Sweat dripped down her forehead, even despite the freezing cold wind that caressed her skin. She could feel Malroth's anger like a beacon, it was dull to her when it was normally sharp and hungry. Her foot caught a rock, causing the builder to trip. Anger flared through her, but it wasn't her own; and it wasn't Malroth's. She could feel her own magic wafting off of herself, but there was something else there; she felt so empty and exhausted. She wasn't sure how long she had been running after Malroth, but the ground felt so good against her burning skin. She could close her eyes for a moment, catch her breath; let her aching muscles relax for a moment.
Malroth was sprinting across the bridge, he could feel the horde of monsters on the cliffs up above as he ran closer. He glanced back, seeing three soldiers behind him. Letting out a huff of annoyance, he booked it up the rocky path. He took pause when he saw the damage that was done. His red eyes were wide as he looked over, seeing a Priest of Hargon in blood red robes with a pure white mask on. "You…"
The priest looked over, a noise leaving him when Malroth launched himself at the being. He threw an arm out, a blast of magic knocking the angry man away from him. The priest looked back, seeing humans run up the path that Malroth had just come from. He scoffed and threw Malroth back again as the humans engaged with the other monsters around them.
Something was tugging at her, pulling at her clothes and pigtails. Her blue eyes fluttered open, but nothing was around her. She could hear voices off in the distance, voices that she knew. Warwick and Anessa. Lily pushed herself up, she had to get to Malroth first. Her body ached, protested against her movements, but she knew she had to get to Malroth first.
The bridge wasn't too far ahead as she stumbled through the cold snow. She looked back, seeing the telltale red plume that decorated Anessa's helmet not that far off. Lily swallowed the lump in her throat and made her way up the rocky slope. She paused at the top, the force of Malroth's anger was enough to make her take a step back, but it was the smell of blood and death that really had her stumbling back. Her blue eyes were wide as she looked at the remains of Moonahan.
Movement to her right pulled her attention away from the three bodies laying near the church that was once in the middle of town. Lily watched as a priest in blood red robes with a plain white mask blocked attacks from Malroth like he was nothing more than an annoying fly. She ran towards the two, a strangled noise leaving her when the priest thrust his arm out, sending Malroth flying back into the church, half of the building collapsing in on him. "M-Malroth!" She let out a cry as she tripped again, stumbling until she was staring up at the priest from the ground. "I… I know you."
The priest looked away from Lily and towards the church where he had thrown Malroth. He didn't say anything, just stared. There were no slots on that plain white mask, no way for Lily to know where the priest was looking, but she could feel his attention on her. "Y-You're Dracken… right?!" Her jaw went slack as she watched him change shape into an all too familiar form; a tiny dark purple Dracky. "You're… Tiny?"
The Dracky turned to Lily, giving her an odd grin before looking towards the church. "Meet me in your room tonight when the moon is at her peak, I'll explain what I can then." And with that the Dracky was gone.
Lily looked up in time to see Malroth claw his way out of the remains of the church, there was something wrong with him, his mouth wouldn't close right from the massive teeth. The two fistfuls of hair that would never stay down in his ponytail were hardened as if they were actual horns. The builder jumped up, running over to Malroth and tackling him back into the rubble as Anessa and Warwick came up the stone path. "Calm down, please. Please, Mal."
"Lily! Lily!?" Anessa's voice echoed through the empty field between them and the church. She ran over to the three slain soldiers, her heart aching as tears burned in her eyes. "Lily! Malroth!?"
Warwick looked around, frowning as he started to notice a few monsters coming up. "Anessa… get up. More monsters."
Lily could hear the other two talking, her hands clasped over Malroth's mouth as he struggled beneath her. "Mal…" She whispered, wishing he would calm down for a moment. She looked frantically behind her, unable to see Warwick or Anessa as they spoke. "You gotta calm down, we'll fix this, alright?" She knew that had he really been trying to fight back against her, she wouldn't be sitting on him like this.
His gloved hands came up, gripping her hips roughly before flipping them; effectively pinning her beneath him. He dropped his head, pressing his nose against the soft spot on her neck when Warwick made a sound and was suddenly looking down into the wreckage of the church. "Lily! Malroth! You two are alright!"
Lily stayed as still as she could, save for her panicked breathing. Warwick was trying his best to dig them out, but each movement was causing a growl to leave Malroth, the noise rumbling against Lily's throat. Her lips trembled as Malroth pulled back, he looked like he was back to normal, until she looked into those red eyes. His pupils were slit like a cat or a snakes, and they appeared to glow as he looked down at her. She wanted to pull her eyes away from his, but she couldn't bring herself to do so. "Are you alright…?"
