The Lilliad 23

When Lilli came to, she was crumpled up on the floor. Her body ached.

She looked around, and saw Igni slumped against what remained of a wall. Lilli crawled to Igni and pressed a hand to Igni’s chest. There was no heartbeat. Of course.

‘I don’t know why I expected to feel anything.’

“Igni.” She whispered. “Are you alright?”

Igni groaned. Then their eyes opened. “Oh, you’re alive. Good.” They got up slowly and looked around. “Looks like we got buried a bit.”

Igni pushed away boulders, and Lilli followed Igni’s path of destruction. The place was a mess. The floor was ruptured, cracking and jutting out at an angle that indicated that whatever had done it was somewhere in front of her. Columns had fallen, dividing up the room. Where the ceiling hadn’t cracked it had fallen entirely, and bits of dust wafted in the little beams of sunlight.

The walls weren’t trying to move, though.

‘Maybe they’re too damaged to heal themselves this fast.’ Lilli pursed her lips and stepped over more fallen stones. Igni was making fairly quick work of the rubble, but there was so much of it.

She looked around. There wasn’t anybody else around.

Igni punched through a bit of wall, and through the dust Lilli could see green acid flying. It smacked Igni in the face and chest, and brought them down to the ground.

“Oh.” Rumbled a voice. “There’s more of you little things.”

Lilli blinked.

“Come on out,” the voice commanded, “if I have to come to you, you will not like it at all.”

Lilli looked at Igni, prone on the floor.

‘I’m not seeing what the upside is of either option. Either I dissolve quickly, or I hide and die in rubble.’

She stepped forward.

“Hello,” Lilli ventured, cautiously stepping out from behind the fallen column.

Fangs and scales greeted her vision. She felt a little lightheaded. Lilli looked up, up to see the eyes of the thing. All five of them. The eyes all blinked.

“Oh. You have manners. You should have said.” The massive teeth chittered.

‘I really shouldn’t think about this too much, but I’m smaller than any of those fangs.’

“My name is Lilli. I’m very sorry for this.” Lilli said. It was true. She was very sorry about all of it. Particularly for herself, at the moment.

The creature grumbled. “I knew you all were coming, I didn’t realize that you would attempt to steal my blood and break things.”

Lilli looked around for Elathor. She didn’t see them.

“Why did you come.” the creature growled. “Tell me.” The overwhelming smell of sulfur and heat wafted over her.

She swallowed a bit of bile. “We came for answers about the ktharys. They’ve attacked Yolathe, and we don’t know why. We were searching for magical sources that might have started the plague.”

“Plague?” the voice scoffed. “No.”

“What would you call them, then?” Lilli asked, a little too curious despite her fear.

“A plague is an act of nature. No, these are an army of demons.” The thing lowered its head to look at her directly. A wave of heat radiated off of it and seemed to blow through her body as she stared into abyss-black eyes. “They are your downfall, as they are mine.”

“Yours?” She asked, to herself.

“Ours.” It rectified. “I am only the last.”

“We need help.” Lilli pressed forward, sensing that the creature might be amenable. “We need to know how to stop them, and we need to know where they came from.”

It glared. “They did not come from here.”

“Elathor sensed a lot of magic coming from here… they thought it might have been the cause.” Lilli looked down. “I suppose they were wrong.”

“Yes.” The thing looked up, and she followed its gaze.

‘Oh, there they are.’

Elathor, Ser Alcuin, Benk, and Lorit were pinned to the remaining ceiling with a strange, shiny substance.

“Which one?” It asked idly. The creature’s tail and pincer swung idly.

Lilli winced. “That one.” She pointed to Elathor, whose eyes seemed to widen. “We need them, to help get rid of the ktharys.”

“Yes.” the creature agreed.

The tail swung up and towards Elathor’s body.

“NO-” Lilli shouted, just as the pincer sliced through the goo-

And cut it from Elathor’s face. It dripped down. Elathor spat and coughed, evidently having swallowed some of the goop.

“Thank you.” Elathor choked out, eyeing Lilli. They had surely caught that manners were important here.

“I am the magic you sought out, magician.” The creature said, placidly sitting down. Its tail continued to wave. “I did not cause the ktharys to fall upon your city. They are my enemy, and my greatest failure.” It looked off in another direction. “They killed my mother.”

‘Mother.’ Lilli blinked. ‘The Queen.... Maybe?’

“Could you tell us what happened when the ktharys attacked ehre?” Elathor called from the ceiling. “And maybe give me some of your blood? I could really use it.”

The creature didn’t look at Elathor, but its tail twitched.

“I will tell you about the fall of my home.” It said stiffly. “And then you will leave, and keep the blight away from here.”

“Deal.” Lilli breathed out. “Could you let my friends go?”

It looked back to her. “After I am done. They attacked my tail without provocation or cause. They cannot be allowed to roam.”

‘...Fair.’

There was a cascade of rumbling and scraping sounds from behind her. Lilli turned.

“This is never going to come out,” Igni said mournfully. They stood up slowly and carefully. The acid dripped down Igni’s arm, dissolving some of the stone and making scar-like marks. Igni was obviously going through several stages of grief all at once.

“But you’ll be able to impress everyone at the tavern.” Lilli hedged. “You look really imposing, even more so than before.”

Igni’s head cocked at a curious angle, and they were obviously considering that. “Do I look more dangerous?” They asked.

“Yes, very much so.” Elathor assured, from their position pinned to the roof. “If I didn’t know you, I would already know how strong and terrifying you were. That’s a gift.”

Ser Alcuin said something, but the combination of the slime and their helmet muffled their words.

“I can tell you meant that, Ser Alcuin.” Igni said, very sincere. “Thank you so much for the compliment.”

The monster sighed.

“Are you here for information, or not? If not, I would prefer to contain you like your companions, and bring back my sand. It’s… exposed, out here.”

“Please do not stick me to the wall and suffocate me with sand!” Lilli said quickly, trying to be polite. “We definitely would like the information and then we will leave you to your… this.” She gestured.

“Such a beautiful city.” Elathor piped up. “But we really couldn’t impose, we’re due to go to Ulante.”

The atmosphere in the room shifted suddenly. The air felt hard to breathe, and Lilli reached to her hilt for comfort. “Ulante…” the creature growled. Its teeth glinted in the dappled light. It eyed her, and then the bad feeling subsided.

“Ulante is to blame for this mess.”