Chapter Text
This burden was never yours to bear.
I have watched, and waited, and seen the Blight eat away at you in a spiral of never-ending agony.
And yet, no matter what, you never faltered.
Lily… You deserve far better than what has become of you.
The dedication you have shown to saving each and every soul you came across… To saving me, no matter how little I deserve such treatment…
Well, such resolve deserves a reward, don’t you think?
I cannot do much, my powers are all but a shadow of what they once were, but…
But I can do this.
Even if it kills me, I will do this.
You deserved better, Lily, and so better I shall give.
From one White Priestess to another, I offer you one final gift.
I pray that you make the best of this opportunity.
Good luck, Lily.
I shall be watching over you, always.
Live well.
x-x-x-x-x
Greeted by the soft, familiar red glow of a spirit behind her eyelids, Lily was not afraid when she awoke. In fact, for what felt like the first time in her entire short life, she felt nothing but peace and contentment.
Nothing hurt, for one, which was an oddity in and of itself as of late, but she was not going to question such a blessing, no matter how short lived it may turn out to be. The Blight was cruel at the best of times, and for all that she did not want her spirits to know of what she was going through, not everything could be disguised behind a soft smile and silent assurances. Said concealments were not foolproof, of course, and the Umbral Knight in particular was far better than she wished for him to be at calling her out when things got too much. He had grown more and more observant, the longer the two of them spent together, and was adamant that she rested whenever possible.
Just the thought of their steady, guiding hand upon her shoulder brought a smile to Lily’s face.
Alongside the lack of pain that had grown far too familiar, the world around her was blissfully quiet, and Lily felt as if she could drift off again in mere moments if she so wished. One of her spirits had even stuck around to keep her company as she slept, which was something Lily always appreciated. She didn’t much like being alone. Truly, what more could she ask for.
It was almost too good to be true.
When that thought made itself known, an all-consuming feeling of dread began to rise within her.
There was something caught at the back of her mind, like the way the hem of her dress would often snag against sharp, splintered wood, threatening to tear and unravel despite her best wishes. It was a worrying, sickening feeling, as if Lily had forgotten something monumentally important.
Her thoughts were fraying, ripping away at the seams of the brief moment of peace she had been so grateful for just seconds before. Try as she might, however, Lily could not grasp what was wrong.
At least, not until a passing thought of how the White Priestess was fairing, and of how Lily could not let her suffer for any longer than necessary, drifted through her mind.
A passing thought of the White Priestess, who had just tried to kill her.
Lily then remembered that the being who had once been known as the White Priestess had become consumed by the Blight. Her agonised wails had echoed throughout the chamber deep within the Verboten Domain, where she had resided for so long. With the spirits she had saved ever faithful by her side, her Umbral Knight stood close beside her as they always had, Lily had thought herself ready to face that one, final foe.
She had never been more wrong.
They had fought well, her spirits, but it was not a lack of ability on their part that had failed Lily in the end.
No, after all the time she had spent traipsing through the deadly world she had come to call her own, it was the Blight itself that had finally caught up to her.
The sensation of Blight consuming every cell in her body, rupturing veins and piercing skin, tearing her apart from the inside out, was one Lily hoped to never experience again.
As the agony had clawed its way through her, she was not scared, not entirely. No, more than anything she was thankful. From how both the battle and Blight had progressed, it was likely that she would never feel anything again, once the torture was over and done with.
Small mercies.
As the Blight took hold, and Lily fell to the ground in agony, her spirits had spiralled around her, almost trying to shield her from harm despite the fact that they could not gain corporeal forms. It hurt. Lily was dying, she knew she was, but without her own energy to support them her spirits could do nothing but watch.
At that moment, she would have given anything just to see their faces one more time.
One spirit, however, had not attempted to form a barrier like all the others. One spirit had simply rested itself against her heart, comforting her in the only way it was able to do so in her final moments.
Lily knew who it was. This spirit, in particular, she wanted to see more than any other.
He was always there, her Knight, always supporting her, right until the very bitter end.
She would miss him.
She wanted them to hold her hand and tell her everything would be alright, for all that she knew such sentiment was a lie.
She wanted them to pick her up and carry her to safety, away from all the pain and violence and horror that had haunted her ever since she woke up in that cold stone room.
She wanted him to sit beside her on that creaky wooden bench outside the cathedral, to hug her tight against his side, and to tell her that he loved her.
Lily didn’t want to die.
But as the Once White Priestess raised a clawed hand, Lily knew that her wants meant nothing.
As her vision had begun to fade, and silent tears dripped slowly from her steadily closing eyes, the Once White Priestess raised a clawed hand high above her, preparing to deal an unnecessary, yet somehow welcome final blow. Morbidly, as her thoughts began to slip away from her, Lily had latched on to the fact that it would have been a far quicker way to die.
But then the Once White Priestess froze.
