By the time they arrived in the village, the sun had begun to rise, and they could see what destruction the demon's ravaging had left behind. Houses lay in ruins, and corpses were strewn about like dolls cast aside when they were no longer wanted.

"It is… horrible…" Morskaya felt her eyes brimming with tears as she rushed amongst the lifeless forms around her.

"Hai! Sky, wait!" Dalar rushed after her, wrinkling his nose in disgust at the foul stench of dried blood and rotting corpses. When he caught up to her, he realized just where she had run to and his heart clenched into a knot in his chest.

Walking through the broken doorway of the sisters' hut, he saw her standing but a foot in the doorway over a woman's body. Once beautiful golden curls tumbled across the pale face, bright eyes staring beyond the girl watching her. Her frail frame was twisted in an inhuman form, and a pool of blood soaked the dirt below her, caking it into foul mud.

Almost gagging from the smell, he quickly hooked both his arms around Morskaya, pulling her back to hold her tightly against him. She was pliant in his arms; unshed tears welding up in her eyes. He could think of nothing to say but pulled her slowly back, out the doorway, and away from the prone woman that had been her adoring mother.