Day: 3665

Days Left: 1815

Lives Saved: 20

"How did you take off your mask?" Henry's voice faltered.

Lili paused, and then realised it too. "It's a blood moon..."

The stranger just merely smirked as he adjusted the golden lion mask on his face.

"Is that your... mask form?" Henry asked.

"No, I'm human." The stranger tilted his head upwards. "It's not really that hard... well, possibly for ordinary people. You have magic, don't you? I can sense it." He motioned to Henry. "I assume you've studied enough to know how you would stop the mask transformation."

Henry swallowed. "Yes, but you cannot use magic here. Not in The Abyss. The blood moon is-"

"Is powerful, yes; a mass mind control spell on the whole area, empowered by the masks." The stranger paced around, before studying the corpse before him, in little interest if there was anything left to claim. "And the mask themselves have a transmutation spell on them, combined with the mind manipulation of course of different levels of savagery. But that split second when you put that mask on, it has to connect to your mind, yes?"

"You managed to protect yourself within that second?" Henry breathed. "No, it's not even a second, your mind can't possibly have done that so quickly-"

"Yes, but fortunately, I have good genes. A father gifted in mind control magic and a mother in transmutation."

Lili let out a sharp gasp. "You're-"

"I haven't introduced myself, forgive me." The man bowed slightly, not more out of chivalry rather than to concede superiority. "But I feel like you must know already, dear Lili."

"Prince Osmond," she answered flatly.

"Yes, I thought I recognised you!" Prince Osmond sang, and clapped his hands together. "Oh, how surprised I was to see you. Did my sister throw you down here? Maybe after some little spat?"

Lili hesitated, considering her words carefully. "Here for treason."

"I'm sure your father is proud. Speaking of father's how is my 'father' faring?" There was a bite to his words, like it was something vile.

"He is dead."

Prince Osmond paused. "I see," he said coldly. "Alfi queen then? Just like she wanted?"

"Princess Alfreda stepped down as next in line and Queen Corinna IX took the throne."

"Little Cori?"

Whilst Prince Osmond contemplated this, Lili and Henry shared a look, warning not to divulge too much to this man.

"We need to find our friend," said Lili. "Apologies, your highness." Before Prince Osmond could ask any further questions, Lili and Henry returned to their search, following the faint footsteps they had made on the way here.

"Wait, come back!" Prince Osmond called after them, though remained where he stood. "That was quite rude, come back!"

Lili pretended to not hear him, she had not fealty to any royalty, even if they were actually the real monarch of her country. What was important was Corinna. Who knew what had happened to her whilst they were separated wherever she is now. Lili hoped that the others had found her and they were all safe, waiting at the camp for them.

Eventually, Lili noticed that Henry was no longer following behind her but had instead ran back, returning to Prince Osmond.

"Henry!" Lili yelled in panic. "Henry we need to find... we need to find her!" Lili avoided saying Corinna's name, just to avoid the confusion to Queen Corinna or allude that more royal servants were in The Abyss or anything that could link back to Alfreda. "Henry, I need you! I need you to help her with your mask..."

As Lili ran back to get him, Henry turned to run away again, his face flushed, eyes wide, and sweat dripping down his face.

"What are you doing!" Lili hissed aside to him. "We need to find Corinna-"

"Come back," Prince Osmond said, not raising his voice but still clear as a command.

Henry obeyed, turning once again and stood before Prince Osmond.

"Henry..." Lili breathed, looking to the masked prince. "Mind control?"

There was a large grin on the prince's face, extending even further. Before he was equally as confused as Henry and Lili but he had worked out what had happened. "Tell me, what is your name?"

"Henry Best," Henry answered immediately.

The prince's grin grew wider. "Best?" His voice cracked in laughter. "Best? Oh, what luck! You're from that family? Were you a servant? Did you serve under my sisters also perhaps? I do not recognise you."

"I was not a servant."

"What was your job?"

"I was the head director of Sector 38 of The Eternal Abyss."

"Why, that is useful. I shall keep you around Henry, not that you have much control over that."

"What have you done to him!" spat Lili, ready with her sword. "Is this some mask gimmick?"

"No, something more ancient than that. The Best family, the descendants of many generations served royalty. They had a curse placed upon them, in their blood, for them to be obedient. They were bred specifically for that reason, having so many children, blessed with living close to the castle, yes, so you can do your duties better." Prince Osmond looked to Lili's sword in amusement. "Do you seriously plan to use that whilst I have your friend in my thrall.

Lili bit her bottom lip, her hand flexing on the hilt of her sword, considering. "Please, I need him to help our friend. She won't be able to defend herself."

