A Familiar Nightmare [Solo]

[Elijah]

The brunette breathed a deep sigh before she wiped her brow. Even through the tall trees that surrounded her, the sun beat down hard. Laus wasn’t the warmest fief in Lycia, but it wasn’t quite the coldest either. Beyond that - the young lady wasn’t just taking a stroll through the woods either. She was hard at work, crouched down on one knee as she wrestled with a steel trap carefully placed on the forest floor.

Her quarry was caught within the crude but effective jaws of the trap. A simple hare, brown fur, the kind one of her arrows would never hit when it was camouflaged against the foliage. Only its leg was snared in the steel teeth of the trap, snapped from the force of the trap. The pain and shock made its heart stop - a comparatively painless death.

Serai admired her father’s traps. He’d even shown her how to make a few of them...but they were sometimes a pain to open up and reset. Her fingers were lightly scratched from accidental scrapes against the jagged teeth that lined the trap. Serai’s brows furrowed in frustration as she gave the jaws one last tug before they snapped open at last. The rabbit carcass slumped further forward, and Serai gathered it up into her arms with care. She would skin it at home, where her mother could make use of the hide.

The huntress tucked the rabbit under her arm carefully and lifted the trap up with her free hand - it would have to be cleaned and prepared for use again before dinner. As Serai got to her feet she heard a series of snapping sounds from behind her. Odds were it was some animals, frightened by her presence and her father’s trap. The woods were rarely visited, as people were more and more wary of traveling far from the safety of their homes. As for Serai, well, her family home far from the nearest village or town. The woods were basically part of their home.

More rustling, and another snap. Serai breathed a sigh. “All right pop, I know it's you. See? I’m getting better at-” Serai’s blood ran cold, frozen in her veins. Another snap, but this one was from her left. The brunette whipped her head to the left and -

---

Elijah was alone, once again. His brief diversion in Yuta had been overall pleasant, only because no good men had died that day. The company of Cynan and Rickard had been a nice change of pace from his otherwise solitary travels, Yuta proper had occurred about a week since his battle with the minotaur alongside Gar. It wasn’t that Elijah couldn’t endure a sense of loneliness, but he certainly preferred company over solitude.

All he had for company now was sword on his back and the sounds of the…

Elijah stopped, the soft crunch of tall grass beneath his boots punctuating the act. He gazed around carefully and observed the trees that surrounded him on every angle. Stillness was all that waited behind them with not even a breeze to rustle their leaves. A lack of ambient sound in the woods was one thing.

But the birds weren’t chirping. Just like in the woods beyond Yuta…

A high pitched shriek pierced the air with ease as a result. It rang through Elijah’s ears before breaking down in a proper scream. No words, just a tense, distraught scream filled with desperation and fear. The kind Elijah was all too familiar with...and the kind that made his blood boil so quickly.

Elijah broke into a sprint and his mind immediately began to race. He did his best to calculate exactly how far away the source of the scream was, so he would know when to slow down and observe the situation whatever it may be. Rushing in blind was something he’d done far too often in the past, and he could only thank his wiser teammates and Elimine herself that he had never paid the ultimate price…

Though, that didn’t mean he wasn’t responsible for someone else paying that price for him…

With those painful memories in mind Elijah balanced haste with caution. He carefully strode over wayward roots and weaved between bushes when another scream broke out. Whoever was screaming was still conscious, then, nor were they greatly wounded. Furthermore the scream was louder this time - he’d gotten much closer.

“Just a few more seconds…” Elijah thought to himself as he planted his palms on a tree trunk and pushed off of if, his path now a somewhat downward slope. He cursed the layout of this land and forced himself to slow his charge - if he didn’t he was likely to wind up tumbling downhill, potentially injuring himself and alerting any possible assailants of his presence.

When he reached the bottom of the small, grassy hill, he spotted movement beyond the bushes before him and quickly ducked behind the nearest tree. The movement itself wasn’t what prompted such a quick cautionary action, no.

It was the quick glint of sunlight reflected off of steel. Whoever was ahead of him was armed.

