Side Story – Lily - Chapter 1 (Patreon)

Side Story – Lily - Chapter 1

Lily ran through the forest, silent and prepared. A dark knife glinted in the partial moonlight breaking through the heavy clouds above.

She felt several presences moving around her, not a sound coming from them either.

One or two hours remained before her father would wake. The wounds had been rather extensive and by now she knew how long it took for him to heal.

The tracks were obvious. A testament to the stupidity of her enemies. They had been arrogant and remained so.

She grit her teeth, focusing on the cold fury that burned in her stomach. To see her father so powerless hurt more than being beaten and cut. He had lost everything, even the will to fight.

Lily remembered his words, that life was more important than pride. That vengeance would only bring more misery.

They took our food, took his clothes.

The only reason they remained alive was the glint of anger they had felt from Roland when they started beating her.

She wasn’t angry at him. Not really. He had provided for her the past fourteen years, had gone on dangerous jobs and adventures to bring food and money back to their family.

He had been the only one to understand her in some way, had even promised her to take her with him when she turned fifteen.

The elves had fucked everything up. They had slaughtered the whole city. For what? She didn’t know the answer. She knew only the cold feeling in her stomach. Months had passed where she had barely been able to eat or sleep, her eyes dried out and still she had been shaken by sobs every day.

They had traveled southwards through the forest, her father not convinced that another independent city would be ready to take refugees. He had been looking for answers but more and more he had seemed lost.

Something woke in her when Lily had realized that he didn’t know what to do, where to go. He had spoken of the Foundation in the south, a library where knowledge and guidance was sure to be found.

And yet he had not dared cross the desert.

When they had found out that Salia hadn’t been the only city destroyed, he had lost even more hope.

She had started hunting by then, in the early hours of the night, had found her power. He had encouraged her, had even trained her what he could but soon that too stopped.

The shame was apparent every day and had only grown until it was all washed away by apathy.

She hated it. Hated seeing him.

Today had marked a new low, traveling deserters robbing them of the little they had.

The little she had hunted, had collected over the last weeks.

She could not accept it, would not bend like he had.

Roland had spoken of a punishment from the gods, for all the sins and murders he had committed.

Lily had another idea.

She followed the tracks for another thirty minutes before her eyes spotted the faint light of a campfire in the distance.

Her breathing slowed down as she gripped the dagger in her hand. They hadn’t taken her weapon and now they would pay for that mistake.

The elves hadn’t taken her life and they too would pay. Not now, not yet. But their time would come. In ten years or a hundred.

Lily approached the camp in silence. She knew there were six of them, four warriors, one rogue and one mage. The latter two were her priority.

No alarm resounded as she closed in. She found one of the warriors was taking watch.

Her black hair and dark red eyes would be hard to see. She crouched, her small form hidden by shrubbery.

She tapped her thigh twice, spread her arms before putting a finger to her mouth, indicating silence.

The presences around her fanned out.

Lily saw the flames move lazily in the wind, the huge man throwing another chunk of wood onto it to keep it going.

Her hand grasped the necklace hanging down to her chest. A glance up showed the moving clouds.

She waited until the moon was hidden, moving closer in the meantime.

The deserters were sleeping in their sleeping bags, two of them belonging to her and Roland.

Lily focused for a moment and vanished.

Her form appeared in the midst of the group, crouched and above the head of the mage. Using all her strength, she punched the dagger down and through his neck.

The blade dug in with little resistance.

She whistled, locking eyes with the warrior that had already unsheathed his blade.

These weren’t just bandits, they had been trained soldiers of one army or the other.

[Warrior – lvl 90]

“You fucking bitch. We left you alive and this is h-” the man spoke, turning in time to see a wolf jump at his hand.

Lily ripped out the blade and moved through the shadows, coming out next to the waking and still confused rogue. She heard her wolves bite into flesh, screams and shouts resounding into the night.

The rogue stopped her blade with his hand, wincing as it dug into his skin.

Lily didn’t stop, dodging his counter attack as he slashed his own dagger at her. She whistled and grabbed her weapon with both hands.

The rogue thrust his blade at her before his hand was ripped through by sharp teeth, a wolf jumping him from the side. He rolled with the weight and force, screaming before a black dagger bit into his back, stabbing him through the heart.

Lily heard a whimper before she was hit by something heavy, her body slammed to the side. The air was pushed out of her lungs as she tumbled to a stop, unable to teleport because of the wolf touching her.

Her arm was broken and her friend was dead.

She rolled to the side, dodging the hammer that crashed into the ground with a wet sound.

Lily winced as she staggered up, looking around to see three of her wolves injured, the one behind her dead. She whistled, making them retreat back into the underbrush.

Only two of them remained.

One woman who looked around frantically, a longsword in her hand, the other one holding a bleeding wound on her thigh.

“You don’t know what you just did girl,” the man said, gripping his hammer before he slammed it down into her dead companion. A wet noise resounded as bones crunched.

