[center]It was quiet - almost too quiet. They walked along slow and carefully through the thin trees, and the stiff and cold ground crunched beneath their feet. Clara remained close to Christian, her anxiety rising the longer they traveled in that silence. Something definitely had felt off the longer they continued, but it was something that Clara couldn’t explain. Her attention focused on the bare trees around them, attempting to peer through the numerous branches that continued to overlap, creating a haze of sticks and branches that seemed to blend together after a while. After  all, with such silence along with the previous talk of mages and shadow mages and the impending doom that might have been lingering not only on the town around them, but on them as well - it was enough to make her worry more than she usually would. 

Christian had noticed her anxiety - he could feel the tension thick on the air. Even with Anna on their side leading the way, it was too quiet, too heavy. He’d still brushed it off, at least for Clara’s sake. It was pointless for both of them to worry too much - or to at least be obvious about it. If Christian showed his worry, Clara’s would only heighten and she wouldn’t be able to pay attention to what she was out there to do; she’d be caught off guard and distracted.

Although -- It didn’t matter how anxious she was or how he tried to hide it -- the sudden voice over their headset had both of them stopping at once - the words coming over quickly before Christian had suddenly grabbed Clara, pulling her away from the black mass that was now in front of them. 

The sudden force of him grabbing her had almost knocked the wind out of her lungs just as quickly as the surprise of the attack had. Clara had stared at the form in front of them, unable to contain her shock. 

“--The fuck is that?!” Clara hissed out, but had been ready to spring forward before Christian grabbed her arm again. 

“Clara! Pay attention!” Christian suddenly barked. “Do [i]not[/i] touch that thing.” He’d pointed to his own headset for her to pay attention, but the words had already been cut off. She’d only had her dagger at the time and honesty, she doubted its capabilities against whatever the hell was in front of her. 

Within seconds it was circling them and she was dodging as best she could - split from both Christian and Anna as she looked to find something to defend herself with. Having seen Anna - she followed suit - grabbing the closest branch she could pick up before she swung it out at the figure that continued to swoop down on all of them. “Mother fucker!” Clara bit out, trying to avoid touching the damn thing the best she could. “How the hell do you get rid of them?!” [/center] [@Arista]