[Elijah]

Elijah slowly poked his head out from behind the tree trunk. Three armed individuals, two men and a woman, dressed in dark garb and leather armor, struggled together with...something. Though Elijah couldn’t see clearly every now and then a muffled scream broke through - the leg of a fourth individual kicked out once or twice as well. It was a person they struggled with, most likely a woman.

“We need to shut her up already!”

“We can’t hurt her. Boss wants her in good condition. ‘Sides, these woods are empty. Ain’t no one out here to hear us.”

To their credit the woman and one of the men did whisper, but their very presence had cleared out the woods. There was nothing to mask their voices, not even their apparent captive given they had either covered her mouth with their hands or gagged her with something. Elijah narrowed his eyes a bit and made out a beige...something. As the woman stepped back a bit to open it up it became clear that the object was a sort of sack. The kind a farmer would store potatoes in.

Were they seriously going to cover her in that?

Still, Elijah didn’t make his move. Between the hushed whispers of the apparent kidnappers as well as the sight of that sack - Elijah was willing to to wait a bit longer. It pained him to have to let the poor woman suffer for longer, but if he waited for them to store her in that sack then they wouldn’t be able to hold her hostage. If she was still outside then they could easily pull a blade to her throat, and even with their earlier whispers about following orders Elijah couldn’t risk a life by that point.

In that bag, though, she would make for a poor hostage. So instead Elijah watched as they forcefully stuff the woman into the large sack. Elijah couldn’t make out too many details about her, save for she had dark brown hair and her skin tone was a touch too sun kissed to be called “fair”. Her wrists and ankles had been tied together at this point, and indeed a thick cloth had been tied around her head and stuffed into her mouth. All the woman could do in such a state was continue to make muffled noise and writhe about in an almost serpent-like manner.

Elijah’s clenched his left hand into a fist and his sword hand practically twitched towards the hilt of his blade, but he couldn’t make his move yet. He’d had more than enough failures due to his own haste to come to the rescue of someone to know better.

Once the victim was stuffed into the bag that the female attacker held open the two males rushed to either side of a bag. They held another rope in hand, and were quick to tie it tight around the opening of the sack. The victim was sealed within the sack...and thus ironically safer from the kidnappers than she could ever have been.

At last, the ex-mercenary began to move. He took careful, quiet steps, his boots making nary a sound as they touched down upon the tall grass beneath him. Elijah had never been the best when it came to stealth or espionage, but that didn’t mean he had no experience utilizing the skills necessary for suck tasks. Quite the contrary, his brother had taught him well when it came to those skills.

“Target’s secure.” One of the men mumbled as he and the other man hefted the sack up. Elijah was closer now, and he could make out their weapons. The woman had one short sword in her hand - it had likely been drawn to help cow their victim into less resistance which, to the victim’s credit, had apparently not worked and a second one sheathed at her hip. The two men seemed to have bastard swords at their hip.

“Then let’s bring her home.” The female kidnapper stated curtly. The men grunted in agreement and the three of them started to take a few steps together. Time almost seemed to slow to a halt as Elijah neared the edge of the brush. There were several options he had available to him. None of the kidnappers had noticed him, so he could easily rush one of the men and take him out, leaving it a much easier 2v1 for Elijah to deal with.

Having said that, the sack was being held somewhat high - the men weren’t short by any means. Killing one of them meant he would drop his end, and that end would hit the forest floor. If that end was where the victim’s head was at that could be bad - a hard hit to the head could knock her out or worse. Any alternatives would leave him dealing with a a three on one fight.

…

“Whew, wow. You lot impressed me there.”

The three kidnappers tensed up immediately and their heads whipped behind them. There stood Elijah, a fake, sheepish smile on his lips as he rubbed the back of his head. Though he wore such an expression with the purpose of disarming them, his attention was fixed on the sack. Could he figure out which end the victim’s legs were in...

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a few people wrangle an animal so well. Seemed like a pretty aggressive creature too.” Eli could see the futile struggling of the victim within the sack. It writhed with her movements...and Elijah could start to make out some details of her body placement based on how the sack bent and folded around her. “Was it a boar?”

