What Was Missing

Twenty: -Lily-

Minor note: This chapter is particularly confusing as Lily uses italics as a way of indicating her thoughts. Beware of misinterpretations as you read on.

Arising from my troubled slumber with a gasp, I find myself on the reptilian back of a rumbling beast.

Kantar.

Groaning against the gyrations of my sleeping spot as he continues to lumber north, I clamber up the scaly hide and raise my head to squint against the light of day.

"She's awake," mutters Oralina, and Kantar glances up at me, nodding without breaking stride. "We're almost there. I'm sorry it had to come to this, Lilian."

Still not fully awake, I dreamily nod my head. "It's okay." And so I fall back down onto my surprisingly cozy bed, stretch, yawn, and curl up into a fetal position. Time to go back to sleep... I close my eyes for a second, but as hot red pain spikes across my spine, I shoot back up with a clearer head, a revived memory, and an odd question.

"How the heck do you know my name?!"

Oralina glances wearily at Kantar, distracted, and I reposition on his back. Here's my chance. Should I take it? I know if I try to run, I'll probably be caught, but would it be worth a try? I glance around me, hopeful, but endless green spans in every direction. There's no chance I can escape, and anyway, I still want to know. Kantar sighs, and I look down on his snout as he begins to speak. The vibrations of his movement rock through me, and I struggle to hear him over the pounding of his feet against the ground.

"Olivia Youngheart, Princess of Talinia. Lilian Youngblood, citizen in the place of the Gods. We know your names. Both of them. We were told this by Them. We recognized you when we first saw you."

My eyes widen, and I feel dizzy. Pieces of an unreadably large puzzle are falling into place, and I begin to feel naseous. Place of the Gods... My old world... Them... This can't be happening. The only people who can be Them...

"...Worse... worse that you could imagine..."

Oh no. No no no no no!

They did what they did to my parents. My parents went to Them. The other adults were Maddy's dad, Gus's wife, Max's mom, and Jacob's parents...

Slowly, I tilt my head until I look him straight in the eye. "...Who are They?"

Kantar slows down his pace, and eventually stops. "They are like you. From the land of the Gods. We follow Them, and they-"

I interrupt him before he can go into some religious rant. It's obviously bogus, and I think I get what's going on now. Just need to make sure...

"Kantar, how many were in the first group, and how many are They?"

He looks bewildered, but shakes his head and looks me in the eye.

"The first group was composed of four; a black-furred female, a brown-furred male, a blond-furred female and a red-furred male."

'Fur' must be hair to them. The group: Mom, dad. Probably Jacob's parents. That leaves out Gus's wife, Max's mom, and Maddy's dad...

Kantar continues, and I raise back up my head. "They are composed of the Spectacled One, the Brown-Furred Female, and the Old Grey Female..."

Maddy's dad. Gus's wife. Max's mom. No...

Kantar rises to his feet, nods at Oralina, and heads forward once more.

Jacob betrayed us. Gus betrayed us. Gus makes sense, if They're really so bad, but why Jacob...?

Kantar talks again, and my attention is fixed upon him once again.

"...But the Ruler of Them is the most esteemed. The Silent One."

The eighth chair. The eighth person.

He must've come in before any of the others. But that means, if they already sent someone in, they knew about the coma...

I have to get out of here.

Crouching down on the leathery and scale-covered back, I leap off of the dragon, pushing with all my force against his bulk. The ground rushes towards me, and rolling like I used to do in gymnastics across the dew-covered grass, I start to sprint back towards the forest. If I can make it under the wall...

As I hear a strangled roar from behind me followed by the sound of claws digging through dirt, a bead of sweat drips down my temple. I'm stumbling, and attempting to regain my posture, I only manage to trip and fall onto the ground.

Get up, Lily. What would your parents say?

As that consoling voice whispers through my head, I feel an intense burst of pain in my chest, my eyes readjust, and I heave to my feet and run even faster than ever before. I can do this. I feel my pupils thinning, adrenaline bursting through my limbs, and grunting unintelligibly, I power through the grass, ripping up shreds of dying green. With a flash, a part of my life I've long forgotten appears in front of my eyes.

The sound of Kantar's roars fades away, and after a moment of complete silence, a strange tune begins to hum through my head. It takes me a second to realize it's classical, a batch of Beethoven that my mother loves to play at dinner, and then I'm there, my mashed potatoes laying neglected on my plate.

"Lila, no matter what happens at school, remember that you are strong."

Sitting in my cushioned seat at the darkened table, I find myself sobbing, despairing about my day at school. The candles flicker on the centerpiece, the way my dad likes it, but I hate it. It illuminates the red walls only faintly, and feeds the shadows that haunt me in my sleep.

"Lila?"

My mother's standing over me, now, and my dad's looking on disapprovingly. She comes closer, holds my head between her hands, and looks me straight in the eyes.

"You know you're not like the others. No matter what they say, no matter what they do, remember who you are. Don't give up. You are strong."

I nod my weary head, collapsing back into my plate, and she slowly walks back to her seat, sits down silently, and reminds me once more.

"Remember, we modified you. You can defend yourself. You are Strong."

The memory's gone with a flash, the music ceasing and the rustle of the grass back in my head.

"You are strong."

I roar into the air like a primal beast, echoes reverberating against the ground, and slide to a stop, panting maniacally. And then, I whip around, fling forward, and head straight-on towards the beasts.

You are strong.

--Yay, I finally updated! Sorry about the break. Sick at home, editing, catching up on homework and such.

Thanks for reading, and please remember to vote!
-DraconisSolutus.