muttering that drove people mad and restless, like the combined evil murmurs of countless people dreaming.

An indescribable, sinister malice engulfed him, and he woke from his dream.

After waking, Kraun paced over to the window.

What he saw made him feel as if he were going mad.

Gray fog pressed down from the heavens, with twisted corpses drifting within it.

Human, bird, and fish remains had been stitched together into Monsters that swam through the fog.

The images were faint, like phantoms, yet they filled him with a profound sense of despair.

A bone-chilling whispering burrowed madly into his ears, and a chill spread through his body.

"Whew."

Kraun drew in a sharp breath and stumbled back two steps. When he retreated into the shadows of his room, the terrifying sight outside the window vanished without a trace.

Breathing heavily, he pressed a hand tightly against his chest.

A moment later, his heart was still pounding like a drum. Once it finally settled, he walked back to the window.

The world outside changed in an instant. The bizarre vision he had just witnessed appeared in the sky again.

His heart began pounding uncontrollably once more, even harder than before.

Kraun backed away again, disappearing into the darkness.

What on earth is happening? Why can I see such evil, uncanny things?

With his back against the wall, Kraun felt as though the world had become strange to him all over again.

This place was home not only to Monsters and Evil Spirits, but also to things even more sinister and uncanny.

But if the world was so terrifying, how did ordinary people survive?

Kraun walked back toward the window. He needed to test something.

When he had woken from his nightmare, the Crimson Moon's light had fallen directly on him. Once he went to the window, he could see the sinister sight in the sky and hear the maddening murmurs. When he stepped into the darkness, everything seemed like an illusion and vanished without a trace.

He wanted to find out whether there was something wrong with the moonlight tonight.

He took a deep breath, then slowly let it out. After repeating this three times, Kraun stepped resolutely into the Crimson Moon's light.

The murmuring rose again. The scene outside the window seemed to change like a curtain being switched, turning once more into a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.

He moved sideways, out of the moonlight.

That confirmed it. There was something wrong with the moonlight.

That had to be why he couldn't calm his mind while Visualizing the Golden Light Incantation in the moonlight during the You Hour.

Kraun had a vague realization. He decided to ask Father about it tomorrow.

Outside Zack Town, inside a cave.

It was an abandoned mine that had been closed for many years. Long ago, the town had produced pyrite.

A thick silver chain hung from the stone wall, its links occasionally flashing with golden runes.

A tall, white-furred Werewolf was bound by it, struggling furiously.

A long scar ran over the Werewolf's left eye.

The Werewolf thrashed again and again, while the silver chain kept tightening, its links already embedded deep in his flesh.

Who knew how long had passed? Perhaps he had finally exhausted all his strength. The Werewolf stopped struggling and collapsed to the ground, his body twitching faintly.

Golden light appeared outside the cave. The sun was rising.

The Werewolf's body rapidly shrank, transforming into a sturdy man covered in scars.

A boy came over carrying a pile of clothes.

He crouched beside the man, set the clothes down, and called softly, "Teacher, it's dawn."

The man opened his eyes and shakily raised a hand to shield them. "Alan, you can't follow me anymore. I can no longer keep my sanity on the night of the full moon. The darkness in my heart seems to be Devouring my soul. The longer you stay by my side, the more danger you'll be in. I don't know what I'll become once I completely lose my mind."