It has been at war for decades; the Shadowlands. There have been lycanthropes and vampires fighting in a bloodied frenzy; living and the undead colliding in the chaos. A simplistic form of “peace” was finally established when a lycanthrope, more powerful than any before, raised an army of undead wights against the vampires and claimed the fortress as its Grand Master, Giovanni Magnus. The Island of Fur Affinity has never known such a swift victory within this grim place to the east, and it seems one particular thief couldn’t care much either.

The courtyard is surrounded with security and traps; you don’t simply walk into Giovanni’s fortress in the dead of night. Aeternae Lucis, a raccoon from a diminutive little shanty town near the harbours of the Golden Sea, for whom a raid is an art form, this little task could be the making of him; snatching an arcane artefact from under the Grand Master’s nose. Giovanni always had a passion for science, but tinkered frequently in the things sciences couldn’t quite explain; his laboratories were full of arcane artefacts.
Just what is it you keep in there, Grand Master? The thief pondered to himself. Rolling the cowl over his face, the raccoon dashed through the night. Stealth was important, the lycanthrope guards and the various shadow monsters were overly alert to anything; most were veterans, it was natural. There were few trees to cover his presence, the raccoon needed to be careful. For some reason, Giovanni had a fond liking for blood wood trees, the reason was never clear.
Aeternae has one shot, the guards were patrolling and they were unlikely to shift without keeping an eye on things. It had to be a quick dash to the fortress and no stopping, but he was a raccoon thief, trained from a young age, he could manage it. Pulling out a small handful of dimly glowing crystals, an incantation would be sufficient.
“Incaendo,” he whispered under his breath, as he tossed the shards, scattering them wildly. The plan seemed to have worked; the shards flashed wildly in the darkness, causing the shadow monsters to yield, whilst the lycanthropes were dazzled by the bright lights. Without haste, Aeternae dashed across the courtyard, dodging the flailing masses of shadow demons.

That was when a feeling of insincerity kicked in, the fortress felt further away than it first appeared, the distance travelled seeming longer and more laborious than he had planned, why did it seem to become further and further away. Collapsing against a sticky blood wood tree, Aeternae stopped to get his bearings; he felt unnaturally sluggish and lethargic. It only dawned on him when he noticed the stone paths.
“Shit!” he muttered, noticing the runic symbols across the stone path; the soil was cursed, why else would no trees grow in the courtyard? The paths were the only route that was safe and all were being patrolled, he’d been played for a fool. He was forced to recover his breath as he felt a warm, sticky feeling on his hand.
“Damn it, what is this?” he noted, spotted a red fluid seeping from a “bruise” made on the tree by his claws, it was bleeding on him. And then, it started swelling and then glowing.
“Shit, shit, shit!” the raccoon continued to curse, the blood wood sap was going to give him away. Throwing caution to the wind, the thief ran the remainder of the distance, the flashing shards being destroyed until his distraction was no more.
Pressing himself against an alcove in the fortress wall, Aeternae had to rethink he strategy. Blood wood sap would give him away to the ground guards, so wondering into an entrance wasn’t ideal. Jumping as he heard a clattering, the raccoon readied his knife; that in itself was a foolish idea, he had no combat ability. It was then he spotted a grille in the courtyard paving. Within the slats of the vent, the thief saw a rival, someone else trying to infiltrate the fortress, a skunk.
“Why didn’t I think of that?” Aeternae pondered. The underground had no guards, only undead, which were easier to fool than the living. The sewers connected into the old train routes, closed after the vampires unleashed zombies into them. The skunk had the natural advantage, disguising its scent as rotting meat; the zombies wouldn’t pick up the smell of fresh rodent. Watching his rival for a while longer, Aeternae was unprepared for what awaited the skunk afterwards.
Entering the crypt beneath the fortress would seem like an ideal route for a thief, no one went there... and for good reason. The skunk picked the lock to open a hatch into the fortress, whilst another, more sinister, door opened within the crypt. The coffin opened and emerging from it was a creature that Aeternae had never seen before, but from the old stories of this land, knew what it was. A wight, an undead spirit of a warrior bound to servitude by Giovanni. It’s horned and scaled visage was visible,  a sickly blood red hue to the face with horrible, hollow eyes; Balaur the Feral, a dragon warrior from a long time back, a war hero once, now an undead servant to Giovanni. The dragon approached the skunk, aware that it was no longer alone. False stenches wouldn’t work; they cared not for flesh or blood, just vengeance. It wasn’t long until another emerged from their crypt, a feline expression with a scar running across the maw, it could only be Ras the Wicked, a lynx witch originally hailing from the Steampunk region of Fur Affinity. The commotion of the undead quickly stirred more interest; Diavol the Scorned, Vulpe the Damned, Liliac the Forsaken and Thylax the Wrath, all fallen soldiers. Aeternae couldn’t bear himself to watch as muted screams as metal and magic tore against tender flesh and bone. The skunk couldn’t stand a chance; these six were renowned for their ruthless nature in life and in death.

