~~ Chapter 5~
Familia misfortune

Suddenly Gordon realized his eyes had been closed, his heart thumped in his chest. He opened them to see the boy looking up at him with eyes like twin ponds and his sister's hand on his wrist; she'd stopped his Blade. She then pushed him back against the wall twisting the blade from his hand. Gordon gasped in pain as she tossed it to the boy on the bed who was now sitting up; he caught it.
“What are you doing here Gordon?” She asked, a scowl on her face. Alex watched with interest, twirling the knife about his fingers.
“I-I saw you, and this boy, I assumed you'd been discovered. I was only trying to help you.” Gordon replied, slumping down against the wall, head in hands.
“He does know, but I'm ok with that; he's protecting me brother.” She whispered, her face had softened. She put her hand on his shoulder.
“I don't understand.” Gordon replied, glancing up, a puzzled look in his eyes.
“You don't need to,” She growled. “Just understand that I'm safe for the time being. Does Azerith know where I am?” Lilly asked, crouching down in front of him, staring him in the eyes.
“Of course not, I wouldn't betray you to him.” Gordon replied, eyes wide.
“Well, I'd like you to.” She said Gordon's eyes went wide. “I'll be on green street tomorrow."
"Are you sure this is a good idea, don't get captured please.” Gordon pleaded.
“Ugh, don’t worry about me get lost.” Lilly replied, Gordon nodded, his knife was tossed back to him. Gordon juggled it as he struggled to catch the handle. Lilly helped him to his feet and ushered him to the window. Gordon waved before dropping to the Alley below.
“That was a close one.” Zora sighed, “I'm glad you're sleeping next to me, but it looks like we should start taking precautions."
“Also, what are we gonna be doing on Green Street tomorrow?” Zora asked, puzzled.
“Setting a trap.” Lilly replied, smiling, “I'll need a quick escape though; if I'm lucky, I can make him think he killed me.”
“We can do a quick escape.” Zora replied. “We'll set it up tomorrow, come on let's go back to sleep.” Lilly nodded as Zora rolled back over and closed his eyes; Lilly curled back up beside him, soon they were both asleep.

The Moon was high, and its fluorescent light shone into an alley. A boy walked down this very Alley, his white hair still in the silent air. His brown eyes flickered like a mirage, a sword sheathed on his back. He wore a black jacket with long sleeves and green highlights. He wore black boots with green highlights. A red streak through his silver hair like splattered blood left an ominous feeling in any onlookers.
He stopped at the entrance to the Alley and looked up. My duties start today; I'm an official imperial officer. That promotion took long enough; I've been assigned to patrol this town; apparently, a lithian is giving them trouble. Can't have that, I won't fail at my job. He thought, Magnus Gravestone never fails.

