"Is that…" whispered Orechin as he couldn't believe his eyes. In front of him there was Zrelekai; he had never been able to see him in his whole life, but as he recognized the voice, he understood immediately who that man was.
"Orechin, calm down… we don't have the strength to face him," said Tyel with a calm voice as he positioned his hand over Orechin's shoulder. "Vane, are you sure that isn't an illusion made by Liro?" asked Tyel. Vane without hesitation shook his head.
"Impossible… Liro's illusions can't replicate a sound…" whispered Vane as he remained stuck on the Zrelekai in front of him, trying to understand if he was a fake or not.
"I remember one of the plans he had done. Liro was able to replicate the sound of the illusion with his mouth, no?" asked Orechin as he remembered when they talked about the fight against Eyrunik and when Liro created the illusion of Tauren.
"Liro was always nearby the illusion, and if he doesn't remain close to the illusion, the voice can be heard coming totally from somewhere else…" answered Vane as his whole body shook. Zrelekai wasn't speaking, but as Vane heard something, he realized that it was the real Zrelekai. "His footsteps are real… he's actually there," added Vane. Tyel and Orechin gulped.
"You three, take the body of your unconscious friend." Zrelekai suddenly turned back and he pointed his right arm towards the three men hiding behind some rocks. As they got up, they walked slowly with their heads lowered.
As they passed in front of Zrelekai, they noticed that as they walked close to him, he had a huge smirk on his face, his usual look. "C'mon, be fasttt! We don't want to lose any time," Zrelekai spoke with a provocative tone. The others, hearing that, grinned, annoyed. Vane grabbed Darian's body while Orechin took the unconscious Snowy.
"And now… silence! Just follow me without making any sound!" shouted Zrelekai as he turned towards the place where he had come from, and the others started to follow him. The Seamstress, right behind Zrelekai, didn't have any plushies following her. As the others walked behind her, they noticed the huge zip behind her back, exactly like it was described.
"I guess he really is the true Zrelekai… this is exactly his way of acting," whispered Tyel with a really low voice. As he looked at Zrelekai, scared that he might have heard him, the scientist didn't turn back and kept walking.
"But there's something that's more strange… he's walking exactly where the others were," pointed out Orechin as he realized that this path was the exact one that would bring the group directly to where Liro and Lily were hiding.
"He hasn't already found them… right?" asked Vane. Everyone else's face turned dark and they looked at the ground, as they were already ready for the worst.
The Seamstress emitted a weak cry to warn Zrelekai that the others behind her were speaking. Right before she could touch them, Zrelekai spoke.
"I know that they're speaking…" said he with a playful tone. The others, hearing that, immediately raised their heads and turned quiet. "But their end is near. Soon you rebels will not be a pain in the ass anymore!" shouted Zrelekai. The humans behind him jumped, scared, and as they exchanged a glance, they realized that it was over.
'It's the room… has he really discovered them?' Tyel realized that Zrelekai had just brought them directly into the room where Liro and Lily were supposed to be hiding. Zrelekai entered the room without any problem and the group started to sweat hard. 'They actually found them…' thought Tyel as he lowered his head, but he soon felt Vane touching his body.
"Raise it…" whispered he. As Tyel raised his head again, he noticed that Zrelekai had just grabbed a pistol from his pocket and pointed it towards the group.
"You first, come here… you three have to wait," ordered Zrelekai as he pointed the pistol towards the humans. The Seamstress wanted to hit the humans behind her, but she resisted the urge and walked inside the room.
'But that isn't his usual pistol…' Tyel looked at the pistol and realized that it wasn't the usual one Zrelekai always wandered with. 'He always walks around with that one… not this type of pistol that every guard has got…' Tyel thought, confused, as he couldn't find an answer.
"Good, good… remain there." After the Seamstress entered the room, she never turned back, and right before she was about to do that, everyone in the room heard a shout.
"POISONED CROWN!!" The Seamstress looked around at countless roots rushing directly towards her feet and arms, but as the attack was too fast, she couldn't do anything but get blocked.
"What?!" shouted all three men in unison when suddenly, from one of the corners of the room, Liro and Lily walked out. "Ehy everyone…" said Liro while scratching the back of his head and smiling awkwardly. His whole body was bleeding, as he had used a lot of magic, and his vision had become blurry. While behind them, the Seamstress was trying to free herself, but it was impossible; the roots were too resistant.
"Ehi, stop it," Lily spoke with an annoyed tone. Other roots were summoned and they blocked the Seamstress in multiple parts of her body. As she tried to free herself, each claw got blocked by the roots too.
"Liro… I was sure you couldn't make sound with your illusions… what happened?" asked Vane, confused. Liro, still smiling awkwardly, began to explain.
"Are you hearing these screams, Lily? We can't remain here…" pointed out Liro, worried, as not far from there the screams of the Seamstress and of his companions could be heard.
"I know… but if we're going to remain here, it will just be a risk for us… the Seamstress might read through our plan and it might fail… we need to trust the others," Lily spoke with a reassuring tone, positioning one of her hands on Liro's shoulder.
Liro, completely ignoring Lily's tone and warning, walked away, removing the illusion of him and her hiding on the wall. "Are you crazy? What are we supposed to do?" asked she. Liro didn't answer and he simply created the illusion of Zrelekai in front of him.
