Lily had just laid her head down, curling herself around the pillows when the ground began to shake. She hugged the pillow tight, biting it as she fought back tears. Now wasn't the time to mourn something that wasn't completely gone, there was still room for hope, right? She rolled out of the bed and grabbed the armor sitting on the crates next to her bed.
It took her a few moments to get her fingers to cooperate with the buckles on the armor, but before too long she was walking out into the gathering area in front of the gates. She glanced up at Malroth when she walked by him, but he had his arms crossed and was glaring out at the battle field. If she could, she'd go back and let him rip Warwick to pieces the first time he'd asked.
Anessa was waiting with a grand smile on her lips, hands perched on her hips. "This is it, Lily! Our final battle, Atlas approaches!" She looked up at the cannon, somehow, her smile grew even more. "The Major General is an unimaginably powerful foe. Only by the cannon can we hope to defeat him. And with you and Malroth at our sides, we shall!" She pulled her sword out, her grin growing. "Let's take this fight to him, shall we?"
"Lily! Before you all race off." The King walked over, touching Lily's shoulder, frowning when she flinched away from him. "In order to use the cannon, you must place your hand upon the Orb of Heroes at the top of the main tower, you will then see what it sees, then all you do is line up your target in the sights and unleash the energy upon them! But the cannon can only be fired every so often, it has to recharge between shots and that takes a moment."
The fighters of Moonbrooke stared at the cyclops and four robots that were standing in front of them, laughing at their hopes to defeat Atlas. Malroth started to move forward when Lily lashed out, grabbing his arm. He turned to snap at her when the ground shook from something giant landing nearby. He instinctively grabbed Lily, pulling her in tight as he turned his head. His jaw dropped when he saw Atlas standing on the bodies of his soldiers. The giant cyclops set his club down and sat on it, laughing at the humans. "HEAR ME, HUMANS. YOU CANNOT WIN. YOU CANNOT ESCAPE YOUR FATE. STRUGGLE ALL YOU LIKE – IT WILL DO YOU NO GOOD. YOU WILL BE DESTROYED!" He tossed his head back and let out a roar, challenging them to come at him.
"Atlas underestimates us, but we shall soon show him!" Anessa roared from behind Lily and Malroth. "Quickly, Lily! You need to get to the cannon!"
Lily nodded and pried herself from Malroth's hold, though he let go quickly when he realized what he had done. She swallowed the aching knot in her throat and ran towards the cannon, stumbling through the doors that blocked her path.
By the time Lily got to the top of the tower, she was panting. She reached out, touching the cannon; a strangled gasp leaving her as she tried to maintain her footing. It was like she was suddenly floating in the air, all of Moonbrooke's power flowed around her… through her. She stretched her hands out towards Atlas, feeling his powerful gaze focused on her as she let go of the energy.
The builder stumbled away from the orb, sweat collecting on her forehead as she watched Atlas put his arms up at the last moment, blocking the blast. "What…? No! That… that can't be!"
"GRARRRR HARRR, HARRR! I NOT EXPECT HUMANS TO PUT UP REAL FIGHT! BUT IT WILL TAKE MORE THAN MAGIC PEA-SHOOTER TO HURT MIGHTY ATLAS!"
Lily watched as his minions came from all around him, heading straight towards the fighters down below. She jumped down, using her glider to slow her decent until she was above the troll in this group. The monster looked up and slammed his club into the ground, giving Lily a roaring challenge. Lily dropped down, her blade sinking into the monsters giant eye.
As Lily rode the troll down to the ground, Malroth jumped over her, his club connecting with a deadnaught, sending the large skeleton into the fortress walls next to the two fighters. He turned and went to take on another skeleton when a blade of fire broke through the front of the skull from the back. He watched as Lily shook the skull away from her blade, his eyes meeting hers before she turned away and carried on with her assault of monsters.
Malroth was busy smashing through skeletons a few moments later when a twinge of fear made him look up from the skeleton bits he was crushing. The fear wasn't his own, but it was strong enough to suffocate his senses. He slowly scanned the battlefield, then he spotted what the fuss was about. Lily had dropped her blade and was backed against a wall as a white batmandrill was stalking towards her, the black claws sinking into the soft dirt as it moved towards the builder, itching for a snack.
Malroth grit his teeth and slammed his club onto the ground, a deep scream leaving him as he caught the batmandrill's attention. "Suddenly afraid of these things, Lily?!" He ran at the monster, club pulled back and ready for an attack as the beast launched towards Malroth, claws outstretched and ready to take a bite out of him.
He had heard the others talking about how Warwick had changed into a white batmandrill before Lily tore him apart. Where was that Lily? She had never panicked like this on the field before. Malroth moved faster than the monster, side stepping and swinging his club at the same time. The power behind the swing was enough to send the monster flying into the wall opposite of Lily. Malroth waited for the monster to get up, but then he noticed the caved in head. He walked over to Lily, frowning down at her as she tried to keep her sobs as quiet as possible.
