Lady of the Golden scales.

Sen scrambled backward from miss Chin's lifeless body, stirring a cloud of dust. His face was horrorstricken as he looked at her. His breathing had spiked, taking short and heavy breaths, as he pulled on his dark

hair which had a hue of red dripping from it threatening to pluck it from its roots.

" I could've helped her!" he said thinking back to her death, his handnow covering his mouth.

Sen's throat had dried out from the screaming to the heat from the surrounding fire. And so was his will. He had given up hope.

Then a hand rested gently on his shoulder. It was warm and serene.Shimmers of gold floated past his teary eyes , carrying his anguish within them.

He slowly turned his head to gaze at what had brought him such comfort.

Standing behind him was a figure. Female. She was draped in white robe adorned with gold lining on the side. Only her hands and feet were visible. Her skin tone was pale white ,her eyes were green, calm even in the presence of the chaos and had no malice as she looked at him. She was shrouded in light, her presence causing the pressure on Sen's chest to loosen. To him she was the light at the end of the tunnel.

" What are u doing here? " she asked in a gentle voice.

Sen was about to answer when suddenly he jumped back. His body moved on its own as though preset to behave as such. His muscles tensed, heartbeat slightly increased as he took a sturdy stance as though ready to defend himself .

" Why did I jump back?" he thought to himself surprised by his own actions.

In front of him was a fellow human ,someone who wasn't acreature , and yet his body had movedback before his mind could catch up. Why? She wasn't a threat… was she ?

 He struggled to move his limbs towards her as something seemed to stop him. It was not instinct but rather muscle memory. His mind was not in control.

" Am I really that scary?" she asked with a gentle smile on her face ,as she extended her left hand towards Sen. 

With a twist of her wrist a ripple of energy surged towards Sen. Sen subconsciously raised his hands to cushion the impact.

Instead of being blown away or into pieces, Sen felt his body lighten. It was as if the puppet strings that had being controlling him

earlier had been cut and had now resigned control over his body back to him. He slowly lowered his hands, his right hand still in pain, and looked at the angel like lady that stood some distance from him.

As his control came back he heard a voice. To the ears it felt like a low vibration that caused one to feel irritated. But to Sen it was defined. It murmured and spoke. It gave a simple yet thorough instruction.

" Run! "

Suddenly,from the side, Sen felt a blow to his stomach charge in deep with intent. He was sent flying into the fallen building coughing blood on impact. A spiking pain shot from Sen's rib area. Breathing became painfully unbearable.

Then, another of the creatures charging into the wall breaking it into pieces. He rolled aside just in time. Luckily due his small body

 he was unharmed.

 The creature then shifted it's gaze to him. With one huge leap it was in the air , clasping bothof its hands. Then dropped down trying to flatten Sen. Sen barely rolled away enduring the recoil from his rib.

He was still in shock acting purely on instinct he learned when he was sparring with his

grandfather. 

After another swing from the creature barely missed his head, Sen finally came back to his senses. The creature before him was actually trying to kill him. Then he felt the hum again but these time it was different.

Non like before he couldn't understand it.

He had avoided two hefty blows from the creature and was now running the other way. Behind him was the lady besides her were two of the creatures. The creatures features were more defined than the others , but

Sen didn't have time for that. He needed to run.

The rest of the creatures started charging towards him. They were fast and had started to catch up. But Sen knew the streets like the back of his palm. He had raced through the streets in his childhood with Neil and

Mira running from the trouble they had gotten into. This was his home tuff. He

had the advantage.

Or so he thought.

Sen had managed to slip inside a building which used to be a bakery. This was going to be hiding spot until this nightmare ended. Inside lay dead bodies of Mr Ludge the baker and his wife. They had been dissected apart with their innards lying on the floor.

Sen remembered how Mr Ludge earlier in

the day sneak pieces of pie and gave it to him and his friends, paying no heed to his wife's warning of going bankrupt. His stomach churned from the sight

resisting the urge to vomit.

