Silence washed over the field of battle like a fog bank – sudden and unnerving. Whilst it should have calmed her, the uncertainty only increased Adelicia’s anxiety. Too terrified to look, too terrified at the prospect of raising her head and staring into those bright, milky eyes. She would rather die in ignorance of the thing that would take her. To see it and shed the last remains of her dignity before her inevitable demise – it was too much. Better to remain unknowing and fill her head with thoughts of green meadows, gentle sunlight, the scented summer breeze and –

Adelicia startled with a loud yelp as she instinctively withdrew from a sudden, unexpected sound from within the elevator cage. She stared at the innocuous hat being torn to shreds by invisible hands before her, thoughts unusually blank. All she could think of was that she did not want to die – and that she was not dead yet. The hat was already reduced to mere tatters before it dawned on her that she was not staring down the demon that haunted her childhood. The lump in her throat uncoiled, her muscles loosed up and she felt the distinct urge to cry again; out of relief, at least. Even so, she decided to show some decorum now that the hunters would no doubt return to check up on her, and swallowed her tears.

An embarrassing amount of time later, she wondered what it was that had her startled so. There had been some noise, abrupt and incredibly loud to her nerve-wracked brain. Like cloth being torn. And what was she even looking at? Just a filthy corner with some uncleaned scum in it. Hardly interesting, or so one would think, but she had been looking at it for entire seconds. Retracing these last moments, which felt to her now like a series of minutes, she remembered seeing an old, crumpled hat being torn apart by thin air. The absurdity! Was she losing her mind?

Pondering this, she gazed out of the elevator onto the dusk-lit street beyond with a pale face and blank stare. No sign of the beast remained and only the two hunters stood, triumphant over their prey. No doubt they felt invigorated by their victory; as for Adelicia, she felt no ounce of happiness.