{A fortnight ago}
On the night she met him, even before she heard the knock on her door, Lydia knew she would be receiving a visitor that night.
She wasn't certain what kind of visitor was coming and what his motive was, she knew not whether he was friend or foe. But then again, witches had no friends.
She had felt a dark aura enveloping the entire forest. A kind of aura that made the birds and insects of the night go silent and the wolves in the forest hushed. A kind of aura that caused the wind in the forest to blow differently, almost more quietly as if even the wind was afraid to offend the aura carrier.
She needed no further divination. Lydia instantly knew that before the carrier of such dark presence reached her cottage, it was better for her to flee. Getting entangled with such a person could lead to her demise.
So she packed the little she could and tried to run away. However, it would seem fate mocked her, for on her way to her door, she slipped on some water she had previously spilled, hit her head on the door, and passed out.
And like a twisted fate being written by someone with a rather dark humor, her plan to flee was thwarted.
The next time her lashes moved over her eyes, it was the mighty sound of a knock on her door that woke her from her momentary slumber.
In a daze, she rose to her feet with her left hand holding onto her throbbing head. Her right hand reached for the locks on the door and she slowly undid them.
She pulled the door open and although it was dark, she could tell it was a man who stood before her. "Who are you? Where is Lyanna the witch?" The man was asking.
'Twas dark, she could not see his facial features, but by his manner of speech, she could tell he was a noble.
His voice also sounded somewhat familiar, like she'd heard him speak in a past date but the throbbing in her head would not allow her to focus.
"Answer me! Where is Lyanna the witch?!" The fact that he kept asking for Lyanna meant he'd visited before and he was probably one of Lyanna's customers, and the fact that Lydia recognized his voice made more sense. For the woman he asked for, Lyanna, was her mother.
She shook her head as he continued talking, his words were blurring in her head, until he suddenly grabbed her by her neck, "Can you not hear me! I asked you a question. Where— is—Lyanna?!" And as he tightened his hold around her neck her head steadied and so did her gaze. But it wasn't upon the man who held her without pity. Nay, her gaze had moved beyond the man, about two feet behind the man.
She saw a single eye… A golden eye standing on its own three feet above the man's head.
And she was starting to remember, starting to feel it again… that dark aura she had felt and tried to flee from but had failed. It was coming from that golden eye and the more she stared, the closer it seemed to become until it was actually closer.
Only now that the eye was directly next to the man before her did she realize that the golden eye was accompanied by a gray eye and as she looked up, trembling with fear, the candles inside her cottage were lit, the fire in her hearth which she had quenched in her attempt to flee was rekindled and it blazed bright, bringing light upon the entire room and the men that stood outside her cottage.
No, one man and a…
"M—Monster." She choked on the words as she could now see the figure to which the golden and gray eyes belonged to.
It was no man, far from it.
'Twas no ordinary beast either.
It stood erect like a man, had arms and legs like a man but was covered in fur. It had long ears and its mouth was long. Its face looked like a more ruthless version of the wolves she had encountered in the forest.
It was twice the size of a normal man and the dark aura that had been filling up the forest was radiating from him.
And when he opened his mouth and spoke, it was no ordinary voice. More than a voice, it was a growl laced with a faint hint of a human's voice.
"I am Cassius Zadok Thaddeus, son of Cassius Tiberius Thaddeus, First Emperor of Azroth and I must meet this Lyanna he has spoken off, or thy head shall be no more of use to thy neck."
At that moment, all Lydia could do was, "Ahhhhhh!!" Scream.