The men looked between each other while the woman narrowed her eyes. Good, the group was disjointed. The woman seemed to be the leader of this little group, and she could see through Elijah’s bull crap with ease. The men were a little more confused. They probably didn’t know if they should play along, or if they needed to fight immediately.

That’s what the mercenary had hoped for, as before their leader could figure out the proper order to give, they lowered the sack a bit…

“No, you idiots! Drop her and dra-

And Elijah sprang forward. His blade was drawn by his first step, angled perpendicular to his body by the second, and the third was a lunge forward towards the man on his left.

For that was where the victim’s feet were.

The man gasped and released his hold of the sack but did not have the time to draw his weapon. Elijah’s blade plunged into his chest and the male kidnapped let out a pained cry. Blood poured along Elijah’s sword, and the ex-mercenary planted a boot on the man’s stomach. He heard hard steps from behind the man - likely from the woman - and with a grunt Eli pushed with his leg and pulled his blade.

No longer impaled, the larger man was kicked into the smaller woman, who cursed loudly as his cumbersome dying body fell upon her. It wouldn’t keep her down for long but it gave Elijah enough time to try and end a 1v1 against the remaining man. So Elijah turned to face his next opponent and saw that he had dropped his end of the sack as well. His blade was drawn, a sneer spread across his lips.

“You’ve no idea what you’ve just done, you damned fool.”

[Elijah]

As soon as he made his threat, the black garbed man rushed Elijah. Sunlight gleamed off of his blade, held upright at an aggressive angle. Elijah slid his right leg back and braced his body, sword raised hilt up with the blade pointed down to the earth at a slight angle, just in time to meet the sword of his opponent.

A Nameless Lion - Elijah's Battle Theme

Elijah was quick to move before their blades locked together. He shifted his feet and tilted his wrists, letting the weight of his opponent’s strike carry the man forward, past Elijah. Arms raised Elijah’s pivot became a 360 degree spin, and as soon as he saw the back of his foe he brought his sword back down. Steel broke through the black leather and blood oozed out of the deep wound immediately.

The black garbed man cried out and staggered forward, and Elijah was quick to follow him. Time was not on his side - he couldn’t afford to let that woman get up and support her wounded comrade. Elijah was confident he could hold his own against the both of them at once, but if he didn’t have to then he wouldn’t.

Elijah raised his weapon horizontally as he strode behind his foe. The black-clad man spun ‘round and attempted to raise his sword, but his motions were too slow. It was likely he had underestimated Elijah, or perhaps he just wasn’t that skilled in one on one combat. All the same, Elijah’s blade was sure to find its mark across the kidnapper’s neck…

“Gah!” Elijah grunted as he felt something sharp dig into the back of his right arm. The unexpected pain threw his aim off and the arc of his sword carved too far upward. This didn’t leave his opponent unscathed, however, and he let out a horrid scream to show for it. The tip of Elijah’s blade had cut a bloody swath across his face - diagonally across the bridge of his nose, from cheek to brow.

His opponent brought a hand to his face and recoiled sharply while Elijah pivoted to his right, blade raised at a defensive angle. A throwing knife had found its way into his right arm, but Elijah knew better than to take too long a glance until he ascertained the situation properly, and his wisdom was rewarded well - for he had reacted in time to meet the blade of the redheaded woman.

“You bastard! You’re ruining everything!” She hissed. Her emerald eyes were narrowed at him like the glare of a serpent, as she pressed her blade against Eli’s. He’d thought it a short sword before, but it was more like a large dagger. Wickedly curved at the front and brutally serrated at the back - it was a weapon for efficient murder and torture alike.

“Sorry, got a bit of a talent for that.” Elijah grinned through the pain that throbbed through his right arm and held his sword steady against the pressure she laid onto it. Even if his arm was stiffened by the dagger in it he had the advantage in upper body strength and the weight of his weapon - she wouldn’t hold out for long in their deadlock. “Though I don’t suppose you’d care to tell me more, would ya?”

