Chapter 22: Chapter 20: A Lull During Chaos

The taste of freedom.

An empty birdcage and snapped chains, all the things in the world holding Lillian back, far from her consciousness.

Wind rushed through her hair and flushed her face, the surrounding heat and humidity dissipating.

She ran forward through those piles of debris; the world passing her by second by second. Intoxicating the experience was, after one of the worst moments of her life, she got to experience this, something she had inwardly wished and begged for in many moments of her life.

It was as Feyrith said to her earlier; it was in this moment that she didn’t have to fulfil her roles of Lillian and Claire, and that she could be herself, whoever that was. The world did not bring her fear, for why would an immortal fear death?

Consequences be damned. All she felt right now was an intense urge to explore. To fight, to live. The blood-curdling, heart-stopping sensation of excitement. So, she went on forward onto the battlefield, as hellish as it was.

“Wait up.” Feyrith spoke from behind her. “I was wrong. A boost in your confidence was the last thing you needed.”

“That’s rude.” She chuckled in reply. With a sigh, she stopped running, only then noticing how sore her legs were, and how her body was drenched in sweat.

“Why did I stop…” She whimpered, stretching her arms as she crouched on the ground. Taking the chance to breathe, she waited for Feyrith to catch up to her, a gust of wind brushing by her face.

“How are you so fast?” He spoke, his breath ragged and voice haggardly.

“How are you so slow?” She replied with a snicker. Seeing as her body was feeling better, she got off the ground and walked up to Feyrith, paying no mind to the surrounding area.

“So, useless encyclopaedia,” She spoke up. “How long until we reach the main hall?”

“Here I thought Loremaster was your worst.” He muttered.

“A few minutes. We best hurry though, since her majesty might try to give chase.” He answered. “Judging by how fast you are, I can’t imagine the Valkyrie taking long to reach us.”

“Let’s keep going then.” Lillian spoke, getting into running position, her feet slanted down.

“Wait, I know a shortcut.” Feyrith spoke as he raised a finger and pointed it around the corridor.

“Of course, you do.” Lillian muttered with a grin.

“It’s close by, come on.” He spoke, running forward through the corridor. His sharp eyes scanned each and every corner of the corridor before abruptly coming to a stop.

They were met with a sudden intersection, two paths that formed a Y shape, a left and right side, respectively.

“It’s a branching path.” Lillian muttered.

“Ok. This is new to me.” Feyrith muttered with his eyes widened. He stopped front of the branching pathway, holding out his hand and touching the fallen wall. “So very intriguing.”

“You’re useless, useless encyclopaedia.” Lillian pouted.

“Repetitive much?” Feyrith bit back.

“Not at all.” She replied. “Anyway, which path do we go through?”

“Not sure, I told you. This is new to me as well.” He answered. Tapping his foot on the ground for a few moments, Feyrith was silent. He looked up and closed and eyes for just a few seconds, before turning around to face Lillian. “How about the right one?”

“Sur—” Lillian replied, when suddenly a fierce headache struck her.

Blood. Red hot crimson blood splattered across the floor, dead bodies surrounding. Battered corpses, some unrecognisable solely due to their injuries. Her body was in extreme pain, every muscle and bone aching, her head floaty and dizzy. Her eyes flashed red, again, and again, and again, as images passed by her, magma flowing into her mind.

Even with this intense pain, she couldn’t move. Her mouth was glued shut, and her body frozen in time. Then, it all just disappeared, her thoughts and the scene in front of her, as her view returned to the crossroad, unaware of all that had happened.

When she looked at the right path, an uneasy feeling began to fill her heart, a heavy tug telling her not to go.

“Wait.” She spoke hurriedly. “Let’s take the left path.” They couldn’t take the right path, no matter what, and the other one felt safe enough. Lillian didn’t know what it was that told her this, but she felt like accepting that feeling.

“Right then, let’s go.” Feyrith spoke. He did not seem a bit unperturbed by Lillian's sudden change of heart, turning his head toward the left path and eyeing her to go on first.

With caution she peeked her head through the crack and crawled her way through the opening, her body eventually reaching an empty hallway, without people or rubble standing in their way.

“Oh.” Feyrith gasped, his eyes wandering the corridor. “Good job, princess, this is the correct path.”

“Of course, what else would you expect from the esteemed me?”

“Yes, yes, you’re amazing.”

“We’re just a bit off from our destination, but since we’re here.” Feyrith spoke. “Would you happen to have any bandages in that all-powerful pouch of yours?” He then fell to the ground, revealing a large gash on his leg, blood dribbling out.

“Feyrith!” Lillian yelled.

“Don’t mind me.” He replied with a light chuckle.

“Give me a moment.” Lillian spoke hurriedly, dropping her sword and reaching into her pouch. She rummaged around until her hands came upon the sensation of thin web-like material rolled up into a ball.

“Bingo.” She muttered, grabbing the bandage. “Stay still.”

She grabbed Feyrith’s leg and used a cloth to wipe off the blood, the latter making a pained expression as his body struggled.

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“Argh!” He groaned.

“I said stay still!” Lillian yelled, tightening her grip on Feyrith even more while she held him to the ground. He continued to struggle as Lillian cleaned off his leg, wrapping it in the bandage and sealing it tightly. “There, done.”

She stood up and let out a deep sigh, satisfied with her work, especially with the little materials she was given to work with.

“You should stick to fighting.” Feyrith spoke, staring Lillian dead in the eyes. Her cheeks puffed up, and she began to kick him right on his uninjured leg, fury in her eyes. “Stop! Stop! I’m sorry.”

“Your highness. Please!”

Feyrith stood back up to avoid Lillian’s attacks, limping away from her.

