Kanuna made it back to camp shortly after three. He was still giddy with excitement and clasping his necklace tightly. The first thing he did when he arrived at his tent was to retrieve a beer from his cooler, toast the heavens, and take a deep breath.

He looked around at the grove of trees which surrounded him. Somehow the oaks looked a little mightier, the leaves a little greener, and the sky a little brighter. Kanuna decided he would spend the night at the campsite, then head into town and see if he could get some type of appraisal on the necklace and the statuette. He suddenly found himself quite exhausted from all the exaltation of emotion he had experienced and decided to take a brief nap. Just to be safe, he buried the necklace next to his tent before curling up on his sleeping bag and falling asleep.

Kanuna was surprised that it was getting dark when he awoke, but it didn't bother him. He set about building a fire and then broke out a pot, filling it with beans and vegetables and letting it heat. He decided to take a closer look at the statue.

Retrieving a magnifying glass, Kanuna inspected the statue carefully, looking for any type of mark that might indicate it's origin. Though he found no indication of where it was from, he could not help but admire the  intricacy with which the small figure was carved. As hideous as the apparition was, it was meticulously crafted. Wrinkles, even pores were visible on the monstrous little carving. The more he stared at it, the more transfixed he became, till finally he placed it down next to his foot by the fire.

Kanuna did not notice that the smoke and flames all leaned towards the small object at his feet. Not at first. After a time, this reaction became more and more pronounced, until the flames were being drawn directly into the statue. He tried to retrieve it but it was too hot for him to touch. He stared in amazement as the flames were sucked directly into the figure.

As he watched the phenomenon, a primal long-forgotten fear began to swell within Kanuna's being. He stared at the statuette as it sucked in the flame and he noticed it had begun to grow. A sense of panic overcame him. With each passing second the statue grew noticeably.

Kanuna picked up a branch to try to push the figure away from the flame, but as soon as the stick touched, it burst into flame. He ran to his tent and grabbed a fire extinguisher and attempted to put out the campfire. It was as though there was a shield around the entire area, the chemical spray was simply diverted and the fire continued to rage, continuing to feed the statue, which was now nearly 2 feet tall.

Then, in an instant, the entirety of the flame was sucked into the statue. The campfire was out, and the statue continue to grow, now nearly 4 feet in height. Kanuna touched it again with the stick. Nothing happened. He approached. The exterior of the statue was charred black and the entirety of the figure began to pulse and throb. He felt the urge to touch it, to see if it was still stone-hard. It was a lapse of judgment he would not have time to regret.

Kanuna reached out with his right hand and prodded the figure with his index finger. As soon as he made contact, his skin began to blacken. He tried pulling back, but it was too late. Kanuna could feel everything, all life, all energy, all hope, being sucked out of him. He let out a brief scream. Even as the charred ash of his body crumbled, the figure doubled in size.

The statue no longer looked like anything more than a large boulder, yet it still pulsed and throbbed. Cracks began to appear along its surface and a primordial guttural roar came from within it. For a brief moment, there was complete silence, then the entire shell of the object burst outward in a powerful explosion revealing the true form of the beast within the stone.

It looked over its domain with glowing violet eyes. Lifetimes had passed since last the musty odors of evening air sucked past the beast's nostrils into its massive chest. Then the joyous craving began.

The craving, that long-forgotten lust, had begun as a seed in its brain and grown until it became the creature's sole driving force. The beast reared back its head and roared into the forest night. Every other creature in the woods froze momentarily in fear.

Checking its surroundings, the beast sniffed the air before leaving the campsite. It moved among the trees, breaking the smaller ones and bending the larger in a seemingly random pattern of destruction.

Suddenly it paused. Its nostrils flared with sensory recognition, a viscous yellow fluid drooled from its mouth and along its wickedly curved fangs, dripping to the forest floor, burning through the dead leaves and soaking deep into the cool moist earth.

"The smell," it thought, "the smell". As loud as the creature's movements had been, they became silent now, as it began stalking with a million years of instinct.

After a short while it came upon a clearing occupied by a single tent. There was no warning, no roar, only snapping teeth and slashing talons. The two occupants awoke briefly. Two short agonizing screams rent the air before the flesh was shredded from their bones and silence again filled the night. The craving howled in its mind. The craving was death, and the craving was endless. But it was dawn and time to rest for now.