Malroth hadn't needed to strain to hear her soft whisper, but he leaned in closer to her anyways. He breathed her in once again before standing up and pulling her with him. "I think so." He held her against him, his face pressed against her hair for a breath. "There are more monsters coming… Lily… they died under my protection."
"They died fighting, don't beat yourself up over it, Mal." She whispered as her fingers spread over the sides of his neck, feeling his calm pulse there. "Come, let's go get rid of these monsters and then head back to the castle, yeah?" She relaxed when Malroth picked her up and carried her out of the church, ignoring the surprised noise that left Warwick.
"Let's get this fight over, we need to regroup." Malroth growled as he pulled out his ax.
The fight didn't last long, but the small group was on edge; knowing they shouldn't stick around long, even as Anessa ran back over to the fallen soldiers. "They're all… they all died…?"
"I know… I-" Malroth had been leaning against Lily, finding comfort in her being so close to him, he'd have to scold her later though, he had asked her to stay at the castle and she hadn't listened to him. He suddenly pushed away from Lily, dropping to a knee and gripping his head. He trembled for a moment but was soon back on his feet, a bored look in his eyes as he looked at Anessa. "They came of their own free will as soldiers. They came to fight, and they died fighting." He shrugged and turned his back on Anessa. "If only their efforts were not so feeble, perhaps they would have survived. It was their pathetic weakness that doomed them."
"Why, you hateful… cowardly – How dare you speak of the dead that way!" Anessa surged to her feet, going to smack at Malroth when Warwick yanked her back.
Lily stared at Malroth, worry in her eyes. This wasn't her Malroth. He wouldn't treat fallen comrades like this. He twitched, eyes narrowing on the area behind Lily, causing the builder to turn. She pulled her sword out when she saw monsters coming towards them, hunger in their eyes. "Mal…"
The group was overrun before they could even really fight back. Their backs were to the church as the large group of monsters slowly stepped towards them, all trained their attention on Lily. Lily looked around, Anessa and Warwick were kneeling, heads bowed with broken armor and panting. Her eyes wandered to Malroth who was leaning on his ax and panting, blood dripping over his eyes from a cut he received somewhere on his head. Lily herself hadn't been hit, it was like the monsters were trying to catch her rather than kill her. She stepped forward, sword in one hand and shield in the other as she glared at the monsters.
"Lily… no… there are too many. We haven't the chance… you need to run… get out of here." Anessa wheezed as she struggled to stand up.
One of the robots in front of Lily moved forward, a small door sliding open on his chest with two tiny arms pushing out, a net in their metallic grasp. "Human-energy-levels-depleted! Commence-capture-procedure! Prepare-to-execute-execution-protocol!"
Lily backed up until her leg bumped against Malroth who leaned against her, she could tell he wasn't exhausted, but something was broken if he was down like that; and if their bond was telling her anything it was his collarbone. She noticed something bouncing towards them, a small slime. It stopped next to the robot, looking up at it. "Commander Cogsworth, sir! News from the front, sir! There's an enormous gooman army on the way! They're gooing to attack!"
Lily frowned, her brows knitting together at the sound of this, she didn't know of any army big enough to cause a problem for the monsters here; at least not one that would do any damage unless it had Malroth and herself in it. The robot seemed confused too as it twirled its upper half around and leaned down towards the slime. "Does-not-compute."
"There's no slime to explain – you've got to retreat and regloop! I'll finish off these goomans! They're about to give up the goost anyway!" The slime grinned up at the robot, seeing it pulled back and looked to the other monsters.
"Strategy-recalculations-confirmed! Retreat! Retreat!" The front of monsters turned, leaving the slime alone with the group of humans.
The slime turned, seeing the last monster was gone. "Phew! That was a clooze one. Don't worry, you're safe for now. I'll see you next slime!" The slime turned and hopped away, going after the other monsters.
Lily stood frozen, jaw slack as she stared after the slime. Did she owe her life… to a slime now? She dropped to her knees, unable to stop her crying now. What would have happened had they captured her or Malroth? If Khrumbul-Dun was any example, she wouldn't die in their hands, would they just continuously torture her? Would Dracken… Tiny… whatever he was, would he pull her out? Would she be able to save Malroth?
Malroth was suddenly wrapped around her, squeezing her despite the pain the flared to life in his shoulders. "Lily… I-"
"Malroth! Explain yourself!" Anessa finally pushed herself up, her sword leveled to the back of Malroth's head. "Three good soldiers have died on your account! They may not share your martial prowess, but you…" She choked back tears, stepping forward until the tip of her sword touched the back of Malroth's shoulder. "You-!"
