After being knocked into unconsciousness, Karim lingered in the bliss of being totally unaware of the world around him. The wolf was temporarily subdued, and the man slept until well after noon. During that time, all Karim could dream about was the horrible thing he had fought with. The scent of her foul blood, the cutting sound of her screams, the sensation of sinking his claws into her tainted flesh, all danced in Karim's fevered dreams. And as he slept, he grinned as he relived the werewolf's madness. Had he been conscious, he would have supressed his glee. But deep down in his heart, Karim had grown to thrist for the pure freedom the werewolf's curse granted him when he lost control, and in the dream realm of his unconscious mind, that thrist was all that mattered.
His eyes remained closed for the first few minutes he spent on the border between consciousness and unconsciousness. Sight was not the first sense to return; a dry tongue trapped amid a coating of putrid demon blood came first. The next sense to return was hearing, but all he heard was silence. Memories came back to him then, blurred images of falling down and an ache in his body. The recurring ache was what Karim's battered body needed to regain a sense of touch. He could tell that his body was laid out on something soft, perhaps a bed. It took him a few minutes, but finally he realized that he had fallen through a roof, and certainly hadn't lost consciousness here.
Karim's eyes shot open at that realization. He began to shake nervously as awareness rapidly returned to him. He was in a small, cramped room, with nothing but a window shining painful sunlight upon him. Iron bars lined the windowsile, and the only door in the room seemed unlocked. Karim took a quick stock of his own state; his clothes, already shredded, were in much the same ragged state they were in before he transformed into a werewolf, save for a few new holes where the demon's claws punctured him. He was covered in blood again, both his own and that of the flying monster. And his body seemed to have healed the majority of the wounds he had suffered.
"Where in the hell am I?" Karim asked himself, "Last thing I remember was the demon pulling me up and... no, no, that wasn't all of it. I could have fallen, but then, why would I be in here? Damn it Karim, what did you get yourself mired into this time?"
Nominally thankful for his curse and the remarkable healing and durability it offered for the first time, Karim staggered to his feet. He took a few steps in the confined space in front of his bed, shakey legs not working particularly well at the moment. He coughed weakly, and reached for the door. Much to his suprise, it opened for him, spurring him to explore this building he had found himself in.
The corridors were remarkably sparse, and every door that lined them seemed to be locked. As he wandered, Karim noticed that he was vaguely unnerved by his sudden lack of the werewolf's senses. He groaned softly, wondering just how much fighting the wolf within really mattered. After meandering through the halls for no more than ten minutes, Karim came across a pile of rubble, above which was a ray of sunlight shining in from a hole in the ceiling with another hole in the roof above that hole.
"Well," Karim muttered to himself as he gazed upwards, "at least I haven't been moved too far away from where I landed. That's a good sign, I suppose."
The vagrant resumed trudging through the halls after a while. Now he was hankering for some alcohol. He continued his wanderings, and as his search of the building went on, he found himself growing frustrated with the sheer number of locked doors that impeded his progress and toyed with his curiosity.
"The wolf," Karim said to himself, one of his monologues beginning "would surely just tear the door off and see what's inside, and to hell with the consquences. Ah, but that was what makes werewolves so dangerous after all; uncontrolled save by instinct and rash enough to do the first thing that emerges in their minds. A force of nature really, and nature, well, nature scares humans. The werewolf is but the purest expression of nature's fury and danger. But who in the world decided that I would be such an expression?"
Karim sighed heavily as he concluded his own diatribe. He had spent so many years among teachers and tutors, spent so many years learning to use those words and understand the philosphical underpinnings of his thoughts. And all he had amounted to was being another vagrant in the streets of Cairo? The thought of it was depressing in and of itself. While mired in this intertwined state of self pity and self loathing spurred by his cursed state, Karim came across a stair case, and cast all his worries aside as he scrambled down it, praying the ground floor below would be more inviting.
After bounding off the last stair, Karim arrived in what appeared to be a household, the house kichen to be specific. Coptic icons lined the walls of the kitchen, all kept safely away from the stove. One thing that struck Karim as strange was that there was only one stove, even though the three story building had clearly been meant to house more people than just the small family one stove could sustain. Still, he was elated to have found the kitchen, and set to work searching the pantries and storages for the ever elusive alcohol he had sought, quickly and frantically.
"Wine, wine, where's the damn wine?" he hissed as he searched, each moment without his intoxicating nectars making him all the crankier.
"I would advise that you do not curse in this household," a voice from behind Karim said. It was a woman's voice, one that implied a quiet sort of authority. Karim spun around to see that while he was busy searching for his intoxicants, a middle aged woman, with an average frame, thinning black hair slowly turning grey, and eyes harder than any Karim had seen before, had taken a seat at the table set out in the kitchen. In his state of mind, Karim could not say if he had allowed her to sneak up on him, or if he was simply too desperate for alcohol to notice that she had been there. She wore what would be expected of any Egyptian woman, but there was something about her expression that seemed tired but determined. Karim's stuttered a few words in response, but none came out as a coherent sentence. He had no idea what he had just gotten into.
