Chapter 27 - Cold

Lilly was thoroughly enraged. She could feel how her body had changed, growing feathers everywhere and turning her limbs into those of a bird. She was barely able to notice it herself, as nothing really felt out of place.

Only a small lucid part of her mind remained, focusing on staying in the air and thinking of how to find Eolanathel.

'How? How? Blast everything? No! People.'

She searched her mind for a way to find him, but couldn't think of anything that should work against someone like him. Since he was capable of creating portals, it would be hard to catch him.

'Maybe…'

A possible method of finding him occurred to her. Whatever he had used to escape earlier should still be recharging, draining a lot of mana from its surroundings.

Lilly quieted, focusing on her idea and sensing the mana in her surroundings.

Nothing stood out to her, causing another bout of rage. She sent her flame flying out in a circle around her, spreading horizontally in every direction, desperate to sense some drain.

'There, outside the city to the north!' She sensed the drain, clear as day, pulling on her flame as it approached.

Without delay, she started flying directly toward the source, uncaring of the wind blasting her face. Her body was completely saturated with her flame now, causing her to feel nothing of the thick air blasting past her.

The drain suddenly started moving at an incredible speed, but Lilly felt joyful. That speed only meant she had found her target. And the speed was nothing to her; she just started using more power, flying even faster than before.

A resounding boom sounded out at one point during her flight, but she didn't care. Only reaching the target mattered. In a few seconds, they had traveled several kilometers, and Lilly was catching up.

The source changed directions suddenly as she was nearing it, causing massive clouds of dust to fly up from the ground. But Lilly turned almost just as fast in the air, even closing in as she turned earlier than him.

Only a hundred meters separated them now, and Lilly sped up again. She was aiming to obliterate everything as she would smash into the ground right on top of him, giving him no chance to survive.

He stopped, holding his palm out behind him in a signal to make her stop. She nearly laughed, but the image of Gramps lying on the kitchen floor and bleeding fueled her rage further.

She barely managed to stretch her talons out to his neck before reaching him. Everything after that happened in an instant.

As she smashed into the ground, sending molten dirt in every direction, her body ached. Like the center of a giant fireball, everything in a ten-meter radius was melted, and a giant pillar of fire was reaching into the sky above her.

'Did I get him?' she asked herself, searching her surroundings for more mana drain. Sure enough, something was draining at a higher rate than earlier now, a few hundred meters away from her position.

'Gods damned teleporting!'

Wasting no time, she ascended into the air again and started a new pursuit, using the ache of her body to fuel her rage further.

"Screeeeee!"

He was slower now, making catching up to him much easier. The notion of playing with her food caused Lilly to pause, but she quickly silenced that rather morbid idea.

'I'm not a bird. I think.'

Once she was close enough again, he stopped. But this time, he was standing in a prone position, knees bent and ready for action. Now that he had turned towards her, she could see his face again. It was filled with panic and fear, but his brows were furrowed, giving him a look of intense focus.

She dove in for another intense attack, aiming straight for him. 'This time for sure!'

A sudden flash of light blinded her completely during her descent, making it impossible for her to see where Eolanathel was moving. She had an ugly theory about what it was that just blinded her, which only served to enrage her further.

Lilly crashed into the ground again, but this time she caught most of the force on her feet, making her body ache a lot less. The explosion of force deafened her, causing the same level of destruction as before. The light had disappeared now, but her eyes were still hurting as she tried searching for him again.

'Damn rat! Did he use my enchanted bracelet to blind me? Aaaaah!!'

He had gotten away somehow after she was blinded, probably by diving back towards her, avoiding death by the smallest margins. But surely, he would have been injured by the blast.

Lilly rose into the air even faster than last time after sensing the mana drain again, soaring toward him once more. He had somehow sped up since the last time and seemed to be flying through the air.

Lilly pursued with reignited determination, cursing Eolanathel for his dogged determination to survive. His sudden speed was impressive, causing her to spend some time to catch him. But as she pursued him, he seemed to slow down rather quickly, eventually falling to the ground and stopping completely.

She approached with incredible speed, but before she reached him, she spotted it. Her eyes had returned to normal now, letting her clearly see what she had been pursuing.

'That… that bastard! He got me!'

