“You know, the night I turned, I thought it was the end of everything. I mean, who wouldn’t? One day you’re just some raging vengeance-obsessed asshole trying to scrape by, and the next you’re… whatever the fuck this is.

I hated it at first. I hated what I’d become, what the Scourge had done to me. Thought I was a monster—no, I knew I was a monster, exact same as the ones I was killing, and... I lost it for a while.

But then, I started to realize something. This curse, sickness, didn’t just take from me; it gave me something, too. Strength, speed, senses sharp enough to track a beast through the darkest corners of this damned city. I’d have been dead years ago without it. Torn apart by some fuck-waffle scourgebeast, or probably just… broken by the weight of it all.

The Scourge didn’t just change my body—it changed how I see the world. How I survived in it.

Maybe I don’t want to be cured. Maybe I don’t want to go back to being that scared helpless kid who couldn’t protect the people he loved. Maybe this is *what* I’m supposed to be now. A hunter. A predator. Someone who doesn’t just survive, but thrives in the chaos. And yeah, maybe that makes me crazy, but in a shithole of a city like this where the streets are crawling with beasts and the air reeks of desperation, crazy is the only thing that keeps you alive.

Maybe I’m just trying to convince myself that this is all worth it. That I’m not just some broken idiot clinging to the scraps of what’s left."

---

As if the title doesn't give it away, here comes a new Naruga! Well, technically a redesigned one, going in the complete opposite direction of the previous iteration, owed to a shift in design themes to something far more traditionally bat-ish while losing out on the remaining Noivern traits.

And if the little speech above didn't tip you off - this is in fact, one and the same with the werebat incarnation from the same gritty setting poor old Iliph had found himself in. Quite the menacing glare he's got, eh? At least he's qualified to be on the side of 'good' (chaotic-neutral murderhobo he might be...)

...Did I mention he's about 7 feet tall?