"I assume your silence is your way of agreeing with me. Now be careful with your words," the woman continued as calmly and sternly as ever, "for I have two young sons living with me, and I'll not tolerate them learning any sinful words. We took you in out of pity when you fell into our home, but you will abide by our ways. Is that understood?"
Karim only nodded weakly to her. He was too worn out by being startled to put up any sort of resistance to her stern lecture.
"Good to know. Now then, I don't suppose you can tell me anything about this wolf creature my neighbors told me about earlier?" she said calmly.
"Wolf creature?" Karim asked nervously. Try as he might, he could not retain his calm now that it seemed apparent that his nocturnal shapeshifting had been noticed.
"My neighbors said that they saw two demons battling in the sky last night. They claimed that one of those fiends, the beast with the head of a wolf, fell from the sky and crashed into my home. I doubt they were lying, for they seemed so concerned about my boys that they would remove them from their beds before a demon could reach them."
"I've heard rumors of creatures like that, but surely an wise woman such as yourself can't believe that those things are real in this day and age," Karim said timidly. Resorting to flattery normally worked to dissaude most of the inquiries that might lead to Karim unwittingly revealing his true nature.
"Coincidentally," the woman began sarcastically, "when I returned to my home, I found you laying unconscious amid a pile of debris that had once been part of my roof and floor. Now tell me in your honeyed tongue what you make of that."
"I was curious when I heard the shouting, and I traveled over the roof tops to see what had happened, but I didn't see the hole as I was running. I simply slipped and fell down through the hole the falling demon made in your home. Fortunately for me the wolf creature was long gone by the time I arrived, but I still tumbled down and was knocked unconscious," Karim said, inwardly impressed by his own lie.
"Then I must confess that I'm impressed," the woman said with a knowing smirk, "for my home stands next to no buildings save those across the street from me. That was quite a leap you made. Impossible for an ordinary man to make, no?"
"Wha, who, what do you want with me?" Karim said as his eyes widened.
"I believe I'll be fetching you some wine now. You're going to need it," she replied, getting up and striding out of the kitchen, leaving Karim alone to wonder as to what twisted turn his fate had taken.
Document: Excerpt from a Cairo newspaper
Unseen Battle Rages in Streets
Last evening, numerous residents on a Cairo neighborhood frantically reported a raging battle in the streets to the police. By the time the police arrived on the scene, the fighting had ended. Blood had been spilled in many places across the streets, and other signs of violence were found by police. Residents reported hearing animals, screaming, and explosions over the course of the incident, and many reported seeing the battle as well. However, Colonial police say that no witness has yet provided them with useful information about the culprits behind the violence.
His eyes remained closed for the first few minutes he spent on the border between consciousness and unconsciousness. Sight was not the first sense to return; a dry tongue trapped amid a coating of putrid demon blood came first. The next sense to return was hearing, but all he heard was silence. Memories came back to him then, blurred images of falling down and an ache in his body. The recurring ache was what Karim's battered body needed to regain a sense of touch. He could tell that his body was laid out on something soft, perhaps a bed. It took him a few minutes, but finally he realized that he had fallen through a roof, and certainly hadn't lost consciousness here.
Karim's eyes shot open at that realization. He began to shake nervously as awareness rapidly returned to him. He was in a small, cramped room, with nothing but a window shining painful sunlight upon him. Iron bars lined the windowsile, and the only door in the room seemed unlocked. Karim took a quick stock of his own state; his clothes, already shredded, were in much the same ragged state they were in before he transformed into a werewolf, save for a few new holes where the demon's claws punctured him. He was covered in blood again, both his own and that of the flying monster. And his body seemed to have healed the majority of the wounds he had suffered.
"Where in the hell am I?" Karim asked himself, "Last thing I remember was the demon pulling me up and... no, no, that wasn't all of it. I could have fallen, but then, why would I be in here? Damn it Karim, what did you get yourself mired into this time?"
Nominally thankful for his curse and the remarkable healing and durability it offered for the first time, Karim staggered to his feet. He took a few steps in the confined space in front of his bed, shakey legs not working particularly well at the moment. He coughed weakly, and reached for the door. Much to his suprise, it opened for him, spurring him to explore this building he had found himself in.
The corridors were remarkably sparse, and every door that lined them seemed to be locked. As he wandered, Karim noticed that he was vaguely unnerved by his sudden lack of the werewolf's senses. He groaned softly, wondering just how much fighting the wolf within really mattered. After meandering through the halls for no more than ten minutes, Karim came across a pile of rubble, above which was a ray of sunlight shining in from a hole in the ceiling with another hole in the roof above that hole.
"Well," Karim muttered to himself as he gazed upwards, "at least I haven't been moved too far away from where I landed. That's a good sign, I suppose."