The thing she had chased this time was the disk Eolanathas had worn on his shoulder, which almost definitely was his method of teleportation. The mana drain had fooled her into thinking it was him flying away when he had just thrown it to distract her.

'AAAAAHH! I can't let him get away!'

Lilly flew once again, returning in the direction she had just come from. Now, from a high altitude, she searched with her vision, no longer daring to rely on the mana drain. Desperate and enraged, she searched the ground for any signs of rats.

'There, tracks!'

Lilly was about to follow them, but after just having been tricked, she thought for a second before pursuing them. The tracks were going to the right of the second crater, in the direction of Thundrel.

'Would he go back to the city after leaving? Is he badly hurt, and needs help?'

She shook her head forcefully, trying to clear it and think properly.

'No, Eolande is still there. He wouldn't take that chance. But how do I find him?!'

Out of the corner of her eye, somewhere above the city, she suddenly spotted a bright light. Several kilometers away, far up in the sky, something was shining intensely.

'... The skyview?' Lilly wondered briefly, thinking of the floating restaurant.

The light suddenly shot forward, heading in Lilly's direction with incredible speed. Faster than she had ever flown.

'What the hell is that?'

She felt somewhat worried now, but a sliver of hope kept her watching the light as it approached. 'Is it…?'

The light passed her by a few hundred meters, soundlessly traveling close to the ground. It was a small object, which reinforced Lilly's suspicion.

The light traveled a couple hundred meters more before landing with a boom, causing dirt and grass to fly into the air.

The blast revealed a wounded rat, having hidden under the grass, now rolling out in the open.

'Selene, you monster of an archer! I love you!'

Eolanathel had shown himself again, causing Lilly to initiate her chase once more. This time she was certain would be the last.

'Hiding under the grass and hoping I would fly somewhere else was a clever idea, but I'm not alone!'

It seems the old elf didn't bother to move anymore, instead standing there, ready to face her head on. Lilly was happy to oblige, setting course directly for his chest.

With her talons ready once more, she wondered what he would try this time. Or if he had given up. 'No, cornered rats are the most dangerous. But does he have anything that can damage me?'

Half a second before impact, a light appeared from Eolanathel's hand. He had conjured a spear from his spatial storage, ready to retaliate.

Lilly was unable to stop, but she hardly cared. Stabbing his chest with her talons was the only thing that mattered now, ensuring his demise. Even if worst came to worst, she would be brought back to life.

He tried to move to the side again at the last second, keeping the spear pointed at her waist, but he moved too slowly. Her talons pierced deep into his chest.

The spear had pierced her slightly, but it only managed to sink a few centimeters before stopping. The blade of the spear started melting almost immediately, leaving only a small wound. Lilly knew that whatever poison might have entered her would be purified immediately.

Eolanathel slid to the side, falling to the ground with deep cuts through the right side of his chest. Lilly knew she had inflicted a mortal wound on him and felt immense relief.

Her great speed made her fly way past him, but she quickly stopped her momentum and returned to watch his last moments.

He looked pitiful, still scrambling to get to his feet. His will to live was impressive, even she had to admit, but it would carry him no further than this. Even ancient elves meet their end at some point.

His eyes fell on hers as he stopped struggling, realizing this was the end. "Don't… don't destroy this land… you monster…"

Lilly tried to reply, but her throat only made odd shrieking noises. Now that the chase had ended, she felt her body trying to return to normal, so she landed on the ground some distance from him. Feathers scattered from her skin, floating gracefully down to the ground around her, revealing everything.

The 'fire-proof' underwear had proven not to be, but she hardly cared. He could take this view with him to the grave.

"I won't."

He smirked at her response before coughing, making his face contort in pain. "Give my… spatial ring… to Eolande…"

"Sure."

Lilly had nothing more to say. Their goals had been similar in the end; they just had very different ways of getting there. She wished him all the pain in the world for what he had done, but now that he was no longer a threat, she felt more relief than satisfaction.

Eolanathel looked up to the sky, mumbling some final words. "Shadows hide us… blades arm us… wind… covers us… and… moonlight… guides… us…"

Lilly looked at him with a neutral expression, but tears were falling from her eyes. The mix of grief, frustration, and relief all served to make her feel terribly tired of everything.

The ancient elf breathed his last, falling still on the ground.