“Zio! Zio!” The word was slowly becoming more and more nonsensical and meaningless, but it was the only thing Kaede could do. He didn’t know how much longer he could keep this up. Well, he didn’t know much, and that was the problem. 

Then that [i]thing[/i] appeared. It seemed intent on only one of them. The shadowy form seemed to defy reason and logic. Quickly it went towards, Kaede thought their name was Jin, who was preparing to fight back. Kaede first idea was to go behind it and attack (an obvious move, but reasonable), and tried to signal to the others to attempt the same. Most of them nodded in understanding, including the girl with the purple hair. 

Taking a deep breath, Kaede looked to Oberon. He stood tall and brave, exactly the opposite of Kaede. Moving as quick as he could, he shouted that word once more. “Zio!”