Where once was a sea of verdant green, lush grass at her feet and teeming branches overhead, now teemed with gold. It rustled and crackled beneath her feet, fluttered past her on the breeze, sparkled overhead as if she were in an opulent palace. A place of such beauty, and she came here for such a dark deed.

The same breeze that swirled the golden leaves about her caught the sleeves of her gown, red as blood. She chose the color deliberately, so as to hide any wounds, not that she intended to allow her opponent the courtesy. But if she were to die, she was prepared, she had made her peace. Just as the fall and all its dying beauty would give way to the stillness and silence of winter, so would she give way to death if she failed.

But she did not intend, today, to lose.