A.D 205:
Somewhere in a dark forest at night, begins the tale. You could hear the galloping of Arabian horses, not something you would hear in the woods everyday. A carriage accompanied by a few mercenaries were riding on their horses with an abducted lady. A couple of 100 metres behind, were some private bodyguards chasing the carriage furiously.
The lady whose name was Aurelia, had a sad life... Though she was the daughter of a senator, her father lost the favour of the then ruler Antoninus and was put to death. Her beauty had invited the lust of another senator, who tried to force her to marry him many times. Angered by her refusal, the wicked man hired some mercenaries to abduct her when she and her maid went to the forest. The mercenaries killed her maid & tied up the lady. But what they did not expect to see was that her father's private bodyguards were still secretly protecting her. Not wanting to risk a battle, the senator forced her into the carriage and galloped away along with the mercenaries. The bodyguards continued in hot pursuit.
When unable to throw them off, the senator suddenly had an idea... he decided to venture into the forbidden unchartered territory of the woods, where he could what he wanted with the woman without any hindrance. That area was called forbidden for a reason. Rumour was that some abnormal wolves resided there. The mercenaries initially hesitated but were sceptical of the rumours as well. So some of the mercenaries took a detour to confuse the bodyguards while the carriage & the others ventured into the forbidden woods.
The place was called forbidden for a reason, there were no birds, no crickets, no animals... nothing in sight. It was eerie for sure... and the vegetation had grown so much that though it was a full moon night, there was barely any light at all. Finally the carriage halted and the mercenaries reunited there as well.
Inside the carriage, the senator started laughing madly and told Lady Aurelia the story of how he framed her father of his crimes and had him put to death. The lady was furious and wanted nothing more than to kill the young wretch in front of her. But with her hands & legs tied up and her mouth gagged, she could do nothing. Seeing her reaction, the wicked man only laughed louder and gave her a menacing look filled with lust. But before he could even touch her face, he heard loud screams outside. Irritated by the noise, he moved to open the door.
Meanwhile when the senator was laughing loudly and telling his story to Aurelia... On the outside, the mercenaries outside were chatting noisily as well. All of a sudden, the horses neighed and threw down their riders and ran off. Even the ones tethered to the carriage forcefully broke free & ran off. It was then that the creatures appeared, then that the story had a twist, then that evil was fought with evil. Low resounding growls could slowly be heard. From the nearby cave, red glowing eyes could slowly be seen.
Noiselessly like the wind, came out 3 large creatures. They were unlike anything else ever seen or heard of...they were the WULDRRICS. Their huge face resembled a wolf's, but the upper jaw had no teeth... the lower jaw shaped like a spiral had several dozens of large pointy teeth. Their ebony black fur perfectly blended into the dim light. The monsters had 3 pairs of legs and each paw had 3 giant claws. Their long bodies were even bigger than an anaconda's and ended with a large bushy tail. Though they had poor eyesight, they had acute hearing & strong smell receptors.
Drawn by the commotion, they approached the mercenaries stealthily and quickly. When the mercenaries who had fallen from the horses got up... they saw the beasts... and were horrified by the Wulddrics' appearance. Even as they drew their weapons, the Wuldrrics pounced on them, their hook shaped claws tore through muscle and bone as it pinned down one of the men. The others tried to resist, but the claws broke through shields and swords like butter and mortally injured any man who was unfortunately there. Soon the screams of the mercenaries could be heard.
Back to inside the carriage,
As the senator proceeded to touch Lady Aurelia's pretty face, he heard the screams from outside. Irritated he got up & opened the door and shouted at the mercenaries to lower their voices, when he saw the monstrous Wulddrics. The 7 metre long beasts were tearing through the mercenaries like a stack of cards. As he stood in shock, Lady Aurelia seized the opportunity and collided against him to push him out of the carriage. The senator fell down to the ground and got up cursing loudly...
A VERY BIG MISTAKE, one of the Wulddrics tuned towards him and stabbed him with its paw. As the senator lay there screaming, from inside the carriage, Aurelia let out a muffled gasp through the gag when she saw the Wuldrric. Even though there were lots of sounds, the Wulddric next to the carriage heard Aurelia's muffled gasp. It slowly pushed it's huge head through the carriage door to take a look.
Though the Wulddric had pushed its head inside the carriage, destiny can be extremely mysterious. The gag prevented Aurelia from screaming. At the same time, her body scent was masked by the scent of the flowers that she picked in the forest. In the pale light, the Wuldrric's poor eyesight failed to notice her. So though the Wuldrric was right next to her, it failed to notice her and withdrew it's head.
Meanwhile all the mercenaries had been taken down by the Wulddrics and were either dead or severely injured. The senator was bleeding from his thighs, but was still alive as well... It was then that Aurelia saw something she would never forget. The long spiral lower jaws of the Wulddrics slowly unfurled, with the teeth overlapping to form a semi circular shape. The Wulddrics then used their teeth to scrape off the armour, clothes & even the skin of the bodies.
To those who had already died, it was nothing. But to those who were still alive, having their skin peeled off by the terrible teeth was extremely painful. They screamed their hearts out and cried hysterically from the pain. But the Wulddrics showed no emotions, in fact their eyes almost seemed to suggest that they enjoyed hearing the pained screams. Blood flowed non stop from the bodies as they were being flayed. Once a body was completely devoid of skin, hair or clothing, they tore the body into large pieces with their claws before swallowing the pieces whole. But strangely and terrifyingly, the Wuldrrics devoured a body only if it was dead. For those still alive even after their skin was ripped apart... the Wulddrics did not proceed to kill and eat them, rather they patiently waited till the pitiful wretches stopped screaming & died. The rumours that the Wulddrics enjoyed tormenting their prey seemed to be true.
The senator ended up as miserably as some of the other mercenaries... the wretch suffered agonising pain for nearly forty minutes before finally dying. For that 1 hour, painful and desperate screams were heard in the forbidden area. Screams that could send shivers down the spines of the bravest of warriors. Aurelia was extremely frightened as well, but she controlled herself not to make any sound and closed her eyes and prayed to God to help her.
After the last of the men died and the Wulddrics devoured the flesh, it was nearly midnight. The Wulddrics then went back to the cave from which they came out from. Once Aurelia was sure they had gone, she struggled and struggled and finally got the gag off her mouth, then she bit through the rope tying her hands and subsequently freed her legs as well. She then slowly crept out of the carriage and tried to walk without making any noise. Either because she was lucky or because the Wulddrics were too full, she manged to slip away without being spotted by them. The foliage was very thick, but the way through which the carriage had come in water evident through the destruction it had caused. Following this path, she slowly started going out of the forbidden area.
Slowly but steadily, she made it out of the terrible place by dawn. Once outside ... she eventually met up with her bodyguards who had searched for her in all places except the forbidden area. When they heard what had happened to the senator and his men, they got goosebumps. They suggested Lady Aurelia to take her things and leave Rome as they believed that the monsters were perharps a sign from the heavens that Rome might fall. Lady Aurelia was very much thankful to escape alive and safe from that terrible place and thanked God that even her virginity was saved. She too decided to leave Rome, as without her father and her maid... there was no one here who mattered to her anymore. She decided to go elsewhere to start a new life...
