The screams began to sound more rampant. Shouts of anger and fear. The fire rose from one of the houses. It was chaos.

The lizardfolk on one side shouting. Another side full of human soldiers holding shields and wooden blades.

One of the lizardfolk began to slowly walk past Syren as his head was cracked open with splinters stuck to his skull.

He had no idea what was happening. Was this the work of a demon? Was some kind of monster manipulating the lizardfolk and the soldiers to fight each other? It had to be, he thought. He couldn't believe that they would fight each other.

Tyra however wasn't as naive. She just saw it as a riot that had nothing to do with any monster activity. She had heard that the lizardfolk in these marshlands were subjugated. There was plenty of resistance, but in the end, they became occupied by one of the nearby kingdoms. As for the specifics, Tyra wasn't quite sure which kingdom controlled Lacernus Town.

In a nearby window, a dark-armored samurai watched in the shadows. He looked at Syren with sinister intent.

The lizardfolk threw rocks at the guards. They yelled and shouted as they set up their own barricade of planks and tossed-around furniture.

"Justice!"

"This is our home!"

"We aren't your slaves! We aren't your cattle!"

And others as such. Technically, the lizardfolk's main trade was that they were strong. They could be put to work in manual labor easy. They would even make excellent soldiers, but if they did join the kingdom's army, then they would be treated less than dirt and put to the frontlines immediately. The town itself mostly sold supplies. It wasn't a rich town, but was moderately well-off. The mayor was one such lizardfolk who horded up whatever money there was and swore his allegiance to whatever kingdom controlled them. Many of the lizardfolk called him a coward and a traitor.

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As Syren watched from the sides, he had no idea what he should do. And Tyra could tell of his uncertainty.

"There is nothing we can do," Tyra said, "This isn't our fight."

When she finished that sentence, a group of soldiers began shooting with their crossbows behind their shield. Instead of firing the regular arrows, they shot arrows that had a dull edge. It was like they didn't want to kill their labor force. So, instead they wanted to injure them to point where they couldn't resist. The arrows flew and struck many of the lizardfolk as they protested. They may have been dull, but they still left an impact. They shattered and left splinters in their skin. Some were shot right in the eye. They closed in, but the lizardfolk wouldn't surrender.

All Syren could do was watch from the sides. He was about to leave to continue his search for the demons.

"Go back to your homes," one of the soldiers commanded, "Leave or be detained."

"Go to hell!" one of the lizardfolk yelled as he charged in with a club. One soldier bashed him with his shield and began to pummel him with his own club. He was barely breathing.

"Fire another volley," the commanding soldier said.

At this point, Syren knew that he couldn't just stand by and do nothing. When the volley of dull arrows flew out, he chanted a spell that conjured his shadow hands. They created a wall between the lizardfolk and the soldiers.

"Stop this madness!" Syren yelled. He didn't want to kill any of them. He had hoped to reason with both sides. Maybe, this could end peacefully, he thought.

"They have a mage! Kill that sympathizer!" the soldier commanded. As they prepared a volley of real arrows, a group of lizardfolk charged at them with nothing but home-made weapons and their fists.

The soldiers stood their ground without fear. They fired their weapons at both the lizardfolk and at Syren. He made a quick choice to defend hold back the lizardfolk and defend them with his shadow hands, but that left him defenseless.

Fortunately, Tyra was there. She quickly dashed in front and deflected the arrows away with her blade.

"Damn it. Try to keep yourself alive before keeping others alive," Tyra said angrily, but was really proud of his decision to protect the weak.

"I knew those arrows weren't going to hit me. You're here," Syren replied with a gentle smile.

Tyra smiled back as she prepared to defend Syren and his idealistic, child-like notions. Syren's shadow hands moved around like tendrils trying to prevent either side from hurting the other, but it was a lot harder than it was. Tyra defended him from the arrows and made sure not to kill any soldier who came too close.