No doubt she knew this as well, for the redhead’s free hand snapped to her hip and Eli’s eyes widened. He remembered that she carried a second one - still sheathed at her hip. As she drew her blade free he raised his leg and kicked her hard at the top of her thigh. The woman stumbled forward, at first, but was swift to recover into a backwards roll while Elijah’s sword whistled through the air above her.

With this brief respite Elijah grabbed the knife in his arm and took a quick look at it. He didn’t see any poison...though that didn’t mean there hadn’t been any on it. All the same he couldn’t fight under the assumption it had been poisoned, so he tossed the dagger aside and spared a glance over his shoulder. Couldn’t forget that he still had another opponent to deal with.

His previous opponent stood tall, his face a bloody mess, and practically snarled at Elijah. No doubt he was furious, good. Elijah could use that. The redhead sneered at Elijah as she rose to a much lower stance. She held her daggers in reverse grip and blew a strand of her long hair from her face. She was much calmer and faster than the man - the deadlier opponent for sure. Elijah focused himself with a calm breath, and barely bit back a smirk.

"I suppose that's a no, then."

Oh yes, she was fast. She proved that as soon as Elijah finished the thought, for she charged him swiftly with her body kept rather low to the ground. It was a vaguely similar charge favored by a woman Elijah had frequently had the pleasure of sparring and fighting alongside.

A woman who was far, far faster than this one could ever be.

[Elijah]

Elijah knew why the woman had gone low - because her partner was going to strike high. It was impressive that she’d been able to read her partner’s next move so well, as the large black clad man had indeed rushed Elijah from behind, but she had failed to factor in two things.

First - she was far faster than her ally, and that left their movements out of sync with windows of opportunity between the strikes.

Second…

“Wha-” She cried out as Elijah threw his entire body over the woman. Elijah crossed his arms over his head and tucked his body into a frontward roll, his sword still in hand through the motion. The redhead had to pivot hard, but wasn’t quick enough to move out of the way of her ally’s bull-like charge. With a cry of frustration and pain she was firmly laid out by the much larger man, thrown to the ground back first while he charged forward. The man merely snarled, so mad with pain that he was seeing red literally, too, thanks to the blood in his eyes

The woman was out of this man’s league, in more ways than one for that matter, but she wasn’t quite quick enough to keep Elijah on the defensive by herself. It was a precarious situation that Elijah had little trouble taking advantage of. Still, it was best that things worked out as they did...because even he couldn’t keep a 1v2 going in his favor forever. The man had blown past his partner while she recovered from being bulldozed from him…

Meaning, once again, Elijah had a few precious seconds to bring the fight to a 1v1 and hopefully keep it that way.

The blonde haired swordsman was on his feet in time to cross his blade in preparation for the large man’s downward swing. It was heavy and strong, to his credit, but he was so full of anger that such excessive force was within the realm of prediction. Elijah didn’t hold his defensive stance firmly and instead let his blade be forced down by his opponent’s strike. As Elijah’s sword was forced downward he pivoted to the right and brought it out from under the larger man’s blade.

“Damn you!” Wasted time and breath on wasted words. The black clad man turned with Elijah and brought his sword in a heavy upwards arc. Elijah took a step back and leaned with his movement, his eyes focused on the tip of his foe’s blade as it whistled past him through the air. Too much anger, the man’s arms were extended too far from his chest.

A perfect opening.

“HRAH!” Elijah roared as he stepped into a lunge and impaled his foe just as he did with the first man. The man let out a guttural cry and blood from his chest spurted into Elijah’s eyes. The blonde squinted and, like he did the first man, he planted his boot on the man’s chest and kicked him off of his sword. The black clad man fell with all the grace of a fallen tree and crashed onto the grass, able to do little else but twitch and attempt to cover the hole in his gut with a weak grip. A futile effort.

