Thanks to nobody knew about her arrival at the Sanctuary, her escape went totally unnoticed by low-ranking guards and due to the proximity of Rodorio, in case to be discovered, could argue that she had deviated from the path for seeying her smartphone. The excuse sounded pretty convincing so Vitani didn't bother to hide once enough of the sacred place where she had lived the weekend away. She didn't looked back on any occasion since only Elyn, Shura and Sira would to miss her.
"Where would I go, what would I do?" They were simple answers, she would surrender to the police and accept the fate of being adopted by a normal family that steer clear of ancient Greece; If the case was given not to get one, she would wait in an orphanage until the age of majority to seek work and do things for herself, as Milo had suggested. The real world was scary but it was disappearing completely from her perception and live under the illusion that offered the goddess Athena isn't the best option.
The light of the stars and moon they were enough to illuminate their descent to the village and some lighted windows in Rodorio gave her the perfect guide to know where to go. The silence was reassuring her slowly so that the few minutes later, her face was showing no more than the determination to hop on a bus and go to the nearest capital unaware of the existence of the Sanctuary.
***
The slide of a pile of stones caused the girl to turn around at full speed, Vitani wished that the sound was the product of her imagination but her ruby eyes discovered four people who were watching her in a sinister way: they were wearing plain armor, dark and with a violet glow. They didn't take long for them to surround her, stalk her, and smile broadly at their victim:
"W-Who are you?" Vitani asked trying to pretend to be a helpless girl.
"Oh hahaha! Her way to act with us is very cute... but I'm so sorry, litte lady, your cosmos smells like Athena's saint."
"What luck ours, right?"
"I-I don't know what you are talking about... I-I've strayed from the path to my h-house."
"Have you seen? He lies as much as he sucks."
In that moment, Vitani paled, dropped her bag and ran as fast as she could.
"Kill her."
***
Giving way to her instincts, Vitani moved to the side, dodging the first man who jumped on her like a shadow. Suddenly, everything started to happen too fast: the movements of her body were quite clumsy so her feet had to act faster, much more than her mind even; unfortunately, none of that served her too much as one of her captors screamed at the sky and automatically, a huge dark dog emerged from nowhere. The animal launched itself against her, managing to throw her to the ground.
The next thing that happened didn't even remain in Vitani's memory for long: the creature bit her where it found meat while the girl tried to protect her face with her arms and kicked to drive the beast away from her body, without any success. Tears fell down Vitani's face, mixing with the earth on the ground and the blood of the scratched and enemy bites, the reality and the memories of her life didn't take long to become one, distorting what her eyes saw: her father, mother, the happiness that long ago she had felt for having a full life... but also the games with Sira in the garden in Finland or the food that Milo had put on the table the previous days. Milo. That fool who had enraged her to do this madness. The Sanctuary was the only place that could protect her and now, it was all about to end.
The dark criature stabbed the fangs into her left arm making her come back to reality. An intense pain pierced her, so much so that even she listened the breaking of her bones. It was then that Vitani screamed at the top of her lungs and searched for something to hit the enemy with but the creature refused to let go. Why those people wanted to see her die? Vitani supposed that it was because these men were enemies of the Sanctuary and anyone related to the sacred place would die at their hands. That was how simple fights were in fantasy worlds... However, what was she in that story? Was the protagonist who could defeat the enemy at the last moment or was she the sacrifice to start a new holy war? Perhaps she was simply the victim that no one would remember despite being born with the cosmos of the future Saint of Scorpio.
"So stop whining and learn to do things yourself or you will die just like your family." Milo said. He was right.
A new tug from the animal forced her to dig the nails of her other hand into the creature's nose. They were long and for that reason they also pierced the enemy's skin. The more pain her body felt, the more force her exerted to try to open the creature's mouth by herself, since, if things continued like this, the dark dog could rip the arm off.
They both looked into each other's eyes, fighting to win the battle. Vitani felt that the smell of blood, the pain in her arm and the amount of emotions that had crowded into her heart in just a few minutes could be transformed into power so she tightened her grip, enjoying for first time that emotion and struggled to open the jaws of the animal, feeling that something it vibrated inside her, ready to give her the strength she needed. The teeth parted a bit, so she took the opportunity to hit her enemy's stomach with a new kick. Maybe if she kept fighting to survive she would buy time and have someone come to her rescue.
The animal was being left at a disadvantage little by little while the cosmos of Vitani grew so that it was not long before the Specters realized that if the situation lasted longer than necessary, that burst of energy would attract the attention of the Sanctuary. One of them, chose to appears behind the girl while turning his hand into a very sharp stake. He grabbed Vitani by the hair as he took her by surprise and without hesitation, he went through the girl as the dark dog gave the most powerful pull yet.
The end came to her.
Even if she was the real future Saint of Scorpio or not, Vitani's life ended in that instant. The pain that went through her silenced her five senses instantly so she stopped feeling, smell, hear or breathe, and a blinding light plunged her into nothingness while her throat become the prison chosen for the name of the only person who she had wanted to see one last time.