The battlefield surged with soldiers, clashing from all sides. Shouts and screams and the clang of metal and cracks of gunshots rang out in the freezing air, stinging skin like sharp blades of ice. The sounds interrupted the stillness of the winter plain, white with a blanket of snow. The snow was no longer pure- it was marred with furrows and holes and deep crimson stains of blood. Bodies in thick wool uniforms littered the white ground.

A single figure sat in a wide clearing. Fighting continued far in front of them, but they were oblivious to the chaos. The figure, little more than a black silhouette, was hunched over, their outline ragged from torn clothes. The small figure flinched as an L-shaped black object fell in the snow next to them.

Their head despondently turned up to look at the thrower of the object. A tall masculine figure in the clothing of a high-ranking officer glared down emotionlessly at them. The taller figure hissed out a short, guttural word. For any stranger to the smaller figure, they would have thought that the word had no effect.

But, to the closer man, his word certainly did have an effect. The smaller figure's head rose up ever so slightly.

From his vantage point, the figure's eyes looked up into the distance at the ongoing battle.

Deep golden eyes, with heavy dark circles dusted under them, glared up at the fight with unbridled, passionate wrath, crazed with a fury envied by the worst of demons of Hell.

The figure drew itself up to its full height, within inches of the taller man's height, though it had a more lithe build. The silhouette threw back its ragged dark hood, revealing long gold hair pulled up into a plait. The silhouette reached its grey-gloved hands out in front of it, and clapped them together.

A shrieking, metallic ring sounded from the point of contact.

From its hands blue electricity sparked. The figure made a noise that could be interpreted as something similar to a laugh, but closer to a grunt. A bitter grin split the figure's dirty face, as it parted its hands and slammed them to the ground.

Cobalt electricity exploded around them.

Behind them, the taller, stockier man turned away, though his black eyes stayed centred on the foreground, as if he wanted to look away, but couldn't.

The smaller figure's face was harshly lit by the blue light, highlighting an unreadable expression between grimness , satisfaction, sadness, and something the taller man couldn't name.

This was not an expression that belonged on the face of a child.