--- Lily ---

[LILY WAKE UP NOW]

Lily’s dream was shattered by Kat’s call. There was a slight edge of panic to it and that, more than anything else forced Lily into motion immediately. Shadows bubbled around her as she launched herself from her resting place and onto the ground. It took her a moment to orientate herself as the adrenaline cut through the fog in her mind. Kat’s location was... weird. Lily got vaguely sense getting spread out or something? There was however, a close concentration and Lily dashed in that direction.

*What’s going on?*

[Brook was the traitor! I wasn’t even thinking about it when I stepped into a trap. I’m now stuck in a tiny box and it’s made me small as well. I’m not quite sure what would happen if I broke it either.]

*Shit that sounds like something I’m going to need to help you with. I’m low on mana though, and still tired. The adrenaline is helping but I don’t know how long it will. I can’t really cast anything...*

Just as Lily was lamenting her potential actions, the door to the room Kat was in flung itself open and several small orbs flew out. Lily could feel them as they approached, the concentrated light mana was obvious. She had to slam down on the instinct to raise a bubble of shadows around her. Paper might work... but there was so much packed into them that the paper might simply be set alight and Lily had maybe twenty percent of her reserves to work with.

So she did the only thing she could. Lily let her claws out, digging them into the ground and wrapping herself up into the tightest ball she could. Her ears flattened against her skull and her wings flared out to try and block as much of the effects as she could. Lily was just barely in time as the moment she had fully curled up the bombs went off. Multiple waves of magical light slammed into her at the same time massive amounts of sound fired off. It was like a magical flashbang, and the noise, it was horrifically loud. Certainly loud enough to alert everyone else in the building...

And Lily had taken that all just about point black. Her head was ringing, she had no idea what direction was which, and Lily was pretty sure she had been knocked around but couldn’t be certain. Large swaths of her body HURT. It was like she’d acquired a serious sunburn on most of her body and her ears were still ringing. Whatever noises were being made, Lily was unable to track them as her ears desperately tried to recover from the shock.

Lily wanted to stand back up but her body was twitching and trying to stretch caused her more pain and a decent chunk of nausea. She might be able to smell burnt fur but that wasn’t certain. Her senses were completely fried and she had no idea what was going on. She had no idea what to do... [Brook just stepped out into the hallway.]

Lily sent a wave of paper in the direction she thought Brook was in... but Kat’s quick. [I didn’t see paper through the door!] Had Lily cutting the spell before it drained any more of her very limited mana. Brook said... something. Probably. Lily couldn’t properly react to whatever it was, her world was still spinning. That didn’t mean she couldn’t react at all. Lily knew it was a bad idea to stay where she was, so easily spotted and vulnerable.

Despite the lingering light mana in the area, and her low mana, Lily decided this was more important. Lily’s shadow launched her away from the ground. Hopefully upwards and away from Brook, but the direction was just a best guess. It was the same direction as her spell had gone, and Kat had mentioned it not going past the door. Sadly it hadn’t been directed back into the main area, but into a wall. One that Lily hit a moment later.

Still, Lily hadn’t applied all that much force, simply enough to push her out of the way. It wasn’t comfortable slamming into a wall, and it further aggravated her burned skin, but it did tell her where she was in some respects. Sending a slight apology to Kat, Lily clung onto the wall, claws digging into the surface enough to push herself upwards. Lily wound back her shadow and slammed it into the ceiling, shattering it before she ran up into the darkness. Still mostly blind and deaf.

Apparently Brook hadn’t been just standing around though, because as Lily tried to make her way inside, two more explosions of light went off behind her. Lily’s poor ears suffered another attack, and her shadow felt like it was getting shredded. She’d been trying to pull it back as soon as the ceiling broke but it wasn’t quite fast enough to avoid the attack entirely. Still, it was enough to keep her shadow useable for now. The was the scorching light against her skin once again. Lily couldn’t see what she looked like but it couldn’t be good.

She heaved out a breath, trying to get a clear one around all the dust up here as well as through her injuries. Lily moved away from the hole in the roof that she created. Still unable to see, but knowing she simply needed to get away. The fact that another batch of magical light grenades followed her up into the roof proved this was the right call.

Tears filled Lily’s eyes as the waves of light continued. Every step she took made her skin feel like it was cracking and breaking. At this point, what small bits and pieces that avoided getting torched originally were no longer safe, save her eyes and only just barely. Never once had she looked directly at the grenades, and that was a small mercy.

More continued to be flung upwards, but Lily slipped on one of the support beams and fell into a gap nearby. She had plenty of ways to stop herself from falling... but why would she? Lily fell behind the post and the grenades exploded nearby. The sound still hurt... but Lily thought her ears might have been recovering. The light mana hadn’t burnt her any further so that was something.

*Kat do you have a plan for me? I can still barely think.*

[Um... not really? We’re in a really bad spot here. Though shouldn’t Marigold be able to deal with her? Er... Vanilla I mean.]

*You’d want to hope so. Can you hear what’s going on?*

[I think the other guards just got taken down... which isn’t much of a surprise. I don’t think they’re dead? Or maybe they are? I could hear them running before and then heard them fall over and not get up... I think? It’s hard to hear outside of this box. I’m concentrating demonic energy into my ears and I can still barely hear what’s going on.]

*Dammit. Can you get out?*

[Hmmm... gonna say that’s a solid ’Maybe’ girlfriend. The issue isn’t the barrier necessarily, it’s the fact that I’ve also been shrunk down. Brook didn’t exactly stick around to explain to me the intricate mechanics of what’s been done here. The worry is mostly that if I break out I’ll be stuck small... or something much worse will happen. I mean... am I actually smaller or did she stuff me slightly out of phase or something? I’m Rank 4 and she still managed something that got past my defences. Probably because she wasn’t attacking me directly. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

[It makes me hesitant to break the walls here. Demonic fire can probably chew through them... but what happens to me if it does? I can probably survive whatever backlash that manifests as, so long as I’m not thrown into the void. The issue really is that I might not even end up back in the room. I’d want you to come and rescue me... but clearly there are bigger issues to deal with first.]

*I don’t really know what to do though Kat. My mind is a mess, my ears aren’t anywhere close to good condition and I hurt EVERYWHERE. That pain from earlier when I broke my spells is nothing compared to this. I feel like I need to stretch but any movement makes it worse, except not moving is ALSO painful.*

[Do you need to go see Thyme? I won’t blame you if you want to forfeit like that. I’d probably risk breaking out if that’s what you want to go with.]

*Not... not yet. It hurts, but it’s not crippling. I don’t know how well I can fight but I’ve had migraines that were worse than this. It hurts... but it’s just some bad sunburn.* Lily didn’t entirely believe that, and she was certain Kat didn’t either... but it had to be said. Even if it wasn’t true. She just had to deal with it, and hope that it wasn’t quite the lie they both expected it to be. Her shadow was still in acceptable condition and she had her paper spells... the issue was that she didn’t have any time.