With a look at the fighting, Malroth was satisfied at how the others were handling the fighting as he stepped in front of Lily. He put a hand on the back of her head and pulled her against his hip. "Hurry up and collect yourself, we need you to actually put up a fight." He kept himself loose, his eyes on the fighting. He was fighting himself; he was still angry with Lily; mostly for falling victim to that magic. But, he was even angrier with himself, how had he not sensed it sooner? If what the others had whispered was true, Warwick had been giving her magicked drinks and potions since the first week they had been there. And with everything happening to him, his once quick temper was now just a snap away… he was afraid he was going to hurt Lily. If she hated him… she wouldn't stick around, he wouldn't be able to snap her neck.
Malroth quickly pulled his hand away when he realized that it had slipped to the back of her neck, his thumb and index finger on either side of the base of her skull. He knew his strength; it wouldn't take much more than that placement to do it. He heard her shaky breath in and felt her rubbing her forehead against his hip, as if she were nodding. "You good now? We can't let them have all the fun. No more panic attacks, got it?" Her shoulders suddenly went lax and she stared up at him, a smile spreading on her hips.
"No panic attacks, right." She took her blade from him, frowning when he didn't let go. "Mal, I can't fight if you don't give me my-"
"Lily." Malroth searched her face, stopping on her clouded eyes. "Touch your nose." His heart sank when she reached up, poking her own nose. "Fucking hell. I thought you broke the effect of the magic."
"What magic?"
"Are you seriously fucking with me right now?"
"No, why would I?" Lily let out a scream when Malroth slammed his fist into the wall behind her, pinning her there with his body. "M-Mal?"
"Break the effect of the magic, Lily. Then you can fight. If you can't, then get the fuck off the field." Malroth had his nose pressed to her temple, his voice shaking with the weight of his rage. "I won't have Atlas finding out that he can bend the builder to his will and force us to kill you. So, get it out of your system. I don't care how, just do it."
Lily stood there, stunned as she stared at the ground next to her as Malroth stormed away from her and into the fray. When her breath finally came to her, she picked up her sword and retreated away from the fighting, hiding in the corner so she could center herself again. Breathe in. Breathe out.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
When Lily opened her eyes, the song of battle was replaced by the gentle "thump-thump" of her heartbeat. She looked around; she was in that dark room that Dracken had taken her to. Water lapped at her bare ankles, the feeling making her look down. She blinked dumbly at what she saw. She was nude, it was an odd sight to behold, her skin was smooth; no scars, no details, barely even a hole where her belly button was. Her hair slid over her shoulders, cascading down her back and over her shoulders as she looked down. The sound of someone moving through the water had her attention snapping back up. In front of her was an image of the Queen of Moonbrooke holding her hand out to a small girl with her blond hair in pigtails, the memory was frozen in this space like a painting.
She turned away from that one and looked further down the dark hall, not stopping when she saw a memory of that same small girl on the ground as an older boy brought a rock down to hit her. Another memory focused in, an older man laughing when the small girl held up a block of dirt, her eagerness to help build fading from her smile. "You hold onto pain too much."
Lily whirled around; eyes wide as she stared at Warwick. The man tipped his head to her, grinning at her. "Oh, come on. Who else did you expect? You hold a grudge over your past, it makes you weak." He waved his hand to the multiple pathetic memories that were coming into focus around them. "You're lucky I didn't know about the real you. Hah. I would have broken you so much sooner."
"How… where are we?"
"Your head. Malroth was kind enough to tell you to find yourself again, in a roundabout way. Too bad it'll be far too late, whatever you borrowed power from didn't break the chain I have on you. Atlas can call on you at any moment, make you bring Malroth to his knees and turn Moonbrooke into rubble." He stepped away from her when she lunged at him, a wicked smirk grew on his face when Lily met the end of a chain that was wrapped tight on her throat, a sickening noise leaving her when it choked her.
"He… can't." Lily clawed at the chain, panting as it bit into the skin of her throat. "I won't let him!"
Warwick leaned in, his lips against Lily's ear as he sneered. "I wasn't the only monster that Moonbrooke created, Builder." He spat the word like it was venom on his tongue. "This world is an illusion, so is the power you wield."
