Anthem: Hope

Chapter 6

As soon as the men were gone. Lily took that chance to leave. As she slowly made her way out, she started to shake. She didn't know who those men were but they all screamed of violence and danger.

'But that man.' Lily thought as she stared out from her hiding spot. 'Who is he?'

A wave of emotions hit her as she thought of the Javaline user.

Shaking her head, she thought, 'It doesn't matter... What does matter is the fact that I have to leave!'

After thinking that Lily stuck her head out. Against her better judgements she got out of the small crack.

'Please... Don't let anyone be there!' Lily thought desperately as she slowly inched towards the exit. Just as she was nearing it, she heard another growl, but this time, it was right behind her.

Gulping a bit, she slowly turned around. When she did, Lily let out a small gasp of surprise. There in front of her was a small grabbit growling at a baby rhino beetle. It looked as if both of them were having a showdown since the Rhino beetle kept fluttering it's wings.

Lily was so shocked from fright that she slowly lowered herself to the ground and stared at them. Honestly, she wanted to laugh but she couldn't. Adrenaline was still kicking in and she felt like if she did, she would have been crying as well.

'Breath.' As she thought this, she put two fingers on top of her carotid artery. 'Breath.'

At first, it was pulsating really fast but then it eventually slowed down. She didn't know when she closed her eyes, but she did. When she opened it, the two creatures were going at it. Surprisingly, the Rhino Beatle was winning.

Little Lily did not understand what had just happened and what was going on. However, she did find this funny. This was quite a comical scene that one would only hear in stories, but Lily did not have the heart to laugh. Not after everything that had happened. Lily shook her head and just stared at them. After a while of staring she made a move to get up. As she got up, she was yanked backwards with a handover her mouth. Lily panicked as she moved her arm to strike at the the person but was restrained.

"You little brat." An unfamiliar male voice whispered in her ear.

"You try that again and I'll make sure to cut you up into pieces." The man said as he applied pressure on her arm. Lily whimpered at the pain. Her arms were still bruised from Maximum's kick. As she whimpered, the two creatures that were fighting, scurried off. They had left her to her demise.

'Please! Don't leave me!' She thought desperately as she looked in the direction they went in.

Seeing them vanished, just made things worse for Lily. With a hand over her mouth and the other holding her arm, she couldn't but shiver in fear.

'Where did I go wrong?' Lily thought as she prayed to the heavens to send help.

"Alright, I am going to let you go. Try anything funny and that will be your last." The man said as he warned her.

Nodding her head, Lily felt the man slowly released her. Once he did, she turned towards him. Blinking her eyes in surprise, she couldn't help but be a bit shocked at who she saw. The man before her was thin but still muscular. His face was oblong and he was bald like Owen. The only difference between the two was the body mass and facial structure along with the symbols on this man's face.

As Lily stared at the man with shock and recognition, the man before looked at her curiously.

"Do we perhaps... know each other?" The man said as stared at Lily's face.