Zora awoke, sitting up; he glanced over at Lilly, who was curled into a ball her tail over her head. He smiled before quietly getting out of bed; he left the room.
Lilly awoke, stretching, she noted that Zora had already gotten up and was nowhere to be found. A strange sense of deja vu hit her, like she coulda sworn she got up with Zora. She slipped from the bed anyways and peeked into the hall. Ashley sat at the table, on a PC. Lilly stepped into the hall and closed the door behind her.
“Hello.” Lilly said, a bit shyly, not sure whether she would be hostile or not.
“Good morning, Zora went out to get his armor repaired.” Ashley replied, bluntly, not taking her eyes off the screen.
“Oh, ok.” Lilly replied frowning.
“I don't trust you, so watch yourself?” Ashley warned, suddenly, turning to stare at Lilly with an accusing gaze.
“I'm n-not up to N-nuthing, Zora said I could stay, that he'd protect me. So here I am, it's not because I want something.” Lilly replied in bewilderment.
“Just watch yourself.” Ashley replied, glancing over at Lilly for a second.
“Ok.” Lilly replied; she grabbed her cloak and left home quickly. She pulled the hood over her head as she started down the street. She set off in Zora's direction, and before long, she arrived outside of Carren's Combat Equipment.
Lilly pulled open the old wooden door and glanced around. The shop wasn’t too busy, and before long, she spotted Zora at the back; she headed that way and stopped beside him.
“We'll be setting up your encounter” Zora said upon seeing her.
“Ok great.” Lilly replied, standing up on her tippy toes, trying to see through the window; suddenly, Zora lifted her up, causing her to let out a squeal of surprise. But she could see through the window now, and in the room, there were a couple of forges, anvils, and hot coals for melting metal. Currently, Zora's armor was being fixed; Lilly was set back on the ground. She then began to look around; there were a fair amount of weapons here; she thought about getting a sword; she didn't own one herself. Her eyes fell on a short sword; it was light and balanced. It looked relatively cool; she picked it up and carried it to the counter. Carren wouldn't take her money.
“Please remove the hood; I cannot do business with someone I can't see, imperial law.” Carren said, frowning. Lilly removed her hood and set the sword on the table.
“I'm sorry, imperial law doesn't allow me to serve Lithians. Lilly sighed; a few moments later, Zora walked over.
“Odd, I don't remember imperial law being so enforced.” Zora said, taking the sword and money, “I'll buy it under my name, ok.”
“Ok, and yeah, recently they stationed a few imperial officers, they're unhappy with how carefree everyone is.” Carren said, “thank you for stopping by.”
“No problem.” Zora said, as Lilly put her hood back on and they left.
“So, where we headed now?” Zora asked, “Ashley should meet us there.”
“This way.” Lilly led the way down a couple of alleys, turning down Brook Street and taking the fourth Alley. They stopped outside the third Alley, right next to a sign that said: Green Street.
“Here it is.” Lilly said, glancing around; Ashley was nowhere to be seen.
“I know she's here somewhere. I'll go find her." Zora told her before stepping from the Alley. Lilly frowned; the whole time since I woke this morning, I've had this weird feeling.

Azerith walked down Green Street. He frowned, sending his guards off in different directions, before stepping into one of the Alleys' entrances. And there she was, 1I11Ia or Lilly.
“It's been a while, you've been quite smart, always one step ahead of me.
You'll die tonight, I'm sorry if it were up to me I'd welcome you back, but it's not.” Azerith began, Lilly interrupted.
“Are you done with your speech, old man, I'm not dying tonight. I've got things to do.” Lilly replied suddenly, a voice in her ear said, “Careful, he's not alone.”
“Awe old man, you brought company, Almost as if you knew I'd be here.” Lilly said, taking delight in the surprise on his face.
“For the first time, I'm actually doing more than running and surviving. Did you think you just happened to end up a step ahead?.” Lilly asked, smiling.
“I guess not, you've always been unusually intelligent.” Azerith replied, “Let’s talk then.”
“Yes, let's.” Lilly replied, “I’d like information if you don't mind, tell me how many imperial officers are stationed in Selcict?”
“Four.” Azerith replied, his men closing in.
"I really don't want you chasing after me; I'd rather not have anyone chase me." Lilly sighed in annoyance, drawing her sword.
"What? you think you could kill me?" Azerith exclaimed, smiling. “you were always my favorite, boys Attack!!” As soon as he said that, several soldiers stepped from the shadows with their swords drawn. They leaped at Lilly, and she jumped into action. She pulled her sword out and blocked several attacks as she began backing away. She cut down the first man; he slumped to the ground as Lilly knocked the sword from another's hands. Ducking below the third man's strike, she swooped her hand down, grabbing the sword off the ground. Lilly slashed upwards, taking out the third man; three more soldiers stood between her and Azerith. She dashed to the side and leaped; she ran along the wall for a few steps before bounding off the wall at Azerith. She attacked furiously with both swords. Azerith wasn't fazed; he blocked them all, and when he saw an opening, he stabbed her through the gut.
Oh, damn, that hurts. Lilly thought, she was about to react, but before she could run or even move, she had been stabbed from behind by the remaining ambushers. She slumped forward, her vision hazy, she expected it to hurt more, but the pain faded as her vision went dark.
Azerith pulled his sword from her, wiping the blood from his blade; he sheathed it on his waist. The other soldiers did the same; Lilly's limp body fell into his arms as he lifted her off her feet. He almost looked sad to see her dead, but he quickly recomposed himself, then he turned and disappeared down the street.

