Bloodstar

Let me tell you one thing, child: Never travel in the desert at night. Never! When I was your age, my brother and I, we went looking for some adventure. And what better place to prove our courage and strength than to cross the desert on our own, and bring stories from the unknown lands beyond? How foolish we were, traveling without a guide! We got lost after a few days. When you're not used to it, the heat really gets to you, and all the rocks and canyons start to look alike. We were out of food, we were dieing of thirst, and we hadn't seen a soul for a day. Everything seemed dead in this area. When night fell, we decided to go on. We had to, to rest would have meant to suffer even longer. We had to get out of the desert. I recall everything as if it was just yesterday. It was a full moon, and the light was so bright that you had clear vision all around you. Suddenly, the smell of fresh kill was in the air. We were so hungry, we decided to follow it. I had a bad feeling, the night was too quiet. Even in the desert, there are nocturnal animals. Fenneks, scorpions, little owls, mice and bugs, all kinds of things. But where we were, everything seemed to have gone into hiding. I stopped, I didn't want to go any further. My brother tried to convince me, he even called me a coward, but I didn't dare to go. So he went alone. After a while, I thought I heard a yelp, so I got up and called out for him. At first, I didn't get an answer. He was my brother, so I had to go looking for him. Couldn't leave him there, y'know. I called his name again, and this time, I got an answer: "I am here!" I went on, carefully, hackles raised. I could smell blood, wolf blood. There was a large boulder blocking my sight, but he had to be right behind it. Maybe he got hurt, I thought. Maybe a coyote had guarded the prey and he had to fight it off. I called again, asking him if he was okay. The reply came shortly after, right when I had nearly rounded the boulder: "I am here!"
I stopped dead, in that second I knew there was something totally wrong. It was my brother's voice, allright, but he hadn't answered to my question, and around the corner I got a glimpse of him, he was lying on the ground and didn't move. There was something standing above him, I didn't wait long enough to get a good look. I turned an ran as fast as my legs could carry me, I ran and ran the whole night. But I can tell you, even though it had the overall shape of a wolf, that was no wolf there. It had talons sharper than a cougar's claws, a long, thin tongue and spikes all over its back.
In the morning, some desert wolves found me. They took me in and cared for me until I was able to get back home. I tried to tell them about the monster, but they didn't want to hear about it. I had the feeling though that they knew all too well what I was talking about.
When I got back home, nobody believed me. They think I'm crazy. That the heat burned my brain. But when you're out there, in the desert, don't go anywhere where no other animals wander, and always stay put at night. Maybe then it won't find you. Safe travels, child. I'll be praying for you.