Lily tried to fight against the way the chain pulled her backwards, tears blurring her vision. She could barely make Warwick out anymore as the chain pulled her farther into the darkness. Something to her right had her looking over, another memory. But this one was different than the rest, it was of her and her grandmother. The old woman, with her wiry gray hair pulled into a low bun, and a tiny, bubbly Lily, her wild blond hair in twin pigtails. Words formed on Lily's tongue and soon she was blurting them out, calm flooding over the fear and panic she felt. "My sweet, sweet girl. The Goddess had blessed this family with you, listen not to the words spread by fear and loathing. Destruction is powerful, but it has a counterpart, Creation. One cannot destroy without Creation and one cannot create without Destruction. One day, you will be the strongest builder this family has ever seen." She felt a power surge through her, strengthened by the way the Warwick flinched away from her.
"This world may be an illusion, Warwick. But my power is true. You are in my domain now, Warwick. You made a mistake by sticking around. You are nothing here. Less than nothing. This is my center, not yours. You're also dead. Twice now. I am not. My power is greater than yours." As Lily spoke, she pulled the chain away from her throat, giving it a tug. She glanced back at the darkness that the chain was going into, then back at Warwick who was watching her carefully. "This isn't your magic."
"Of course not. I borrowed it from Atlas. It's his magic, it's how he controls monsters." Warwick started for her but froze mid-stride, eyes going wide as the chain warped, changing into a delicate twine. "What…? What are you doing?"
"Hargon made a mistake by having me brought here, to a world he created." Lily closed her eyes, her smile spreading. "A builder can create something… from almost nothing. And you gave me a bond to Atlas…" She opened her eyes, relief settling into her bones as Warwick began to fade before her. "I guess I should thank you for that. For everything you did, now I can defeat Atlas without my friends getting hurt."
Malroth lifted his head when he felt something behind him, he disengaged from the robot he was tearing apart to see Lily walking forward, slowly tying her hair up into pigtails. She had a solemn look on her face as she walked through the monsters, each backing away from her like she would burn them if they stood too close, even the humans seemed to understand that and step away from her. He followed after her, seeing the Archdemon that was coming up to the castle lean down and roar at the builder.
Lily looked up at the beast, then she moved so fast that Malroth barely saw her blade slice through the monsters throat. He could feel Atlas's attention train on Lily, the weight of his anger baring down on her, but she was nearly unphased. "Atlas! Call your troops off now and you can walk away from here, live in Rendarak for the rest of your time, or I can… and will send you to meet your maker."
"TINY HUMAN FUNNY. THINK SHE SCARE ME! I DO YOU FAVOR. SQUISH YOU LIKE BUG AND END SUFFERING!" Atlas roared in laughter as he pulled his club out, swinging it down towards Lily.
Malroth dug his foot into the ground, dashing forward with his arms outstretched, ready to yank Lily out of the way. He gasped when Lily sidestepped away from his tackle, making him hit the ground and roll away. "Lily-!" He sprang up, red eyes wide when he saw that Atlas had stopped his club just over Lily's head. No. Something had stopped his giant club.
Look closer…
Malroth crumpled for a heartbeat, his hands on either side of his head as he panted, feeling a darkness wrap around his head. He slowly lifted his head, looking around. "What…?" There were different colored energies around everyone and everything. Atlas was surrounded by an angry red aura while Lily was surrounded by a soft golden aura. He looked down at his hands, seeing what looked like bright purple smoke rolling off his skin.
We're so close to being truly awakened… some power is coming back to us… destroy the builder… before it's too late…
Malroth slammed his hands into the ground, his breath was coming so hard out of his nostrils that it hurt. He turned, forcing himself to focus on Atlas. He could take out the ankles, Lily could fire the cannon, they would win. "Lily…! Cannon! Now!"
Lily looked to Malroth, seeing he was fighting something within himself, but she gave a nod and backed away from Atlas who was roaring in frustration as he lifted his club once more. He went to bring it down, but Lily flicked her hand and Atlas lost his grip on his club and it went flying backwards. "There's something you should know, Atlas! The magic you let Warwick borrow… it's a two-way road!"
Atlas took a step forward, determination in his eyes as he went to bring a fist down on Moonbrooke. Malroth launched at the same time, biting the red gloves off and letting them fall to the ground as he reached out, the jet-black claws sinking into the skin of Atlas's ankles. He gripped the tendon there and sliced through it, effectively rendering that ankle useless before attacking the other. He jumped back when Atlas stumbled and fell to his knees. The cyclops looked back, roaring at Malroth before trying to find Lily.
Lily had made quick work of her run up the tower, her hands hovering over the Orb of Heroes. She touched it, feeling the power that was Moonbrooke's pour into her. She focused on the cyclops, seeing he was looking right at her. She fired the cannon, aimed right for his eye. He lifted his hand to block the attack when Malroth was there, slashing through the monsters bicep, the arm falling to the ground. Lily stumbled back when the power she felt suddenly left her. She collapsed back, feeling the cold seep into her bones as she lay there in the tower.
"You and Malroth did so well, my lamb. Thank you."
