Liliana rubbed a hand across her face, spreading soot and other smudged remnants of various liquids across her face as she groaned. Her father had her courtyard enchanted to keep the snow off of it so she could use it again without soaking her clothes from the deep snowfall as her winter solstice gift. She’d taken to staying in it from dawn to dusk, practicing her alchemy, Telekineses and Wind affinities as she tried to prepare for the upcoming dungeon trip. She was also trying to teach herself valuable, marketable skills she could use to fund herself once she fully separated herself from her family.

She had accepted now that the path her future would lead to wouldn’t be one that held the Rosengarde name. Liliana didn’t know when she’d be able to make the split official. She wanted to be sure there was no way to have her dragged back first. But she was hopeful of being able to make her own way in the world after she graduated from the Academy at 20.

So far, though, her only skills were combat orientated, and she didn’t really want to live her life as an adventurer. No matter the boons she had, such a life was dangerous. Constantly needing to delve dungeons, sometimes for months at a time for the higher ranked ones, meant she would never be able to guarantee a retirement. So she had dived into alchemy, a craft she could learn and master to fund herself.

“Liliana? It looks like another maid came and left some lunch for you. Do you want to eat it?” Astrid’s voice pulled Liliana out of her musings from her latest failed project. She’d been trying to make a weightless potion, but it seemed she was just making some sort of biohazard. Liliana looked over at her maid and gave her a smile, her white teeth standing out starkly against her dirty skin.

“No, I’m fine for now Astrid. Why don’t you eat it? I don’t think you took a lunch,” Liliana told her maid and Astrid sighed but nodded. Liliana knew Astrid wouldn’t normally eat until after she did, but unless she was actively doing something that drained her Stamina Liliana didn’t need to eat as often as she used to, a product of her higher Vitality she hadn’t expected.

Liliana noted down the thought on one of the several opened notebooks on a table by her side. She had notebooks for her recipes, failed and successful, for her random thoughts and for her more pointed thoughts so she could keep track of them all. Her mind worked fast, constantly coming up with thoughts and ideas even when she wasn’t doing anything and she found unless she noted down some of the stray thoughts she had, she’d forget them. She had been marking down the noticeable differences her higher stats were causing, wanting to get a good judge for how much this world had changed her. If only for her own peace of mind.

Vitality seemed to do much for her. On top of the increase in her basic senses, it also seemed to improve her metabolism. Liliana noted down that it could also be her Stamina that had to do with her metabolism as a possibility to research into more. Oh, how she missed the Internet with its search engines and instant answers. Now, to sate her curiosity, she had to spend hours each day in a library and not even that could guarantee an answer to whatever query she had.

“Will you be having dinner tonight?” Astrid asked, but her tone held enough of a warning in it to let Liliana know it wasn’t really a question. She looked up, blinking a bit in confusion. She’d forgotten Astrid had been there while she was wrapped up in noting down her thoughts and theories.

“Oh yes, of course. And be sure there’s enough for Flint and Clover. They’ve been eating more, we probably need to get them new clothes soon as I think they’re in the middle of a growth spurt,” Liliana told her maid, another smile flitting across her face when the very children she’d mentioned laughed across the courtyard as they played with Lelantos.

They were playing under the guise of ‘exercising’ him, or at least that’s what they’d told Liliana they were doing. She let them have their fun. Seeing them enjoying their childhood did as much for her as for them. She might not be able to enjoy a normal childhood, something she was beginning to accept more each day, but she could be sure they had one.

She had never expected that the two starved street urchins she’d saved on a whim that day would, in turn, save her in their own way. Healing the hurt and anger in her through their wonder and childish innocence, something miraculously not stolen by their rough life. If they could overcome the horrors and trauma they’d been through to see the beauty in life, surely she could, too.

“Of course, Liliana,” Astrid spoke, her voice full of warmth and affection. Liliana smiled back at her once more at hearing her drop her title. Something only done when they were certain of their privacy.