The vagrant resumed trudging through the halls after a while. Now he was hankering for some alcohol. He continued his wanderings, and as his search of the building went on, he found himself growing frustrated with the sheer number of locked doors that impeded his progress and toyed with his curiosity.
"The wolf," Karim said to himself, one of his monologues beginning "would surely just tear the door off and see what's inside, and to hell with the consquences. Ah, but that was what makes werewolves so dangerous after all; uncontrolled save by instinct and rash enough to do the first thing that emerges in their minds. A force of nature really, and nature, well, nature scares humans. The werewolf is but the purest expression of nature's fury and danger. But who in the world decided that I would be such an expression?"
Karim sighed heavily as he concluded his own diatribe. He had spent so many years among teachers and tutors, spent so many years learning to use those words and understand the philosphical underpinnings of his thoughts. And all he had amounted to was being another vagrant in the streets of Cairo? The thought of it was depressing in and of itself. While mired in this intertwined state of self pity and self loathing spurred by his cursed state, Karim came across a stair case, and cast all his worries aside as he scrambled down it, praying the ground floor below would be more inviting.
After bounding off the last stair, Karim arrived in what appeared to be a household, the house kichen to be specific. Coptic icons lined the walls of the kitchen, all kept safely away from the stove. One thing that struck Karim as strange was that there was only one stove, even though the three story building had clearly been meant to house more people than just the small family one stove could sustain. Still, he was elated to have found the kitchen, and set to work searching the pantries and storages for the ever elusive alcohol he had sought, quickly and frantically.
"Wine, wine, where's the damn wine?" he hissed as he searched, each moment without his intoxicating nectars making him all the crankier.
"I would advise that you do not curse in this household," a voice from behind Karim said. It was a woman's voice, one that implied a quiet sort of authority. Karim spun around to see that while he was busy searching for his intoxicants, a middle aged woman, with an average frame, thinning black hair slowly turning grey, and eyes harder than any Karim had seen before, had taken a seat at the table set out in the kitchen. In his state of mind, Karim could not say if he had allowed her to sneak up on him, or if he was simply too desperate for alcohol to notice that she had been there. She wore what would be expected of any Egyptian woman, but there was something about her expression that seemed tired but determined. Karim's stuttered a few words in response, but none came out as a coherent sentence. He had no idea what he had just gotten into.
"I assume your silence is your way of agreeing with me. Now be careful with your words," the woman continued as calmly and sternly as ever, "for I have two young sons living with me, and I'll not tolerate them learning any sinful words. We took you in out of pity when you fell into our home, but you will abide by our ways. Is that understood?"
Karim only nodded weakly to her. He was too worn out by being startled to put up any sort of resistance to her stern lecture.
"Good to know. Now then, I don't suppose you can tell me anything about this wolf creature my neighbors told me about earlier?" she said calmly.
"Wolf creature?" Karim asked nervously. Try as he might, he could not retain his calm now that it seemed apparent that his nocturnal shapeshifting had been noticed.
"My neighbors said that they saw two demons battling in the sky last night. They claimed that one of those fiends, the beast with the head of a wolf, fell from the sky and crashed into my home. I doubt they were lying, for they seemed so concerned about my boys that they would remove them from their beds before a demon could reach them."
"I've heard rumors of creatures like that, but surely an wise woman such as yourself can't believe that those things are real in this day and age," Karim said timidly. Resorting to flattery normally worked to dissaude most of the inquiries that might lead to Karim unwittingly revealing his true nature.
"Coincidentally," the woman began sarcastically, "when I returned to my home, I found you laying unconscious amid a pile of debris that had once been part of my roof and floor. Now tell me in your honeyed tongue what you make of that."
"I was curious when I heard the shouting, and I traveled over the roof tops to see what had happened, but I didn't see the hole as I was running. I simply slipped and fell down through the hole the falling demon made in your home. Fortunately for me the wolf creature was long gone by the time I arrived, but I still tumbled down and was knocked unconscious," Karim said, inwardly impressed by his own lie.
"Then I must confess that I'm impressed," the woman said with a knowing smirk, "for my home stands next to no buildings save those across the street from me. That was quite a leap you made. Impossible for an ordinary man to make, no?"
"Wha, who, what do you want with me?" Karim said as his eyes widened.
"I believe I'll be fetching you some wine now. You're going to need it," she replied, getting up and striding out of the kitchen, leaving Karim alone to wonder as to what twisted turn his fate had taken.
Document: Excerpt from a Cairo newspaper
Unseen Battle Rages in Streets
Last evening, numerous residents on a Cairo neighborhood frantically reported a raging battle in the streets to the police. By the time the police arrived on the scene, the fighting had ended. Blood had been spilled in many places across the streets, and other signs of violence were found by police. Residents reported hearing animals, screaming, and explosions over the course of the incident, and many reported seeing the battle as well. However, Colonial police say that no witness has yet provided them with useful information about the culprits behind the violence.