Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Knights. If I did, I wouldn't be writing this fic.

A/N: Okay, here is the second chapter of my latest fic, and probably the only one to get another chappie. I spent my whole vacation writing this so I hope it's good. I would also like to thank my reviewers and my beta reader!

The Book of Counted Sorrows

Chapter 2- In the Morning Light

Soon, the morning came; it's warm rays bringing life to a new day. The light in the windows were catching dust as it floated around. The breeze brought in the gentle smell of morning, with the faint smell of the flowers. A few birds began to sing cheery tunes, bringing a sense of peace over the gentle dawn.

Currently, many of the occupants of the palace were still asleep in their beds, comfortable and content. However, one person was up at this hour, feeling neither, and was restless with a strange sense apprehension coursing through them. This person was the mysterious Lily, who had been roused from sleep.

She was wandering the halls, a little lost in the vast palace. Before long, she came across the library. She looked through the books, running her fingers along their spines, looking for nothing in particular, just anything that caught her fancy. She soon came upon a particularly thick book. She couldn't see the title, but it looked like it would put her to sleep. So she grabbed it off the shelf using both hands and walked over to a chair near a still burning fireplace.

She curled up in the chair and placed the book in her lap. She used her fingers to gingerly brush off some of the dust on the cover of the book. She looked at the title and smiled. 'The Demon Bible' was written faded gold letters on the leather cover of the book. She laughed, what would the Dragon Lord be doing with a book like this in the palace. "Tsk, tsk. He would be happy to know about this." Her smile faded as she soon remembered the circumstances that had brought her to the Dragon Palace in the first place.

She opened the book and began to read. As she was about one-third of the way done, her eyes began to droop. She yawned a few times to remain awake, but soon surrendered to sleep, her head resting against the back of the chair. A few of the suns rays fell on her face, making her look like an innocent child.

Lykouleon, decided at that exact moment to walk in. "Just where I though you would be," he whispered as he walked over to her sleeping form. He brushed a few bangs away from her face, smiling at how peaceful she looked compaired to before. He felt this connection with her that could not be explained. His smile then changed to confusion when he saw a book in her lap, written in the youkai language.

He removed the book with curiosity and closed it so he could see the title. "Eh… I didn't know I had that book," he sweat dropped. He placed it on the table next to the chair. He looked at her, and then around them. "I don't want to wake you… what to do." He thought for moment and then grabbed a blanket from the other chair and gently covered her up so that he would not wake her.

He placed a kiss upon her forehead. "I'll leave you here and come back for you later." He then turned and walked back to the door. Before he closed it, he turned back and smiled at her and then left, softly closing the door. He walked through the halls silently, wondering if anyone else was up, besides Alfeegi.


Before long, the sun was shining directly above Draqueen and signaling that it was noon… or rather lunchtime. For once, everyone was gathered in the dining hall, probably hoping to see the mysterious Lily. However, their food wasn't set up like it normally was… something was going on.

The Knights and Officers, turned when they the door open. They saw Lord Lykouleon standing in the doorway, smiling as always. Nothing seemed to get him down.

"Where's the food?" Thatz asked before Rune hit him in his side, with his elbow. "Ow…" he muttered, rubbing his injured side and slightly glaring at Rune who was also glaring back at him.

"I hope you don't mind if we eat outside. Rasaelene has made a wonderful lunch so that we may have a picnic with our guest."

"Lily's awake? Does that mean we can ask our questions now?" Rath asked, very excited. The other sweat dropped. At least he was showing some kind of emotion. After Cesia died (and there was much rejoicing :waves a white flag: Yay!) he had become distracted and distant. He didn't care much about what was going on around him. At least now he wasn't thinking about those damn demons. Well most of the time anyway!

Lykouleon smiled, and nodded his head and then lead them to the garden. As they neared they heard the sound of the fountain and the laughter of two females. It quickly caught their attention…

"By the way you describe those two, they sound like an old married couple." They heard a pleasant, cheerful voice say with a hint of laughter and secrecy. It didn't sound much like Rasaelene, but they didn't think Lily sounded like that considering how she spoke last night.

"Hello ladies," he said smiling at them. "I hope you don't mind if I ask, however, I over heard you talking about two people and I was curious as to whom you were talking about?"

The two ladies stood to greet them, before Lily spoke up. "Lady Rasaelene was telling me about the people of the castle and she was describing to me about the relationship between Ruwalk and Alfeegi."

The others laughed, as Alfeegi blushed lightly, angered by the comment as innocent as it seemed. Ruwalk just smiled and laughed with a hand behind his head. "Yup, that sounds about right," he said hitting Alfeegi on the back in a brotherly manor. Alfeegi gave squeak of surprise before glaring and crossing his arms and gave a little sniff of indignity. They all but missed the jealous look in Kai-sten's eyes as he laughed along with them.

