The door shifted loudly, revealing a catacomb of lost treasure. She dropped her tools. Words could not explain the bounty of gold that shimmered before her eyes. One by one, as if on cue, the torches sprung to life. The treasure was piled to the roof, golden coins dancing in the firelight, gold sculptures of all the Egyptian gods guarded the walls as silent protectors. Deep within her heart, masked almost entirely by the trill of discovering ancient treasure, a part of her recognized the danger it instilled to those who would seek to make it theirs and it was perhaps that, that enable her to hear running feet. She looked back up the corridor she came from, her eyes trying to adjust to the dim light, but something was there. It was a man as far as she could tell, but he was in pain. She didn't know what to do, her mind was racing. If it were another treasure hunter she would hide the gold, there was no way that she would hand it over. The only option was to make sure that he went the other way. Leaving the gold behind her, she ran out towards him.

Just as she neared the man, she stopped. Something was wrong with his face. Fur was shooting out of him, covering his face and elongating his nose. But it wasn't just his face that was changing. His bones were distorting. It wasn't natural, it wasn't right, what the hell was that thing. He fell against the wall, his fingers shrinking and forming a great black paw, his nails turning in claws that dug into the surface of the stone, scratching over paintings that had outlasted time itself. His clothing was tearing, fur bursting out of seams. If she didn't know any better, she would have thought he was a werewolf, if she believed in such fairy tale nonsense.

And then she screamed, falling back as the deformed creature ran. Her butt aching from the fall, her hands shook from panic. She closed her eyes "It must have been a mirage," she kept telling herself, trying to force to horrid images out of her mind. "That can't have been real!"

Tentatively her eyes opened, her breath caught in her throat. There he was, the creature, half human, half dog, his body shuddering with the change. She couldn't scream, she couldn't speak. She stared at the beast with terror stricken all over her face. Her mind kept telling her to run but her body was rooted to the ground. And yet in all the confusion and panic, she recognized something familiar about this beast, even as his teeth turned razor sharp.

=================

He was in so much pain, more pain than anything imaginable. When he saw her, he knew that he had to reach her, not for help as he knew that this was his doing for stealing from this tomb, he had to warn her, try to tell her that he may be lost but she can be saved, but each time he tried to warn her he would feel more pain, it would be like the transformation was speeding itself up each time he took a step towards her, each time he tried to speak to her, each time he opened his mouth no words would flow as it would not allow him. Each step was getting worse and worse, and he knew when he reached her he may be nothing but an animal but it was worth it he had to tell her.

He was almost at her, he was hunched and twisted, his body covered with matted fur. Cruel fangs pushed out of his muzzle, with rough paws as hands and feet. His clothes where shredded behind him and yet as he stood near her and she falls backing away from him, the bracelet glows more it was not done, it was far from done. He is half way, looking more like the creature, the old god that has cursed him he would be allowed to look like this for mere seconds as he reaches his changed hand to her, trying to get her to run, trying to get her to run as fast as she can.

He tried to talk to her, but a hideous barking noise came out that sent chills up his and her back. It sounded vaguely familiar, like something they both have heard. Then suddenly he fell floor writhing in apparent pain. It takes only a few seconds for the spasms stopped, he was now unable to rise up as he tries to talk once more sounding more like an animal….like a Jackal.

Scavengers, that's what they were, nothing more nothing less. As he tried to warn her it seemed he had shrunk into himself, assuming a more bestial form to match his voice.

He lifted his head to stare at her with yellow eyes. There was no what it had almost changed into now. The head was almost fully formed now, and what had been misshapen arms and legs had dwindled into forelegs and hindlegs within the past minute. The bracelet on its front leg continues to glow brightly, its body spasms one more time as the bracelet dims down and then unhinges itself, falling of the Jackal and rolling to the woman's feet tapping into her. The yellow eyes continue to stare into her own as the jackal tilts its head back and lets out a sorrowful howl that drowns the corridors in his sadness.