Two were down, one remained, so Eli’s attention turned to the final opponent - the most dangerous of them yet. The redhead had gotten to her feet by the time this exchange had ended but otherwise she’d stayed put. Elijah raised his sword and began to step towards her. He was fairly confident he knew what she was capable of - he was more than willing to be more aggressive and end things as quickly as he could.

There was still a victim to free, after all. He wasn’t sure she could breathe too well in that sack and didn’t want to risk her suffocation or falling unconscious.

“...Tch.” The woman began to slink backwards. Elijah cocked his head at first, but his eyes soon widened when he realized what she had been planning.

“Wait!”

Too late. The redhead turned on her heel and bolted off into the brush. If not for his kidnappee still in the potato sack he would have given chase. Even if the woman was faster than he was in a straight sprint she would leave a trail for him to follow. Alas…

Elijah sheathed his sword. If others had been waiting they would have already struck. The woman wouldn’t have run off, though the possibility that she had gone to get reinforcements wasn’t impossible. The lack of knowledge Elijah had on the situation bothered him more than anything. Redhead seemed to know what she was doing while the two with her were low-level goons. Perhaps they were better in stealth situations than they were in combat? Hm...Elijah could only hope their target had some answers.

So he made his way to the sack and knelt before it. It still writhed about on the ground, the poor young lady inside hadn’t stopped kicking away at her burlap prison for even a moment. Admirable stamina but with her hands and feet bound it was a futile effort. She was wasting her strength.

The blonde took a deep breath and made sure to smile. A smile could be heard in the voice, after all, and it would probably be best that the first sight the woman saw after being released was a smile.

“Hey, hey. Everything is going to be okay.” Elijah spoke in a gentle yet firm tone, one he had clearly used many times before to be able to pull it out so quickly after a battle. “I’m going to let you out of the bag, but I need you to stop struggling.”

The young lady didn’t seem to believe him at first. In fact if anything she struggled more. Elijah gave it a few seconds, though, and after a moment the sack did indeed stop moving. Perhaps she decided she was better off if she took her chances and did as he had asked. “Thank you. Now just give me a second…”

Elijah shuffled over to the front of the sack and began to work at the rope tied around its entrance. It had been tied tight - but the knot itself was rather sloppy. Given the fight the woman had put up that wasn’t much of a surprise. As it began to loosen Elijah made sure to keep smiling. Last thing the woman needed was stone faced stranger mildly covered in blood..ah, Elijah paused and gripped the back of his arm tightly.

He’d really have to bandage that dagger wound as soon as he freed her. It wasn’t bleeding TOO badly but all the same…

[Elijah]

Having opened the burlap sack Elijah soon realized this would be a bit more difficult than he first thought. The young woman was still bound at her wrists and ankles, and thus could not exactly wriggle her way out of the now open bag. So Elijah gave her an apologetic smile before he moved to the other end of the bag. He gripped it tight and have a tug, which helped the young lady at last roll out of the opened sack.

Elijah took a quick look at the woman to see if she was injured. Though she twitched and shuddered a bit that seemed to be of fear and not pain. Her purple top and brown pants had dirt stains on them, no doubt a result of her struggle with the kidnappers. Her arms had some bruises on them, likely from the rough grip of her captors, and no doubt there would be similar wounds on her ankles and wrists...but no blood. Likely nothing broken either. Thank Elimine.

First Elijah decided to free her mouth from its gag. He knelt down behind her and gently gripped the tied ends of the kerchief. “I’m going to untie this gag so you can breathe easier and speak.” In a situation like this it was likely best to thoroughly explain his actions. The young woman wasn’t in a state to defend herself and, as such, likely felt very vulnerable. Any unexplained movements towards he would only cause her to panic.

Once the gag was loose Elijah carefully pulled it aside. He heard the woman take a deep breath through her mouth and then cough a little afterwards. He’d have to make sure to let her have some water once she was freed.

“That’s probably a lot better, eh?” Elijah wasn’t just making conversation. He wanted to keep the woman’s focus away from the two corpses. Even if those men were his attackers the fact that he had cut them down wouldn’t default install any sort of trust. He’d rather she not notice them until she was freed.