After they calmed down, they began to sit down on the ground. However, before Thatz could sit down he was glomped by Lily, almost knocking him over. He was briefly shocked before he wrapped his arms around her waist and hugging her back with a goofy grin on his face. They each gave each other a peck on the lips, something they had been doing since they've know each other, the others figured this much. Alfeegi couldn't help but fell a twinge of jealousy as they did so.

"Long time no see, ya big glutton," she said laughing. She stopped hugging him but threw an arm around his neck as they sat down. Her eyes radiated warmth, happiness, and laughter, but hidden deep within those depths was the wisdom of the gods and one who has seen too much.

"So how do you two know each other?" Rune asked curiously.

Lily just looked at Thatz, telling him to tell the story. He nodded his head.

"Well, I was treasure hunting somewhere… I can't exactly remember where. Well I got lost and I found myself somewhere else. I think I was on Arinas somewhere…" he looked at Lily.

"Some trap Kharl built seeing it was near his castle. I was around, returning home from a visit to a friend, when I found him. So I helped him out, and we both ended up in Dusis," she continued for him.

"After that we've been friends… but we spilt when she had to return Arinas and I became a knight," he finished. Lily nodded her head.

"Interesting… so you live in Arinas." Tetheus asked.

"Sometimes… but most on the time I've been traveling in Dusis… looking for some things," she answered, but her voice left no room for questions about what those things were. From there the conversation turned to chitchat, and everyone finished their lunch and cleared it up, so it would not get in their way.

Rath had been looking at her long and hard all through lunch and came to one conclusion. "You're youkai," he stated, and then moved so he was directly in front of her, staring into her eyes. She stared back, no emotion flowing through her violet orbs.

"Rath, stop being rude," Rune said, harshly. That caught Rath's attention and he moved back to his place between Rune and Kai-stern. She blinked a couple of times before her eyes returned to their normal cheerfulness and mystery.

"She's not just youkai, she's also an elf," Rune muttered, silently, but the others had heard him, and he blushed slightly and mumbled an apology. Lily just smiled, making him blush even more.

"Right you are," Thatz said, pulling Lily into his lap and holding her close. If the others hadn't have known they were good friends, they would have thought they were a couple. Lily gave a yelp of surprise, but continued to smile as she settled into his lap. She was not going to answer their questions on her blood, they could just ask Thatz. "She's also a dragon," he said as he bit one of her ears that showed the pointed tip of a dragon.

"Ow. You asshole. Don't do that," she said getting out his lap and slapping him, which made him fall down to the ground, from his sitting position. She then moved to sit next to Lykouleon. They were laughing at Thatz who seemed to have recovered some.

"What was that for?" he mumbled, rubbing the side of his face where a red handprint was showing. Lily just huffed and crossed her arms.

"Now, Lily, let me introduce you to my Dragon Officers and Knights," he said once he got over his fit of laughter. "This is Tetheus," he said, pointing to a dark-haired, dark-eyed man sitting next to Rasaelene. He had a stern look on his face. Tetheus nodded his head at her. She smiled and nodded back.

"Ruwalk," he said pointing to the person next to Tetheus. He had brownish-orange eyes and his hair was brown with red tips. He held out his hand, which she took and he then kissed it, while giving her a wink. She just smiled and winked back.

"Alfeegi," he said pointing to the man with aqua hair, next to Ruwalk. She shook his hand and said pleasantries, but her eyes lingered on his. His copper eyes captivated her, but what she saw behind them intrigued her the most.

The next person he pointed to was a light blond haired man with yellowish gold eyes hidden behind his thin-framed glasses. "Kai-stern," Lykouleon said as she shook his hand. She too looked into his eyes and into his soul, like she did to the others before him and to the ones after.

She knew she was going to have problems with Kai-stern and Alfeegi.

"Rath," he said motioning to the man next to Kai-stern. He had black hair with a little patch of his bangs dyed white. She looked into his crimson colored eyes and knew that he was going to be Hell to live with. She had heard about him through Thatz. When their hands met, she felt the fire of his soul, and she knew that the two of them would never get along, much less understand one another.

"And Rune," he said pointed to the blond haired, blue eyed elf sitting next to Rath. When she shook hands with him, she liked him instantly. And so she smiled and it made Rune feel happy, because he understood that smile for it was used amongst all elves.

"And you have already met Rasaelene," he finished and then sipped his tea, and let everyone take it from there. He smiled his all knowing smile and then began to eat his dessert that Rasaelene had given to him.

