'Meet me at the foot of the orange oak tree, if you want to know more about your father.'
These were the words contained in the paper that the bird delivered to Lilith in the bathroom. They echoed in her heart repeatedly as she hastened her footsteps to the orange oak tree. She opted to run there but realized that she might draw unwanted attention to herself as the whole place was really busy with the institute staff, senseis, and other aspirants who were just leaving the dining hall.
She acted normal like nothing was wrong and waved back at those who cared to wave at her.
"Lilith!" a female voice called to her in a sweet tone. She turned in the direction of the voice and found that it was coming from a girl, her sister from their training. They shared the same master; hence, she saw her as a sister as well as the others. But she was not sure what her name was.
"Lilith," she called again, as she walked fast to where she stood in a halt the first time she called. "Lilith. Hi."
"Hi...?" Lilith trailed as she looked at her and faked a smile. She did not want an awkward situation at all, and she was really happy she was able to recognize her from their class earlier, so that would at least save her time explaining where they met.
"You do remember me, right?" the girl asked with bright eyes.
"Of course I do," Lilith answered quickly. Honestly speaking, who would not remember her? She had very distinct features which were very hard to overlook. She had a darker skin shade than Lilith, which made the fact that she possessed ocean blue eyes really odd.
Her black 4b hair also had exceptional blue strands here and there which made her look very dreamy. She looked quite her age or maybe a bit younger and was very beautiful.
"Oh, so sorry, the name is Rain."
"Oh, ok. Hi Rain."
"Hi Lilith. Sorry for stopping you but I did not see you during lunch, what is the matter?" she asked with concern.
"Oh, about that..." Lilith thought of something to say. "I wasn't feeling well after the class, so I decided to skip lunch and head to my room so that I can rest a bit before our next training class," she explained, appreciating the fact that her voice did not shake.
"Oh, that is not bad. I actually thought that you were still upset about what Lyra did to you," Rain pointed out.
"Oh, that," she sighed. "How did you know? I thought everyone already left before it happened."
"Yes, everyone did but I didn't. I stayed back because I was sure she would try to pick on you again like she did at the party last night. Therefore, I just wanted to be there to give you a hand if you needed one in putting her in her place, but I guess that was not necessary," she smiled at her, which made her ocean blue eyes light up a bit.
"No, I am already over that. Besides, I am sure sensei must have already punished her, so I have no reason to be pissed about that anymore," she forced a smile on her face. She just hoped Rain would end the discussion immediately because she had something very important to attend to. So important that she didn't bother to tell Andreas about it before leaving like a thief from her own room.
She knew he would stop her from going and even worse, convince her that the information was unreal. For these reasons, she did not bother telling him anything; she didn't even want him to realize that she was no longer in the bathroom. But she knew quite well that it would soon dawn on him because he could not be fooled easily and would soon start searching for her, which was more reason she should leave now.
"Ok then, see you later, bye," Rain waved at her as she walked away.
"Bye Rain, and thank you again for your care and concern, I really appreciate it."
"No issues, Lilith," she stopped her steps and turned to her. "Just know that I am always here if you need help," she smiled again before finally leaving.
This time, Lilith returned the smile for real. She was a good person and she was sure she would make a good friend, but that would be a thought for another day. Right now, her only priority was to get to the orange oak tree and meet whoever wanted to meet her.
The orange oak tree stood in the midst of the school forest, which was basically used for training before it was banned from use by the institute authorities for reasons they refused to disclose.
However, it was not somewhere one would wish to visit alone and unarmed as you never know who or what you might meet there.
But Lilith was not scared, not that she had the time to consider if she was, as she was only filled with thoughts of who might have sent her the message. She walked through the thick forest, clearing all the obstacles on her way bravely until she got to the oak tree.
She heaved a sigh of relief immediately she got there and went to its foot immediately.
"Where are you!" she yelled at the top of her voice. "I am here now! Come out and say what you want to say!"
"I did not believe that you would be brave enough to come alone," a voice from behind the oak said.
Lilith turned in the direction of the voice immediately to meet the last person she wanted to see now—Nexine!
"Nex?"
"Yes, Lilith. It is I. Are you surprised?" He gave her a dirty smirk.
"What are you doing here? Were you the one who sent me this?" She took out the piece of paper and showed him.
"Yes, Lilith... I was the one who sent it to you, just to get your special attention."
"Why would you want my attention, Nex? What do you know about my father?" Lilith was so desperate for answers now that she could kill Nex just to get them, if she had to.
"Ehm... About that, I know nothing about your brave father, Lilith," he said in a serious tone. "Except for the fact that he died in one of our wars against other worlds. Any other information apart from that that you believe I could give you is definitely not happening because he is only a tale to me, just like you would be soon."
