Lydia’s body shook with the power of Shenyo’s roar. The child was terrified, she could taste his fear but something held him fast. Before she could move toward him, scythes came from nowhere. She could feel the rushing heat as they swiped past her, narrowly missing Shenyo. What in the name of the Dark Mother was happening here? She had no time to ask.<br/><br/>The dead, bleeding blonde woman on the ground rose up, limply with gore draining from her limbs. Lydia paid little attention to that. Her teeth and the hissing that proceeded from her lips held her in a grip of fascination. Her brain registered writhing serpents as yellow as the harvest’s corn. Her eyes were solid black orbs as she charged Lydia. With instinct rather than aforethought, she threw her hands in front of her face in a defensive move. Fire poured from her fingertips and the hissing turned to a woman’s high pitched screams.<br/><br/>Lydia rushed to Shenyo’s side, pulling him to his feet, but keeping a vigilant eye.<br/><br/>“This is worse than anything in the nobles’ city.” She commented, checking him for injuries. The boy approached them with stiff legs and wide eyes, falling face down at their feet, a scythe embedded in his back.<br/><br/>“This is a dark magik,” she said, frantically feeling his arms and his torso for injuries. Lydia was operating in panic and not rationally. “ We have to leave this place. Together our power is good, but I shudder to think what could be here. How long can we hold out against this evil? I like to know the manner of enemy that I am up against and I’m without an inkling.”<br/><br/>Lydia tugged at his hand and insisted,<br/><br/>“Run!”<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>