Maybe I need to add more Lightfoot root to the potion, Liliana thought, her eyes widening as she turned around and began picking up ingredients again to try her potion once more, the rest of the world once more forgotten. Astrid shook her head and returned to Liliana’s rooms, taking the tray of untouched, slightly chilled food to eat.

“I wonder what would happen if we included some of your venom in the potion, Nemesis?” Liliana asked the serpent snuggled into her hair.

Nemesis was more comfortable coming into the courtyard now that it was heated by enchantments. Liliana had tried using Nemesis’ venom in a variety of concoctions, trying to make it more toxic, or even remove its toxic qualities entirely, then trying to see if it could improve upon other potions. Or just experimenting to see what would happen. The serpent didn’t mind much. In fact, she was more interested in Liliana’s alchemy than Lelantos. Liliana attributed it to her Poison element, making her more inclined towards the creation of potions and poisons.

‘Bad. Boom.’ Nemesis informed her, the words backed by an image of the cauldron exploding in a mess of goo and thick black smoke. Nemesis had figured out how to use some human language, or at least Cista Common tongue. It was very rudimentary, but it was progress that showed exactly how intelligent and driven her Bond was and Liliana never hesitated to praise her each time she used her words to communicate.

“Maybe, maybe it’ll make something new.” Liliana countered, and Nemesis sent a sense of heavy doubt back to her, making the girl chuckle.

A shattering noise, the sound of breaking china and crystal froze Liliana in place as she dropped a new ingredient into her cauldron and her head whipped to the side to look to her rooms where the noise had originated from. The sound was so wrong. So utterly out of place that a sense of heavy foreboding flooded her body as she stared. Astrid had never once dropped anything in her presence. It was always Liliana dropping or breaking things, accidentally or on purpose. And the children were outside, the only other probable culprits to such a ruckus.

“Astrid?” Liliana called out, dread clogging her throat and making her voice high, almost shrill. No response came and fear finally began to make its icy path through her bloodstream, adrenaline hot on its heels.

She finally sent an assassin! I need to get Astrid out of there before she gets caught in the crossfire!

“Lelantos! Get Clover and Flint out of here! Find Silas!” Liliana ordered as she summoned her glaive from storage, already activating her first Chain Combo and then [War Maiden’s Waltz], and [Light Burst Coat] as her blade began to glow with radiant light she blurred into her room. She flung Nemesis from her hair to grow to her full size in the confines of the room, her fangs bared and dripping venom as they sought out the assassin that must have invaded her room.

Liliana’s eyes cataloged the bedroom, seeing no threat as she proceeded to the connected sitting room. Her eyes scanned it and she didn’t see any strange figures lurking in it, waiting to slit her throat. Her eyes froze as they finally locked on the source of the noise she’d heard and her weapon fell from numb hands, clattering against the ground as her heart stopped in her chest and the breath stilled in her lungs.

“No, no, no,” Liliana murmured, not even aware she was speaking as she stared.

She rushed forward once more, crashing to her knees next to the still form lying on the floor surrounded by the remains of broken china, crystal, and scattered food. Dark red liquid spilled out around the still form laying on the ground, looking so much like blood that Liliana’s heart clenched before her mind registered it as a fruit drink. Her eyes took it all in before focusing on the frozen face before her. Astrid looked so peaceful. Her eyes shut as if she was sleeping, even if her lips were an unnatural shade of blue and her face a deathly pallor. She looked as if she would wake up at any moment and begin chiding Liliana for making such a mess.

Yes, she’s just sleeping. She’s sick. I can fix her. Liliana's thoughts were a jumbled tangle, making little sense, but she grasped onto this one thing, disregarding what her eyes were seeing for the reality she wanted. The reality she needed.

Liliana crawled forward as she activated [Healing Harmony] and her hands finally made contact with a familiar smock, her hands tangling in the fabric. Her hands pressed against Astrid’s chest, praying to feel lungs filling with air or the steady pounding of a heartbeat. She didn’t even realize she was holding her own breath as she tried to feel the signs of life she desperately needed to locate. But no breath filled lungs, no heartbeat fluttered besides her own. Liliana let out a gasping breath as her own lungs screamed for air.

