Lilith had given her bats the instinctual command of 'get away from Wyatt'. She got to see through all of their eyes and ears what happened to the capital. Yet they couldn't process it. She barely understood that most of the buildings were crumbled and there were people fleeing the capital in every direction. She didn't even recognise Nadia's group.
Lilith's bats floated over to one of the bigger fleeing groups. She reformed in the forest in front of them. Her bats had thankfully avoided reforming in front of other people. Mostly because Lilith didn't want to do that at all rather than it being useful in this specific scenario.
Now that her bats had reformed here it gave her a good chance to think. Her bats might have had the right idea. Flocking to people was instinctive behaviour for most but Lilith thought herself above that. Apparently not. It might give her an opportunity however.
When the group approached her hiding place, Lilith revealed herself from among the trees with Claire following slowly after her. The group immediately stopped upon seeing Lilith wary looks in all of their eyes. Except the one she recognised leading the front.
"Lilith!" Darren and a creature Lilith didn't recognise shouted in unison.
The group was composed of approximately a hundred people with Darren and some sort of dolphin looking creature next to him. It's skin was grey and reflective. It's eyes a complete black void looking like the depths of the ocean. Fins and gills were all over it's body like a real marine creature.
"Come over here quickly and we can share with you what little clothes we have. Do you have any injuries? Someone here has healing magic but I'm not sure if it's bad enough for that. You might have to stick it out until we get to the duchy." Darren said apologetically as the group calmed down. Darren was well-trusted.
Lilith decided to ignore the strange creature next to him for now. It clearly recognised her which was odd. Regardless it wasn't her current priority and if Lilith had to guess it was likely someone she knew who had turned into a creature similar to herself and Wyatt.
Darren swiftly ordered one of the members to get some clothes for Lilith as he eyed the woman behind her suspiciously. For good reason. Claire's clothes were torn and caked in blood. Lilith didn't have any clothes courtesy of Wyatt mincing her to bits along with them. Lilith was too busy escaping to grab clothes.
"Who's this?" Darren asked cautiously. He indicated Claire with his hand while the group members brought over bags and other such storage devices filled with clothes. They would just have to settle for a middling fit.
"This is Claire. She was a scullery maid in the palace. Her class is peculiar and I advise you not to look into it. It is however the reason she is still alive. I am of course the reason she left the palace but she managed to escape Wyatt's men for some time on her own." Lilith explained.
"Claire Tera Mulberry." Claire introduced with the bow of non-hostility.
"Wyatt's men?" Darren asked sounding confused. Lilith thought about it for a moment and realised that they wouldn't have been there. The coup was contained inside the castle. No one would know of it outside and they were likely worried only because of the implementation.
"Oh it appears the general public is not aware. At the time of the impl- corruption Wyatt attempted to murder myself and my sister in service of a coup. He was unsuccessful on both counts but the coup succeeded in it's most minimalist definition. He now holds the throne even if very few would recognise his sovereignty. He has arguably attained an empire of ashes." Lilith explained to the shocked faces of the entire group. Darren and some of the more intelligent members of the group noticed her initial slip up. Thankfully they didn't press her.
"Who does recognise his authority? Do we need to be wary of him attempting to chase you down? Did you even think of that before coming here and possibly endangering the whole group?" Darren scolded sternly. Lilith hadn't thought of that but didn't much care. She thought they were a group of unknown and random people. Even now Lilith would only try to save Zilla and Darren.
"I imagine everyone left in the capital recognises Wyatt's authority. It would be hard not to given his power and appearance now. He has become something akin to a half wolf, half man. Nadia and a large group of nobles likely managed to escape but any that are left will likely follow his lead." Lilith answered. The crowd started to murmur at that and Darren glared at her.
"To continue as I know you will not allow me to simply ignore the question, no I doubt he will chase me down. He will be more focussed on Nadia. Assuming he has the means to track me in the first place." Lilith continued. Darren seemed to ease up at that and nodded. Just because Lilith thought it through and decided it unlikely didn't mean it couldn't happen however.
"Good do you know where you want to end up? The majority of the people here plan on heading to the Neptune Duchy. We doubt it'll be much better than here truthfully. Most are originally from there and some have families in the duchy so we are mainly going to check if they're alright." Darren explained looking back at everyone behind him. Some had anxious grimaces while others had desperate hope in their eyes.
A lot of fear was also directed toward the dolphin that Lilith had been mostly ignoring. They were apparently not comfortable with it. Since it knew her Lilith wanted to ask about it and decided this was the best time.
"I have no right to judge those who have changed during this… event. So I will ask this instead. I assume the… for lack of a better term… dolphin woman knows me. I apologise if you find that offensive and if you have a species designation I am open to hearing it. Regardless you know me and your transformation is not helping me identify you." Lilith explained, rather hesitantly. Having turned into a literal walking corpse she really couldn't judge anyone else.
The empire was often more welcoming of strange cultures and various free communities than most. Lilith was brought up on the idea that everyone was acceptable, if not equal. She did not care much about the sanctity of the dead any more but she didn't much in the first place. She did still care for racial and cultural acceptance however.
A form of penance for the way Lilith prioritised her life above all others. She tried to take the moral high ground in all other situations. She loved her family, abhorred murder of human beings and tried to help as many people as she could. Unless they were test subjects or they had something she wanted. Then that would become more important.
Lilith's morality was ultimately twisted and made no sense. She knew that. This was one of those situations however where her morality actually helped someone and she intended to use it for all it's worth.
Lilith's internal musings had distracted her and yet the dolphin woman still hadn't responded. Eventually after some gentle staring, she let an explanation flow from between her snout. "I'm Odonkin. My status told me. Uvsure of what that is." Lilith recognised the speech pattern however. The mixing of Ns and Vs.
"Zilla?" Lilith asked comfortingly as she smiled at her. It was a deliberate action as with all her body's movements from now on. It was excellent that she had found another who had been turned by the implementation. Wyatt could also count among that category but he was obviously hostile. Zilla was the opposite.
Zilla the Odonkin nodded. Lilith wanted to flash her red eyes or fangs at Zilla to prove they were in the same boat. Unfortunately she didn't know what triggered them. The process didn't appear to be manual but automatic and the trigger was clearly not present.
The claws would be too conspicuous and obviously threatening. She would just have to wait for a one-on-one discussion. Meanwhile however Lilith turned back to Darren. "I do believe we would like to join you. It would be best I inform Douglas as soon as possible. He would likely support myself and my sister. Nadia will also likely be gathering allies of her own." Lilith explained and nodded to Darren.
Soon afterwards Lilith was put into a set of clothes. They were slightly too large but Lilith did not mind given that these were second hand. The journey started soon after. Their conversation had significantly delayed Darren and his group so they wanted to start walking immediately even though it was night.