The Stories Are All Lies

“Wow, look who the wind brought in. It's Lilith herself,” Tippy smiled broadly on sighting her.

Lilith had a menacing smile on her face. “Yes, it's Queen Lilith herself,” she said, slowly walking closer to Tippy. When she got to his side, she bowed and kissed his cheeks.

“You must have gotten bored waiting for your package,” Tippy murmured, and Lilith nodded.

“I was bored, and couldn't help but wonder what was delaying it,” Lilith replied, that evil smile still on her face.

Tippy sighed and wore his veil. “We have a little situation, but it will be fixed very soon,” he informed her.

“A situation? How does that affect my blood? Come on Tippy, I can sense that you are drifting away from your part of the deal, and that's unacceptable,” Lilith's smile turned into a frown.

“I will never do that, my queen,” Tippy said, taking a deep breath. “The truth is, the sacrificial items ran away,” he confessed and bowed his head in shame.

“Wow, I never knew that was possible. This sacred tradition has been respectfully carried out for centuries, but then it got ruined during your time. So inspiring,” Lilith said, her voice filled with sarcasm.

“You have to help me. I have no one else to turn to. Moreover, it wasn't my fault. I was able to slaughter two of the humans, but their blood was rejected and I ended up drinking it myself,” Tippy said to himself.

“Are you mocking me right now?” Lilith asked, getting offended. “You were supposed to supply me blood, but you failed to do it, yet you dare to tell me how you slaughtered and drank two humans?” Her question sounded like a rhetorical one.

“That wasn't my intention, I was merely explaining what happened to you,” Tippy said, but his voice didn't sound remorseful, meaning he had deliberately said those words to mock her.

“Whatever, why aren't you joining them in the search?” Lilith asked, brushing off Tippy's fake apology.

“I was about to go when you appeared, and since you're here now, please consider helping us…..I mean me,” Tippy retorted.

“Help you?” Lilith looked surprised. “Why should I? This is none of my business, also it's not my job to capture the foreigners,” she replied.

'But it's your job to drink their blood,’ Tippy thought.

“If we are unable to deliver the sacrifice, the demon lord will return to terrorize Willowbrook. You know as much as I do that the whole world will suffer from his impact, and no one will be safe,” Tippy explained.

Lilith kept quiet, carefully thinking about what he had said. “How about looking for new foreigners? I can send out the destructive messenger to draw in more people into this town,” she proposed.

“That would have been an excellent idea, but the demon lord has tasted the blood of one of the ladies, she was slaughtered but reincarnated, so we need her blood to seal the deal,” Tippy informed Lilith who arched her brows in surprise.

“Reincarnated? That has only happened…!” Lilith's eyes widened in shock.

“I know it has only happened once. A foreigner spent a night in Ku Di Jo during the ritual period, and she survived it. I know the story,” Tippy said, cutting Lilith's words short.

“No, you're wrong. That foreigner wasn't slaughtered, she wasn't even an item,” Lilith informed Tippy, who looked confused.

“What does that mean? When has this happened? And why wasn't I informed?” He asked curiously.

Lilith took a deep breath. “In the first years that the sacred ritual began, a young girl was captured, she was meant to serve as the item, but little did we know that she wasn't a foreigner, she was a local, but had a connection with the other worlds. At that time, I was just a little girl, and I couldn't comprehend what was happening, but I heard that when the girl was sacrificed, the dragon goddess awoke, crying out for her daughter,” she explained.

Tippy looked more confused. “But that's impossible, we all know that the dragon goddess' daughter is dead. That's why we are serving the demon lord, if it wasn't for him the goddess would have killed us all,” he stuttered in confusion.

“Exactly, but that day, the dragon goddess had a physical combat with the demon lord, and she won. The demon lord knew if the goddess came back to her senses, we would no longer be under his command, so he cajoled her into believing that the foreigners would come back and kill her reincarnated daughter, this drove the goddess insane, and since then no one has seen or heard about her.

The little girl also vanished, and the demon lord killed all the people who witnessed this, according to him they would know how to bring back their goddess. My life was spared because I was a child,” Lilith paused in her explanation, to make sure that Tippy was listening and digesting her words. “Since that day, we haven't experienced anything like that, but a seer once prophesied that the girl would be back to wake up her mother, the dragon goddess, and her siblings.”

“Her siblings?” Tippy frowned. “Don't tell me they are alive, because if they are, what exactly happened during the goddess children's naming ritual?” He asked.

Lilith burst into laughter. “That's a story for later, for now, let's work on finding the sacrificial items, then I will take the reincarnated girl to the demon for confirmation, and we'll both get rewarded,” she proposed.

Tippy looked confused, he wanted to cure his curiosity, but he knew if Lilith didn't want to talk, there was no need to pressure her. They both set out, hoping to find Anita and the rest.

‘The stories you were told were lies, the dragon was never gone. She has always been in your midst, but you're too busy to notice her.’ The elderly woman murmured under her breath, looking at everything unfolding before her eyes, a menacing smirk was on her lips, and she burst into taunting laughter. “Guess who I am,” she whispered into the air.