“I’m sorry.” He spoke.

“You better be.” Lillian growled falsely. “Ok, enough of that. You said that we were close.”

“Yeah, we’re just a bit away from the main hall.” Feyrith spoke. “Are you sure you’re ready?”

“More than you.” She replied with a confident smile. Twirling her fingers in-between her hair, Lillian picked her sword back up and pointed it forward. Holding it there for a moment, she swirled mana through her body, evenly spreading it throughout. I hope I won’t have to use that.

“Let’s go.” She said as she walked toward Feyrith and picked him up, holding him in a princess carry. “I hope you don’t mind if I do this for now. Wouldn’t want you getting more injured.”

Feyrith, unable to do anything, begrudgingly nodded, as the two walked further down the corridor, going toward a faint light from afar.

---

“Lillian? Feyrith?” Adelaide called out, noticing that the two’s footsteps were going. She hoped that she was wrong, and that when she turned around, they would still be behind her, simply still instead of walking. Sadly, reality wasn’t that kind. Though, was it at all kind in the first place?

The small boy was still in her arms, his eyes closed as he was lulled to sleep. Adelaide slowly turned her body for her worst suspicions to come through. They’re gone.

She cursed to herself, a furrow emerging from her brow. They had been left alone for just one moment, and this happened. What was she to do? The child she was holding still needed to get to a safe place, as was the situation for 2 other children who had run off on their own.

My daughter, I hope you don’t follow after me. She thought to herself, remembering her own days of mischief and tomfoolery. In any other situation, say, on a training day, she would have been livid, but an apology would have calmed her down. For today, especially right now, this was the last thing she needed to happen.

She would have though that her daughter of all people wouldn’t engage in foolishness in times like this. Always one step ahead of everyone, Lillian should have known the dangers she put herself in by going out. Neither did Adelaide want to pin the blame of Feyrith, though in this situation, she would rather accuse him than Lillian. As respectful and “perfect” as the boy looked and acted, who knew how he was behind the scenes. He was Sylvia’s son after all, no disrespect to her.

For now, she would head to the chambers, though she didn’t look it, Adelaide was heavily injured, multiple wounds, cuts, and more recently burn marks all over her body. All she needed were a few healing salves and she would be ok, right after she would chase after the two. I tested him as well… Here I thought that Sylvia’s son would have been an acceptable for Lillian.

If she was correct in her assumptions, the two were probably in the main hall, which she could get to easily enough from the chambers. Objectives clear, she headed forward, spears in hand, for, in these few moments, away from all, she was invincible.

---

“Careful.” Feyrith spoke, placing his finger above Lillian’s mouth. She stayed silent, opening her ears to listen out into the main hall. It didn’t have to be said at this point, but the hall was in worse condition than everywhere else they had been in the past few hours. Most of that was, of course, due to the fighting going on.

Players and knights standing side by side, fighting off hordes of monsters, fiends, and cultists. It was a bloodbath, heads thrown across the room and death by the second. Lillian observed her heart, noting its stable beating, not a single tinge of uneasiness through her. It was certainly odd, but she didn’t mind it much. This feeling of calmness was something she needed to savour.

A thought then popped up through her mind, noticing how crowded the hall was with monsters. How did the cult summon these many monsters and fiends? It was most likely why Adelaide wasn’t here, and instead, wandered the palace. To do something like this, they would need…

Then a thought struck her. When she visited the slums earlier, it had been early empty. She also remembered the coachman from that morning talk about how serfs had suddenly passed by the cart – like they were running from something.

She felt a wave of nausea well up inside up as she realised what had happened. All those fiends and monsters.

Her vision turned red, her head clear from the rage that welled up inside of her. At first she had simply wanted to get rid of the cult to get her hands on an especially powerful weapon, oh and also save her life. Now, she was invested, taking what the cult was doing personally. How dare they do such things in my territory?!

Though Feyrith told her not to mind it earlier, this time she couldn’t help but have her identity as a princess well up inside of her, thinking of what her future subjects had to endure. She tightly gripped her blade, raising it into the air before taking a step forward.

“Wait.” Feyrith said stiffly, holding his hands in front of her. He knew what she was thinking, a little to well, maybe? “I’ll borrow your words. You doing what you were about to do would be counterintuitive.”

Lillian gulped and put down her blade, her head cooling down.

“Yeah, that would have been bad.” She spoke, realising just what she was about to do. Why had she suddenly started moving? It was as if her emotions overtook her, causing her to act on instinct.

“Interesting…” Feyrith muttered.

“What is it?” She asked.

“Look there.” He replied, pointing his finger toward the centre of the hall. Placed there, surrounded by a large group of fiends and cultists, was a large magic circle drawn on the ground. It looked ominous, even without the threat of cultists surrounding it. “That magic circle isn’t for summoning. I should know.”

“It’s used to amplify emotions.” Lillian spoke.

“Right on the dot.” Feyrith said nodding at Lillian’s response.

“How about you then?” She asked.

“I’m always cool-headed.” He spoke. On his face was a grin unbefitting the situation they were in now, taunting Lillian second by second. “You’re not, nu-mb-er-on-e?”

“Shut up.” She replied with a grin. “So, I’m assuming our goal is to destroy the circle.”

“As best we can.” Feyrith responded as he raised his palm. He stood there for a moment as the room devolved into further chaos. Then right there, right in-between the two fighting groups, was a blind spot. “Just like that, an opening.”

“Get ready for combat.” He spoke.

“You don’t need to tell me twice.” Lillian replied, raising her blade with a killer glint in her eyes. “Month 3, on the day of realisation. Let’s go take down some cultists.”

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