BGM: "Stand My Ground" by Within Temptation.
She stood alone in a field.
Her arthritic hands were closed around a plain, serviceable metal staff. She was old now, all smile-carved lines and mist-clouded eyes twinkling in the sunset light. Now the heart-pounding chase and the desperate battle were only memories weighing on her creaking joints.
That mattered not to the misshapen behemoth bearing down on her, nor to the army of clacking-bone warriors surrounding her on all sides.
There was nowhere to run.
But that was all right. Actually, this was perfect.
She lifted a hand, beckoning a challenge.
Maddie had always known she'd go out fighting.