Chapter 1
She was walking in the dense forest of elixyrl, a long lost land which once was called the most cheerful place in history that was now just a dense forest with darkness to provided home for all the creatures.
Lilith was lost. The heavy rain weighed on her like lead, soaking her clothes until they clung to her body like a second skin . Every step was a battle. She finally found a fallen log and collapsed onto it. The spiky, rotted wood bit into her skin, but she was too exhausted to care. Her body was a map of scars and fresh scratches, and her stomach twisted with a hollow ache. She’d eyed the mushrooms growing in the damp, but in Elixyrl, the pretty ones killed you fast and the ugly ones killed you slow.
The sound broke through the rhythm of the downpour: footsteps.
Lilith went still. At first, she thought wolf or stray dog, but then came the heavy, ragged panting and a sharp, metallic screeching. She rose, moving forward with a practiced, professional slowness, her eyes darting through the dark.
Then, she heard it—a groan. Low, human, and full of agony.
She froze. A few yards away, a man lay broken on the forest floor. He was a ghostly sight, his face drained of color, his body limp. A deep wound on his leg was bleeding out, the red staining the mud beneath him.
"What's your name?" Lilith asked, her voice raspy.
"Henry," the man choked out. A spray of blood flecked his lips. His eyes traveled over her, taking in the shock of her dark red hair against her pale skin, and the black jeans shredded from three days of trekking through the brush.
"Henry… cool name," Lilith said, crouched low. "So tell me, Henry. How’d you end up as tiger bait?"
"Long story... short," he wheezed, his voice straining. "Fell down a cliff. Shore was crawling with white tigers... had to climb back up. Just wandered... until I couldn't."
He coughed, more blood bubbling at the corner of his mouth.
"Well, we have to get that wound cleaned," Lilith said. She stood and plucked a massive, wet leaf from a nearby tree, pressing it firmly against his injured leg. "Assuming, of course, you don’t plan on killing me the second you can stand."
Henry’s lips pulled back into a grin. It wasn't a smile of gratitude; it was something sharper—Tricksy.
"Nah," he rasped, his eyes gleaming with a strange mischief. "I’m good. Besides... what would I even achieve by killing you?"
Lilith didn't have time to dwell on that look, but a chill that had nothing to do with the rain settled in her chest.
