I was born a monster, and I will always be a monster. Lillyheart had come to her senses after many hours of darkness. How long have I been asleep? She thinks to herself as she grunts, peeling herself away from her broken tree trunk saviour. Gasping and wincing in pain she stumbles through the shallows and towards the shore. Collapsing onto shoreline the soft sand embraces and cushions her old bones. After a few minutes of panting and breathing she feels the cool water gently tugging and playing with her arthritic toes. Black lips twist up into a sickly smile, “Huh, even death is afraid to take me.” She chuckles softly to herself and she starts to lick and groam the dirt out of between her front white paws.

Her fur is matted and muddy, but other than that, she’s escaped her ride down the river relatively unharmed. She spends hours trying to make herself presentable, but of course there’s areas that she cannot reach anymore. Where is that useless son of mine? She grunts and growls to herself. Eerie orange eyes scan the area in her immediate vicinity. “Is this Judila?” Lillyheart asks herself, though something deep down already knows the answer. With immense effort, she lifts her light frame back onto stiff and wobbly legs. “I am not long for this world,” she sighs, though she longs for eternal rest.

Looking down into the river flowing beside her in a lazy rhythm, she blinks bleary eyed. “Mother?” She grins down at her own reflection. Moving her nose closer to the dancing water to peers into the shallows, searching for more faces that she knows are long gone. “Jaidah …. Castor. I promise you, it won’t be long before I … am with you again.” Standing up straight she points her pink nose towards the coastline. “Litherum,” she almost hissed the name. The coastline was a good place to look for answers, and shouldn’t be too far from here.

Curse these old bones. The journey had been long, painful and endlessly frustrating. Moladion had recovered from the day of burning skies, but the land still bore the scars from that day. Being alone, Lillyheart had too much quiet time to get lost in the dark depths of her mind. Casually she strolled past the faint border line of the new coastal pack. Instantly she’s drawn to some sea creature that has washed up on the sand. Barking to scare the birds away she gorges greedily on the meat and blubber. She feels life returning to her blood as her old heart circulates it around her decaying body. It’s not long before she has had her fill, and she nearly vomits. It’s been decades since she had eaten something this rich and her old belly can barely process it.

Lying down on the beach she uses the half eaten seal as a pillow. She scratches behind her ear lazily before she casts her nose to the sky. Her howl is low, eerie, and clearly a sound from the distant past. Silence descends again and Lillyheart is content to listen to the sea waves lapping towards her. “Care to join me?” She will greet any vagrant wanderer with clouded eyes and a broken smile. A part of her liked the anonymity the underground had offered her, but a deeper part longed for idle chatter. Part of her is very curious to know what became of her blood family and her adopted family. She sneezes and grins. Knowing Tobias, if he had survived, he would have forged a legacy for himself in blood and darkness.