The mob wanted blood.
Xiao Yan walked into the square wearing a mask.
Bulging eyes, fanged mouth, the face of a demon, a monster.
The crowd fell silent, then roared.
Punish the monster. Divide its land!
He knelt. Let them come.
A shadow fell over him. Xiao Yan looked up.
Blue eyes stared back, fierce and frightened and there.
For ten years, he had killed so many monsters with colored eyes.
Now one stood over him, shielding him from his own people.
He did not know why.
But when the shouting started again, neither of them moved.