The only thing worse than a quiet night, was acknowledging one. A gentle wind blew through the streets, rustling the few trees that still grew and bloomed throughout the district. Most, Sol knew, were long since dead. No one to care for them and no sunlight to drink in. Perhaps it would be worth it, to set some sunstones around for the district to begin to heal. For the women who live here to come together and grow their own goods, and lessen the dependence on the church. Whatever thoughts that she could have that could help the women of Eden, Sol knew in her heart that it ultimately wouldn’t work. It would be accepting the night, and condemning the dawn.
The light clicking of claws accompanied Sol as she walked but she pretended that she didn’t hear it. If she could lure it into an open square then maybe she would have an easier time fighting it, quietly Sol mumbled her prayer, feeling at her lantern while it bounced against her hip. Keeping her breathing even Sol advanced, just a little further. They were almost there. Just a little further. Her lycan shadow wasn’t about to let her decide the course of battle. It lunged at her and in a smooth motion Sol drew her blade and sliced at the air praying that she had moved quick enough. The beast roared in pain as its blood splattered across the stonework. With a quick half step she lunged forward taking advantage of the opening that her strike gave.
Snarling the lycan shook off the pain and lunged at her again. Snapping its powerful jaws at Sol she hardly had time to get away, what she wouldn’t do for even a flintlock right now. Twisting away from it she felt the rush of air against her as its teeth barely managed to tear away some of her leather coat. Sol dipped her fingers into the lantern and quickly ran her flame coated fingers down the flat of the blade. There, maybe now the playing field is a little more even. With a quick half-step she thrust forward, her soul flame licking the blade as it glanced off of the beast’s snout. It reeled back, howling in pain trying to put out the fire starting to spread across its body but no matter how much it shook there was no stopping the encroaching blaze.
“Give in to your creeping doom, sister.” Sol called as she slashed her sword against its side. “The pain will end but only when you give into it!”
Talking to them was useless and she knew it. But some part of her heart couldn’t help but try. Weaving around the flailing claws Sol breathed heavily as she kept up the dance. Her lungs burned as she ducked under its claws, the lycan wasn’t about to give up. It knew just as she did that the church had failed to protect it when she was still a woman, and now the price was death. Neither willing to let it be them, the moon would be their only witness to the slaughter. She tried to ignore the burning smell of fur and flesh that only intensified with each strike, each time her sword bit into its flesh. Give in, give in and the pain will stop. With singing steel Sol stepped under the lycan’s strike, barely managing to avoid getting hit - only her hat falling prey to its claws, she thrust the blade up through its jaw, closing her eyes and turning away as blood rained down on top of her.
The body spasmed as the weight of death took hold and the trapped soul of the woman it held prisoner was finally released. With a heavy grunt Sol managed to take the weight of the beast in much of the same way that a marshmallow takes the heat of a bonfire, and crashed to the stonework. Her sword clattering away and soul flame fizzling out without her there to fuel it. She took a deep breath, deep as she could manage with a several hundred pound lycan on top of her, and slowly started working to get her legs under her. Sol’s arms shook as they took not only her weight but the weight of her kill, but she was at least stronger than this. With a heave she shoved it off of her body and let out an explosive breath.
“Apologies,” She said panting, “It must be done this way.”
Gathering her sword Sol sheathed it after cutting off the beast’s ears. Proof of her efforts acquired she gazed at the body. Sorrow masking her features while the grisly remains were stashed away in a pouch just for such things.
“Should you return to us, I pray that you are born to our cloistered sisters, they who will never know the touch or even gaze of any but another untainted woman.”
As Sol finished her prayer she dipped her fingers into the soul flame and gently traced the sign of the mother onto the lycan’s head. There, now as the body burned and the rest of her soul flame joined with each instance of burning she could rest easy in that the body was consecrated and the soul free. The bones would crack and the flesh would be naught but ash. How did her mother do it? How did she carry the sorrow and pain of this task night after night? Cleaning the blood off of her sword she walked with it in hand. There were yet more wolves in the night, and both her and their freedoms would only come when all had died by the hands of a huntress.
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The moon loomed high over the Eden district. It was small comfort for her, the eyes of Mother Moon watching her daughters. Stopping Sol looked up, her gaze meeting the Matron of Night’s. Was it true, Mother? Was it true that you were holding back the everlasting darkness? Or are you its herald? She couldn’t let such thoughts ever find voice, lest the wrong Priest hear them. But it never stopped coming to her, burbling to the surface on her hunts. She needed to find another to force them back under the depths of her mind.
