Lilia and Ethan ran until the world behind them disappeared.
At first there were still faint sounds. Distant shouts. Maybe villagers discovering blood. Maybe nothing. Then even that faded. Soon there was nothing but trees. Endless trunks stretching upward like pillars holding up the sky. The air grew cooler. Damp. Wild.
Lilia stumbled and grabbed a tree to steady herself.
"I can't… I can't run anymore," she gasped.
Ethan stopped immediately. He had been controlling his pace, but even that was far beyond what an ordinary woman could endure. He looked at her thin shoulders rising and falling and felt a faint sting in his chest.
He had dragged her into this.
"Yumiko," he asked inwardly, "where do we go now?"