"It's nice to meet you all," she said, smiling. She too began to eat, as did the others. She kept quite, listening to the conversations around her, looking at their smiling faces and cheery laughter of many inside jokes, which she had no part of. She came to realize that they sounded like one big family and she felt like an intruder upon their happiness. Once she got what she wanted, she would be out of their lives forever, and she would go back to her Master, and live the remainder of her life in blissful peace. If only she knew.

"So, Lily, where are you from?" Ruwalk asked, trying to avoid any questions about her peculiar bloodline.

"A town called Makototen. Its location is non of your concern," Lily stated with a tone that none dared question, not even Rath.

"I've been there before," Kai-stern said. "Right before Nadil destroyed it," he said looking straight at Lily. "I've seen your eyes before… though you were much younger then."

"Yes, I thought you, too, looked familiar," she said looking away from him and somewhere else than their curious gazes. Damn him, she thought.

The others wore looks of confusion. Did these two know each other? However unlikely… it seemed very strange. Many of the others had never heard of it, except in legend… about the dragon it hid and protected. They never thought it could be a real place.

Her gaze looked to the far distance, eyes glazed. "You and I never spoke though. I always saw you by the tavern, except that one night…" and then she stopped. The far-away look in her eyes left and she shock her head. "How silly of me to get caught up in the past I would rather forget about. Besides it never could have happened… You weren't there…"

The group did not know what she was talking about… maybe Kai-stern, but it seemed he, too, was also confused. But realization dawned on Alfeegi when he finally figured out why Kai-stern had spent all his money on that particular journey that Alfeegi didn't know that Kai-stern had gone on… without filling out the paper work.

"So that's why you weren't here during the festival all those years ago? And without filling out the forms and how all that money disappeared, unless Ruwalk had a hand in it, which I wouldn't be surprised," he said raising an eyebrow. His voice was deadly calm. It worried all those there, except Lily, who was left in the dark. She would soon learn the ways of the palace.

"Um…" was all Kai-stern could say. He raised his hands up in defense and sweat dropped as Alfeegi looked at him with anger flaring in his copper eyes.

Lily smiled. She may not have been in Draqueen long enough, but she could see what was going on around here. Her smile lessened when she remembered that she was disturbing their peace, and every moment she waited, the Darkness that followed her would soon come upon them. She couldn't have that.

She cleared her throat and stood up, dusting her self. Alfeegi stopped killing Kai-stern for a moment to look up at her, like everyone else. The afternoon light highlighting her hair, giving her a soft, heavenly glow. It gave her a much more lovelier appearance than last night. Kai-stern saw the entranced look in Alfeegi's eyes and immediately disliked Lily. She was going to take Alfeegi from him, and just when he was getting attention.

"Well, I'll be on my way to town," she said looking at them and smiling. As she turned to leave, Rune got up.

"I'll go with you," he said walking over to her.

"I'd like that. Thank you." Rune held out his arm and she gracefully took it. Now it was Rath's turn to be mad… Rune was his… he glared at Lily also. He was going to make sure she didn't have him.

Then abruptly, Lily turned around and looked at them, she could sense their emotions… what strange people. "Thatz forgot to tell you something else."

They all looked at Thatz, who seemed to realize what he had forgotten. He was about to say it when Lily beat him to it.

"I also have human blood flowing through my veins." With that she and Rune left. When they turned to look at her, she was no longer there.

"Wow… all four races…" Ruwalk mumbled. The rest of the group nodded their heads.

"No doubt, she'll be wonderful to have around. It's nice to see a girl around here instead of all these gentlemen," Rasaelene said drinking the rest of her tea. "Well, if you will excuse me," she said getting up. "I bid you a good afternoon." With that she left for the palace.

Once they could not see the Lady, Lykouleon cleared his throat. "There is something I need to discuss with you about Lily. I'm sure she will tell Rune herself."

The remanding people looked at Lykouleon expectantly. Their dessert forgotten, even by Thatz.

"Well, it's about damn time someone explained something," Rath said impatiently. Alfeegi glared, but did not say anything.

Lykouleon let out a sigh, considering what he was about to say. "No doubt, you have heard the rumors and legends that surround Makototen?" he asked.

The others nodded their heads. They were curious to find out what he was getting at. When they saw the serious look in his eyes, did they truly see the severity of the situation that surrounded Lily.

"The legends, the rumors… They are all true." Shock filled all of their faces, but nothing was as more shocking than what they were about to hear. "Lily is…"


A/N: A cliffhanger… I know I'm evil. I'm not going to say anything about the next chapter, or it will give it away and I can't have that now can I?