Weightlessness.
This was the only thing Lilly could feel right now.
No. That wasn't true.
Hopelessness slowly mixed into it.
She had been falling for a few seconds now. Constantly trying to animate the surrounding plants. Her mana had already dried up, but she still didn't stop.
She knew she had to do something. She didn't want to die. How could her brother ever live without her?
Iain had to be very worried right now. Lilly hoped he wouldn't do anything stupid.
Please don't try to jump after me.
A desperate smile escaped her mouth as tears started to well up in her eyes.
Next to her a young girl screamed. It was the young rebel.
Lilly didn't regret trying to safe her. She was only sorry that she pushed the both of them into the abyss.
What seemed like a long time to Lilly was only a few seconds in reality. The young woman couldn't tell how far she had been falling. Rock walls shot past at the edge of her observation range. Despite the occasional vegetation the wall always looked the same to Lilly.
The rebel girl had stopped screaming. She might have instinctively felt that the floor was getting closer. Maybe she had accepted death. Or she might have fallen unconscious. This would probably be the best outcome.
As Lilly's thoughts continued to race, the young woman also felt that falling unconscious now would be a blessing.
After all, who could guarantee that the moment of death wouldn't bring unimaginable pain. If Lilly was lucky, it might be over quickly. Maybe her body wouldn't even recognize the pain.
Morbid thoughts overwhelmed Lilly's mind. Tears welled in her eyes as the young woman began to miss her family.
Suddenly a blurry silhouette appeared in Lilly's SMT's range. The young woman was startled as a flying beast appeared from below her. It raced past the falling bodies before abruptly coming to a stop.
As Lilly continued descending, the beast left her vision after only a moment.
The young woman was ready to put this at the back of her mind. Until a second later the flying beast appeared again. This time the beast had turned around. To Lilly's shock it was constantly catching up to her.
Since the beast's speed was almost in sink with Lilly's, the young woman now got a good look at it.
Her attention was instantly drawn in by the beautiful wings behind the beast. They resembled a butterfly's, but each wing was at least one on two meters. Since Lilly could only see in black and white, she couldn't tell which colors adorned the fragile looking wings. But she recognized that they were dominated by black and white too.
The same was true for the beast's body. It was covered in smooth looking black fur with some white spots mixed in. The sharp tips of her feetless legs stood out with their white jags.
A streamlined, over two meters high body followed on those legs. It supported two long arms ending in humanoid hands and an elongated head.
Its face had very little fur, exposing two thin lips, a small pointy nose and big, round eyes.
As Lilly observed the beast, she couldn't find any malice in those clear eyes. Only a mix of confusion and panic radiated from them.
The young woman soon mirrored the beast's feeling, as she watched it quickly coming nearer.
The beast held out its arms, reaching for the falling women.
Suddenly Lilly felt a strong grip embrace her right hand. Shock appeared in her eyes as she realized that the beast tried to help them.
A small shudder rocked the butterfly's frail body. It tried to slow down the two women's fall but miscalculated the impact of their weight at first. It swayed for a moment before stabilizing its flight.
Next it gathered all its strength. Its inborn ability to fly might not be as strong as a bird-type beast, but she was still a rank three beast.
Lilly was amazed. Until now she had never seen a beast friendly to humans. Although she was taught that beasts could have intelligence, this butterfly was the first one which seemingly didn't lose out to humans.
Slowly the young redhead felt her momentum decreasing. The beast looked strained, but it managed to stabilize their flight. Soon they were calmly gliding towards the ground. Lilly was in disbelief. Despite imagining so many scenarios this one wasn't among them.
For whatever reason the butterfly did its best to safely guide the falling women towards the ground. Lilly was surprised as it still took a minute until she finally felt the floor beneath her feet.
She was still slightly wary since she didn't know the beast's goal. However, as the butterfly carefully laid the unconscious rebel girl down, Lilly's stance softened.
"Thank you for saving us!"
A light smile formed on the butterfly's mouth. Lilly's eyes widened in surprise as a young, girlish voice suddenly sounded directly in her head.
