An unfamiliar ceiling and an unfamiliar room. After arriving at Spellbound the night before and explaining her situation, Scarlet gave Lilith a room to stay in for the time being. She seemed to have no issue with it, and as Lilith expected, there was no way they would ever find the store.

With the start of a new day as the countdown began, Lilith couldn’t move from her bed. She laid on her back, staring blankly at the ceiling. After a good night of sleep and things had calmed down, her mind couldn’t help but wander back to the day before.

As soon as she closed her eyes, flashbacks of the day before flashed one after another. First it was the running. Unsure of what was ahead. Then it was the line of people cuffed together. Lilith squirmed in her bed, her eyes squinting hard. What followed was Theo. Every detail ran through her head. Her memories were reminding her of things she didn’t even see the first time.

She felt paralyzed. Unable to move or even open her eyes. It was as if her eyes were sewn shut, forcing her to relive the memories and imprinting themselves into Lilith’s subconscious mind. Breaking away from the paralyzes, Lilith shifted to her side, curled up, and covered her ears. She hummed a tune in a failed attempt to drown out what she was hearing and seeing.

The rest of the day was no different. Outside of Scarlet coming in to check on her, or giving her food, which she ignored, Lilith kept to her bed. She tested the waters by closing her eyes. Yet the vision of Theo crept into view each time.

“He’s not dead,” she told herself, and although it was true, it didn’t help ease her thoughts.

Standing at the entrance of the room, Scarlet crossed her arms. Without even seeing it, Lilith could discern the expression on Scarlet's face. It was a face of pity but also expectations. Expectations for Lilith to move on, or at least be capable of doing something. Anything.

“You’ll run out of time before you know it,” Scarlet finally said with her arms still crossed. “I’m sure I could get you out of here even after a week, but don’t you have things you need to do?”

Lilith nodded her head as she sat up from the bed, resting against the wall. “I-” her voice was raspy, and as soon as she spoke, she stopped and searched for water.

“Here.” Scarlet produced a glass and handed it to Lilith, who chugged it down.

She tested her voice, and after it mostly went back to normal, she continued, “I have that delivery.”

“Then you need to get proper rest, eat, and head out when you can. It's only been a day, but it’s not good to let these things fester.” Scarlet’s voice was… direct. It was the best way Lilith could describe it, as her playful attitude was nowhere to be seen.

Lilith stared at Scarlet, who now sat in a chair at the side of the bed. “You sound like a mother,” she blurted out after being taken aback by her sudden personality change.

Scarlet smiled and laughed, albeit only lightly. “More like a fussy great-great-great-grandmother.”

“That’s a lot of greats,” Lilith replied.

“I could add more if I wanted to.” Scarlet stood up. “I’m sure you’re tired, but I would suggest that you go take a bath and meet me in the living room.”

Without waiting for a response, Scarlet walked off and closed the door behind her. A meaningless conversation, but a welcomed one at that. After giving herself a bit of time, she went to take a bath and changed her clothes.

Scarlet’s store and home were interesting, to say the least. Three stories with a basement is what she told Lilith. However, after she thought about it, it made no sense. There was no way for three floors as big as they were to fit where her current shop is at.

The first floor was the typical store front. It had shelves upon shelves with magical tools with a shop counter and behind the curtains separated a large room with a cauldron, a wall of shelves filled with materials for potions, a table, and stairs that led to the basement. A place off limits to Lilith.

The second floor was a library filled with books, scrolls, and grimoires, all related to magic in one way or another. It seemed cozy alongside its dim lighting and comfy chairs. It was unfortunate it served no purpose for Lilith. The surprising thing was what Scarlet had told her when she gave her a tour. The books on display were only a fraction of what she collected over the years. That was something Lilith couldn’t quite comprehend. The magic library –or so how Scarlet calls it – although big, wasn’t as large as any other library out there, but those libraries had far more non-magic related books than magic related while Scarlet's own library only had a vast number of them.

The third and last floor was what Scarlet considered her home. It was weirdly larger than the other two floors and housed three bedrooms, two baths, a living room, dining room, and a kitchen. The place was littered with her own tools and everything seemed to work off magic, be it the stove or the broom sweeping up the dirt. Some of these tools Lilith had never seen before.

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“Do you plan to show any of these tools to the world?” Lilith asked while sheepishly entering the living room.

Waiting on the couch, Scarlet was reading a book and when Lilith asked her question, she looked up. Lilith’s eyes, although tired, looked to have more spark in them than the day before. “I don’t have any plans to. No.” she said, patting the spot next to her. “Come and sit.” While Lilith walked over, Scarlet continued. “So, have you thought about what to do?”

“I only thought of using a stealth potion, but I don’t think that would work,” Lilith said.

“Hmm,” Scarlet thought. “I think it should be fine. If you were to go now, then it wouldn’t be possible, but if you give it a few days, then the guards should lighten up.”

“So I just need to be on the lookout,” Lilith followed up with.

“Correct. They can’t- well, if they wanted to, they could. But I doubt they will keep it as tight as they do right now.”