For a moment, Lily could only think that the corrupted woman she had tried so hard to save had decided to watch her suffer, instead of granting Lily a swift death. Such an act seemed so unlike the kind healer she had heard and read so much about over the course of her travels, but Lily supposed that the reality of endless torture would lead even the most benevolent of people down a darker path. Yet after a moment, the Once White Priestess had jolted, once, twice, before letting out a mournful cry that Lily would never again forget.
And then, as a blinding light shone out from a location Lily could not hope to find in what she believed to be her final moments, she knew no more.
What had happened to her? To her spirit companions? To the White Priestess?
Why was she… alive?
Where was she, for that matter?
How she wished she could feel the peace that had just seemed all encompassing once more.
There was a faint buzzing surrounding her, one which she knew had not been present when she had first returned to her senses, but Lily simply could not tell what it was. Her heart was beating far too loud for any other noise to be discernible, so loud Lily could have sworn that all the souls in the kingdom, from the highest towers in the Bastion to the lowest reaches of the Verboten Domain, could hear her panic.
With eyes shut tight, not yet ready to face the world around her, Lily clasped her hands around the pendant hanging from her neck, and rose shakily to her knees. Was this a dream? A blessing, in her final moments, so that when her consciousness finally slipped away from her for good, she would remember this and not the agony of the Blight?
Whatever it was, it certainly wasn’t working.
Even compared to when she was dying, Lily had never been more terrified.
She knew she had to calm herself. Doing so seemed to be the hardest challenge she had ever faced. As she had been told countless times, however, Lily was nothing if not stubborn.
After a few deep breaths, her heartbeat calming until it didn’t feel like it was trying to leap out of her chest, Lily began to gather herself, and took note of what she could hear and feel. Still, she did not open her eyes.
If this was a dream, Lily didn’t want to be the one to break it so suddenly.
The revelation that nothing hurt, which had seemed to be nothing more than a brief moment of good fortune when she first awoke, was the first thing she reassessed about her current situation. Her joints did not ache and her breathing was clear. The headache that had been growing ever since she first came into contact with the Blight was gone.
Compared to the agony that had befallen her so recently, this clarity was a blessing she would never take for granted again.
Secondly, the rings and bracelets Lily had discovered throughout her journey no longer adorned her hands and wrists. It was strange, feeling cold skin instead of colder metal beneath her fingers. The weight of the jewellery, alongside the light metallic sounds they made when they tapped against one another, had become their own form of comfort. They were a reminder that, despite her relative fragility, Lily was as well protected as she was ever going to get without finding her own set of armour.
Their absence sent another jolt of fear up her spine, and Lily presumed the same would be the case for any relics she had not been able to wear. She could not bring herself to check.
Last but very much not least, the pendant clasped between her hands seemed to be far more ornate than she remembered it being. Unlike the simple gemstone she recalled, the item strung around her neck appeared to have flared edges, with two teardrop shaped decorations hanging from either side.
Even without her sight, Lily recognised this amulet.
Holding her breath, and praying that this calm reality around her didn’t crumble away the second she opened her eyes, Lily focused on her own hands, which upon closer inspection lacked both the aforementioned jewellery and a number of small scars that had slowly built up as time went on. Their absence was disconcerting, but not what she was there to focus on.
Her knuckles were bone white, hands clinging tightly to the impossible item held between them. Slowly, Lily pried her fingers apart to confirm what was locked within. As the pendant caught the light, Lily could only stare in shock, despite the necklace being exactly what she had expected.
Because there, impossibly, rested the Aegis Curio, glittering between her palms in polished silver and vibrant sapphire. It was beautiful. Lily had never been able to repair the amulet fully, no matter how hard she and her spirits had tried. That small failure, despite all of her numerous other successes, had always haunted her. Now, in this strange dream world, it appeared to be in perfect condition.
How was it here?
She was only broken out of her trance-like state, staring blankly at the amulet between her hands, as the buzzing noise around her finally became clear.
It was a voice.
A very familiar voice, comforting and safe and one she could never forget.
Even if this was a dream, even if she was still bleeding out and dying an agonising death in that cold, dark chamber, all of a sudden Lily did not mind.
Because Lily knew that if she could hear that voice, one which promised her time and time again that everything would be alright, then she had nothing to worry about.
The red glow of a non-corporeal spirit faded, as a familiar figure appeared and sat beside her. Slowly, as if trying not to startle her, he covered her hands with one of his own, and placed the other gently atop her head. They were shaking slightly, and appeared to be holding themself back from pulling Lily into a tight embrace.
As their eyes met, the figure inhaled sharply, before he began to speak once more, now that he had Lily’s full attention. His voice was weak, and sounded both pained and hopeful in equal measure. It was so unlike the strong, ever supportive and guiding tone Lily had grown used to, yet it brought tears to her eyes faster than anything had ever done so before.
“You seem to be awake.”
Nothing more needed to be said; Lily did not hesitate to throw herself forward into the Umbral Knight’s arms, sobbing against his chest as he held her tightly, whispering reassurances against her hair.
Lily prayed that the dream around her would never end.
For as long as she had the Umbral Knight beside her, Lily knew that she would be safe.