"What does it matter who is to blame?" Warwick collapsed in the snow, staring up at the clouded sky. "They were my friends… are they truly gone, never to return? Why, Goddess?! Why?!"
"Cease your wailing, Warwick." Anessa turned, snapping on Warwick. "There is no Goddess here. They will not come back. Ever!"
Warwick quieted for a moment before looking to the others, his eyes dull as he watched them. "Yes… death is the end. There is naught beyond it but infinite nothingness. It is a fearful thing indeed…"
Malroth looked to the church before pulling away from Lily. He sat back, waiting for something to happen. "I won't willingly step foot in a place as profane as that. You might want to go help them."
"Help who, Mal?" Lily got up and turned to her companion, frowning at him as Anessa all but dove into the wreckage. She glanced over at Warwick, his words were odd; especially for someone who had seemed willing to do anything to free his home from the grips of Hargon. When Malroth didn't answer her, she slowly followed Anessa in, pausing at the top of the wreckage when a priestess poked her head out from the coffin she was hiding in. "Who are you?"
"Sister Esther!?" Anessa ran up to the girl, yanking her into a tight embrace. "How good to see you safe and well!"
"Oh! Thank the Goddess! General Anessa, honestly, you gave me such a start!" The girl pulled away, looking around until she spotted the back of Malroth's head. "That gentleman over there told me to hide in the coffin – and I'm ever so grateful he did. Thanks to his advice, I survived that battle!" She only smiled when Anessa awkwardly turned to look back at Malroth. "He was leading a troop of soldiers – are they safe too? It sounded like a dreadfully fierce fight out there."
Sister Esther gasped when she was led outside to the three slain soldiers. She covered her eyes and let out a wail, sinking to her knees and reaching out, touching the soldiers heads. "May… May we bury them?"
Lily could tell just by the way that Malroth held himself that he thought this was stupid, but she wanted to bring comfort to Sister Esther and the two soldiers. In Cantlin, they burned their dead. They prayed to the Goddess too, but a fire was thought to put a jump start to the rebirth to bring them back to their loved ones. Anessa was busy glaring at Malroth, clearly still blaming him for the deaths of these soldiers, no matter what any of the others said. Warwick was slumped against the gravestones as Esther spoke a soft prayer for their safety.
They all agreed to guide Esther back to Moonbrooke, to bring her to safety and to up their defenses, knowing that their home would be the next to be attacked and they needed a plan.
The trip back home was slow, fighting back monsters was up to Lily and Warwick, no matter how much Malroth grumbled about being fine. The small troop was welcomed back with open arms, happy to have Sister Esther and sad to have lost their comrades to the monsters.
A while later, Zara poked her head into Lily and Malroth's room, seeing the builder was doing her best to set Malroth's arm so it wouldn't bother the break in his collarbone anymore than it already had. "Lily? I'm sorry to bother you… but… I was… well… I was wanting to tell you something."
Malroth twisted, ignoring the pain that it brought him as he glared at Zara from the bed. Lily walked around the bed, using her body to make sure that Zara didn't see the monstrous scales that covered Malroth's hands. "What's that?"
Zara stepped in, not coming in much more than the door after she shut it. "Well… some of our fortifications were destroy. From the inside. I know you've both said to drop the talk of a spy… but you cannot tell me that that isn't proof enough for your worry."
Lily let out a soft sigh, speaking before Malroth could snap at the captain. "I'll look into it, alright? Why don't you go help the others do patrol and other chores around the castle?" She watched as Zara slipped back out of the room, a frown on her soft lips. Lily turned to Malroth, sagging onto the bed behind him. "Mal, what are we supposed to do about these people? They're going to drive themselves insane."
"Too bad there isn't some kind of magic that you could put around the outside of the castle to tell you every time someone comes and goes." Malroth shifted himself back onto the bed, leaning back against the headboard with a bored sigh.
Lily gasped, shooting up from the bed and jumping across Malroth into her little workshop. "You're a genius!" She ran back into the room a moment later with an old tomb that wasn't her building journal.
Malroth watched as she plopped down next to him and began flipping through the old pages. "What the hell is that?"
"I found it when I was cleaning out the old Wizard's room, it's a tomb of spells. I think I remember a spell similar to what you're saying." Lily flipped carefully through the pages, pausing and reading while Malroth leaned back against the headboard once more, falling into a soft slumber. After a while of reading the small script, Lily looked up, seeing dark green scales covering Malroth's shoulders. She sat up and reached out, flinching when she heard someone clear their throat.