Setting aside the feeling of sickness, Aeternae pondered upwards at the full moon; the setting felt right and Shadow Lands were at their most beautiful under moonlight; it was then he noticed his route. Grooves in the walls of the fortress could conceal his presence; he’d have to scale the castle. Nimble fingers reached into a pack attached over his shoulder and carefully assembled a crossbow, battered, but still functional. Loading it with a grapple attached to a rope, he fired upwards, catching the grapple on a gargoyle, carved into the shape of a howling wolf.
Steadily, he placed his boots onto the surface of the hard stone; the aged granite of the lower foundations barely scathed by the spikes inside his boots, scaling up this wall would be tricky, but natural foot holds existed everywhere and Aeternae had previously trained himself to spot even the tiniest opportunity. Hoisting his mass wasn’t a problem, despite appearing only wiry; the raccoon had immense upper body strength, enough to haul himself around large structures such as this. The masonry concealed his presence perfectly, the moon light barely revealing him at all.
	Approaching the upper floors, his target was in sight; the laboratories of the Grand Master, the arcane artefacts hidden within. At this height, he felt unsteady; the ground below him would offer no comfort should he fall. His palms began to sweat ever so slightly and began to cause the leather in his gloves to moisten, his grip feeling uncertain and potential dangerous. Aeternae gulped and bit his lower lip; the window to the laboratory was in sight. Maintaining stealth and perseverance, he approached the window.
“Shit!” he cursed to himself. The Grand Master was within his laboratory, the experiment clearly failing as a vial of smoking fluid ended up flying out of the open window into the courtyard; thank heavens none of the guards noticed, it could have given the entire charade away. Aeternae had to be cunning, the combined sweat on his palms, the height, the Grand Master and the guards below completely able to see him would end this so badly. Noticing out the corner of his eye, the guards were due to switch and would turn to face the fortress, he’d be exposed... except, the guards didn’t switch.

Questioning not this opportune moment, Aeternae wiped away the sweat from his brow, covering his face with the cowl and then used his nimble digits to scale the remaining wall; the stone was aged and chapped, plenty of footholds. Another opportunity arose; the Grand Master’s chambers, the window gaping open welcomingly.
	With stealth unlike anything he could summon that night, the raccoon scaled the wall with skill and haste, throwing his self into the open window, into a trap.

