Preparations, as promised, were done by dawn. Now all that was left to do was wait for Zorah Magdaros to make its appearance.

Lillian stood with Sarah as she watched with James and the Commander for any signs of their query. And they didn't have to wait long.

All of a sudden, everyone's scoutflies began glowing blue and took to the sky before diving down to the ground, hovering a moment, then glowed yellow and quickly dispersed as Zorah Magdaros broke through the stone.

"Get to your posts, now!" Edgar ordered.

Lillian, James, and the other hunters all jumped into action. They fired cannonballs and ballistae arrows at the monster, aiming at its belly and head, trying to wear it down as it drew closer and closer. Their attacks did little to deter it and it broke through the first barrier. As ordered, they hurried to the posts where they hitched a ride from the mernos, guiding them over to Zorah Magdaros before jumping down onto its back.

Lillian could hear James calling for orders and heard Edgar answer that they needed to take out the magma cores on the monster's shell in order to weaken it. Sarah warned that the cores were spewing magma, hoping the hunters wouldn't get hit.

The hunters searched for the magma cores, attacking them until they destroyed them. Once they had, Edgar ordered them to lure it to the second barrier while James warned them to watch their footing, otherwise the monster would shake them off.

It wasn't long before an unknown winged monster flew towards them, landing on Zorah Magdaros' back. Edgar order the ballista team to provide support while the hunters head for its back and drive off the new monster. Sarah called out that it looked like the monster they had been finding the thorns from. Whatever the monster was, it was devilish and aggressive beyond belief.

Lillian, Thomas, and Mia were the first to reach the new monster and tried to drive it off while the barrier teams shot giant harpoons to trap and secure Zorah Magdaros. Thomas got knocked off pretty quickly, but was able to hitch a ride from a Mernos and hurriedly rejoined the fight. James, from his post at his grandfather's side, watched as Lillian launched herself into the air to try and mount the monster only to be thrown into one of the magma walls on Zorah Magdaros' back. He called out to her and watched in horror as the monster shot its thorns at her, piercing various areas of her body. He wanted to run and jump into the fray, to help Lillian before the monster could do anything other damage. But as he stopped himself when he saw Lillian pushing herself to her feet and ripping out the thorns before propelling herself forward and trying to mount the monster once more.

Lillian was in a lot of pain, but she had to push through it for everyone's sake and her own. She charged at the new monster, launching herself in the air and spinning her body and glaive as she descended upon the monster- her glaive's blade slicing through its face as it turned towards her. She landed and nearly lost her balance, but caught it and dodged the monster's next attack as it lashed at them after getting shot at by the ballista team. She saw that they weren't getting very far with the monster and was beginning to fear that they would fail. That is until James' teacher, Magnus, joined the fight, slicing through some of its thorns.

Thinking they finally had a chance to beat this new monster, Lillian and the others assisted Magnus in attacking it. But before they could much anything further, Zorah Magdaros broke free from the harpoon chains that were keeping it trapped and as it stood straight, Lillian and the others began falling off its back. They landed hard on the ground below as it broke through the second barrier and made its way into the Great Ravine.

Lillian forced herself to her feet, turning to help Magnus to his feet as he commented that he was getting too old for this. She stood there, watching with the others, as it pushed further and further into the Great Ravine.

'There's nothing else we can do for now.' she thought.

"Are you alright, Lillian?" Thomas asked, coming over to her.

Lillian nodded. "We should rejoin the others." She tried to take some steps forward, but she was in a lot more pain and lost a lot more blood than she realized and collapsed.

"Lillian!"

The last thing she remembered was darkness surrounding her and people calling to her, someone scooping her up and carrying her as they called for help.

'I guess I wasn't careful enough...'

When Lillian woke next, she was in the infirmary- covered in bandages. She sat up, looked around to see she was alone for the moment, and carefully swung her legs out of the bed to stand. She was still a bit weak, but she was able to keep her balance and went outside to get some fresh air.

It was dark outside, which made her think she had been out for at least most of the day. But she had no real way of knowing until she talked to someone from the mission. And since everyone seemed to be in bed, she went up to the roost- taking the lift for most of the way up since she was struggling a bit with the stairs.

Once she reached the roost, she grabbed one of the chairs that had been set up there and sat down to rest. She leaned against the wall of the roost and looked out over the landscape, enjoying the view more than the interior of the infirmary. The sound of the ocean waves crashing against the shore was calming, the sweet and salty breeze blowing through a cool welcome that soothed her skin. Overall, she felt fine despite her injuries. Then thinking about her injuries made her think about her promise to James and her face fell.

'I hope he hasn't been worrying too much...'

Down at the infirmary, James was returning from a patrol and headed straight for the infirmary to check in on Lillian. When he didn't see her there, he panicked and began searching everywhere for her. When he couldn't find her anywhere and no one who was still up had seen her, he checked the only other place that he could think of and ran off towards the roost.

And there she was, covered in bandages and dressed in a nightgown, sitting in a chair and looking out over the landscape. She had heard him come to the roost and stood, surprised to find him out of breath.

"James?"

James hurried to her as she tried to walk over to him, wrapping his arms around her.

Lillian winced a bit, but wrapped her arms around him as he held her close to him.

"Don't scare me like that..." James said, not wanting to let her go.

Lillian smiled. "You big softie... you worry too much..."

James pulled back a bit and looked down at her, reaching up to touch her bandaged cheek lightly. "I'm sorry... I should have been there to protect you..."

Lillian shook her head, offering him a smile. "James, it's alright, I should have been more careful."

James looked her over, his brow furrowing. "How are you feeling? Should you even be out of bed?"

Lillian chuckled. "I'm really sore, but I feel fine otherwise." She reached up and touched his cheek, seeing the worry still present in his sea blue eyes. "James, really, I'm alright."

James searched her eyes, seeing the sincerity of her words. He sighed, pulling her in close again as he leaned in closer. "Lily..."

"James...?"

James sighed, stepping back and taking her hand in his. "Come on, let's get you back to bed."

Lillian nodded, letting him lead her back to the infirmary. But as they went back, she wondered what was going through his mind a moment before. 'The way he was looking at me... I've never seen him have that look before...' She sighed, not wanting to push the matter.