Tarran's Story - Hunger Consumes the Horizon

Violet dust boils up through the shattered hall. From it, a tall translucent figure gathers shape, not quite flesh, not quite mist. The surviving villagers drop to their knees in a single trembling wave.

The apparition does not speak. Its hollow eyes fix on Tarran, cold and measuring, while broken chain links clatter softly across the floor like spilled teeth.

A young villager in a chalk-smeared robe edges out from behind a splintered bench, keeping low. They stare at the vision, then at Tarran, as if choosing between terror and duty.

The hall groans around them. Chalk dust drifts through the air while the side door gives one final, splintering shudder under Tarran's weight.

Tarran lowers her maw onto Maelric in one sudden bite. His bargain cuts off into a wet, final gasp, and his chalk-smeared robe vanishes between her teeth.

The Scribe’s staff snaps under her jaw. Broken chalk and pale fabric spill from the edge of her mouth as she swallows hard.

Maelric is gone. The villagers recoil harder, pressing their foreheads to the floor while the apparition watches without blinking.

Violet residue shivers across the hall. The failing side door groans once, then hangs in splinters under Tarran’s weight.

One villager lifts their head, staring at the empty space where Maelric stood, then at Tarran’s maw, wide with horror.

Tarran keeps chewing, and the kneeling line breaks at once. Villagers scramble over each other, but her shadow drops across them like a wall.

Her jaws come down again. Cloth, hair, and a spray of grainy chalk vanish into the crush of teeth, and the hall fills with shrieks cut short.

The apparition’s cold glow flickers. Violet dust lifts in a sharp spiral around Tarran’s snout, as if the broken chains remember the shape of the spell for one last breath.

A villager near the wall snatches at the crumbling chalk charm, but it crumbles in their shaking hand. Tarran lunges past it, and the last cluster vanishes into her maw.

Silence crashes down after the panic. Only the apparition remains, hovering above scattered robes and broken white chalk, while Tarran stands over the emptied hall, swallowing.