This New World (Lakhrymosa and Hidden Lightning)

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From behind her, the taller man spoke.
"Get it."
Instantly, the other two broke into a sprint in Riley's direction.
 
Hearing those words, she had a good idea of what was coming and she took off, trying to escape them.
However, she didn't the town at all and one wrong turn led her to a dead end. Turning back around, she faced them, wondering what they would do to her.
 
She was surrounded by three very tall, very angry monsters.
"Hey, don't be scared." The shorter man grins. "It's not like we're gonna hurt you." The same words Siva said earlier, cropping up again. "We haven't had a human show up here in years."
"Hundreds of them," the female says with a smile.
The tall man chuckles. "Look, it's shaking." The female giggles and the shorter man takes a step forward.
This was the end.
 
Riley watched them approach, rather nervous about this.
When the mentioned her shaking, she realized she was. Well, she didn't want to seem weak to them and brought herself up to her full height, though she wasn't all that tall.
"I'm not shaking. And if you're not going to hurt me, then what exactly do you plan on doing?" she asked, not really trusting them.
 
"We're just gonna play a little game, baby." The short man draws closer, snickering.
"Yeah!" The woman giggles. "We're gonna see if human blood is really red!"
The tall man pulls a knife from his back pocket, waving it in front of Riley's eyes teasingly. "Don't humans die when you separate their heads from their bodies?"
 
Hearing their words and seeing the knife, her eyes widened a little in surprise.
"Well you could just ask instead of doing anything. Human blood is blue until it hits the air and then turns red. And if you seperate the head from the body, well, I think that kills basically anything," she stated, taking a half step back, still uneasy with this, hoping someone would come help her out.
 
They laugh. "Let's find out."

Suddenly, the shorter man is lifted off his feet, a figure cloaked in shadow gripping him by the throat. "Let's not," Xam said quietly. There's a crash as he's thrown into the alley wall.

"What the fu-" The tall man turns to take a swipe at the newcomer, but stops cold when he sees orange eyes burning behind a curtain of black. He drops to his knees. "Y- your Grace." The tall monster's face is that of one on the brink of destruction.

Xam unties his cape deftly, draping it over Riley's shoulders. Only now does she realize just how cold the air is. Only now does she realize that Xam's hands are pitch black, tipped with razor sharp claws.

"It seems that news of your arrival has spread fast, Princess," he murmurs under his breath. He raises his voice. "You can tell your friends that if anyone hurts this woman, I will personally delight in seeing their execution at dawn." His voice is hard as steel.
 
Starting to panic a little, she glances around, trying to spot an escape route. She could tell she couldn't talk her way out of this and clearly they knew humans were creatures that really weren't that strong.
Her body was tense as she somewhat prepared for an attack. But then, the one guy was suddenly thrown and her eyes widened a little to see Xam there.
It seemed it was destined for him to save her today, not once, but twice. She watched as he came over to her and put the cape around her shoulders. It wasn't until she felt the warmth from it that she realized the air was chilly. She'd been too scared to bother thinking about the temperature. She listened as he threatened to kill anyone who hurt her and glanced down as he spoke.
 
When she looked back up, the monsters were gone. Xam was turned away from her, looking down at the ground. Right before Riley's eyes he seemed to shrink a few inches, but she couldn't be sure. She could be sure that she watched his hands turn from scaly black claws back into slender human hands.
A few seconds later, he turned to her, all aggression gone from his face. He looked concerned, and just a little bit nervous. "Are you alright?" he asked softly. "Did they hurt you?"
 
Riley looked up as she heard footsteps leave and saw Xam still there. She pulled the cape a little closer around herself for the warmth as she watched him seem to change a bit before her with his hands returning to normal again.
She felt bad that he'd had to come rescue her again and she supposed she should've realized the danger of being in a monster town.
"I'm fine. They didn't hurt me, no," she replied, glancing down again.
 