Lilly suddenly sucked in a large breath as her eyes flickered open, she looked around. She was sitting on a rooftop, leaning against something warm and solid. She turned to gaze at him, Zora was beside her. Ashley was standing near the roof's edge. The wind played with her hair and cloak as she stared into the Alleyway.
"H-how am I here?" Lilly asked. Zora turned to look at her, his deep blue eyes like unexplored oceans.
"Ashley, mind explaining? I don't quite understand it yet either." Zora called out to her, Ashley turned to look at them.
"This morning, I made a clay Golem, using several incantations and spells, I made a flesh and blood copy of you." Ashley explained, "Soulless obviously, I split your consciousness and placed the other half in your Golem doppelganger. The original Lilly went with Zora, but split up and headed to Green Street before your double woke. I met the original on Greenstreet, and we settled on this rooftop."
"I knew something was up." Lilly frowned, "How long will my double last?"
"Until they put it in the ground, as long as they don't dig it up in a week, they'll never know you got away.”
“That’s great and all, but now I’m gonna worry about Gordon, Hope he takes the news well.

"So why did we need to fake your death?” Zora asked, a little puzzled; they had made their way home and were currently standing in the hallway.
“I want to help you take out the program I was telling you about.” Lilly replied, “It's been all I could do to survive, I've been hiding for so long, If we're gonna take down slavery, I'm gonna need to be free.”
“Oh, well, I guess we perfectly accomplished that goal." Zora spoke up, "first things first before we do anything too drastic. Why don't we check out that program you mentioned.
"The Aurora Project.” Lilly replied, "It takes advantage of the new tech that showed up, VR, Full Dive VR to be specific."
"I'm slightly familiar with that." Zora told her, his thoughts straying to Ashley's rescue, "Though I've never heard of hit, So it must be a secret program. Getting in won't be easy."
“We should take out the four imperials first.” Ashley said as she stepped into the living room. “One of them should know the information we need.”
“You’re probably right, but all this action has me all wound up; we should go out and do something.” Lilly said, her tail, flicking back and forth at the tip, her ears were up and alert.
“Like what, play fetch.” Zora said, chuckling.
“Hey!” She exclaimed, her ears went down a little.
“Hehe, what did you have in mind?” Zora asked, patting her on the head reassuringly.
“Stop doing that!” She said blushing.
“I can't help it; you're too cute.” Zora replied, smiling as her ears lowered in embarrassment.
“I was thinking about going to the festival they're holding tonight.” She said, changing the subject.
“That's a great idea.” Zora exclaimed. Lilly tilted her head towards him; she realized now that she did like head pats. He patted her on the head, watching her tail flick happily.
Lithians and Demi-humans were still new to this world. About two years before Zora's sister disappeared, the Earth's linear timeline got spliced, folded into knots, and spliced together; past cities appeared in previously barren deserts, some animals and humans spliced as well. Causing the creation of Demi-humans, and Lithians, also creatures like dragons, and fairytale monsters began to appear. New rules, laws, and governments were created, America was still mostly free, the entire continent of Australia vanished, and the lost city of Atlantis rose from the ocean.
It was quite normal for Lithians to enjoy more animal-like things than humans though the same couldn't be said for Demi-humans.
“I'm staying here; I'll set up some protective barriers and traps to protect us while we sleep.” Ashley called from the table in the kitchen, frowning down at her book.
“Fine fine, we'll have fun without you.” Zora replied, putting an arm around Lilly; her tail bristled as he did that, and she blushed.
“Sounds great.” Ashley replied, setting the book down to practice a spell; a couple of runes floated in the air, And they tried to cooperate in a fluent dance, but they sparked and collided before bursting into Sparks. She grunted in frustration.
“Ok, well, wanna explore the forest? An older part of this city has an exit that leads directly into a forest. I heard that some rare artifacts could be found out there. We'll go out for a little while, and come back for the festival.” Zora said, and Lilly nodded. Zora stood up and crossed to the front door, Lilly right behind him; he opened the door for her and closed it behind them. Zora looked up, “the sun will be going down soon. We'll have about two hours to check out the forest.”
“Ok, let's hurry then.” Lilly replied, grabbing his hand and pulling him down Mainstreet.

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