“You know, I could have just knocked you down from the laboratory window,” Giovanni said, his dominating presence terrifying the racoon. He was six foot eight inches, sturdily built and bore red markings across his ebony black fur; this lycanthrope could be no one else but the Grand Master. “The impact of you hitting the ground would have killed you, rather than me. But where would have been the fun in that?”
	Aeternae tried his best to be discreet, this was the Grand Master of the Shadow Lands, and even though you tried to steal from him, you had to show respect.
“Since you’ve accomplished in breaking in, I see no reason to keep you alive,” he commented, “I cannot allow news of your little raid get out to the people, what would they think of the warlord that freed them and protected them if they found out a little raccoon thief broke into my domain and walked away freely?” He reached over and grabbed the cowl and tore it from the raccoon’s face to get a closer look at the trespasser. “I sense fear, feel fear and feed from it; without a shadow of a doubt, your presence was discovered long before you even set foot within that courtyard,”
“I'm sure we could work something out? Surely a professional thief has some use, after all?” asked the raccoon, the sweat clearly visible from his brow. Giovanni scratched his chin and simply shook his head.
“I have no need for a thief; I have envoys watching my enemies from all sides, therefore to keep you would be meaningless,” Giovanni replied cruelly; he held out a paw, large and worn.  “I believe you swiped something of mine, it’d very much like that music box back, if you don’t mind,”

“I don’t understand?” the raccoon replied, merely tilting his head at the notion. Giovanni was unimpressed.
“You took it whilst you thought I wasn’t looking,” Giovanni explained, “If you have any idea how important it is, you’d return it without hesitation,” Aeternae huffed and reluctantly returned the small, round, brass musical box, an unknown and unrecognisable emblem engraved onto the casing; the one treasure worth stealing that night, already lost.
“I’m willing to offer a compromise,” bargained the Grand Master, “you will inform no-one of this and I’ll teleport you from here,” Aeternae looked at the lycanthrope with much distaste at the idea, “The Desert should suffice,”
“If you don’t mind, I’d rather walk out,” Aeternae abruptly responded.
“I can’t allow that,” Giovanni continued, “I know what kind of physical excursion you can do, you scaled my fortress! I will have you escorted if you wish,”
“That would be ideal,”
“By the wights, they’ll lead you to the Twilight Forest or wherever they choose to leave you,”
The mere prospect at being touched by those undead monsters sent shivers down the raccoon’s spine; chances are, given their decision, they’d leave him somewhere hostile, battered and bleeding, if not worse.
“No; anything, but that! I don’t want to be touched by those things!” Aeternae panicked, the notion of fear making Giovanni’s mouth unravel into a sneer.
“You’ve left me no choice,” Giovanni cackled.
“Please, don’t let me get touched by those things! I’m preternatural; it’d do horrible things to me!” Aeternae begged, Giovanni then looked sincere, planning a different solution.

“Then I might as well try what I can,” Giovanni muttered, pulling out a twisted wand from his top pocket. “I don’t like using this, it’s very dangerous,”
“H-hey, what are you doing?” worried the raccoon.
“Just a quick charm,” Giovanni reassured, “I’ll just place you to sleep, have you smuggled out with the supplies by one of my agents and have you dumped in the forest safely. No harm will come to you,”
“And what’s to stop me returning?” the raccoon cockily replied.
“This place will give you nightmares, so you’ll learn not to come back without invitation,” Giovanni replied, “I must admit, I was somewhat impressed by you,” Aeternae grinned to himself; the Grand Master approved of him, it was an honour.
“I look forward to playing with you again,” he beamed, awaiting the charm to be used. Giovanni quickly slipped a small scroll into the top coat pocket of the raccoon, before gently kissing the raccoon on the lips, discreetly, but lovingly.
“We’ll meet again, at the Ritual,” Giovanni concluded, he readied his wand, but offered his left paw instead. “Giovanni Wulfric Clive Magnus, Grand Master of the Shadow Lands,”
“Aeternae Lucis, also known as Aeternae of the Gilded Tongue or as the Gentleman Thief; 'tis a pleasure,” Aeternae replied, accepting the paw in offering.

Before he was even aware of what was happening, Giovanni cast the charm. The raccoon’s head felt heavy, foggy and soothing as the spell kicked in. As he fell to the floor, it almost felt like something was cushioning him gently, placing him neatly into a comfortable position. Though the world around him distorted, he could only make out one last phrase.
“Goodnight, sweetheart,”