The Reaper
Melodia crouched in the dark earth, spade gripped in one hand and a bundle of pale, green shoots in the other. A cage of darkness surrounded her; lights glowed like red eyes, blinking only briefly and casting stooped and clawing shadows over her shoulder. She pushed the spade slowly into the ground.
When she finished, the fragile saplings dipped to the side but stood bravely in the place of Fee's death. She hesitated over her work. The sun would rise soon, and a new day would dawn in this sacred place.
She hoped the sunlight would reach her, as well.