"Is this friend another loyal servant?" asked Prince Osmond.

"No," Lili answered honestly, wondering if he would try to come along if he knew he would garner another mindless servant. But what if that was the only way to save her? They needed Henry's monster mask form for any chance against The Grim Fairy and Henry was currently someone's slave.

"Is she telling the truth?" Prince Osmond asked Henry.

"Yes," Henry answered honestly for truthfully Corinna was not a loyal servant.

"How defenceless is she?"

"She has two arms missing, her voice missing, and has a monster trapped in her mind that is slowly erasing her memories until she dies. Also she was having a fit when we last saw her and blackouts because of the blood moon." Henry did not mention her skill in martial arts taught by her fiancé but those skills were quite useless what with all her current health issues.

"Sounds like she's a lost cause." Prince Osmond shrugged. "I would be surprised if no monsters hadn't gotten to her."

"What..." Lili reached for her sword, but before she could even unsheathe it, she found herself on the ground, her sword flying off and disarmed as the prince towered over her, pointing a spear at her throat.

"I understand you are upset," said Prince Osmond softly, noticing Lili's watering eyes, and Henry's too. "But from how it sounds, your friend is already dead." He looked to Henry. "Do you believe your friend you are trying to save as any chance of surviving? Or will she die?"

"She will die." Henry was shocked at how truthful the words were that tumbled out of his mouth by force, horrified at himself, for having no hope in Corinna. But it was true. He did not know how to help her other than to ease her pain.

"No..." Lili shook her head. "Don't say that! You said there was hope! That we could help her!"

Henry clamped his mouth shut, eyes straining from the tears, he wanted to run away, to find Corinna despite all this and yet his body was fixated on the spot, unable to move without a new command.

"As I was correct, your friend is beyond help," said Prince Osmond. "Best let her be and not have to endure any pain yourself, to see her die. Instead, you can help me. I am in need of a skilled bodyguard like yourself, Lili."

Lili's jaw tightened, her eyes flicking from Prince Osmond to Henry who looked at her pleadingly, mouthing for her to leave. But without Henry, how could she possibly save Corinna? Hope that Corinna found something herself? Would it be a kindness to herself to leave Corinna? Corinna herself had said the same thing, to abandon her, and though that was what she had requested of Lili, Lili stubbornly wanted to deny it, to endure the pain, to be Corinna's side as she slowly lost who she was, for her to eventually awake and not know her own fiancé. And then there was the other method, the quick one, that only Corinna and Lili talked about to each other, to make the process quick and delete all of Corinna's memories before the Grim Fairy could. Corinna proposed this for when they were somewhere safer, and not camping out in the middle of nowhere, a potential way out. Lili, of course, had refused this immediately too, still holding onto hope, but a part of her wondered if it would soon be necessary, if even Henry versed in mind manipulation magic and monster masks believed there to be no way of her saving her.

Regardless of how to help Corinna, it meant nothing if Lili couldn't go back to her and find her.

"Please," Lili began, swallowing down her pride. "I need Henry to save our friend. Please free him and let us find her."

Prince Osmond seemed unconvinced, his face screwed up in mild disgust but a bit of amusement as Lili then decided to bow before him like the royalty he used to be. But then he shrugged, returning back to disinterest. "I have little time on my hands. I have been waiting too long down here just for another setback."

"Please," Henry joined in, struggling to bow as his feet could barely move from their spot. "Let us go back to our friend and help her. And then I will willingly help you."

"You will help regardless of your choice," scoffed Prince Osmond.

"Then I will too," said Lili, then added quickly, "Your Highness."

Henry looked at her in warning.

"Hmmm..." Prince Osmond sighed. "Very well, I shall give you... fifteen minutes at most to find your friend, but then you help me without squabbling, yes?"

It was better than nothing, thought Lili, and the last place Corinna could possibly be wasn't far off anyway. And then there was the chance that Sumit could help take him out or if Rin and Alfreda returned too. Lili's only fear was how far Corinna had managed to wander and if any monsters from the blood moon found her as prey.

Lili led the charge with Henry and Prince Osmond following, the latter commanding Henry to run slow enough for him not to lose sight of them in case they tried anything against him. With a little confusion, Lili eventually found the campsite, only it was empty. No one had returned, not even Sumit and the imps. Rin and Alfreda were still out looking for Calixte, and Corinna of course was not in control of herself presently.

"Keeping things from me?" Prince Osmond cooed, seeing the number of tents and makeshift beds. "Not just one friend you have, is it? Luring me into an ambush?"