Tiny sat on the opposite corner of the bed from Lily before he took to the air and changed shape back into the robed monster. "His body is healing itself, I'm glad that slime got to you all in time."
"It's not midnight yet." Lily whispered as she leaned away from Malroth, figuring that leaving him to heal would be better than waking him to Dracken… or Tiny… whatever he wanted to be called. "I-"
He held up a hand, slowly reaching out and barely poking her forehead. "Why don't we talk somewhere more private?"
Lily gasped, dull blue eyes wide as she looked over and saw the plain snow-white mask moving back and forth as the monster wheeled himself around. "Dracken?"
"We won't have much time, I put the castle to sleep to give us some time. Malroth will notice the lack of your energy and wake up in a hissy fit." The monster slowly turned to Lily, noting that she had chosen to stay laying down. "As I'm sure you're aware by now, the people of the world you've been living in for the past month-"
"Year. I've been there for over a year, Dracken."
"In your mind… it has been a year. Here, it's only been a month." He sighed but put his weight back until he was balancing on the rear wheels of the chair. "You built this?"
"Yeah…"
"For yourself?" He watched her, seeing she still made no move to sit up. "Right. The people of that world are dead. All of them." He saw her flinch at the words, he knew they were going to hurt, but he had no time for the softness she might be looking for. "They are the people and creatures that died during the attack from Hargon's first assault. I was tasked with finding a weak builder to help our Lord and Master slowly regain his strength so he might come retake this world once more."
Lily swallowed the lump in her throat, listening to Dracken speak of her friends like they were tools to a greater plan. "I won't let Hargon win. I want you to be aware of that." She tensed, waiting for an angry backlash, but what the priest said caught her off guard.
"As I was hoping, unlike my Master, I do enjoy living. I was hoping to see more of this world, I've heard that you humans make these treats… what are they called again? They are sweet but have a little spice to them from some stick you grind up and put in them. They are swirled, I've wanted to try one for a while now." His long boney finger tapped against the mask before the wheels of the chair hit the floor when he straightened himself. "You've thrown a kink in some plans though, not that my Master will notice the taint in his child until it is too late." Dracken laughed softly, though it ended a moment before Lily expected and sent an odd chill down her spine. "Malroth is stirring, best I send you back, my child. I'm afraid I won't be able to help you against the three forces, well, I can give you advice, I suppose. Magic will guide you where I cannot, use it wisely. And may your enemies burn a thousand times over."
Before Lily could react, Dracken's hand covered her face and magic slowly burned through her body. She tried her best to fight it, she wanted to ask more questions; he had answered so much yet… so little. Her eyelids were heavy as she finally relaxed against the hard-stone slab beneath her, even the sensation of falling wasn't enough to keep her awake.
The bed sagged as something moved over her, hot breath gliding over the side of her face and neck as Malroth let out a throaty growl against the vulnerable flesh of her throat. Lily stayed still where she was, letting Malroth do as he pleased for a moment. When he moved down, she noticed he was using both arms just fine as if he had never had a broken collarbone. His hot breath stirred the thin cloth of her undershirt as he pressed his face against her belly. "Mal… can you stop acting like you're going to eat me?" The sound of her voice had him relaxing, his arms wrapped around her middle, pulling her against him where he nipped at the soft skin, earning himself the reward of her melting into him more.
The next morning, Lily was busy working on the magic tool she had found in the book when Warwick stepped into the room, clearing his throat. "Uhm… Lily, I… was wondering-"
"I'm a little busy, Warwick. If it's a small task, you can just write it down and leave it on the table next to my room-"
"Well… actually it's uhm…" Warwick's face was slowly changing to red as he crossed his arms and looked away. "I wish Zara or Anessa had the gall to ask this of you. We heard… uhm… your late-night activities with Malroth and… well, while we are all very happy that you two enjoy each other's company-" He flinched when Lily whirled on him, gawking at him.
Sometime later, Malroth was walking out of the kitchen when he spotted Lily stomping around with her reddened cheeks puffed out. "Lils, what's wrong with you?" He leaned against the wall as he watched her move a few of the rooms around, popping a piece of bread into his mouth nonchalantly.
Lily stopped and stared at Malroth, giving him a playful glare despite the embarrassed heat rising in her cheeks. "Apparently… someone is too noisy for the others so I'm moving the sleeping quarters to the other side of the castle."
Malroth crossed his arms over his chest and watched her with a brow raised before a slow smirk spread on his lips. "I'll just take that as a challenge to make a certain someone even noisier." He let out a roar of laughter when Lily lunged at him, playfully smacking at his shoulders. "Hey!"
