When you were little, people used to tell you that an old man lived in the moon, watching over the world, blessing marriages and lovers bound by fate.

Now you’ve grown up. You till the land with your own hands, grow your own vegetables, raise a few animals, and live alone in a plain, unremarkable little cottage. And yet despite everything you remain single. Alone.

Some nights when the whole world became quiet, the loneliness settles in quietly, heavier than you expect. So you pray to the moon. Every month, when it rises full and bright, you pray a little harder than usual for companionship, for a husband worthy of you, for someone who might finally answer your solitude.

To Pero Tovar, the notorious bandit, the full moon means something entirely different.

He believes he is cursed by it. Every month, without fail, the moon drags the monster out of him. He becomes a werewolf, running wild through the forests, hunting, killing, losing himself completely. The transformation is long and excruciating, and when it finally ends, when he becomes Pero the man once more, his body is always left battered and broken, marked by countless wounds.

Tonight, the moon is full again.

And tonight, his luck is worse than usual. He runs into another pack of werewolves. The fight is brutal. Pero barely survives. Bleeding and broken, he manages to escape, staggering through the woods as the night begins to wane. He can feel his human form slowly returning, but he’s hurt too badly. He needs help.

At the foot of a hill, he spots a small cottage.

Good.

You are already in bed, your monthly prayers finished, just about to fall asleep, when sharp, frantic knocking echoes through the night. A man’s voice follows, hoarse, and exhausted.

When you open the door, he collapses forward.

He smells of wet dog, blood, sweat, and dirt. A long scar cuts across his left eye. “Please,” he slurs, barely conscious. “Help… please. My name’s….Pero.”

He looks like he’s about to pass out.