“Okay...I’m just going to cut your bonds now. I’m going to need you to keep still, okay?” Elijah drew a dagger from the back of his waist and knelt down beside the young lady. Her body tensed up, as if to brace for an attack from him, but to her credit she did not struggle beyond that. Elijah took a deep breath and began to work the sharp dagger against the thick rope around her wrists.

The brown haired woman remained silent throughout all of this. That...actually wasn’t what Elijah had expected. This wasn’t the first time he’d saved someone from kidnappers, be they hostages or worse. Often they were quick to speak or cry or scream. It wasn’t that Elijah had hoped for thanks or anything, but it would help set any worries he had at ease if the woman spoke. Perhaps she just didn’t know what to say? She’d gone through a lot in such a short span of time.

Once her hands were freed the woman immediately shifted her body and brought her arms in front of her. She rolled onto her back and stared at her hands - she seemed to be inspecting herself for injuries? Elijah was silent while she observed her arms as well, and the way her hands trembled and shook as she inspected them did not escape his notice. He began to have an idea as to why she was silent.

“I think you’re alright. Bruised and banged up, but food, water, and rest will tend to that.” He didn’t know how much assurance his words would provide, and he was no doctor or great healer, but Elijah had seen injuries of all kinds during his day. The woman had gotten off easy in that regard.

“Lastly is your ankles. Just a few more seconds…” The woman opted to comply and stretched her legs out. Elijah moved down to her boots and took the knife to the last bit of rope that had bound the young woman. He could feel her wary gaze on him the entire time he worked away at her bindings.

“And there you are,” Elijah proclaimed with a sigh. Almost immediately the girl brought her knees to her chest and began to inspect her legs in silence. “Don’t start moving too fast, bad for the blood flow...or so I have been told.”

The girl didn’t so much as make a sound. At first Elijah had understood but her continued silence had begun to worry him a bit. Concerned, Elijah cocked his head to the side a bit. "Are you hurt anywhere?"

"N-no..." Ah, that was it. She was still shaken. The brunette had a stone-faced expression for the most part but her voice had given it away. She was a tough cookie to even manage that much to begin with, so Elijah smiled and gave her a nod. He'd try his best to give her time to relax, but she would probably have better luck with that if they got away from the place of her attempted kidnapping.

"All right." Elijah stood up and offered a hand down to the young lady. "Do you live around here? If you'd like I can escort you home."

She blinked up at him in surprise and, though her movement was slow, eventually took his hand to let him pull her to her feet.

"I..." The words barely left her mouth before her eyes went wide. Within a second Elijah whipped around, just in case she had seen the redhead or some other attack. No one was behind him, though. Just the brush and...thin clouds of smoke.

"No..."

[Elijah]

Smoke continued to rise in thick dark plumes above the treetops, with clearer thin smoke rolling through the bushes at ground level. Someone had started quite the fire, Elijah figured that much, but he wouldn’t have been able to hypothesize any other details if not for the brunette’s reaction. Hoping for some answers Elijah turned to her. “Do you know where th-”

She’d already taken off. The young lady sprinted past Elijah and headed straight into the bush, in the direction of the smoke. “Hey! Wait a second!” She didn’t slow down for even a second at Elijah’s call. The mercenary cursed under his breath before he rushed forward into the very same brush. He wasn’t about to let the woman he’d just rescued throw herself into even greater danger.

Besides, her reaction told him everything he needed to know about the situation.

Her home was burning…

_____

...and there was no way out. The young boy rushed around his room in a panic as the walls blackened from the heat. Smoke had begun to fill his room and grew thicker by the minute. He screamed, terrified of the ever increasing temperature, but his voice was drowned out by so many others.

People crying out in terror and agony...

_____

The brunette knew the woods better than Elijah. Even in her haste her steps carefully carried her over the twisted roots and thorn bushes that peppered the bumpy, sloped path towards the smoke. Elijah did all he could to keep pace and wound up nearly tripping over himself twice and with a small number of burrs on his jacket for his trouble. He could only thank the heavens he never lost sight of her.