"It's hard to be upset with you when you look so pathetic like this. You know, Dracken doesn't even know why you're in this state."
"I will send for Brownbeard… it will take him some time to get here, I'll have to go with him to protect this ship of his…"
"I think I can handle a few monsters if they decide to come at us."
"My Lord, I thought you were upset with the builder."
"Who said I wasn't?"
"You by being in this room."
"Shut the fuck up, Dracken!"
Lily's eyes slowly opened, she was in a room, her room. A fire was going nearby, keeping the room toasty for her. She started to roll over when her body protested, she was sore all over. She didn't remember being hit by anything; but to be honest, she didn't remember much after seeing that batmandrill coming at her. Despite her aching muscles she began to tremble in the bed, fear seeping into her core.
The fear didn't last long though, she could hear the excited chatter outside, and that level of noise told her that they had been successful. Moonbrooke was free and everything was doing to be fine. Except… for her and Malroth.
"Oh!" Anessa gasped when she opened the door, her bright blue eyes wide with excitement. "Lily! You're awake! I'll go let the others know!" She ran over to the bed, setting a small bowl on the table next to the bed. "You've been out for a week, we defeated Atlas! All thanks to you and Malroth! I wish you had seen the cannon hit Atlas; it was amazing! He was staring right at it when you blew him to smithereens!'
Lily watched Anessa as she rambled on excitedly, unable to help the grin that slowly spread on her lips. She wouldn't be able to match the level of excitement, but she could at least be grateful that they would all walk away from this alive.
"Your friend, Dracken- he's a scary fellow. Malroth told us that you trust him and that we should too. We learned the hard way that we should follow you in your trusts, he is off getting the captain of your ship. Also, the King has one last favor to ask of you. We found an old rusted relic in Atlas's possession and we were wondering if you could repair it." Anessa held her hand out to help Lily up.
Lily gave a nod and sat up, she went to swing her feet off the bed, but they didn't move. She looked up at Anessa, a whimper leaving her as she pushed the blankets away and touched her knees. She couldn't feel her hands on her legs. "Dammit…" She scooped a hand under her knees and pushed them over the edge of the bed, a defeated noise leaving her. "Is the relic in here?"
Anessa watched Lily as she lowered herself to the ground and began to scoot towards the small workshop like it was nothing. "Uh… yes… it is. Uhm… Lily, your legs?"
"They aren't cooperating." Lily gave Anessa a side-eyed glare before pulling herself up onto the edge of her workbench. "Go let the others know that I'm up, and quit staring." Anessa quickly adverted her eyes and left the builder alone to do her task.
Malroth slipped into the bedroom, seeing a brand-new looking relic, all shiny and golden. He looked over, seeing Lily working on strapping some weird thing to her hips and legs. She was struggling with a strap meant for what looked like her midsection. "Need help?"
"No." She snapped, still struggling with the strap. She wobbled and crumpled to the floor. "Dammit!"
Malroth walked over to her, grabbing the back of her undershirt and yanking her up. "Anessa said you seemed to have lost the function of your legs, but you didn't seem even a little bothered by it." He waited until she was balanced before putting her hands on his shoulders and wrapping the belt around her middle. He tightened a few of the straps elsewhere that seemed to be too loose. "Did she tell you that Dracken is gone, off to get Brownbeard and bring him back?"
"Yeah. She mentioned it."
Malroth couldn't help the smirk that grew on his lips. "Anessa's an idiot. You are bothered by it; you need help doing this and that pisses you off. But you know that you can't look weak in front of the others, not that they would do anything. Shit, I might be the only one that would do anything."
Lily kept her gaze away from Malroth as he finished up being nitpicky over her belts. "Mal-"
"You want your armor on? Or just your dress?"
"Armor…" She let him belt the armor on her, glad that it hid the metal bits and belts that helped her stand. When he was finished, she pointed to the two walking sticks that were leaning against the wall. "Would you… would you hand those to me?"
Malroth handed them to her before picking up the relic, watching her carefully as she used the walking sticks to lean on as she slowly shuffled towards the door that led to the courtyard. He opened the door for her, pausing when she noticed the stairs. He let out a sigh and disappeared outside for a moment. He came back empty handed and stood at the bottom stair, his back to her. "Hop up, useless."
Lily leaned forward, wrapping her arms around his neck. He grabbed the back of her thighs and carried her like that out to the giant golden goblet. He set her down on the ledge of the platform before fixing the relic onto the two hooks of the goblet. As soon as he finished he jumped down and patted her knee and walked away. "Don't take this as us being good, Lily. Once we get back to the Isle, I'm done."
Malroth hadn't made it very far when a column of fire shot into the sky and magic rolled through the land, a strangled cry left Lily as she struggled to stay sitting on the platform, her eyes wide as the goblet tried to use her magic.
