Lily, the 64th Prophet

"What does that mean, 'The prince is dead'? The prince is Zel, and he looks alive and well."

Haku reached for her sword behind her back, ready to assume the worst—that a phantom had possessed Zel, or that this was a prophecy for the future. Was Zel going to die?

Lily lunged forward, stretching her hands out to the side, placing her body between Ren, Haku, and Zel. Her voice was determined and loud: "It's because of me! I saw the prophecy where Ezekiel dies!" She lowered her voice and stared at the ground. "I've seen many prophecies centered on death, and they always came true. Ezekiel was the first, and the last, to defy it—the one who stared down the death I sent toward him. So yes, the prince should be dead, but he isn't."

Haku slowly lowered her hand, subdued by Lily's fiercely flashing eyes. Lily's heart was pounding wildly in her chest as she struggled to calm it. Ren sighed and gently pressed Lily's hand down to her side, signaling that there was nothing left to fear.

For a moment, Lily saw not the cemetery, but the low mound of earth from her vision. She was blinking until she forced the image away. She pressed her fingertips into her palms, a habit she'd developed to stop her hands from shaking after these memories.

Zel placed his hand on the orange-haired girl's shoulder with a weak smile and squeezed it in thanks.

Their past stretched back a long time. Lily grew up as the 64th Prophet in the castle alongside her parents and grandmother. The Prophet's blood had skipped a generation, and her mother lived her life as a simple mortal, showing no sign of jealousy or ill will toward her daughter. Lily grew up surrounded by immense love.

Prophets were important in Ivory Concord, so Lily could not leave the castle without an escort. She and the Prince were close in age but never spoke; they sometimes ran into each other in the castle for a fleeting moment. Ezekiel, the Prince, always looked tired when she saw him, his eyes as empty as the most bottomless abyss. Lily watched him curiously from her window as he practiced in the courtyard for hours without a break. She often left her snack on the windowsill and was filled with tremendous joy when she opened the window later and the food was gone.

Her orange hair was short and boyish because she hated having anything hang in her face while studying. Everyone initially mistook her for a boy.

She saw her first prophecy at the age of nine. She was excited, eager to become a great mage like her grandmother and make her family proud. But she saw her parents' death unfold before her teal eyes. A possessed wolf attacked both of them near Ivory Concord. Lily begged her parents not to go, and they eventually agreed. They spent the day together. The little girl felt super powerful, believing she had tricked fate, but the next morning, she saw the blood-soaked bodies of her parents and some staff members in the courtyard. Several animals had broken in and carried out a raid, murdering her parents.

Lily was lonely, so she started approaching the Prince more. She often followed him in secret, hiding behind the wall and only peeking out when he wasn't looking. But Ezekiel saw everything, and her antics highly amused him.

"What are you doing here?"

Lily flinched behind the wall. She hoped the question wasn't for her, but the long, black hair pulled back into a ponytail appeared over the wall. She blinked at the sun-tanned boy with chattering teeth and wide eyes. His flawless skin and handsome smile made her young heart flutter.

They often met and talked in secret. Lily considered Ezekiel a brilliant boy, especially when he shared with her the history of their world. She didn't even notice, but they slowly started spending every day together. She often received a piece of candy or a flower from him as a gift.

He always smiled sadly when he talked about his dream, which wasn't to be a king but to travel the world and study magic so he could help others. But he knew this was a pipe dream and that he had to fulfill the prophecy about him.

That's why she was utterly devastated by her following prophecy, which she had seen while with Ezekiel.

A dagger was sticking out of his stomach, his red lips trembled, and the light faded from his eyes. Lily blinked, and the black-haired boy vanished. His place was marked only by a low mound of earth.

The Prophet stared through her tears at the frightened boy. She threw herself into his arms and recounted what she had seen. Even though he knew he was going to die, he tolerated the girl hanging on his neck and stroked her back and hair until she calmed down.

"Don't worry, I'm the hero! I have to survive everything to save the world, right?" His smile was genuine. He believed it. But the trembling hand with which he gripped hers told her that he only wanted to believe it.

He pressed a kiss to her forehead and wiped away her tears with the sleeve of his clothing, smiling at her encouragingly. He was her only friend, and she didn't want to lose him, like she had with her parents. She watched the boy with hawk eyes and stayed up late every night, just in case the prophecy tried to come true. But it never did.

Ezekiel became busier. He trained and studied more, and they didn't have much time to spend together. They slowly drifted apart, but just before her 15th birthday, he sought her out again, and they behaved like friends, almost siblings.

Prophets receive their greater magical power after their 16th birthday, but Lily fell ill just before hers. She was now aware that she hadn't just gotten sick—she had been poisoned. She had suspects in mind who had never liked her presence, led by the King, who didn't look kindly on her distracting his son.

The boat returned to its spot. They weren't surprised by its appearance; they accepted it and hopped onto it. Zel ran his hand through the water as they cut through the surface. Their ghost boatman dropped them off where he had picked them up initially, then vanished into the fog.

Finally, they could travel west along a path where the fog didn't obscure their vision.

Haku sidled up next to Lily and put her hand on her shoulder so the blind girl would know it was her. Haku's small, but firm hand was very distinct.

"I've been thinking," the oni lowered her voice so the boys wouldn't hear their conversation. "In Snow-dusted village, you said you loved Ren. Did you only say that so they wouldn't find out you were blind?"

Lily's body tensed. She hadn't thought Haku would figure it out, but then her muscles relaxed. Grinning, she leaned close to Haku's ear and whispered sweetly, like a serpent, "Yes, don't worry, I said it for that reason. But that doesn't mean I lied."

Haku recoiled in frustration, then, regaining her energy, jumped after her, badgering her for more answers. Lily felt a strange, quiet joy. They walked along, laughing together, when they saw something in the distance.

Crumbling columns and ruined walls looked back at them above the sandy ground, which the wind also swept over. The scorching sun illuminated the golden sand, reflecting and revealing figures as tall as them, dark and purplish-black. The figures were still, frozen mid-stride, and their surface was jagged and fused, as if they had been petrified while moving, or had emerged from the earth itself.