Lily, one peculiar day at Radz-at-Han would suddenly find herself tasked with the responsibility of outlining the drafts of an interesting piece of technology - a warding scale that would keep those traversing the void from sucummbing to the harsh aetheric corruption enshrouding the Thirteenth following Y'Shtola Rhul's blind experiment at the newly-created voidgate. As the Warrior of Light and his companions required a means of protection from the mysterious influence of the void, she would be presented with a dragon's scale generously provided to her from one of her Thavnairian peers to begin creating a prototype.
Toiling away through four days, and four restless nights, her peers would forge the first prototype warding scales fit to protect it's bearer. It would be time to put the fruits of their labor to the test. Lily, and another trusted colleague, Daisy, would visit the voidgate to give their newfound prototype it's first field test. Off to the voidgate's sealed chamber she, Daisy, and other Thavnairian chirurgeons and knights marched to.
"I would like you to come with me, Daisy. Safety in numbers, right?" Lily snickered towards her companion as the two stood before the temporarily-opened voidgate.
"Certainly. You're always finding yourself in so much trouble and I'd be a fool to let you go in there all by your lonesome. Our objective is clear, yes? We go in, verify the effectiveness of the prototype, and leave; We will not stay longer than we need to." Daisy insisted.
With formalities out of the way, one of the knights would hand Lily her Manatrigger.
"Use those rounds sparingly." the knight firmly urged her. "In and out - got it?"
"I've heard you both the first time...! Were this gate just a little bigger, I'd reckon you lot could come with us. Alas, Miss Y'Shtola requires more time to research expanding it, there's only enough scales for two dashing Lalafell here, and you're certainly not one of them." Lily would playfully retort with a wink. "Back in just a spell."
The excitement of seeing the other side of the portal filled both Lily and Daisy with a uncanny feeling of dread, and excitement all the same, for they would be amongst the first to lay eyes upon a world seldom described in detail by anyone amongst their numbers, or Etheirys for that matter. With the prototype scales around Daisy and Lily's necks, they would take a deep breath before traversing the portal hand-in-hand with one another. What they saw beyond the rift they could hardly find pleasant words to describe.
A land eradicated of life, buildings that once stood tall toppled over in it's own rubble, a lifeless sky, and a chilling howl coursing through the air. Not nary a living soul before them.
"I... I would never believe in all my years in this field... I would lay my eyes upon a place so lonely... so desolate..." Lily said with a coldness in her tone.
"It's harsh. It's as if people once lived here." Daisy added. "Did the Flood of Darkness really do all of this?"
"We don't know the whole picture, really." Lily shuddered, an nervousness detectable in her tone of voice. "How are you feeling though - how is your warding scale?"
The prototype scale resting upon Daisy's bosom continued to maintain it's shining luster upon it's core.
"It looks okay, as does yours." Daisy said with a forced smile.
"Wonderful - great preliminary start, I'd say!", Lily would smile back at Daisy in a unspoken effort to quell her uneasiness, before walking further off from the portal they hailed from.
"Where are you going?" Daisy exclaimed. "What happened to 'in-and-out'?"
"You visit an otherworldly place that none of your peers have ever set foot in and you want to leave?", Lily snickered. "The scales are doing their job; Let's just look around for a little bit. Surely we can bring something useful back to study so Miss Y'Shtola isn't hoarding all of the work. That... harlot." Lily sneered in disdain."She would have your rear if she heard you call her that..." Daisy chuckled.
"And I trust you'll keep that a secret! Leave some work and research for the rest of us, why don't you? C'mon, there's work to be done, dear Daisy!" Lily laughed and proceeded to venture forth.
The two would continue their foray deeper into the unknown land, taking in the desolate sights of the Thirteenth, collecting samples of the dead soil and plant life that littered the land.
Ere long, some time had passed. The two would fill their phials and containers of just enough samples to bring back home. Lily would fill her final phial and carefully rest it inside Daisy's large backpack.
"That should be enough." Lily confirmed with a gentle smile towards Daisy. "One sec' Daisy, let me make sure your pack is all closed up."
Daisy, getting increasingly nerve-wracked about the two Lalafell alchemists overstaying their visit, kept her sights on the distant voidgate from which they came.
"Today, preferably...", Daisy sighed.
"I know, I know...", Lily retorted.Carelessly setting her Manatrigger aside on the ground floor beside them, Lily would continue tightening up the samples in the backpack.
"There you are. Payload secured. Now, let us leave this unholy—", Lily outed before amidst the silence, a blast of concentrated darkness shot towards the two, the impact sending the two women off their feet and tumbling violently across the field. Writhing in pain, unawares of what had struck them, Lily looked around her surroundings slowly regaining her composure to find Daisy thrown across the field, motionless, unconscious.
"D-Daisy!! Lily yelped before she would attempt to get up, unknowingly learning that upon her violent impact, she had broken her left arm.
"F-Fuck...!" Lily shrieked in pain, picking herself up to quickly grab her grounded Manatrigger. From a distance, a shadowy figure floating a distance from her let loose a feral screech. A voidsent had caught the scent of both Lily and Daisy aether and was quickly closing the distance between the two. Lily rushed to Daisy's aid, rolling Daisy on her side only to make the terrifying discovery that the impact had shattered Daisy's own warding scale. Her blood vessels beneath her skin would slowly glisten an unsettling purple, slowly encompassing her body and creeping towards her neck.
"Your scale! Shit, no, no, no.. Daisy, hold on!!" Lily panicked, before struggling to take her own scale off to wrap around Daisy's neck. Her dearest friend had begun to succumb to the unknown atmosphere of the Thirteenth; Daisy had slowly begun starting to turn voidsent.
With Lily's scale now upon Daisy's chest, she unsheathed her Manatrigger and aimed towards the floating figure closing in on them, firing multiple magicked shots to buy her more time, struggling to properly aim the weapon."What.. ARE you!?" Lily said, fear-stricken.With each fire, a violent shriek emerged from the creature before the figure fled in what seemed like it sustained an injury. The Manatrigger made a distinct click; Lily would run out of rounds, and not have the means to reload it with her critically-injured arm in preparation for another attack. Tossing the empty Manatrigger aside, she grabbed Daisy by the backpack's handle and begun dragging the two slowly to the voidgate from which they came. Between this panic, Lily's eyesight in her left eye worsened, and begun to feel a weight behind her beginning to slow her down."I'm getting us... out of here. Daisy... stay with me..." Lily struggled to mutter with a otherworldly duality in her voice.For what seemed like an eternity, she dragged Daisy and herself towards the voidgate and both of them out of the treacherous rift.
The two now free from the other side, Lily stumbled out of the portal with her friend in stow behind her, only one of the two with a scale around their neck."... By the Twelve!", a Knight exclaimed, as he and his companions took in the sight of the two injured Lalafell. "Lillith!?""Help her, please...", Lily would struggle to say before collapsing aside her companion. She lost consciousness aside her friend. The markings and ominous glow that threatened Daisy's wellbeing had subsided with the aid of the warding scale, but Lily's exertion and lengthy exposure to the Thirteenth's atmosphere had already begun to take it's toll on her.The natural brown hair that rested atop her head had turned an ill-shade of purple, Lily's left eye had transformed from the gorgeous shade of green to a sickly magenta, and upon her lower back an unusual extension grew: a scaly, beastly tail with a frightenedly sharp tip now attached to her. With the darkness overtaking her unconscious mind, a voice called out to her."Ap..hra..."