The next day Lierin wakes in the room that was specially reserved for the Hawkstride family, the room is larger than the one she has back in the palace in Nova, it consists of deep purples and bland greys.
She pulls the drapes open as the early morning light seeps through the window, she walks away from the window and steps in front of a mirror and pauses in front of it. She looks at her bare body for long moments before she notices that the tips of her fingers are beginning to turn a translucent purple.
She lifts her hand in front of her face and attempts to revert them back to normal. They return to normal for a moment before turning purple again, 'Shit, this isn't good.' She thinks inwardly, 'Looks like I don't have much time before I lose control again.'
She takes light steps across the room towards the dresser on one of the walls, she opens it to reveal all sorts of different clothes, from dresses good enough for weddings to worn-out leather pants, but out of all the ornate clothing in this dresser, she grabs the dirtiest and run-down set of clothes in there.
She puts on the set of armour that she wore when she arrived in Kram as it was the only set of fire-resistant clothes she owned. If she was going to lose control of her flames at any minute, she would need clothes that wouldn't burn off her instantly.
As she walked over to the sword her aunt had given her, it began to glow with the same purple runes when she had first acquired it, but this time the runes seem different, they aren't disappearing.
As she notices that the runes aren't disappearing, she sheaths it and walks towards the door, she opened the door to be faced with Anthem with her hand raised in a fist. Lierin hadn't noticed how close they were until she could feel Anthem's uneven breaths blowing across her face, and the scent of jasmine that followed filling her nose.
"Lierin!" Anthem says as she backs up a few steps, her face begins to burn, "I was just about to get you, grandfather says breakfast is ready." Anthem's heart is beating so hard she wouldn't be surprised if Lierin could hear it.
Lierin looks up at Anthem, her cheeks are slightly red as she wasn't expecting to go face to face with Anthem early in the morning, "Yes," she clears her throat, "I was headed there right now." She says, as she thinks to herself, 'That scent is quite pleasant.' She smiles slightly as they both begin to head to the dining hall.
***
As Lierin sits at one of the tables she is instantly greeted by several waiters with various foods, "Guys, look, I don't particularly care that you are here and waiting for me to choose one of the delicious meals you have in your hands, I would rather eat something that I had made myself," she says and looks at the waiters, "but if I am to have something prepared for me, I want it to be off the menu, thanks, but no thanks."
The looks of disbelief crossed all the waiter's faces, even Anthem couldn't help but look at her in shock, "Um, Princess—" before the waiter could say another word Lierin's gaze shot towards him, the only word to describe the look she was giving was, DEATH. The gaze that lingered on him caused sweat to form on his forehead and drip off the end of his nose.
"I don't care who you are, but if you call me Princess again, I will personally rip your head right off your shoulders." She tilts her head slightly, "Do you understand?" All the waiters nod in unison, "Alright, I will get the House Special." She closes the menu book she had in her hands, "Anthem you want anything?"
She quickly looks through the menu and says, "I'll have the fifteen, with beef stock instead of chicken." She closes the menu and sits down next to Lierin, 'Holy Gods, Lierin is terrifying,' she thinks inwardly.
***
After a long and awkward breakfast, Lierin rests her head on a fist and looks at Anthem's features, at first, she hadn't noticed anything particular until Anthem had run a finger through her hair to reveal her neck, Lierin spots subtle marks on her neck, at first glance they could be mistaken for birthmarks, however, with the number of books she had read while growing up she knows that's not the case.
"Hey Anthem?" Lierin tilts her head slightly, "Those marks on your neck, what exactly are they?"
Anthem's movements abruptly stop, and she slowly places her fork back down on the plate and places her hands on the table, she stands and leaves without saying a single word.
After sitting in silence for a few minutes after the shock of being abandoned, a voice sounds in her head, "Sorry for leaving suddenly like that, but I can't tell you about these marks, I am sincerely sorry but I won't be seeing you again..." As the voice of Anthem had stopped transmitting the last few words she had said were filled with sadness, Lierin didn't know whether to laugh or cry as her only friend had just left her.
As she stands from the table, tears begin to fill her eyes, her breathing begins to quicken as her skin begins to glow a bright purple, she erupts into an inferno of purple flames as the tears she cried evaporated immediately.
***
Lierin walks out of the dining hall, leaving the ground scorched behind her. As she walked into the reception area, a sprinkler system begins to shower her with magic-infused water, the raging purple inferno surrounding her is snuffed out in seconds.
'Thank the gods for the water,' she thinks to herself, her eyes now red from tearless crying.
She walks towards the exit as the tears that were once being removed as fast as they could form now flow down her expressionless face.
As she left the Dirty Mind Hotel she made a beeline for the city gates, she walked alone for a while until she noticed a woman walking beside her, for how long? She wouldn't know.
