The sun almost felt foreign as she stepped into the light. She aided Yria, who was hanging off her shoulder as they exited the crypt and was greeted by the light of early noon. Yria could barely walk. Black lines of facepaint had trickled down her ashen cheeks together with the salty tears. The wound on her neck had been cleaned and stitched up, looking rather nasty with black thick thread going in and out of the broken flesh. 

Lysithea huffed as her frail body wasn’t made for supporting a person in such fashion, her knees almost buckling.

She walked, without saying a word, between the sprouting gravestones towards the old church. If anyone noticed them and saw the mark on the grey woman’s neck they’d both be in deep trouble. Trouble neither of them could afford to be in.

Her knees then gave in and both of them went tumbling down into the grass. Yria shouted out in surprise and the ravens which had made the graveyard their home all took to the sky with what felt like a thundering noise of black wings.

It wasn’t only the ravens that were startled by the sound of the two women falling to the ground. From behind the church came three men, two moving swiftly and with purpose while one walked casually and far behind.

They were all dressed in steel armour, shining in the daylight, with tabards in royal blue. One of the men stood out from the others, the one that ran a little quicker than his two companions. He was slender and his armour looked too big for his frame, as if it was a hand-me-down. His blue cloak, which matched his partners’, whipped in the wind behind him, and his hood flew backwards. He stopped in his tracks, his heavy steel boots digging into the dirt.

After taking a few deep breaths, hands on his knees as he collected himself he stood up straight and looked down onto the two women. His skin was dark, and he had a chiselled chin and bright brown eyes. He had a fair complexion and worry displayed on his face in such a fashion that one could sense how much he cared, even though they were but strangers to him.

“Is everything alright?” He then spotted the wounds on Yria’s neck as his companions caught up with him and his face went pale. “You need a healer. Now. Cadmun!”

“I’m right here, no need to shout.” A slightly shorter knight, wearing the same colours as the dark skinned man stepped up beside him and removed his heavy gloves. Cadmun had his face concealed by a big helmet and it was impossible to spot a single feature of the man’s face. His voice was stern yet gentle at the same time, echoing inside its steel prison.

“This will sting but I will pull out any sickness that thing has placed inside of you.” He said, placing his hand over Yria’s neck. She shouted out in pain and caused Lysithea to move back, startled by the noise.

The golden light that spread from the Paladin’s fingers and palm shoned brighter than the sun. Everyone but him himself had to look away to not become blinded. As soon as the light began to fade he would remove his hand and look upon the marks on Yria’s neck which had vanished. The thread used to stitch them together had curled up like worms and popped out..

“There, good.” Cadmun then stood up and pulled his gloves back on as he gazed across the graveyard. “What happened?”

The skinnier knight kneeled down to look at the both of them, studying their faces. “Don’t worry.” He said, giving them both a faint smile. “You are safe now. We won't let anything more happen to you. I’m Adrian, we’re the followers of Shaher.”

The third knight leaned his arm against Adrian’s head as he still sat on his knees. 

”Shahermerites if you will. I’m Evander and even if we didn’t want to we’re bound to help!” He reached his hand down towards Lysithea to help her up on her feet.

She could spot a sly smirk from the gap in Evander’s helmet and her cheeks nervously turned slightly pink as she allowed him to help her up. She felt rather uncomfortable as the colour burned brighter by the second. 

She wobbled before finally regaining her balance. 

“Thank-... thank you. I’m Lysithea and this is Yria.” She gestured down at the other woman who was still shaking and shivering from the trauma of facing the vampire down in the crypt. She was swaying back and forth, mumbling nonsense to herself as she pressed her hand against her neck.

"Pleasure, little Lady - now, what in hell happened down there?” Evander pulled Lysithea to stand beside him as he looked towards the open gates to the crypt, the darkness seemed to almost reach out to them and the dust which moved through the air inside its mouth shimmered as the sun touched it. 

Adrian brushed his companion’s arm off his head as he stood back up.

“A-... a vampire. There was a vampire down there! It killed my friends and… and Marcus is still in the last chamber! God, what if he’s still alive?!” Yria yelped as she threw herself forward in an attempt to grab onto Evander who just took one long step to the side, bumping into Lysithea, avoiding the ashen woman.

“We’ll deal with it. Come on Cadmun, let's turn those walking bones into dust.” He pulled his bastardsword from its sheath and cut through the air as his companion nodded and followed him down into the depths. 

Evander had a bit of a spring in his steps as he got closer and closer to the darkness. 

Lysithea watched them go, curiously, before her eyes fell back on Adrian who gave his friends his full attention until the darkness swallowed them. He then locked eyes with her and gave her a kind smile, causing colour to flush into her cheeks once more and she quickly looked away, frowning nervously.

“Don’t worry. Those two will be alright.”

"Thank you for-... for your help Adrian. I should help Yria to the church."

"Before we go,-" Adrian tilted his head at her and peered past the high collar of her jacket onto the red choker. "-did it bite you too?"

Lysithea shook her head. "No, Yria offered-... offered herself for our safety."

"Blood for freedom, that was the choice." Yria mumbled. Her body shivered as she wrapped her arms around her.

"Blood for freedom."