Lily looked at the witches as they disappeared into the woods and before they could completely fade out of sight, she whispered something under her breath. What followed were sights of the other two witches being unable to speak and being swallowed whole in the ground. The blonde witch stared fearfully and went into hiding knowing very well what had just happened.
With that out of the way, Lily walked along ignoring Leo who still standing beside her looking around into the woods. It was already dark and so they had to be vigilant. Leo noticed Lily walking away and could not help but sigh.
"You are welcome," Leo projected his voice at Lily who was slowly walking away without a particular place that she was heading to. She stopped and looked around as though she was in search of something.
"I had everything under control," Lily replied still not looking at Leo. Leo sighed once more after hearing what Lily had just said, "yeah I could see that," Leo replied in a sarcastic tone. "Oh I'm so grateful you save me once again, my strong knight!" Lily uttered in a weak dramatic voice that sounded even more sarcastic than Leo's reply.
"What are you even doing here anyway because I'm pretty sure that you are aware of what they say about this side of the forest." Leo spoke shifting his expression to a more serious one. He looked at Lily who was acting as if she was very at ease and as if she had not been attacked by witches just a few moments ago.
Lily, finally giving a sigh of retreat, turned around and faced Leo, " honestly I'm grateful that you showed up in time before those witches could steal away my mom's pendant." She paused and continued, her expression getting even more serious, "you know how much that pendant mean to me."
Leo looked at her and nodded in agreement.
Lily studied Leo's response and took note that Leo was just very concerned. She then turned around and again resumed her search for something that Leo did not quite understand what it was.
Lily however stopped when she heard Leo's voice once more, "Lily," Leo called out to her and Lily turned around with a blank look on her face. " Are you alright? Did you get hurt?" Leo followed one question with the other, with his look as concerned as ever.
"I'm okay," Lily gave a short answer and a little suppressed smile. She then saw the look of relief on Leo's face. She kept asking herself why he was that concerned of her. At the same time she thought that he was a genuine person.
"You can just be on your way. I'm grateful for your help earlier, I'll be careful." Lily directed to Leo who was still standing there looking at her. Leo immediately changed his expression after what Lily had just said.
"First of all, you haven't told me what you are doing here all by yourself, secondly you haven't mentioned why you are looking for a magical bridge. So tell me, are you just taking a stroll in the woods like you normally do?" Leo uttered waiting for Lily's response.
"You just won't let me be until you get an answer, won't you?" Lily asked, thinking that Leo was just being very stubborn. And to prove her right, Leo responded with a solid face, "yup that's right." He shifted himself completely to face her, "I'm waiting."
Lily upon noticing how relentless Leo was, she had no choice but to give him an answer. "I have to to find a cure for my grandmother, she is under a very strong spell and if I don't get back on time she just might be in grave danger." Lily spoke in a solemn tone.
"Then we must rest for the night and continue tomorrow. It is already dark and moving ahead might draw a lot of unnecessary attention and get us in trouble with whatever is in these woods," Leo spoke with a serious expression.
In his head ran numerous questions. He wondered who it was that might attack Lily or want to harm her family. Was this perhaps an enemy of his? Or did this enemy in question by any chance happen to spot the two of them together and assume that by attacking Lily they would get to him easily?
These questions rang through Leo's mind the whole time. He was then snapped back by Lily's voice, " well we won't be able to start a fire without wood." Leo and Lily began searching around for wood they could use for a fire since it was almost freezing.
After a few minutes, they had not gotten any firewood just yet. " I guess we are out of luck with finding any dry firewood in here," Lily remarked, pushing a few branches that were blocking her face out of the way.
"I don't think that is going to be a problem," Leo answered looking at his atheme. Lily shrugged her shoulders wondering why Leo had not thought of that all that while. Leo went ahead and fetched a few branches that he had manually broken down, so these branches were not dry at all.
He then walked around searching with his eye and finally spotted a clear place," we will camp here for the night." He then pilled up the wood readying himself to start the fire.
Lily was standing close by with her arms wrapped around herself. Leo noticed and was sure that Lily was now getting cold since it had gotten so chilly and the breeze in the forest was very cold already.
Leo readied himself and took out his athame and immediately began charging his energy to it. Lily who was next to him keenly looked at him. She then saw the slight glow on the stone that was built in the handle.
She kept staring at it and slowly got alerted. She saw the close resemblance of the stone to a memory she had but she could not quite place it no matter how hard she attempted to.
"Have you tried this before?" Lily rose her eyes to Leo who was looking as though he was hesitant. He didn't look at Lily and once again focused his energy and the athame started glowing again. Then finally looking as though he was getting a hang of it, he chuckled and turned to Lily, "there's a first time for everything."
'What', Lily exclaimed silently in her thoughts. She wondered how a whole guardian could not start a simple fire and yet he owned a weapon that shot flames right out of it.
"See? Told you we'd have a fire," Leo turned to Lily enthusiastically. He had managed to direct the energy that he fed to the athame straight at the pieces of wood he had assembled for the fire.
The fire burned with a bright yellow flame and it was quite big and strong considering that it was started out of fresh wood that were not at all dry. The fire slowly warmed the surrounding and soon Lily didn't have to rub her shoulders to keep warm.
Within a few minutes, they had already settled around the fire, both sitting on opposite directions. Each and every time they shifted their eyes to the fire as both of them alternately stole glances at each other.
This went on for a while until Lily bagan looking around at nothing in particular. Leo noticed this and chuckled softly. He then directly looked at her, at those eyes as she darted them around.
On the other hand, Lily was still thinking about the scene where Leo had to start a fire and he was hesitant for a moment. She kept wondering why he hesitated. She kept thinking and finally concluded in her head.
'Of course he would be hesitant. Someone like him, a guardian. They only knew how to use their power for destruction and not at all for something as simple as starting a fire' Lily thought to herself as she shifted and stared deep into the fire.
I must hurry and help my grandmother, only that way will I be able to get back to finding that key and closing this once and for all.' Lily continually thought to herself. She kept throwing tiny twigs into the fire and they formed little sparks that rose in the air.
"So did you carry any supplies?" Leo brought back Lily who was already lost in thoughts. " Huh? Supplies?" She asked back in a confused state.
Leo looked at her for a moment and then in the next, burst out with laughter, "you mean to tell me that you are travelling for nights into some magical invisible place and you don't have any supplies?"
Leo brought his face closer towards Lily's direction and continued, " what, so you mean other forest fairies are going to appear and send you magical fairy supplies?" Leo asked mockingly. It was at that point that Lily realized that she had hurriedly left and forgot to carry any food or item she might be in need of while she was looking for her grandmother's cure.
She looked at Leo with realization in her eyes and hints of regret. "Don't look at me, I'm not hunting any animal for you right now," he continued sarcastically. "Will I not be in some kind of trouble with your fellow forest fairies? They might even be watching us right now," Leo said the last statement in a whisper, sending Lily to hastily look around as though she was scared.
Leo laughed again at how fearful Lily was at the moment, "you should see your face," he remarked still laughing. Lily could not help but chuckle softly at how ridiculous Leo sounded. "I can't believe they made you the guardian," she mocked at him.
Leo stopped laughing at once and looked at Lily with a pretentious frown, "you mean a guardian can't just be normal like I am?" They both stared at each other and broke into laughter. Leo then took out his atheme and smiled at Lily, " wanna see something not so interesting?"