He takes a step closer, but stops when she seems to recoil.
"Are you afraid of me?" Xam says quietly. His voice is soft, yet cold somehow. As if he knew that this was inevitable.
 
Looking up again, she met his gaze. "You've saved me twice now. No, I'm not scared of you," she replied, thinking he was the only one in the town she could trust at the moment besides the whole marriage thing.
"I'm just sorry for getting in trouble and you had to help me out again," she replied.
 
"No, don't apologize. I understand." He looks down for a moment, then smiles up at her sweetly. "I suppose I was right about you. You really are lucky."

He looks around the empty alley. "Come. We'll eat before returning home. We need to talk." His voice was strained somehow, and he sounded almost shy.
 
She huffed a little at being called lucky again since she really didn't feel all that lucky. After all, she'd just had the scare of her life with those...things.
"Alright," she agreed, walking with him out of the alley way. She wondered what he wanted to talk to her about but would wait to ask until they got to wherever it was that he wanted to go.
 
He led her to a building on the outskirts of town. It seemed different from the rest, not as beautifully designed or well built. The inside was dimly lit, but warm. A woman sat behind a counter dusting glass bottles, and smiled when the two came in.
"So is this the human?" she asked Xam. She was dressed in a man's shirt and trousers. She looked almost completely human, with warm brown skin and dark hair cropped above her ears. Her eyes were a shining emerald green, and strong muscles moved beneath her clothes. However, there was just something off about the way she moved. Something that made her look dangerous.
"Riley, this is Charlie. She's a friend of mine."
Charlie grinned. "Pleasure to meet you, human."
Xam and Riley sat down at the bar.
 
Riley followed him where he went, only once briefly wondering if she was truly safe here or if at some point, Xam would turn on her too. She was quite literally a lamp in a lions den right now since it seemed all the monster would want to kill her given the chance.
As they walked into the building, she glanced around a bit before noticing the woman behind the counter.
Listening quietly to them talk, she smiled a bit in return to the lady when they were introduced, but was still feeling a bit shook up over her previous monster encounter.
Once they were sitting, she glanced over at Exam. "So what is it that you wanted to talk about?" she asked.
 
"Oh, no you don't." Charlie slid a plate across the table. It was piled high with meat, bread, and strange colorful fruits. "First, you eat." She was addressing Riley directly. "You've been through quite the ordeal, young lady. You need your strength." She spoke with the air of a mother, even though she couldn't have been over 20 years old.
Xam sighed, but was smiling. "You'd best do what she says, my lady luck."
 
Riley looked up in surprise when Charlie pushed the food towards her. How did this woman know what sort of ordeal she went through when neither her or Xam had said anything about it yet?
She hadn't really felt all that hungry but as she glanced down at the food and smelt it, she knew she was. It'd been a very long day so far and she hadn't even eaten lunch. Perhaps that was the reason for her shaking a bit instead of from the scar. Or possibly from both.
"Thank you,"she replied, appreciating it and started to eat, though as she picked up one of the fruits, she glanced back at them. "What kind of fruit is this?"
 
Charlie started to laugh. Xam plucked a bright red fruit from her plate, turning it over in his hands. "This is the fruit of the gojoflower. That blue one in your hand is a witches' pear." He took a bite of the red fruit, juice pooling on his lips and running over his fingers. The flesh of the fruit was white like an apple, but soft like an orange.
"They're safe, I promise." Charlie set a glass down in front of her filled with sparkling white liquid.
 
She glanced at Charlie when the woman began to laugh but then her attention returned to Xam who was explaining to her what the fruits were. They definitely looked good and rather juicy.
"And what kind of drink is this?" she asked when Charlie set the cup in front of her. Glancing at the blue fruit in her hand, she took a bite as she awaited more answers. This place was truly different then the world she lived in back home. It was amazing to think that all this stuff was in their world, but humans didn't know. It was probably a good thing they didn't know though.
 
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