"No, that was not-" Lili corrected her tone. "This was the last place we saw her."

"And you thought that monster before ate her?" Prince Osmond said slowly.

"It had her prosthetic arm and we didn't see her nearby."

Prince Osmond sighed. "You can have you fifteen minutes, do no waste it."

Lili was relieved that the journey here did not go towards those fifteen minutes but then that relief was short relieved when only herself appeared to be searching for tracks.

"He stays," said Prince Osmond firmly. "In case this was a trap."

"It wasn't-" Lili didn't have time to argue. She retraced her steps, recalling where the monster had attacked Corinna and the path they took. She saw the dried blood on the trees and the grass, the faint footsteps embedded into the ground of a scuffle that were slowly being restored into oblivion by The Eternal Abyss. Soon any tracks and evidence would be wiped away and finding Corinna in such a densely green forest would be almost impossible. It would be impossible to know if another monster had eaten her too.

Shaking that image out of her head, Lili used her superior sense of smell in her monster mask form to track the blood from the tree but struggled to pinpoint it amongst all the other smells of blood in the forest, the monster that had attacked her, her own blood too even though they were just scrapes.

She followed any scent of blood she could find, finding the place where she had spotted the monster with the prosthetic arm stuck in its jaw, presumably Corinna would have been nearby with the timing. How close was she? How close was Lili to have spotted her? How stupid, how careless, how fucking stupid she was to just assume that the monster had eaten her? They could have looked around, or one of them stayed behind, but in the heat of the moment Lili could only think of the worst, as did Henry. And so their lack of caution to just run after the fleeing monster cost them more time for Corinna, and potentially their freedom with this bargain they made.

In the spot where the monster was seen, on either side were slopes, perhaps Corinna rolled down one of them? Took a tumble? Lili glanced down either end, seeing the slopes barred with obstacles, rocks, trees and trunks, the fall would not have been gentle, nor could she see the end of them, could not see if there was a glimpse of blonde hair.

"Corinna!" Lili called out. "Corinna!" Though of course Corinna would not be able to answer, she could head her way to her voice, if she was in any way in control of her body. Lili yelled out her name again about to chance it down one of the two slopes when she heard a rustling on one of the slopes, seeing a bush in the distance move. "Corinna!" Lili bounded down, almost toppling over and stumbling from the steepness, barging and banging into trees, hitting her toes into sharp stones, until she found at the bottom the rustling bush.

"Corinna?" Lili edged closer, sniffing the air, doubting her choice, then jolted as the bush stood up on two legs, snarled at her and then ran away scared.

"A monster, not her, shit!" Lili sucked in a breath, about to climb back up, race up to the other slope where she might find Corinna when she saw Henry coming towards her.

"Time is up," he said rigidly, likely a command for him to repeat. "Fifteen minutes is over. Time to let it go and realise that there is nothing we can do for her." Choked up, Henry continued through gritted teeth, "did you find her? Any sign?"

"Not yet," Lili whispered, seeing Prince Osmond at the top of the hill. "She would have either gone down this way or the other slope, I think anyway, I am not fully certain."

Henry swallowed. "He said that if you didn't comply, he would..." His hand shakily reached for the sword at his side which originally was Lili's but was forced to pick it up. "You need to find her."

"What about you?" Lili breathed.

"He needs a peon alive." He paused. "At most he will have my memories erased-"

"Henry-"

"Please find Corinna-"

"We'll end up losing you both. You're the best chance in helping Corinna even if you don't think we can."

"I want to believe it." Henry's eyes welled up, his hand still shaking as the sword neared his throat. "Even if there is no chance in saving her from The Grim Fairy, I still want to keep her safe, even if she doesn't remember any of us, if I don't remember her-"

"We can win this." Lili swallowed, doubting her words already. How quickly could she kill the prince? Quick enough that Henry would not hurt himself under his command? Would Henry stop her from the curse placed upon his family? What were the chances that any of their friends would miraculously return to save the day and fight? Would Alfreda be able to talk him down? Persuade him? Or would it make matters worse?

"Forget about me," Henry hushed, his face straining as the blade was kept close to his skin, not quite yet to draw blood. "Just find Corinna and the others. He won't really kill me, that'll be a waste."

Lili paused, thinking of the two alternatives, of finding and being with Corinna for her last moments, having to explain why she abandoned her beloved cousin, who were brought up together like siblings, compared with trying to save Henry, knowing that was what Corinna would have wanted but leaving her potentially to die alone if the others had not found her.

Before she could make a decision, Prince Osmond issued out another command, ordering Henry to lower the blade to his neck.

