Chapter Twelve
Snap
“So let me get this straight; you're the Master of Wind and Lightning?” Richard asked.
“I am,” Lillin answered.
Richard, Aura, Daiya, and Lillin sat in the common room of the top floor of the first and second year towers. The duel between Lillin and Richard hadn't ended that long ago, but once Lillin said she was here to train Roku's successor Aura had dragged those gathered now to a place that they could speak alone. Apparently this was something that Lillin agreed with, despite it being her that dropped Roku's name right in the middle of a group of people.
“And you said that Master Lyrin was killed by the Zygog military?” Aura asked, and Lillin's eyes grew dark and her hands began to tremble in anger.
“Yes. The military came to her and demanded that she join them in the fight against this country, but she refused. They didn't like that very much, and they set fire to her home and killed her.”
A hard silence filled the large room, even managing to somehow silence the happy crackling coming from the hearth. To learn that someone had been killed merely for refusing to fight against another nation was hard, but something wasn't sitting right with Richard. He had seen Lillin's strength first hand and he found it hard to believe that her former Master could be killed as easily as she was saying she had.
“I... I don't mean to be rude or anything, but how did they kill her? If she was one of these True Masters, shouldn't she be able to fight back and get away or something?” he asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.
“True Masters aren't all powerful beings,” Lillin responded, her voice tight and her eyes narrowed at him. He had obviously struck a nerve, and he wanted to apologize to her; but she didn't give him the chance. “Besides, some of the people who attacked her happened to be old friends of Master Lyrin's, and she could not kill them even if she wanted to. She did her best to fight back without seriously injuring anyone, but in an enclosed space like her home, and against so many attackers, it was only a matter of time before she fell.”
“And where were you during this time? You said that your Master used her last breath to recognize you as the next Master. So you were there, were you not?” Aura enquired.
“I concealed myself and didn't come out until the military had left,” Lillin sighed, and the amount of regret and sadness in her voice was heartbreaking.
“Why didn't you help your Master?” Daiya asked her now, her voice a lot less hostile than it had been earlier in that night. She still didn't seem like she had gotten over the duel, but she did seem to sense Lillin's mood. “The two of you should have been easily able to subdue your attackers together.”
“I hid at my Master's request. With Master Lyrin and I together there could have been a chance of us getting away, but it was something that my Master didn't want to risk. One of of us needed to survive at all costs, and my Master chose that I would be the one. Once her killers had left I emerged from the place I had hid and found Master Lyrin dying in the main hall. I tried to help her, to save her, but she didn't let me. Instead she officially named me her successor and then gave me Star Shard, entrusting the legacy of our predecessors to me.”
