Beyond Blood and Claws

The cold evening breeze whistled through the trees as Layla ran through the forest, her feet barely touching the rough ground before leaping up again. She was almost out of breath, but she couldn't stop now, not when she knew they were after her.

She wipes the tears blocking her vision, but they were quick to flow down her rosy cheeks again. Just a few hours ago she was the propitious princess of the great land of Valguardia, now she was being haunted down.

Layla couldn't understand why the sudden turn of events. Her mind replayed the times when she had run around the castle grounds as a child, not caring about anything at all.

She remembered her father's love and her brother's obsession, but neither of those could save her. Not now when her life was on the hook.

Where did it all go wrong ? How could everything she loved get stolen away from her in such a short span of time. How did she end up here ?- she kept asking herself as she ran through the thicket.

Eleven years ago....

The ground shook as the soldiers charged through the forest on their horses. On the head of the crowd was Krov, the vampire king of Valguardia who ruled his kingdom with an iron fist.

Strands of his silver hair could be seen underneath his helmet, his face cemented in an intense frown as he kicked his horse, urging it to move faster towards their destination.

The people of Hamletvale, the neighboring village next to Valguardia had turned into darkness. They have been involved with dark powers which had brought a curse upon their land. Krov could remember the words of Elara the Shaman as she warns him about the curse earlier that night.

"The darkness would continue to creep and in no time, it will get to

Valguardia. You are to put a stop to it before it fully infiltrate your land" she had warned.

He clenched his jaw as he shouted out to his men what Elara had instructed he should do.

"kill every last one of them".

It was the only way to cleanse the land, and to stop the curse's effect. Krov was ready to carry out this massacre with immediate effect.

The Valguardian soldiers had caught the village unaware, knocking down their wooden gate and raiding their land. Although they had some dark powers now, the kingdom of Hamletvale was made up of halflings and goblins who were always getting preyed on by other kingdoms and so they were no match for the vampires.

Many fell to their to death as the soldiers marched through their land, claiming the life of anyone they encountered. They burnt down buildings, destroying everything along with killing every livestock they could find.

The women and children were not spared either, their cries echoed in the cold night as terror was the last thing they ever saw.

Meanwhile at the farther end of the village, a woman could be seen sneaking quietly in-between buildings with a child on her hand. Immediately she heard about the raid, she had gathered some stuff and clothed her little girl with a dark cloak before dashing into the night.

The woman was set on escaping with her five year old child and to do that successfully, she would need to be very careful. She knew that their chances of survival was slim, but she was not one to back down, especially when she had a little child to take care of.

"You have to be careful and listen to everything mama says okay?" the woman whispered to her girl which in return nodded frantically, her little heart hammering against her chest.

With that they continued their journey, crawling through and sneaking behind burnt down buildings and debris.

Suddenly, they came across a woman who was cut underneath a boulder, her right leg crushed underneath it's heavy weight. The woman pleaded with her eyes for help, her lips trembling as she watched the woman with the child.

"I'm sorry" she whispered back bitterly, clutching her child closer to her chest before moving towards the dark alley across from her.

"I don't want to die, please don't leave me here !" the woman yelled repeatedly, struggling underneath the stone's weight.

In minutes, a group of soldiers appeared out of nowhere, their weapons drawn as their eyes scanned through the area, looking for the source of the sound. One of the soldiers spotted them and shouted out to his comrades.

The injured woman's cry had attracted the soldiers to them and there was nothing they could do anymore.

In a moment of fear and desperation, the woman lowered her daughter to the ground.

"Run, now !" she yelled urging her little girl towards the opposite direction as she tried to hold the soldiers off.

The little girl barely had time to register what had just happened before taking to her heels. All she knew was that her mother had asked her to run and so she was, obeying her mother's words even though a part of her wanted to look back.

She could hear the sound of weapons clashing, followed by a scream from a person she hoped wasn't her mother. She increased her pace, huffing as she jumped over the pieces of woods scattered across the road path.

The road was covered in smoke from the burnt up buildings. She could barely see and her small heart thumped hardly in her chest as she pushed through the thick fog.

Just then, her body came in contact with a moving horse. It's strong legs sending her tumbling a few feet away.

King Krov heard the loud thud, his ears picking the sharp sound of a heart racing before slowing down. It didn't stop, barely beating but still alive. Quickly, he stopped his horse, jumping down with his sword in his hand.

He approached the body with curiosity in his eyes. He was sure it wasn't an animal he had hit, even an animal would have made a sound but the body remained quiet, almost lifeless but he could see it move.

He bent downwards beside it, slowly taking off its cloak. His gaze softened slightly as he stared at the face of a little girl. She looked weak and frail, but she was far from frightened.

Suddenly he unsheathed his sword, and with a precision sharp as a hawk's eye, he struck.

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