"You're welcome."
Not feeling any malice, Lilly decided to treat her savior like she would anyone else.
"I'm Lilly by the way. Do you have a name?"
"Name, name. I'm Mihva!"
"Great. What a beautiful name. Can I ask you why you saved us?"
"Beautiful, beautiful!", exclaimed the beasts as she suddenly began gliding, dancing in circles around Lilly.
"I felt 'life'-mana. Mihva thought mother was searching for her."
So she felt my mana…
"But… why aren't you hostile towards us? You don't know us?"
"Know, know. I snuck out but stupid beasts kept attacking me. I had to fly high to escape. But you are different. Mihva feels very close towards you!"
Observing the happily dancing butterfly girl, Lilly didn't know what to make of the situation. Her mind was still slightly in shock, seemingly slowing her thoughts.
After the short conversation she finally remembered that she was still in danger.
Her surroundings slowly became clearer to her. The first thing she noticed was the unbearable cold. It crept into her bones, continually trying to freeze her body. The Frozen Hell close to the surface felt like a warm bath in comparison.
Lilly knew she needed to find something to her warm very soon. Even with her cold resistance she wouldn't survive here for long. She really only jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire. Only that the fire was an unbearably freezing death trap.
Sorting her priorities, Lilly analyzed her immediate surroundings. She once again found herself in a tunnel system.
Compared to the previous ones however, this one was way more spacious. The ceiling and walls were high enough to just barely stay withing Lilly's vision. The floor was also different. It was going straight instead of descending. The only thing which never seemed to change were the patches of ice veins which always hid small beasts.
After realizing that only one way led out of this dead end, Lilly turned towards the unconscious rebel girl.
The butterfly stopped its dance and looked at Lilly with its big eyes as the young woman began moving. She watched her gently take the rebel girl's head and seemingly contemplating something.
"Lilly, Lilly. What are you doing?"
Already used to the additional voice in her head, Lilly wasn't shocked. She calmly explained:
"I need to gently wake her up. We need to move on. But after such a long unconsciousness, it is questionable if she would be fine. If only my healing magic were better, it wouldn't be a gamble to wake her up."
"Healing, healing. I'm not good at healing but aunty Loiava is the best healer ever!"
"Would she help us?"
"Help, help. Why wouldn't she?"
"I… you know, you're right."
The butterfly beast was slightly confused. Lilly could tell that it didn't have much experience. Now she was interested in the place where the beast grew up. She did admit to sneaking out after all.
"But if we find your aunty this girl would only stay unconscious for an even longer time. The danger would only accumulate. At the same time, we would need to carry her. This gamble is only worth it if your auntie's healing magic is good enough."
"Gamble, gamble.", the butterfly beast giggle slightly upon learning a new word.
"Gamble, gamble. Auntie's healing is very very strong! She is at rank seven!"
Lilly's head turned towards the butterfly beast, shock apparent in her eyes. The young woman didn't even know which human rank corresponded to a rank seven beast, but it would be a warrior between level 60 and 70. This would be stronger than a grandmaster.
While the butterfly beast felt proud as she understood Lilly's reaction, the young woman had to weigh her options once again. She didn't know if she could face such a strong beast.
It would strongly depend on the answer to her next question:
"Mihva. Do you know of something that could prevent me from freezing to death? Maybe some easy to kill beast's fur or there should also exist some special tree sap? Something along those lines?"
"Freeze, freeze. Mihva never freezes at home. Mom always said the outside is dark and cold, but I never understood it. That's why I was curious. At home it is beautiful and warm."
It felt like the young butterfly played a game to see what would shock Lilly the most. Now she even proclaimed that her home wasn't affected by the Frozen Hell?
"Are you saying that the place you came from is warm and bright?"
"Warm, warm, bright, bright, yes, yes!"
"And you don't come from the surface?"
Confused eyes looked back at Lilly:
"What is surface?"
Lilly shook her head. After a deep breath she resolutely decided:
"Ok Mihva. Lead us to your home please."