Sen crouched in a corner trying his best not to look at the tube like ridged organ that lay before him. He got used to the smell of blood but not the unabsorbed digested waste. He just ignored it. He was lost in thought trying to figure out why the creatures had suddenly started acting hostile to him. They had ignored him previously and now suddenly they were out for him.

" Or maybe they just like preying on the weak last." He thought.

His hand was still in pain but he had gotten numb to it. It trembled faintly but the dark ooze had finally stopped bleeding out. He sighed and looked at the coarse linen that wrapped tightly around his hand and

remembered miss Chin. He clutched his hand pulling it close to his chest then

curling up in the dark corner.

Some time passed and silence reigned supreme. Sen was still in the corner listening carefully to his surroundings.

" Is it over ? Did they leave ?" Sen thought making his way to a nearby window to gauge the situation outside.

Through the small crack in the glass something stared back. It was scarlet , deep and swirled into nothingness.

Despair clouded Sen's mind as shadowy hand broke the wind and reached to grasp him. He jumped back stepping on the tube like organ , the foul odor increasing. He turned and tried to run the opposite way only to be met by a crushing blow, from a creature that was behind him, sending him flying landing in the middle of a crowd of the creatures.

The previous humming now increased as more of the creatures gathered around him.

" There was no way to get out of this." He thought ,his face facing down.

He hesitantly turned to the raging creatures clutching his rib area. Color was drained from his face, half the journey to death. He accepted his fate. He was to be beaten to death by these creatures and there was nothing he could do about it.

His once-white tunic was now a tattered mess, streaked with crimson and dirt. His cloak, torn at the shoulder, sagged uselessly behind him, weighed down by filth and blood. His hands trembled at his sides, fingers coated in a sticky red sheen—his own, or theirs? He didn't know.

" … make it stop " he said groaning with a whizzing sound .

In the fleeting moments, Sen saw a glitter of gold. Standing in the back was the lady. She stood in a distant surveying the destruction that had taken place ,as the creatures rushed passed her as though they didn't see

her.

" Please —— help! " Sen said trying to reach out to her.

Turning her attention to Sen, she paced gracefully and slowly forward. Every step left a shimmer of gold dust in the air. Her footsteps printed to the ground with gold. The arcane around her was calm saturated and warm non like the creatures chaotic and distorted.

The creatures reared back , as the air around her shimmered with heat. The scales in her hand, golden , pulsated and breamed with pure arcane power.

She raised her hand and a ripple of arcane surged through the air dispelling the creatures leaving only the ones near them.

" Sorry about your village. I didn't mean to. "She said in an immaculate and soft voice. Behind her were the two creatures that she was standing with earlier. One had a lady in their arms. It was Miss chin. It slowly laid her body to the ground.

" Youuu … " He said choking on his own blood.

" Oh look at that , times up. You're quite Lucky , … u know" she said ending in a smile

" I'm going to kil… !! " Sen said trying to muster strength to point at her .

Time seemed to stand still. The crimson sky above him blurred into a whirl of colors, the air thick with the stench of blood and

smoke. Sen's tears—thick, red, and burning like fire—streaked down his face. He

could hear his own heartbeat thumping painfully in his ears, drowning out

everything else. His hands, stained with blood, curled into fists, but still he

didn't move. His right hand pulsating with pain biting at every node.

The remaining creatures started to disappeared into the shadows, leaving Sen with the lady amidst the carnage. The lady was last to disappear looking into the clearing sky.

" Let's hope next time it won't be bigger." she said giving Sen a warm look .

" Don't look at me like that," Sen thought as the last shimmer of gold disappeared.

" … I'll find You ,— "

The crimson sky started to fade back to the normal blue .The clouds slowly dissipated revealing the solstice sun behind them.

The silence that followed was deafening, a crushing weight pressing down on Sen's chest. And in the midst of that silence, all he could feel was the cold. The cold of the

blood that surrounded him. The cold of death creeping in. The cold of his

failure.

He stayed there, still and broken, as the time passed,unable to tear his eyes away from the lifeless bodies. His body refused to move. His soul refused to accept what had happened.

In that moment, all Sen knew was the cold, the blood and the image of the Lady of the Golden scales.