"But Liro, you can't speak with your illusions… if you come nearby and things get bad, you'll get yourself killed! We don't know in which situation the others are," said Lily, almost raising her voice.
"I know…" whispered he as he closed his fists together and closed his eyes too.
"What?" asked she, as she couldn't hear Liro because of how low his voice's tone was.
'I can't always remain like this… always scared, and the others always do my work…' Liro remained stuck for a moment as he was lost in his thoughts. 'I feel like helping them is the right thing… even if it costs my life…' Liro breathed heavily before he decided to speak again.
"I'm saying…" Liro was about to scream. "I can't just remain here scared like I've always been!" shouted he, as he turned his head and opened his eyes. What there was in front of him wasn't Lily anymore; instead, the whole room had turned black, and rather than Lily, who had completely disappeared, what he saw in front of him made his heart beat faster.
There was another Liro in front of him that was transparent, but unlike the times when he became transparent because of the use of magic, it was currently different. The body in front of him was transparent, but at the same time, it felt like it was intangible. On the edges of his body, especially at the hands and feet, it felt like his body wasn't completely formed, and there were just some shades of what it looked like to be his body.
Liro looked in front of him and realized that the person in front of him was exactly Liro, but just without any clothes. He had his exact hair, it was just as high as him, and the same small scar on his chest that he gained when he was just a child was also there. The only thing different was the fact that his body was transparent and intangible.
Liro's eyes were soon caught by something else as he looked over the hands and the feet: there were some chains blocking them. Liro tried to look behind the person and realized that the chains weren't attached to anything; the metallic bars simply kept going through the empty black right around them.
"What? Is that me?" whispered Liro. As he got closer, he noticed the chains blocking the other him breaking, and once they shattered completely, the transparent person fell right into Liro's body.
"Ahh!!" shouted he, scared, as the transparent one fused with his body.
"Ehi, Liro, wake up!!" shouted Lily. As Liro opened his eyes, they were different—they were transparent and were glowing with a translucent white.
"What happened?" asked Lily, worried. "You randomly collapsed after you turned back. Are you alright?" added she. Liro had a confused expression over his face.
"I… I don't know…" As Liro spoke, the voice didn't come only out of his mouth, but the illusion behind him spoke too.
Liro turned his head around and realized that the illusion behind him had just spoken too. "What?" were the only words that were able to come out of his mouth. Behind him, the illusion, remaining in the same position, said these words.
Lily remained shocked at the sight of that, her eyes wide open as she couldn't believe what had just happened. And the more Liro kept the illusion alive, the more soul he would use; in fact, on his body, multiple scratches had already appeared and he felt weak. In fact, he fell on one knee.
"Liro, are you alright?" shouted Lily as she rushed towards her friend to help him.
Liro nodded his head. "Don't worry… we have to be fast, or I might not be able to keep this illusion for long," said Liro. Behind him, the illusion didn't speak anymore and it just remained quiet like every other time.
Liro sent the illusion walking, and as it took multiple steps, the sound could be heard. "Helloo!! I'm Zrelekai!" said the illusion. Lily felt a sentiment of anger hitting her body, thinking about how similar these two were.
"Let's go there… I've got a plan." Liro pointed to where they were hiding before. Lily could only nod her head. The moment they positioned themselves back in the place where Liro had pointed, he didn't activate any illusion. At first, this confused Lily. "She's going to spot us, Liro…" whispered she. Liro nodded his head.
"I know… but I still can't keep more illusions together… even if I could try…" Liro made himself and Lily invisible to everyone's eyes, but after that, he immediately fell on his knee and the two illusions disappeared.
"I feel like it drains too much of my strength…" said Liro as he started to breathe heavily. "Don't worry then… if she spots us, the others will just push her inside," said Lily with a reassuring tone. Liro, remaining on one knee while holding his chest, nodded his head. "Right…"
"And this is almost everything that had happened." Now that Liro had removed his illusion, the blurry vision disappeared faster than usual. The three men in front of him remained shocked.
"That… that is great, Liro!" shouted Tyel happily.
"I agree, I don't know what that thing is, but it surely is great!" shouted Vane. As the group got too distracted by hearing the story, the plushies had arrived and they were angry.
"Maybe someone in Therya knows more… oh well, we'll ask them once we see them," Lily spoke with a serious tone, and she walked towards the countless plushies who were about to arrive.
"They'll definitely know something more, we just need to wait." Liro, together with the others, entered back into the room.
"I'll keep taking care of them… you just go and remove that person from the Seamstress' body," said Lily as she was ready to block the countless plushies. Orechin, who positioned the unconscious Snowy safely into the room, walked towards Lily and created a huge blue crystal that started to slow down the plushies. "I'll help you," said he. Lily nodded her head and the two of them got ready to attack.
"I'll be the one to open the zip," said Tyel as he walked behind the Seamstress. Angrily, the enemy tried to reach Tyel with her claws, but as they were blocked, it was impossible for her to hit Tyel.
Tyel, now in front of the zip, breathed heavily. As his eyes glanced towards Liro and Vane, they both looked at him with a reassuring look, saying that everything would be alright. 'If something bad happens, I can always revert… still, after all of this, I feel that it wouldn't be right…' Tyel breathed heavily and then started to lower the zip to reveal the truth behind the Seamstress.