"If you knew nothing about my father, then why did you trick me into meeting you here? What do you want?" Lilith fumed.
"Good question, Lilith. Good question. I only sent you that note to bring you here and have a one-on-one discussion with you."
"About what exactly?" Lilith tried to think of why he would possibly want to speak to her in a place like this, but she could not recall.
"Oh, don't pretend like you don't know what I want to talk about, Lilith!" He barked at her, walking closer to where she stood and grabbing her arm roughly, squeezing the life out of it.
With a single arm twisting, Lilith got herself free, but the pain from his hold still persisted.
"I don't know what you want to talk about, Nex. It is either you say something reasonable, or I will take my leave." She turned around to go but was stopped by the dagger he brought close to her neck immediately as she turned to go.
"You made me look like a fool! You made my father see me as a disappointment! Tell me now how you brought Lyra back to life!" He hollered.
'What Lyra?' Lilith's head was overflowing with thoughts, but the most evident one was that she did not want to die. But what exactly was Nex talking about? What did he mean by bringing Lyra back to life? She knew entirely nothing about that, but judging from the way he was acting now, she was sure he wouldn't believe her.
"Listen to me, Nex," she began calmly, hoping she could talk some sense into him. "I know nothing about what you just said. I did not bring Lyra to life; she was never dead!"
"Don't try to lie to me, Lilith." He tightened his hold against her neck and brought the dagger even closer so that her skin was beginning to tear, and her blood ran slowly down her chest.
"I know she died. I am very sure of it because I saw you kill her that night. I only came out when I affirmed that you had killed her after you, and I saw that she was lifeless. You even begged me not to tell anyone, meaning that you were sure of her demise. How is it then that I return about five minutes later with sensei Moran only to find a healthy and unharmed Lyra? She could not even remember the fight you both had, and you tell me you know nothing about it! You had better start talking, else you would join your father here and now!" He threatened.
"So you were there that night and wanted me to kill Lyra? You intended for all that to happen?" Lilith managed to ask as tears rolled down her eyes slowly.
"Of course, Lilith I was there. Standing behind a tree and watching you dig your own grave, but one way or another, you managed to cover it up," he gritted his teeth.
Lilith could not believe what her ears were hearing. So Nex actually wanted her to kill Lyra that night, but for what reason? He thought he was a friend to her but little did she know that he was very far from being a friend to her. In fact, he was her worst enemy and desired nothing more than to get her far away from her goal of becoming a ranger of Triven.
With all the strength in her, she gave him a hard elbow to his stomach, making his grip on her loosen a bit—actually enough for her to get herself free—and immediately she did that, she took to her heels.
"Come back here, you dumb purple head! Return here or I will make sure you end up like your miserable father!"
At the mention of her father, Lilith stopped running. She could take any insult whatsoever, but she could not bear any ill statement against anyone she cared for or loved, for instance, her father.
She turned to meet his detestable self with her purple eyes already fired up. "What did you just say about my father!" She walked hastily to where he stood with the dagger still held out, but even at that, she was not scared.
"So it only took some truth about your good-for-nothing father to get your skinny legs back here?" Nex smirked.
"Say something bad about my father again and I swear by his name that you would never speak again in your entire life." She threatened as she was already standing before him with her arms held out and ready to give the first punch if he dared defile her.
"You will do no such thing, Lilith." He swung the dagger at her, but she skillfully dodged it and gave him a rib-breaking punch, making him stagger backward and groan in pain.
Without giving him time to recover, she numbed his right arm with a blow and took the dagger from him. She tossed it aside and kicked him hard in the stomach.
"Don't you ever in your miserable life again, Nex, cross my path or I swear to you that you will live your remaining life regretting that you ever met me."
At that, she turned to behold the sight of her one and only friend, Andreas! He was standing beside another tree there and looking at her with affection and care.
Wait! Did she just say affection? No! Yes, care but definitely not affection. But how was he able to find her? She was sure she left no clues of where she was going.
But he was here now and she could not change that. "Andreas," she called in an almost whisper, but before she could hear him answer, she felt a sharp pain in her abdomen.
'Oh, how could she have forgotten one of the important rules in a fight, "never turn your back on your enemy"? But she just did and is certainly suffering the consequence now.
She touched the area where the pain came from and felt the dagger there. She was stabbed! She brought her hand to her sight and saw that she was bleeding, which made tears roll down her eyes, and she felt them become weak. Just when she wanted to turn to meet the one who stabbed her, she heard his voice whisper into her ears.
"Let me see how you will bring yourself back to life as you did to Lyra. Goodbye, dumb purple head."...