The grotesque laugh echoed through the broken beams of the old granary as Luca and Selena dashed across the dusty path, their boots thudding against the earth. Trees blurred past them. The sun had barely climbed higher, but a chill darker than morning dew clung to the air.
They burst through a thinning patch of trees—and there he was.
A man cloaked in tattered black, half his face hidden behind a stitched leather mask, was dragging an unconscious villager through the dried grass. The man's gaunt frame turned at the sound of their approach.
He froze… then slowly tilted his head up, revealing wild, red-stained eyes and a grotesque grin.
"Jjiejiejie… Two little pests? HAHAHA! More sacrifices for the Lord!"
He dropped the limp body like a sack of meat and launched toward them with unnatural speed, hands gnarled and clawed with blackened veins pulsing.
Luca was faster.