The treacherous chase did begin to reach a conclusion though, as Elijah watched the young woman pass through a break in the tree line. Smoke poured into the wood through this break, and the brunette was finally lost to Eli’s sight when she entered it. The blonde took a single pause to draw in a deep breath before he barrelled through the same break - to avoid inhaling too much smoke.

In the clearing proper the smoke was thin once more, and yet it was darker all the same. A towering blaze stood in its center - the source of which a building that had clearly been set ablaze recently. The wooden walls darkened and fell apart as the flames ate away at the foundations. Just feet away across the grassy clearing and another, larger building that strongly resembled a house also had smoke rising from it. A blaze hadn’t quite begun, but it had been set afire all the same.

A few feet from the break stood the young brown haired woman, her eyes wide with devastation and horror at the sight. There was nothing Elijah could do about the current situation save for getting the woman away from the area. Smoke filled the open clearing with each passing second and even if most of it rose up it still was dangerous to continue to breathe in.

“MA!” She called out as Elijah approached her. “PA!”

“Hey, listen, we-”

Eli’s eyes went wide, as the all to familiar whistling of a blade swung through air reached his ears.

[Elijah]

The brunette gasped and whirled around when she heard the clang of steel meeting steel. The blonde haired man that had seemingly rescued her earlier had moved right behind her and half drawn his blade - rescuing her AGAIN by intercepting the axe of another black clad enemy. Just...who was this man?

“Get back!” He shouted out. The sound of steel ground against steel filled her ears as the black clad assailant pressed his weight into his axe. Elijah’s boot slid back against the ground and he grunted under the pressure, a hand placed onto the center of his blade to help push back. Worried and more than a touch fearful the brunette took several steps away from the battle.

Only for her panic to intensify as she began to feel the increasing heat from the inferno behind her.

What...what in the world was happening? She was nearly kidnapped, attacked twice, saved by some mystery man and now her home was on fire...

The brunette turned towards the blazing building yet again.Tendrils of flame crept up along not only the house but the shed as well now. The smoke blocked out much of the sun and the fire painted the area in an eerie orange-yellow light - like some sort of ominous sunset. The girl had called out for her parents and got no response. Where they inside the house? The shed? She needed to see them. She needed to know that they were okay - that everything else would be okay.

“Don’t worry about the girl!” A voiced echoed out above the sounds of steel and crackling fire. The voice was that of the redheaded woman from earlier! The young lady could see the redhead appear from behind her burning building. She was not alone, though. Several armed men and women, all clad in the same black attire as the others, along with one in a particularly distinguished outfit, were all at her side. “Kill the man first!”

---

Well, Elijah could feel some small relief that he was the enemy’s new primary target. That was better than it being the girl.

That being said it meant his little one on one battle with the axe-wielder in front of him was likely to grow into a much larger melee. Elijah raised his blade to meet another heavy swing from the man’s axe. It was a simple single-handed axe, not something larger and heavier like a battleaxe or poleaxe. It meant the large man’s attacks were faster - but they were manageable to parry and deflect.

One unfortunate misstep finally came from Eli’s opponent. He had taken a half step forward to feint a downward swing - but Elijah caught the angle of his wrist in the corner of his eye, and quickly brought his blade across the man’s exposed throat. A brazen feint. Had it worked and Elijah opted for defense he would have been rewarded with an axe buried in his shoulder, or perhaps his neck.

Instead the bold fool dropped to his knees, hands gripped tight around the gash on his throat. The act was in vain, and his life bled out onto the grass below all the same.

Elijah took a breath and turned towards, well, everything. The brown haired girl, the blazing buildings, the...three black clad opponents that rushed at him. Just what the hell did he walk into?

“Get to safety, okay?” Elijah stated as he strode past the shocked girl. She was probably shocked, and he had seconds before the rest of this battle truly began, so he looked at her over his shoulder and smiled. It was forced, no doubt about it - the situation was too jarring and dire for anything natural to crop up.

But that was all the reason he needed, and then some, to force a smile for her.

“Everything’s going to be okay.”