"What do you want?" She asks indifferently, she looks to her side as her eyes widen in response to what she had just said, and to whom she said it to.
"Is that any way to speak to your mother?" Katrina says while walking beside her.
"Sorry, Mum, I've just had a rough day so far," Lierin replies as sadness flashes in her eyes as she remembers why.
"Why? What happened?" Katrina asks.
Lierin stops in her tracks and explains what has transpired in the last few days, from meeting Anthem to losing control.
"Mhmm, I can see why you've had it rough for the past hour or so." Katrina says with a smile, "So why don't you go and see this friend of yours? She seems to like you."
"I better not," Lierin replies, "she had said she didn't want anything to do with me. So, I'm doing the next best thing and heading home, maybe adventure will find me there." Lierin's eyes light up at the thought of finding something to do with her life, but that light only lasted a moment as the memory of being abandoned by her only friend was still fresh in her mind.
Katrina notices the light in her eyes appear and disappear just as fast, "Alright, just remember I found adventure even when I wasn't looking for it, just because you're chasing it doesn't mean you'll find it." Katrina lets the words hang in the air; Lierin looks over to where her mother was to find she isn't there.
If Katrina hadn't of talked to her and heard a response, she would have thought she wasn't there to begin with, but with a quick glance around the citizens of Kram look as confused as her when she caught a glimpse of their faces as they looked in her direction.
Her mother had just disappeared into thin air, must be some sort of skill she learnt when she gained full control of her Goddess form.
She shook the thought out of her head as fast as it appeared, she continued her way through the town, with some difficulty, to the main gate.
***
An hour passed before Lierin managed to arrive at the Main Gate, as Lierin approached the gate, she saw her sister lightly jogging towards her.
Before Lildoris saw Lierin she was doing a routine check on the winch system for the drawbridge and as she turned to check the other winch when she saw Lierin walking up slowly with her eyes rubbed raw.
She dropped what she was doing and started to jog towards her.
Lildoris approached Lierin, she stopped in front of her sister and placed a hand under her jaw and lifted her head to face her own. She looked at her with complicated eyes before saying, "What's wrong with you?"
Lierin took a few minutes before looking Lildoris in the eyes and replying to her question and when she did nothing but tears ended up flowing down her face.
Though Lildoris knew her sister quite well, it didn't necessarily know she knew what she was thinking all the time, however this time Lildoris had a strong feeling she knew what was going on.
Before eventually asking Lierin the same question, Lildoris wrapped her arms around Lierin, Lierin's eyes widen as she wasn't expecting Lildoris to do such a thing in the middle of the street where everyone and their mothers could see them.
Even if she couldn't get a straight answer out of Lierin, she would except anything she would tell her, though it wasn't until what felt like an eternity in Lildoris' arms did Lierin calm down enough to tell her sister what was making her feel so down.
"I made and lost a friend within twenty-four hours." Lierin said through tears that still flowed down her beautiful face, "Though it wasn't like we were friends in the first place, I had only just met the woman anyway."
"Aww, sweetheart it's alright it's not like you're not going to see her ever again, is it?" Lildoris replies as her eyes soften into love for her sister.
"Sweetheart? Do not call me that again, Lil, or are you trying to pick a fight with me?" Lierin remarks as she steps out of Lildoris' hug and looks at her to see a devilish smile in her face as if she was planning for her to have this kind of outburst, "You." Lierin points a finger at her, "You wanted this."
Lildoris only shrugs before saying, "Whatever could you mean, I was only consoling you, don't need to get all defensive over it."
"You know exactly what you were doing when you said it." Lierin shouts as her eyes deepen in colour.
"Alright, you were right, I did it on purpose to get a reaction out of you." Lildoris closes her eyes and smiles wide, as if she was the happiest person on the planet.
Lierin rolls her eyes as Lildoris exposes her canines, they're as white as pearls, she then looks past her to see Heia strapped to a post and looking in their direction, Lierin moves past Lildoris and walks over to Heia and unstraps her reins and mounts her, though Lierin didn't say a word Heia still knew where she was headed as the horse runs off at lightning speed leaving a trail of dust behind her.
As Lildoris comes too she notices Lierin had slipped away when she wasn't paying attention, she turned around to see that Lierin's and her horse has disappeared, as she goes to turn around and continue with her duties a piece of paper catches her attention as she grabs it from the air.
'Sorry I didn't say goodbye, though I know you don't like goodbyes as much as I do so I left when you were gloating like an idiot. So, I'll see you round.'
As Lildoris finished reading the note is burst into flames and as it falls it turns to ashes. She looks off into the distance and couldn't help but smile as she shakes her head in amazement.