“No. NO!” Liliana screamed as her hands pressed hard into the still chest below them and she closed her eyes, desperately trying to focus her mind. She had done this before, forced her Mana to do something it never had before to save a life. She could do it again. She would. She had to.

Liliana ended all other abilities other than [Healing Harmony] as she roughly grabbed every last bit of her Mana in an iron grip. She would not take it misbehaving and disobeying her today. Not now. She forced it through her channels, down her arms and into her hands and then out of her and into the still, cooling body she was pressed against. Liliana poured the Mana out of her, forcing it to flow like a raging river flooding from her and into the body beneath her. She imbued it with her intent, to heal, to save, to repair what was broken.

“Please, please, please, I’ll do anything. Please don’t take her. Not her. I can’t survive without her, please,” Liliana was begging. She didn’t know to who. Her Mana, the gods, Vita. Whoever would listen, whoever would save Astrid. She’d pay whatever price they demanded, her soul, her life, whatever was asked she’d pay it gladly as long as they saved her.

Mana poured out of her a never ending tsunami. As soon as she regenerated Mana, she sent it through her and into the body before her. Liliana drew more than she had to give, scraping every last dredge of Mana her body could produce. She knew, distantly, that she was surpassing her limits, could feel the pain beginning to lick at the edge of her awareness, but she didn’t care. Liliana would take any pain, permanent Mana crippling, whatever punishment the System saw fit to give her. She’d take it all. All of it was paltry when weighed against the worth of Astrid, of her life. She’d rip her own heart out of her chest and place it in Astrid’s chest, if she believed it would mean the woman would open her eyes again. If it meant she could hear her say she loved Liliana again.

Liliana heard a door crashing open, heard shouting, panicked voices, and hissing. Furniture being destroyed as chaos reigned around her, but she couldn’t focus on it, couldn’t even acknowledge it. All of her concentration was on this one task, this one thing. Saving Astrid. She had to live. Liliana could feel her Bonds panicking, feel their distress and agitation, but it was as if there was a wall between her and them as she retreated deeper into herself. She let the world fade around her, only registering the Mana leaving her body, all of her thoughts, her willpower, focused on imbuing it with the intent to heal and repair.

A hand on her shoulder didn’t draw her from her task, but arms wrapping around her and pulling her away from Astrid did. Her eyes flew open, and she struggled, hands clawing and feet kicking as she was taken from Astrid. She had to get back to her, just a bit more Mana, and she could do it. She could save her. Didn’t they see that?

“No! I can save her! You’ll kill her if you take me away! No!” Liliana screeched at the person drawing her back as she fought against arms like steel bands to get back to Astrid. She had to save her. She had to.

“She’s gone, Liliana. She’s gone. You can’t save her. She’s dead.” A deep voice told her, heartbreak and anguish thick in each word, and Liliana wanted to scream when she recognized the voice. Silas. Silas wouldn’t lie to her, and the truth of what he said slammed into her as her body went limp. The horrific realization that she’d refused to acknowledge finally made itself known.

“No, no, no. She can’t be dead. She can’t! ASTRID!” Liliana cried, her voice rising in pitch until it reached a scream, a scream that went on for too long, full of utter despair. It was the sound of a heart dying, of hope being lost and though she couldn’t see it behind eyes thick with tears, guards flinched and stepped back at the force of that scream. The scream of a child losing her mother.

A heart-rending roar rocked the house and a crooning wail harmonized with their mistress as Liliana’s despair was unleashed and rampaged through her Bonds. The entire manor shook with the power of their combined grief.

Liliana screamed until her throat was raw and her voice became nothing more than a whimper. Silas slid to the ground, holding her tight to his chest as she sobbed, the force of them shaking her entire body. His own eyes were full of tears falling like rain down his weathered cheeks. The two of them fell apart, grasping desperately onto each other as they broke into pieces next to the body of the woman who had meant so much to them both.