Sylvan's Rebirth

"Help! Please!" Sylvan screamed, thrashing and struggling against her attackers. "Let me go!" Unfazed, the two men continued dragging her into the dark alleyway.

Passersby ignored her pleas for help and obvious plight, thinking she was just another street-rat kid having second thoughts about selling her body to survive. Those few who gave the sight of two brutish men dragging a teenage girl off the street a second glance still did nothing, preferring to not get involved.

Fear and adrenaline gave Sylvan greater strength than she normally possessed, but it still wasn't nearly enough to fight off two large men. She managed to wrench her arm free and claw the larger of her attackers across the face, gouging deep wounds into his cheek. That just made him angry, however, and he backhanded her, striking her hard enough to stun her and blur her vision for a few moments. During that brief time when she was too stunned to struggle she was dropped to the ground, her clothes torn.

"No!" she screamed, struggling to clear her head and escape. She frantically began grabbing at the refuse littering the ground, trying to find something to use to defend herself.

"Grab 'er arms already!" the larger man spat at his cohort. The other man grinned maliciously and pinned Sylvan's arms above her head roughly. An evil smile twisting his already ugly features into something truly hideous, blood from the wounds she inflicted dripping onto the tattered remnants of her clothes, the brute forced himself on the young woman, violating her cruelly as she screamed in impotent fear, pain, and anger. She closed her eyes, tears cutting streaks through the dirt on her face as she prayed for it to end.

So deep was her concentration that she didn't notice at first when the hands pinning her arms to the ground disappeared with a flash of heat. When her assailant screamed and pulled away from her, however, her eyes flew open. The alleyway was far brighter than before, brighter than it had any reason to be at this late hour, so it took her eyes a moment to adjust. A tall figure was standing near her, some sort of beast-man with legs like a goat's and horns on his head, blue flames emanating from his outstretched hand, his golden eyes cold and fixed on the man stumbling over himself to escape. Eyes narrowing, he flicked his wrist toward the fleeing man, a gout of flame surrounding and reducing him to ash in mere moments. Satisfied, he nodded before kneeling next to the frightened young woman, his eyes now reflecting concern.

"Are you all right?" his warm, gentle voice soothed Sylvan's fear: he clearly had no intention of hurting her. She nodded, still too shocked to speak. "I can take you someplace safe, if you like. Somewhere you can rest and recover without fear."

"I," she swallowed nervously, "I... Yes, please!" She wept then, leaning into her savior's chest, all of the fear and stress of the day flowing through her eyes as her body was wracked by her sobs.

He embraced the young woman then, comforting her as best he knew how. After a few moments he stood, gently picking the young woman up in his strong arms. "I'm going to do something now that may frighten you, but I assure you it will do you no harm. There is the only way we can return to my home from here and it may be a bit... overwhelming to someone who's never used magick before."

Sylvan looked at him then, understanding dawning in her bright green eyes. "That was how you killed those men? That was magick?" He nodded and she put her arms around his neck. "I'm ready," her voice wavered slightly, a sliver of fear piercing her at the thought of the unknown.

The man spoke a few words in a language she didn't understand and the world seemed to melt away, shimmering as the dank alley was replaced by a room with warm brown walls. That was all she saw before it became too much for her and she blacked out.