Belladonna landed on her face and it ached terribly. Sand made its way into her mouth as she fought to stand on her feet, ignoring the pain in her toes as she searched for Alaris amongst the many floating statues on the surface of the water, under the red sky and the pouring rain.
Her eyes caught something else though, the shadows moving quickly around the statues and heading for--- her!
Belladonna's hand sprung up to the sunflower that still rested on her chest. For a moment, she thought they couldn't come for her, the Thanatou had freely given her the necklace after all, until she remembered that she was the "thing" that had been stolen.
Belladonna looked down, discovering that the beach was slowly turning into a shade of red. The soldiers were also coming closer to the shore, running into the invisible wall that stayed between the red river and Me'k.
Lightning flashed just in time for Belladonna to realize that the wall had sustained a crack, like a cracked glass.