Legend Of The Keeper

Lucia never saw it coming.

Panting and barely able to stand, she touches her head and chokes back a scream-wrong hand. That was the one slashed at with claws that made quick work of her flesh. Pulling back, she finds her fingers slick with blood.

Bile rises to her throat.

The girl next to her had fended off the monster for a while, throwing blasts of energy its way, but she's unconscious now.

She doesn't have the same luxury.

Lucia's attacker doesn't give her time to think any more. Her eyes glint in the fading sunlight, a predator sizing up her prey. She lashes out as Lucia clumsily tries to move out of the way.

Her attacker's claws rip into her arm, and she screams. This hurts more than the last blow. She stumbles into the dead grass, and knows she won't be getting back up again.

The snake-woman lunges at her, and for just a moment her vision clears.

Then the world explodes.

Lucia fights to stay awake, but to no avail.

It was supposed to be a normal night. Instead she's realizing that this is how she dies. Her vision blurs, and even the stars seem to die in the sky.

Thinking is too hard, there's no way to focus, and suddenly the effort to keep her eyes open is far, far too much.

She passes out, right next to the girl who'd gotten her into this mess.

..........