Larger Than Life, Bigger Than Us

Lily had reached out the library without too much trouble but still could not figure out how she escape the situation unscathed. The Mistress seemed so bent on raising hell on her, she thought she was done for at that moment.

Sitting at the table, Lily was deeply contemplating the little booklet her Master had given her. She really couldn't understand the language. It looked so cryptic. Where would she find the key to decipher it. She stood up and strolled around the rows of books contained in the library. Maybe somewhere in there, she would be able to find a clue of some sort.

Speaking of the library, the books title were quite strange: all seemed to come out from a fantasy novel. "How to tame a fire monster" " The jade moon wind art tome 1" etc... But what surprised Lily the most was she could read the title even though it was written in strange character. She wondered if the Master's imprint had imparted her with some special skills as well.

Still this booklet he had given was the strangest of all since she could not even read it. Strolling around, Lily never noticed there was a shadow lurking behind her. Her back turned she only noticed too late that an enemy had found a way to her and had hit her strongly with a palm in her back.

The palm hit was so strong, Lily spurted blood which stained her clothing and booklet. Barely hanging, Lily almost fainted.

Immediately after, Yang appeared and counterattacked the second strike with an equivalent force. Throwing a pouch on the ground that exploded in fine dust, he seized the opportunity to carry Lily out of the library through a secret room. The room was lit with a candle and was furnished very simply : a table, one chair, a dusted bed.

Delicately, he laid her down on the bed.

"Huh...How?.."

"Don't talk! You are heavily injured!"

Yang took one glove out of his left hand. Then, slowly, he passed that hand over her back. Intensely concentrating on the task, beads of sweat were forming on this forehead. Wherever the hand was hovering, Lily could feel a nice warmth. Where she was only feeling pain, a pleasant feeling was now disseminating throughout her whole body.

"Young Mistress, you are still heavily injured but no longer in danger. Unfortunately, I am too weak and could not fully heal you this time. I will need to recuperate and continue on. I believe it will be a few days before you completely recover. While I can't protect you, do not step away from this room. I will take care of everything in the meanwhile."

Pointing into a tapestry, Yang added : " There is a second room for you to clean up. Do not worry, though the space is small it can still be comfortable."

Then, he took one of her hands and put a flask in it. "As for hunger, until I come with food, if you can't wait you can take a sip of this: it's honeyed water spring. It should calm it in the meanwhile. I will warn against taking more than a sip at the time."

On those last words, the young man vanished again. Even though Lily was feeling better, the earlier blow had still taken a toll on her body and thus she was feeling excessively tired at the moment. In a hand, the booklet. In the other, the flask. Lily eyes were alternatively looking at each object. She sighs deeply, left both objects on the table and went for a rest. She would figure out what to do once we would wake up.

When Lily opened her eyes, she didn't know how long she had rested. On the table, next to the book and the flask was now a hot plate of savory pastries and pot of tea.

"Yang did fufill his promise." She was not yet hungry but felt sticky and wanted to wash up. Walking towards what seemed to be a bathroom, Lily noticed the bathub to be full of steaming hot water on which flower petals were slowly floating.

"So considerate." Lily smiled with delight. She undressed and immersed herself in the bath.

After some time, Lily felt reenergized and got out of the bath. However, she was a bit reluctant to wear her clothing again.

"hmm should have ask him to prepare change of clothes too..." Having no choice, Lily dressed up and went back to the room. It was really b.a.r.e.

"Since I have to wait here, might as well take some to uncover the secrets of that stupid booklet."

Taking the book in her hands, Lily noticed the cover was stained by her blood which pained her a bit. She wondered what her Master would say and if he would blame her. Opening the book, she soon realized the color of the pages had changed. If earlier, it was slightly yellowish, the pages were now stark white and....EMPTY?!?

Everything that had been written had disappeared. Lily was baffled.