Lili stared at him blankly, wondering if she had time to run, or to knock Henry out so he couldn't be controlled.

"If you refuse to come along, I will just carry you," Prince Osmond said impatiently.

"I had to tell him what our masks did," said Henry, his hand shaking into a balled fist, forming sand. "Go-"

Lili punched Henry squarely in the face, at first not enough to knock him out, his nose spurting out scuffs of sand, but the second hit did the trick.

And then there were choices, all to make in a split second. Run away to find the others for backup. Take on Prince Osmond by herself in this precarious terrain slope. Run away and take Henry with her, though it would slow her down. She could either find the others, or find a better location to fight in.

There was an audible sigh from Prince Osmond from up the slope. "Not the expected route, but still the fun one." He drew a sword from his waist, hidden underneath his cloak, and then looked unpleased at how uneven the ground was to try and reach Lili in the first place.

Lili trusted her instincts and scooped up Henry, carrying him over her shoulder and picking up her recovered sword before bolting through the tree line. Though Lili's tiger stripes would help her camouflage, Henry's body with every jerk up and down of the rough terrain, bouncing on her shoulder left a trail of sand on the ground.

Since hiding was no longer an option, Lili used all her strength and endurance to get away, hoping that even whilst carrying Henry over her shoulder, she was still faster than the prince. She weaved through the trees, her monster reflexes kicking it to avoid hitting any of them, her paws not stumbling or tumbling. Lili had no idea how far away she was from the campsite but knew that she was dangerously getting closer to The Warren. If Prince Osmond knew of a whole city in The Eternal Abyss, what would happen? Any chance of reclaiming it would certainly be lower.

Knowing that Prince Osmond had been in human form, Lili chose the rougher terrain, forcing him either to be unable to catch her with her advantage or to stop and transform which would at least cost him some time.

Prince Osmond ended up choosing to transform, using the golden lion mask again to traverse the densely packed forest. Seeing him hot on her tail, Lili stopped at a clustered section of trees, believing the giant golden lion to be at an disadvantage due to its size and have little room to manoeuvre, perhaps force him to turn back into a human. She placed Henry gently down on the ground, standing protectively before her unconscious future cousin-in-law, as the giant golden lion swaggered up slowly to the crowded tree section.

"Finally realise it is futile to run?" laughed the prince. "Do not worry about dear Henry, I uphold my honour; I will not use unfair tactics and hurt him. This is just you and me, Lili. I am curious after all these years of your skill, since you are supposed to be a royal bodyguard. Or did my sister throw you down here for incompetence?"

"If you have any honour..." Lili panted, sucking in a breath to remain collected. "How about we make a deal?"

"Sounds like you have already admitted that you will lose? Why bother fighting?"

"I'm not giving up yet. I will find her-"

"And I gave you that chance-"

"You gave us nothing. Why are you so pressed about this? You have been down here for so many years, why such haste? Run out of patience?"

"Yes!" the prince snarled. "I have. Before, I had nothing, because no one could remember me, but now they do; it is a ticking clock for me to get out and rule. I can finally leave this place and I am not waiting any sooner-"

Lili lunged forwards, having heard enough of him talking. It caught him off guard completely, or rather he was already too relaxed as Lili plunged her sword through his chest, only the blade snapped upon impact, shattering and she was only left with the hilt. Upon instinct, she followed up with a slash of claws but reeled in pain as they too cracked and broke off hitting the golden lion.

Prince Osmond chuckled, pacing around Lili who collapsed to the floor in defeat and shock, any energy she had left was depleted. "This was my favourite mask by far, not easy to defeat the original owner, took a few years actually, I did have the time, but it was definitely worth it. Nothing can break through this skin, no weapon can face me." He cleared his throat. "Henry wake up."

Henry's unconscious body stirred a little but continued to remain still.

"Henry wake up," Prince Osmond repeated until finally, Henry's body rose to its feet, his eyes opened slightly as if he was sleep walking, mouth mumbling something incomprehensible, struggling to respond.

"Now, I promised, you just have to help me with a little task, and then I will relieve you both of your duties," said Prince Osmond, as he transformed back into his human form, twirling the golden lion mask in his hand as if taunting Lili.

She glanced behind as Henry stood by her, a mindless zombie under commands to detain her if she disobeyed, the broken sword forcibly taken from her and the sharp edge under Henry's throat.

"You were both destined to serve the royal family, and here I am, the true king," Prince Osmond continued. "Time you both accepted your fate whilst I try to reclaim mine. Try anything again, pet, and it is bye bye Henry, understood?"

Lili glared at him before replying through gritted teeth. "Understood."