Sol stepped a little harder, rattled her lantern just a little bit, every now and again she’d tap the tip of her blade against the stone. Either she would find them, or they would find her. She knew in the depths of her soul that her mother would thrash her if she found out that Sol was hunting in such a way but in this moment she couldn’t care. She had a duty, did she not? As she walked she realized that this part of the district would work perfectly. The canals separating them from the other districts and no streets led out of this square save for the one she was already on. She could box them in. Glancing up to the windows she began to measure the risk of doing so, luring a good number of them here, women and children still live in these homes, doing so put their lives in danger if Sol’s gambit failed. She looked back to the square. Their lives were in danger if she did nothing. Their lives were in danger so long as even a single lycan lived. She took the lantern from its place on her hip and started to hit it with her sword, she had to do it. If only to protect the children.
Howling returned the sound of metal on metal, her prey had heard their dinner bell. She dipped her fingers into the flames and slid them across the flat of the blade, warm light chasing back the shadows of the night. Three lycans slinked out of the shadows, their snarling rage frothing at their mouths.
“Let us begin, Sisters.” Sol said as she fell into her stance. “And I will free you of this burden.”
Her words fell on deaf ears and the beasts rushed towards her. Briefly it flitted through her mind that this was probably one of the worse ideas that she had in quite some time. No way through it now but to survive. One tried to snipe at her sword arm, Sol only narrowly escaping its corruptive maw with a side step. Even then she felt the air rush against her as its maw snapped clothed on empty air. Thinking quickly she stepped forward and slashed at its face, the howl echoing against the buildings as its blood splashed onto the stones below. Can’t allow any of it to touch her eyes, the dance to avoid the rain.
While her attention had been focused on the one the other two lunged for her rear. One diving for her leg and the other swiping its claws down, rending her meat from bones such a wonderful target that it could risk getting its claws tangled in her rib cage. Sol twisted to bring her blade down onto the one that had been seeking to make a supper out of her calf. Her blade drove into its skull right as its claws rent through her back. Sol cried out in pain as she collapsed to the ground. Her sword clattered at her feet, she hardly had the moment to collect herself before she had to hurriedly grab the fur of the beast.
“Come to your senses sister,” She snarled, barely able to hold the lycan back. “Come to your senses, come back to me.”
She could feel her muscles tear, tears pricking her eyes and a scream ripping through her throat. Her muscles were on fire, her eyes were filled with only the fetid ivory of a fallen woman. Desperation filled her veins with strength but it was only going to last for so long, and she let go of its fur with one hand and drove her fingers towards its eye. It occurred to her how easy it was for her fingers to rip apart the eye. The flesh of it coming apart like a grape. The lycan howled in fury and pain, it gave Sol maybe seconds to escape. Dizzy she scrambled away, grabbing her sword. She stood with all the surety of an initiate, if she could just get it killed before the blood loss took her-
An arrow sprouted from its other eye. The beast’s rippling fury falling away as it fell to the ground. Sol blinked, falling to her knees. The rush of lightheadedness hitting her fully forcing her to catch herself with her hands before she smashed her face against the stones. Her breath came in ragged gasps, each one felt like it might be her last. Distantly she heard the scrapping of boots. Hands fell onto her shoulders. She could hear words but they didn’t make any sense. To her it only sounded garbled and drowned.
“Sister,” Sol’s spoke through gritted teeth, but even still she sounded so far away from herself. “Leave me, return to safety.”
Whoever it was had to have heard the fight and left their home, she heard a deep voice. Sultry and filled with smoke and gravel, it was the color of obsidian. Her mind focused just enough to be able to recognize her words.
“You’re in no state to be making demands like that young lady.”
It then occurred to Sol that she was now moving. Blearily she managed to open her eyes and saw the stars passing by over her, the rooftops zooming by rapidly. Did they have her on a stretcher? It was a nice thought, the pain had already faded away. It was getting hard for her to focus on anything, so Sol decided to focus on the moon. Occasionally they’d break her focus. Snapping fingers in front of her eyes and ever so slowly her eyes would focus onto the fingers. Hopefully whatever they wanted her to look at was enough. She was just so tired. Her eyes lost focus again and she rested against the stretcher watching the moon as it disappeared past a doorway. Shame. It would have been nice to die under Mother Moon’s gaze. Though the celestial mother appeared once again, looking down upon her through a window. Good enough, Sol supposed. She closed her eyes, it’ll have to do for now.