Lilith mumbled to herself. “I was told to wait a few days at the very least, but not to leave later than a week.”

“That sounds more than reasonable.” Scarlet agreed. “After leaving, where do you plan to go next?”

“Oh, right. I don’t think I mentioned it the last time I was here. I have a delivery to make. It requires me to go up north, past the Scar.”

“Oh?” Scarlet responded.

Lilith raised an eyebrow. Although it was only one word, the way Scarlet said it made Lilith wonder. “What do you mean by that?” Lilith said.

“What’s wrong with the way I said it?” Scarlet responded with a question.

“You know, the oh~” Lilith imitated the way Scarlet had said the word. “It’s like you know something.”

“It’s because I do. Maybe.” Scarlet responded honestly.

“Maybe?” Lilith asked. The word stuck out to her. “What do you mean by maybe?”

“Well…” Scarlet scratched her cheek. “The one who came to visit me was a young girl. She said she needed help with something.”

“What does that have to do with past the Scar?” Lilith asked.

“It was about 18 years ago. I guess she learned I could help make portals, so she asked if I could help her.”

“Portals?” Lilith asked slowly. “Like what the cursed can do?”

“Yes, but no. You can’t get lost in the one I made. It’s from point A to point B. It took me about 17 years to make them, so the timeline lines up.”

“So.. you’ve made portals? Something that will change history.”

“It’s my specialty, after all. Well, a mixture of it. How do you think I have such a large building in such a small area?”

“So it is true. It felt weird when we went upstairs the other day. Something felt off.”

“It’s similar to how you store items.”

Although processing the information wasn’t difficult, it was still a lot to take in. “Are you… a cursed one?” Lilith asked.

“No, no. I’m not. I just found ways to use something similar to what you do.”

“That doesn’t tell me much,” Lilith said.

“Well, that’s because I don’t plan on telling you anymore than that.”

Lilith shrugged it off. “So you’re saying my delivery is most likely those portals? It seemed too large to be one, though?”

“Well, one of them. They’re connected to each other and only work together, so I’m sure the young lass will keep her gate and send the other to the one that went north.”

“Do you know his name? The one that I’m probably traveling to. I can’t say for sure, but it makes sense.”

“I don’t. She only told me she needed a way to quickly go from one place to another. I only found out it was to the north after pressing her for more information, but she was firm in not telling me anymore details than that. I honestly only accepted it because it seemed interesting.”

Lilith was quite dumbfounded. The person who sat next to her could create things that would alter the future. Yet, it was only ever on a whim that Scarlet pursued these inventions. If she found it interesting, she would attempt to create it. Even if it took years, it seemed as if she would keep exhausting any and every option she could.

“Are all Archemages this… eccentric?” Lilith asked.

“Not everyone,” Scarlet responded. “But when you live as long as I have, it becomes harder to care about things, so you get lost in your own research and interests, since those will never leave you.”

Scarlet’s voice had a hint of sadness and seriousness to it. It was clear what she had said was a reality nearly every mage and potential elves face when they live long enough. Things change, yet they, themselves, stay the same.

Lilith changed the discussion. “Although it doesn’t affect my purpose of traveling, it’s not bad to know why I’m going there. Or at least, it’s not bad to know I’m going there for a reason that’s probably worth it.”

Scarlet nodded her head. “Now then. It’s time to eat.” Scarlet stood up, and with a flick of a finger, noise erupted from the kitchen.

…..

“I’m back,” Lilith shouted as she closed the door behind her.

Two more days had passed since the conversation with Scarlet. It helped her pre-occupy her mind. As she told her, she had something to do, and after thinking about it a bit longer, the delivery was most likely a lot more important than she initially thought. There was only one reason she could think of where she needed to deliver a portal all the way north. Something was going to happen, and it was highly likely that whatever it was, it would be good. This nervousness and knowledge that it hinged on her making it there helped her get up every day and keep her mind off what happened, although she did her best to not let her thoughts wander.

“How was it today?” Scarlet asked as she came down the stairs.

“Better. A lot better. I don’t think it would be worth risking it today, but tomorrow or the day after would be ideal.”

“It’s been a short time, but it was fun.”

“You make it sound like we’ll never see each other again. Plus, I’m still here for another day or two!”

“You never know.” Scarlet sniffled. “Soon you’ll leave and forget everything that happened here. You’ll go on your adventure seeing new things. Talk to new people.”

Lilith looked at Scarlet with eyes of suspicion. After the talk she had the other day, she was well aware of how she sounded when she was being sincere. This was far different. “Stop lying.”

Scarlet smiled underneath her crocodile tears. “So, do you plan to leave tomorrow?” She asked, her voice back to normal.

“Yes. I’ll use a stealth potion before leaving and squeeze my way through before hitting the road to the dwarves. It’s not a complicated escape, but I don’t think it needs to be.”

“It’s not like they’re aware of such a potion, so you should be fine.” Scarlet looked over at Lilith, and although she couldn’t tell from underneath her hood, she was upset, although only slightly. Scarlet walked over, patting Lilith’s head. “I hope everything goes well and make sure to keep your mind busy, at least for now.”