Snippet #2550484

It took a while for Eilin to tear herself away from the surrounding landscape. Despite the fresh snowfall, the death was fresh. She could see it as well as smell it. It was a sight she had encountered only once before in her life. Rarely did demons cause widespread destruction such as this, though they were certainly not above it. They were simply more likely to kill selectively and secretly in the night.

Slowly, the young woman took a step back from the ruins of the butcher's place. Another step followed it, and then a third before she finally turned to try and pull her thoughts together. The snow was fresh under foot, but that did not mean that she could not track any footsteps. Carefully, she leaned down and studied the ground in front of her for any tell-tale indents.

Non showed themselves to her.

Undeterred, Eilin rose and made her way silently forward. She carefully stepped around fallen stones and branches. Ducked under half-collapsed doorways. Eventually, she made enough progress from where she had started to kneel down again. This time she dug her spear into the hard soil, using it as support while she studied the ground around her.

Still, nothing suggested a trail that she could follow.

It was as Eilin was straightening up once more that she noticed it. Several feet away were depressions in the snow, already in the process of being buried under the fresh fall. Her eyes narrowing slightly, she cast a cautious glance around before directing her steps toward the marks.

Slowly and cautiously, she made her way toward the spot. With every two steps she took, a small round patch was left in the snow from the spear as well. And when she approached the curious spot, she drew to a stop as her gaze fell upon the charred remains of a body. No doubt, killed and burned in the fires of the previous night, it was indistinguishable and no doubt would never been identified properly.

Next to it, however, lay the object of Eilin's current interest. A deep depression in the snow, as if someone had recently sat there. And leading up to it... footsteps.

Eilin's gaze flickered upward, scanning the immediate area. To her knowledge, demons were best known to like moving about at night. Though it was not unheard of seeing them during the daytime. Still... There was a chance that whoever was near was simply a human. Perhaps a survivor of the attack and simply frightened.

Her posture remained straight, if not somewhat predatory as Eilin turned on the spot, looking about the area. There were only a select few places to hide and one where the footsteps lead to. Though despite seeing this, she played the fool's card and instead took a step back from the body.

“I know you are here! You have one chance to come out on your own!” she called to the area at large. Her tone of voice was strong, the cold untertones hidden within the accent of the people of the North. It was not natural for her to speak as such, though she knew she had better odds at getting a response from a frightened survivor this way. Her fingers tightened around the spear, almost itching to throw it at the nearest thing that moved. Though she knew she could not. What if it truly was a human survivor? They would need help. Help that was not available for miles each way.