The moon was high above the sky and the air was getting chillier by the minute.
Lily pulled her cloak snugly around the body to keep herself from getting cold. Occasionally, she could hear varied nocturnal animal sounds, but she didn't care.
All she cared about was completing her mission. Unfortunately, it was an ungodly hour, a few minutes after midnight and Lily's eyes were already drooping.
But that did not stop the young princess. She refused to give up her quest.
She knew that she needed to finish it as soon as she can. The rose's blossom might not last that long.
Despite her drowsiness and exhaustion, Lily kept on trudging through the maze of thorns.
Weiss was kind enough to give her the right direction to reach the labyrinth's core.
Although she had her doubts, Lily was quite thankful that the rabbit did not deceive her in her way to the labyrinth's core.
Her strength had returned when she made a turn around the corner and found herself at the a huge chasm laced with huge thorns.
At the center, she found the main root and body of the rose.
"Queer!" Lily exclaimed. Her drowsiness and exhaustion seemed to have vanished at her discovery.
"Honestly, I don't think I could call this a bush. The whole thing is as huge as a century old tree!"
Lily inspected the trunk which was more than four meters in circumference. Some of the huge branches had dried up and turned brown.
"Now, I know why Weiss had said that it is dying." She muttered as she felt the trunk with her hand.
She could feel such small amount of mana coming from the said plant.
Fetching her spell book and one of the vials from her satchel, Lily got to work.
With the fluid from the vial, Lily had drawn a pentagram around the trunk. She offered few precious gems as catalysts to aid her spell.
Singing the incantation, she placed her hands on the trunk and began channeling her mana towards the rose.
The pentagram emit a spectrum of colors in response. Ribbons of multi-colored light came from the stones to augment Lily's spell.
As she let the plant absorb her mana, Lily could feel her own body getting weak. At the same time, she could see the plant had started to move.
Gradually, the sprouts had emerged. As Lily continued feeding it with her own mana, the leaves began to form.
Lily's eyes popped with fascination. "Those leaves were glittering like emeralds!"
However, as soon as buds appear from some of the sprigs, the mana seemed to have been cut off from the plant and the buds whither.
Lily stopped her channeling and wondered what was wrong.
She knew that she had done the same process as Hazel had, so it was a bit puzzling why the plant reacted the way.
That was the time when Lily felt her hair rise.
"Danger closing in." she barely whisper as got ready to defend herself.
Out of nowhere, a gigantic toad came jumping in. Every time it moves, the earth would shake and dried branches and thorns would fall to the ground.
Recalling what Weisss had said, Lily tried to get the moonstones that could get rid of the creature.
'Use these stones to vanquish the creature. These moonstones are filled with enough magic that could kill such vile being. You need to make sure that these stones get devoured by that creature.'
"How in the world would I get these into the toad's mouth?" she muttered in distress.
Just then Lily felt something sticky and wet slap her across her face. She stumbled on the ground but she managed to get up.
"Eww! Toad's saliva!" she wiped the wet stuff away in disgust.
Just then the toad jumped towards the girl and let its huge tongue out. Lily was able to avoid its attack this time.
With sheer determination to finish her task, Lily willed the moonstones to turn into bugs. As the stones changed form, Lily made them flew towards the toad in offense.
The toad, seeing the bugs, swiped them with its tongue and gobbled them up. It made its way towards Lily to make another attack.
Halfway through, the toad began to act funny. Its belly bulged in different places and it gave an unusual rumble.
All of the sudden, the toad threw up. But instead of its meal, it threw up a huge amount of glob of flesh before it disintegrated into nothingness.
With the nuisance gone, Lily was able to perform the needed ritual.
Despite her depleted mana. Lily was able to revitalize the rose. Its emerald leaves shone through the darkness and its silver buds began to open.
The task was done and Lily had suffered some consequences. Dizziness assaulted her and fatigue had overwhelmed her tiny frame.
But despite the odds against her, Lily returned to where Weiss was.
Before she could reach the rabbit, her knees gave way and darkness had invaded her vision.
A few hours later, Lily woke up with a start. Her head throbbed with her sudden movement.
But after a few more minutes of closing her eyes and meditating, Lily was finally able to make sense of her surroundings.
She seemed to be inside a cave of some sort with a few thorns lining the walls.
Getting up, she had noticed that the cot she had been resting on was made up of heather and sprigs of lavender.
"Finally, you are awake." Weiss appeared by the opening. He had a tray of steaming stew in hand. "You have been out for over a day."
"Did I succeed?" the girl asked as Weiss laid down her food.
"You better eat your meal first then see for yourself the fruits of your sacrifice." The rabbit cryptically said.
After finishing her food, Weiss took Lily to the labyrinth. The girl was filled with wonder as countless blooms filled the once barren thorny plant.
"You have certainly kept your end of the bargain." Weiss began. "It is time for me to keep mine. After all, a deal is a deal."
Weiss carefully pluck a silver bud. Then enclosing the bud with both his hand, Lily watched as the bud disappeared from sight.
As Weiss slowly opened his palms, a resin formed and encased the rose inside.
"This rose can still be used even for a week's time. I had to preserve it to retain its freshness and potency. Use it properly, Lily." He said as he handed the preserved ingredient to the girl.
"I will!"
The rabbit nodded and gave her a cheeky smile.
"It is time for you to go. You still need to find your other ingredients."
With a twitch of his whiskers, Lily found herself outside the labyrinth of thorns.
Although, the blooms were abundant inside the labyrinth still at the top of the mountain, the lone rose stood.
"Strange." Lily mumbled as she took note of the unchanged landscape. "Maybe I only got to fill the inner part of the rose and the outer part was left out."
Shrugging off, she went to her next adventure.