“Stop fucking taunting her, kill her!” the woman screamed.

The wounds hadn’t healed completely but the idiot had given her plenty of time to plan out another approach.

Four of them were dead, more than she had hoped for.

She watched the man speed up and rush at her, powerful mana emanating from his body.

Lily vanished, leaving behind wisps of black smoke.

“Fuck, come back you shit!” the man shouted after her.

She ignored him, running through the night as her side slowly healed. Soon, she felt five familiar presences closing in.

They ran together for fifteen minutes, taking a random route through the thick forest before they settled down behind a series of bushes.

“You did well,” she whispered, closing her eyes as the five wolves approached, forming a circle around her before they lied down.

She felt instinctively which of them had been injured the worst, using her mana to heal them slowly.

They had humiliated her father, had beaten her. And now they had killed one of her own. She would hunt them down, like the beasts they were.

Howls sounded through the night, grieving their fallen brother, driving fear into their prey.

Lily moved silently, her ten new stat points invested into yet more Dexterity.

She could smell them, could feel them, moving frantically in the distance. She could taste their fear, could feel her canines sharpening, the loss and anger she felt deep within her fighting to get out.

She focused and ran through the night, bloodied blade in hand, her pack moving with her, ready to strike at her foes. Their confidence was hers.

“Come on out girl!” the warrior shouted, anger and frustration apparent.

The woman didn’t make a noise.

Lily finally saw them in the distance, stumbling through the forest in their uncoordinated search for her. Blind and without formation, relying on torches and steel.

She saw them everything around them, clear as day.

She teleported closer and threw her knife in one smooth motion. The blade moved perfectly, missing its mark due to a fast dodge by the warrior.

Still it grazed his neck before it dug deep into a tree behind them.

The man jumped back.

Lily whistled and let go, crouching down as her teeth elongated, her nails turning sharp as her bare feet dug into the earth.

A flurry of steel and fire followed, screams and shouts interwoven with growls and whimpers. Teeth tearing through leather and skin, blades cutting fur and flesh.

Lily was on top of the downed warrior, his tendons ripped through by the wolf that lay bleeding out and dying behind him. The pushed against his hands, feeling him getting weaker.

“You… monster!” he spat and punched her head.

Her head was ripped to the side as she growled, her knee slamming into his nuts.

The man howled and lost his grip, wet with blood.

Lily slashed her fingers down, piercing through his right eye with a precise movement.

He howled against and punched her, throwing her off with his weight as he staggered back, falling over the wolf lying behind him.

Lily rolled through the mud, bleeding from several wounds. She rose slowly, focusing on standing upright.

The man was crying, holding his bleeding eye as he moved back, frantically looking for a weapon.

The sounds of flesh and muscle ripping resounded to his right, his one eye finding his dead companion, her body thrashing one last time before it went limp.

Lily used the moment of shock and distraction to move through the shadows, gripping his arms as she dug her nails into his flesh. Her mouth opened wide before she sunk her teeth into his neck, biting deep before she pulled with all her strength. The resistance was too much but she kept pulling.

The man trashed and punched her, trying to get her away.

Her left hand let go of his arm, a thumb pressing into his eye, slipping off two times before she found traction. It was crushed with a sickening sound.

Two wolves jumped at him, biting into his arms and ripping them to the side.

Lily opened her mouth and bit down once more, the man only able to gurgle at this point. She shut her jaw and used his head and chest to stabilize as she pulled and pushed at the same time, shaking her head with all the vigor she could muster before she ripped through, falling backwards and down in the mud.

She spat out the flesh, blood covering her face and simple leather gear. She whimpered and lay down, the pain overwhelming her as the feeble healing magic flowed through her body, her teeth and claws changing back to normal.

The last thing she heard were howls, limping steps settling around her. She was safe, protected. And she had won.

“Where were you!?” Roland said when he noticed her stepping out of the underbrush. He glanced at the hidden wolves but didn’t say anything, his skills still informing him of their presence.

Lily dropped down their packs without a word, their forms noticeably more filled out.

“You… you followed them,” he said.

Lily winced at the tone. She smelled the fear. She knew that tonight she had gone further than she ever had. And yet she didn’t feel a shred of remorse, guilt. Quite the opposite. She felt powerful, in control.

Roland didn’t move for a while.

When she looked up to him, she saw a slight smirk on his lips.

“I’m not… I’m not at my best,” the man said in the understatement of the century.

“But I will never have my own daughter look at me with shame,” he said and moved, faster than she had the capacity to react.

He grabbed her in a hug and lifted her up. “I should not rely on you,” he said in a dejected voice.

Her pack growled as they stepped out of the bushes.

Her father growled back, a powerful aura emanating from him that she hadn’t felt in over a year.

“It’s ok,” Lily said and moved her arms behind him. She felt the sob go through him and motioned to her pack that she was safe. “It’s ok.”