Verita might have the dubious honour of being the last to escape Mania's nightmare, but there was one who could possibly contest that. The warped elf most of the party referred to as Lilith or Ashy had woken mere hours before the girl, despite the magic's grip on her having being far less strong. The elusive nature of her being and mind should've let Lilith shake off the curse almost as quickly as Tyora. If the whispered words of the healers to their kin were to be believed, than for some reason a part of Lilith's mind had been struggling to stay in the mad realm created in her mind by the insane demon, no matter the cost or price.<br/><br/>In the end, Lilith had woken up hungry and irritable, an unprovoked attack upon her tenders quickly had gotten her the ire of the inhabitants of Lake of the Moon. Though the healer was saved from death and permanent mutilation, with the ashen elf had been placated by a fresh kill from the dark forest, tension between her and what should be her kin remained high, resulting in the elf seeking solitude even in a place that should be home to her. She had torn the white robes off her body too, preferring to go about topless still, and insulting some elves by her apparent rejection of their attempts to heal. Her solitude that was generally only broken when Tyora checked up on her. Though Lilith had been prone to sudden solemn moods before, the lasting irritability and depression of the warped elf meant that at a most a few riddled-filled sentences on the subject of the nature of love were exchanged with Tyora. Aside from Tyora and the few other of her companions who sought her company, Lilith barely interacted with anyone. Though more than once in the past week had Verita caught the warped elf watching her from a distance. Lilith kept her distance, perhaps remembering her actions and feeling guilty, or perhaps simply stalking the girl like prey. The local elves certainly believed the latter option was the most likely one.<br/><br/><br/>Lilith herself didn't care much about the lake-elves or what they thought. She never had the habit to care about what anyone said, really. Besides, the turmoil of emotions she felt was more important somehow. The warped elf had been asked a few times why she was so easily annoyed and angered the past week, and always she could not find an answer, not matter how hard she tried to recall what happened in Mania's grip. The memories already lost to her. It wasn't the only thing Lilith had lost, and though she knew there was something important lost, she could not by any means recall what it was. Not only that, but the warped elf had found that with the passing of days in the elven city her name had begun to lose it's meaning and recognition to her. All too clearly she knew that soon "Lilith" would be just a word to her that held no more meaning to her than any other.<br/><br/>And with losing her name, Lilith risked losing<i>herself</i>. Especially this close to the Dark Forest, she felt that need to wander the earth call to her, urging her to leave behind friends that soon would be forgotten if she did. A woman of lesser confidence might have fallen to despair, but instead Lilith quietly felt how that hollow sensation in her core grew while trying to figure out what to do. There was an important reason she was sticking with the group, a very important reason, but she had forgotten it even before Mania got in the picture. Worse, the one person she had a connection with, whom she had known longer than simply the day of waking after the pirate attack and falling into Mania's trap, was lost to her as well. She vaguely remembered the name Foran, but his face, voice and even race were lost to Lilith's madness.<br/><br/>Lilith needed someone she could trust with what she couldn't trust herself to remember, and the candidates were slim. The centaur and the siren were right out of the picture, Lilith hadn't even meaningfully spoken to them. Tyora might work, but Lilith didn't get along with Uuranor. The nymph Sirka had a beauty and energy that woke up fires in Lilith's loins, but that didn't make her ideal person to confide to and the creature had her own burdens to shoulder. Lilith didn't even bother considering Donchen, and was thus left with Verita and Dawn. Lilith had been journeying along with the two women as long as she could remember, which wasn't much but still more than the others. Verita had had the uncanny ability to know things about Lilith she had never told or said, even if she hadn't made an effort to hide it it still left Lilith wary. Dawn was the last candidate, but the problem was, Dawn had a connection to Verita. Lilith could see it each time the two interacted and each time<i>jealousy</i>had boiled up unexpectedly within the ashen elf's warped mind, unexpected because the insane elf still couldn't tell what or who she was jealous at. It all made Lilith wonder if she might not succumb to despair after all.<br/><br/><br/>In the end, Lilith (it was really losing it's meaning now, not long before she forgot it completely. Lilith! Lilith! Lilith! She had to remember just a little longer!) went after the person she had been stalking through-out most of the past week. Easily using the branches of the light-carrying trees to traverse unseen towards her target. Her chosen unaware of the warped elf's approach until Lilith spoke up.<i>"Dawn of dawns, light of a newborn sun."</i>Lilith purred as she crawled out of the underbrush to walk towards Dawn. Tattered and likely stolen ribbons dangling from her quartet of horns while her tail swayed lazily behind her.<i>"Hear my song of swangs, or all that I known will be undone."</i>The nine-feet tailed creature paused briefly in her step as if to considering, before uttering a single word more while looking pleadingly at the young woman. "<i>Please</i>."<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>