Lucy Wickshire 191 Chapter twenty-two 12

Back in the Lucen mountains, Lucy was being led by Matriarch Lilac down a wide winding stairs. It was a path carved out from the mountain, leading down from under the nunnery to what seemed like the heart of the mountain. Lanterns lit the way as the two moved silently. They only stopped when they both stood before an ten foot guava wood door. Matriarch Lilac pushed it open to reveal a large circular hall. Lucy walked in after her, her steps echoing from the stone floors across the wide room. The room was brightly lit, one would not be able tell they were so deep into the mountain.

At the middle of the hall stood a statue carved from the largest topaz Lucy had ever seen.

"Topaz?" Lucy asked.

"It is not as you think. This was here before the nunnery ever stood." Matriarch Lilac explained. Lucy approached the statue to have a better look. The light from the torches reflected off it's mirror-like finish, revealing the shape of the statue. A woman's form was revealed to Lucy's eyes. The woman's body looked completely normal; her form wrapped in a draping dress, but some parts were odd. Her arms looked to hold up the hall's ceiling as her fingers broke out into what seemed like tree branches. Her hair was no hair. It instead flowed upwards into leafless tree branches like her fingers, spreading out all over the ceiling. Her flowing dress carved out into roots, spreading out on the floor around the statue.

"What is it?" Lucy asked.

"No. Who is it?" Matriarch Lilac corrected.

Lucy could not take her eyes off the statue. She noticed that the statue's eyes seemed to follow her as she moved.

"You react quite well. Many cannot stand her forever staring eyes." Matriarch Lilac complimented.

"Who is she?" Lucy asked.

"This is Lilian Vaine, the first Lady Thraine." Lucy was shocked by that answer.

"You speak as though she is real." Lucy frowned.

"This is her." Matriarch Lilac explained.

"I see." Lucy's shock faded. She finally understood Matriarch Lilac's meaning.

"you understand?" Matriarch Lilac raised a brow.

"I already knew you had all the ingredients to open a path to the other realms, except the quarter bloom tree and the heart of The Unending Sea that I completed for you. Of all the immortal bodies I had thought you had come into possession of, the body of Lilian Vaine was not on the list." Lucy said.

"Discovering this body made me think of the possibility of crossing realms. It triggered my search for the other ingredients needed to make the portal." Matriarch Lilac explained.

"What I do not understand is, you never said Lilian Vaine was accomplished in the arts and cultivation of the being. How can an ordinary person have an immortal body?" Lucy asked.

"She was given. History tells us she lived for three hundred years, but not many know that the general king had gifted her with three immortal bodies. She died at three hundred, that means she never got the chance to use the last body. You are looking at it." Matriarch Lilac explained.

"Lilian Vaine. She held too many secrets." Lucy said, "How far did she rise in the realms?"

"Rumour has it, she was about to step into the higher realms before her death. She spent too long in the middle realms."

"Yes, a little too long. You had said she rose to the middle realms a little too quickly. That means she spent at least a little over two hundred years in the middle realms. Why?" Lucy asked.

"No one can actually say. It is known that a Thraine ought to be provoked before she moves. The higher realms must have never been in her sight." Matriarch Lilac guessed.

"Yet when she died, she returned all of her bloodline to this little world? No. Something made her stop at the middle realms. Something high up in the higher realms." Lucy said.

"I assume it could be seen as so." Matriarch Lilac said.

"In any case, it matters not. I only wish to reach my goal." Lucy said and turned away.

"I have prepared a comfortable transport for your long journey. You will be very pleased." Matriarch Lilac said to Lucy's leaving form.

"Then allow me to thank you in advance." Lucy continued to leave. This made Matriarch Lilac smile. She had brought her here to show her how the portal works. But, it seems it is as Lady Wickshire had said; she is not interested in the details, she only wishes to use it at will.

Chapter end