This is the post. Same chapter. The broken lines are fixed, and the talk is inside the marks.
Lilith kept to the old path. She had been in the trial for years. Seraphis would have gone back a long time ago. Lilith had already known that. It still sat wrong in her chest while she walked.
Red fog came over the road ahead. She knew what that fog was. The air out here was poisonous enough on its own. But the fog was a more potent poison that would even kill demonic creatures.
She got off the path. The fog moved faster than she did. It took the trees, then the ditch, then the way she had come. She turned and it was already on her, in her mouth and her eyes. There was nowhere left to go that it had not already reached.
Her chest locked. She waited for the burn.
It did not start.
Out past the trees something thrashed. A wet yelp, then a thinner one. She could hear the lungs going. The sound kept on longer than it should have, and then it stopped.
Lilith was still on her feet. She let her breath out after holding it for as long as she could. The fog stayed in her lungs and did nothing. Her throat was whole. Her hands were steady.
The fear took a while to leave. She stayed where she was until the shaking in her legs eased, then walked on through it.
The warded trees were still standing, thicker than she remembered. A stone she knew had split, with moss down the crack. She passed them and did not stop. That was where she had first found Nox. The road past it had changed while she was gone.
She camped once because her legs needed it. Nothing on the road could have made her. In the morning she walked.
Demons and beasts crossed her a few times. She killed the ones that blocked the path. The rest she left. Her mana was not much higher than it had been. Her body was, and she could see where a creature was weak before it finished its first lunge.
Near dusk she reached the river. Crimson, wide, running for miles toward a large castle-like structure that almost blended together with the mountains, almost as if it were a mountain, but also not if you were familiar with it.
She followed the water until she arrived at a gate.
There were hounds pacing around a wall. The hounds were massive creatures towering over Lilith's height, with razor-sharp teeth and claws that could cut through diamond. One started to sniff the air, pointing its nose up. Looking over to see Lilith, it went off the line, put its nose to her throat, and held it there. Then it howled. The gate rose.
Two guards stood at the door. The nearer one looked at her face, then at the empty road behind her.
"Welcome back, Princess Lilith."
His voice was flat. He did not ask where she had been.
She passed them. Making her way past them, it was like a small village with a massive towering castle. She made her way to the front door of the castle. At the door her hand went to her chest before she meant it to. She was home. Nox was not. The trial had thrown her out and kept him, and the voice had broken before it finished the word. She stood with that for a second, then opened the door.
The entrance was bare. No furniture. Stairs up to a second level, then a turn and more stairs. It had not changed.
A footstep came from the upper bend.
Vera stepped into view. Long straight hair, nearly black, purple where the light hit it, loose down her back. Her eyes were pink at the rim and deep purple inward. Her skin was pale. Her jawline was sharp, her body covered in pure black clothes.
Vera's eyes lit when she saw someone on the floor. The light went out once she saw who it was.
"So you were alive." Vera's hand stayed on the rail. "What took you so long to beat that little trial?"
Her mana spread down the stairs and stopped when it reached Lilith. Vera's eyes lifted a fraction. Her mouth tightened.
Lilith looked up at her. "Hey, sis."
Vera took the next step. The stair froze under her foot. Ice ran down the stone, and the warmth in the hall went with it.
"Care to explain yourself," Vera asked, her voice cold, as she took another step and a layer of ice ran down the stairs, covering the entire floor. Lilith's feet had started to freeze to the ground as well. "How could you possibly be gone for eight years only for your mana capacity to be the exact same as when you left?"
Another step sent another chilling blast out. Vera's eyes shone with fury, but something more than that. They showed a glimmer of disappointment in her sister. For the demons, it was everything to continue growing stronger. The moment you did not was the moment you died.
Lilith took a deep breath, her expression as cold as the room. "Vera," she said as she took a step forward. "I'm not as weak as you think."
"Is that so?" Vera's voice echoed throughout the empty room as another blast of ice shot out toward Lilith, but before it could hit her, reality around Lilith started to warp, and Lilith disappeared. She reappeared behind Vera. Her hand came down, smacking against Vera and sending her down. She crashed into the floor with a bang. A slight tremor vibrated the room. Cracks formed in the floor at the bottom of the stairs where Vera had landed.
Vera let out a pained groan. Looking back at Lilith, who was now looking down at her from the top of the stairs, she let out a small chuckle. Standing up, she released the ice mana that was circulating, letting the room's temperature come back to what it was, slowly.
"I see now. Instead of increasing your mana capacity, you trained your physical strength and tempered your body. Otherwise you would have frozen as soon as you got near me. Your space element is such a pain, but not as much as your other one."
"Vera." Lilith's voice ran down the stairs, cold and precise. "Where are Mother and Father?"
Vera looked at Lilith for a second, then she said, "Mother is in her room, as usual. Father left three years ago. Off-world. He didn't say why. I don't know when he's going to come back."
Lilith gave Vera a slight nod. "Then I'm going to see Mother. I'll talk with you later, Vera." She continued walking up to the top of the castle, to the very top of the last floor. A large door sat there. Lilith raised her hand to knock on the door when a voice reverberated through the hall. "Come in, my child." Lilith's hand froze midair for a second. It stayed there before she opened the door.
Inside, seated on a throne, sat a beautiful woman. The chair was black stone, too large for Mira, Lilith's mother, but she looked like a ruler on her throne. Her posture was straight, her eyes piercing through Lilith as she came in. Her skin was pale. Her eyes had a slight amount of pink in the iris, and a deep purple filled the rest, bright without glowing. Dark hair, nearly black, with a purple sheen, worn loose over one shoulder. Her neck was slightly longer, her waist narrow, her hands still on the arms of the throne. Around the room, torches lit the walls with a purple hue.
"I saw what happened with Vera." A slight smile appeared on her face before disappearing a moment later. "It seems your body has grown stronger, and you have passed the trial, so as promised you shall be rewarded. Your father said he is preparing something for you right now that will help your growth, so wait a few days and he will come and get you."
"Thank you, Mother." A brief moment of silence settled between the two before Lilith spoke once again. "Mother, I'm sure you're aware, but when I entered the pit of torment there was someone with me, a boy named Nox." A slight crack appeared in Lilith's voice as she spoke. Of course Mira noticed. "He entered with me. Did you see him exit the pit?"
Mira looked at her daughter, a glint of shock appearing in her eyes. Nonetheless, she answered, "No. The boy you entered with has not come out. In fact, I don't think he will come out."