Henry's body was still in the air;
Spinning.
Broken.
Blood-soaked.
A dark trail followed him, scattering through the mist like rain.
Leah saw it.
Her eyes widened; too wide; locking onto the moment the claws tore through him, the moment his body snapped backward like something already dead.
"HENRY...NOOOOO!"
She ran.
Not thinking.
Not breathing.
Just running.
Her feet barely touched the ground as she sprinted toward where he would fall.
Behind her;
Thalia didn't move.
She stood frozen.
Eyes locked.
Body refusing to respond.
Shock had rooted her deeper than anything beneath their feet.
Leah didn't look back.
Couldn't.
Henry was falling.
Fast.
Too fast.
She threw her dagger aside without even realizing it.
It hit the ground somewhere behind her;
Forgotten.
Her arms reached forward;
"Henry…!"
His body dropped toward the roots;
And she caught him.
Both hands.
The impact slammed into her arms, knocking the breath out of her chest. His weight; dead weight; drove her backward.
She stumbled;
Slipped;
Fell.
But she twisted as she went down, forcing herself beneath him;
Her back hit the ground hard;
And she pulled him into her arms.
Shielding him.
Holding him.
Like she could still protect him.
The moment he landed against her.
Warmth exploded across her body.
Blood.
So much blood.
It soaked through her armour instantly, spreading across her chest, her arms, her neck; running down her skin in thick, hot streams.
She gasped.
Not from the impact;
From the feeling.
From the reality.
They hit the ground fully.
Stopped.
For a moment;
Nothing moved.
Leah's breath shook violently.
Her arms tightened around him instinctively.
"…Henry…"
She pulled him closer.
Then looked down.
And froze.
He was;
Unrecognizable.
His armor was torn open, bent outward in jagged pieces. Three massive wounds split his torso, stretching from chest downward, no longer clean punctures; just ripped, exposed ruin.
Blood poured from him.
Relentless.
Spilling over her hands, pooling beneath them, dripping from her elbows.
His body twitched once;
Weak.
Fading.
Leah's face twisted in horror.
"Henry… stay with me...stay with me!"
She shook him.
Her hands slipping on his blood.
"Henry! Look at me!"
His head lolled slightly.
His eyes....
Barely open.
Unfocused.
For a split second....
They met hers.
Confusion.
Pain.
Then...
Nothing.
His eyelids fell.
Slow.
Heavy.
Gone.
"No...no no no...!"
She shook him harder now, panic breaking through her voice.
"Henry! Stay with me! Stay!"
Her words collapsed into sobs.
His blood kept dripping.
Warm.
Endless.
Running across her face, her lips, her neck.
Behind them;
Thalia still hadn't moved.
Still standing.
Still watching.
Like her body had been abandoned.
Then....
Leah felt it.
A shift.
Behind her.
Subtle.
Wrong.
The air moved.
Her body reacted before her mind could;
She twisted sharply, still holding Henry, turning her head over her shoulder;
Something sliced through the space where she had been.
Fast.
Silent.
Three claws tore through the air;
Close enough to touch.
Too close.
A sharp whisper cut past her head;
And a lock of her hair drifted down in front of her face.
Severed cleanly.
The ends still trembling as they fell.
Leah's breath hitched.
Her eyes widened slowly.
It was right there.
Behind her.
The creature shifted again.
Its head tilted slightly toward Leah;
Toward the grief.
Toward the fear spilling out of her in broken breaths.
A low, distorted voice slipped from beneath the soaked cloak. Not spoken; dragged into the air.
"Too bad… I can't feed on his fear…"
A pause.
The claws flexed slowly.
"…but don't worry."
Its head turned just enough.
"I will feed on yours."
It moved.
A sudden lunge;
The air split;
Then.....
Thwack.
An arrow struck its side.
Not deep.
Not enough.
But enough to stop it.
The creature turned.
Slowly.
Silently.
Thalia was already running.
Her breath ragged.
Her body screaming with every step.
But she didn't stop.
Two arrows clenched in her hands.
Her eyes burned;not with fear...
With rage.
She threw them.
One after the other.
The arrows cut through the mist;
Too slow.
The creature twisted sideways unnaturally;
Both arrows missed, slicing past its cloak and vanishing into the fog.
Thalia didn't hesitate.
She pulled two more.
Kept running.
Faster.
Ignoring the pain tearing through her legs.
Ignoring the image burned into her mind;
Henry.
Broken.
Dying in Leah's arms.
A sound tore from her throat;
Half scream.
Half fury.
She closed the distance.
Then lunged;
Driving an arrow forward like a blade.
The tip struck the creature
For a split second....
Contact.
Resistance.
Then.....
A sharp metallic screech.
One of the creature's claws snapped across;
CLANG!
The arrow split clean in half.
The broken tip spun away into the mist.
The creature's other arm moved instantly;
Too fast;
A blur of black;
Slash.
Thalia's body jerked backward.
Three shallow lines tore across her arm.
Not deep;
But enough.
Armour ripped.
Skin split.
Blood surfaced instantly, streaking down her forearm.
She hissed in pain;
But didn't retreat.
Didn't stop.
She grabbed another arrow.
Stepped back once;
Then surged forward again.
Another strike;
Wild.
Fueled by rage.
The creature met it mid-motion.
A claw flicked;
Precise.
Controlled.
Crack.
The arrow shattered before it could land.
Splinters scattered between them.
Another slash.....
This time across her shoulder;
Her body twisted with the impact as the claws scraped across her, leaving another set of burning cuts.
She stumbled;
Dropped to one knee;
Her breath breaking.
Blood dripping from both arms now.
The creature didn't rush.
Didn't press.
It watched.
Still.
Waiting.
Studying.
Thalia lifted her head slowly.
Her face was pale;
But her eyes;
Still burning.
Still refusing.
Her grip tightened around the arrow in her hand.
Her fingers slick with her own blood.
She stood again.
Unsteady.
Shaking.
But standing.
"…You don't get to touch them…"
Her voice cracked;
But didn't break.
She pulled another arrow from behind her.
Now holding two again.
Her chest heaved.
Pain surged through her body;
Ignored.
Forgotten.
Replaced by something else.
Something sharper.
She stepped forward.
She ran.
This time;
Not controlled.
Not measured.
Pure rage.
She swung the first arrow;
The creature cut it.
She drove the second;
It shattered again.
She didn't stop.
Another arrow;
Another strike;
Again....
Again...
Each one breaking against those claws.
Each one answered with another shallow cut across her arms, her shoulders;
Her body slowly turning red with her own blood.
But she kept coming.
Relentless.
Furious.
Breaking herself against something that refused to yield.
She burnt like a fire without light