Daughter of Fire and Blood
Intro to Lilith Morningstar
Just a small intro before I start. So… I’m far enough in my D&D campaign that none of this contains spoilers to my party members (in case they come across this). Since joining the campaign and creating my character, I’ve been slowly building up her backstory, going all the way back to her childhood and turning it into a novella. There’s actually a whole project surrounding this but I won’t get into that detail.
✨✨ FULL CREDIT to Jacob Breitmeier for creating The Land of Bryer and everything in it. He is the mastermind behind this homebrewed world. So if ya wanna use any of this, it’s probably best to take it up with him or roll for initiative haha. ✨✨
Note: Things may change as we go along the campaign, and I may want to revisit later to add small touches here and there.
My character build:
Race: Tiefling; purple-skinned
Class: Samurai Fighter/Barbarian multiclass
Anyway, here’s the first half of the first chapter! Enjoy!!
A piercing scream woke Lilith up. She bolted upwards, rubbing her eyes as she adjusted to what was going on around her. She could hear frantic footsteps running up and down the wooden hallway. Smoke filled the air, causing her to start coughing. Outside the brothel, she could hear muffled voices yelling. She got up from her bed, peeked outside her window and saw parts of her home on fire. Her bright golden eyes widened in fear as the flames reflected in them.
A shadow passed by, and she quickly ducked down. She jumped back into her bed and pulled her blanket back over her. She covered her ears with her hands to drown out the bloodcurdling screams of the ladies outside her bedroom door.
Where was her mom?
Before she could expect the worst, her bedroom door burst open, and her mom came stumbling in. Her face filled with fear, and tears streamed down her beautiful face. She quickly closed the door behind her and pushed a wooden chair up to the door handle to block it. She ran over to Lilith and pulled her into a tight hug. “My baby! Thank the Gods you’re still alive!”
Lilith looked up at her mom. She could see that her mom barely had time to get dressed. One of the straps on her shoulder was ripped, and the laces on the front of her bustier were untied. “Mum, wot’s happening?” she asked.
Her mom suddenly snapped back to what was happening around them, looked her in the eyes and said with urgency, “Lilith, quick!” She got up and moved the rug to reveal a trapdoor. “Lilith, please get in! There isn’t time!”
“Mum, wot’s going on?!” Lilith cried.
“They’ve come for you; we need to hide you now!”
Lilith climbed into the small space and looked up at her mom. “Are you coming too?” She asked, her voice suddenly small.
“There isn’t enough room, love bug. I’ll come back for you when they’re gone. I’ll be okay. And Lilith…” she paused, her tears still streaming down her face as she looked at her daughter longingly. “I love you.” She then wrapped the cloak around Lilith, hugged her tightly and gave her a little kiss before closing the trap door reluctantly behind her.
Lilith could hear her mom pull the rug back over the trapdoor, followed by loud banging on her door. She could hear angry voices yelling. Then, with a loud kick, the door smashed open. The wooden chair her mom had used to block went flying across the room, hitting the back of her wall and breaking on impact.
An angry male voice yelled, “Where’s the cursed younglin’?!” He had a thick accent with a low, gruff voice.
“I think she went that way!” Her mum yelled back and pointed down the hall, as she pushed past him to run down the hall to lead them away.
Please, Mum, be okay. Lilith thought. She could hear the man who had kicked down the door command some others to chase after her mom.
Then, she heard him order the remaining man, “Find ‘er! I know she’s ‘ere somewhere!”
The second man answered, “Yes, sir!”
She then heard him kick her things around, slammed open her closet and tossed her bed aside. When he did that, he accidentally moved the rug that was covering the trap door. She could see him from the cracks of the floor; he was bearded and had on a full suit of armour. There were markings on his armour, but she couldn’t make out what it was. When he turned around, she shrank back lower in the crawlspace, hoping he didn’t see that there was a trapdoor below him.
“She’s not here!” He said to the other man. “Well, ya know what to do,” he ordered. She didn’t know what that meant, but she could smell the vapours of the liquid they were pouring around the room and put a torch to it before moving on.
The flames started to spread. Lilith could see her belongings burn as she peeked through the floorboard. Her eyes then stopped on her favourite teddy bear, Asmodan. The spreading flames started licking at him before slowly setting him afire.
“Asmodan…” she whimpered. She tried to push the trapdoor open to get him. But there was something heavy over it. When the man had tossed her bed aside, it had blocked the trapdoor.
She continued to push at it, desperate to rescue her teddy, but she was too small and weak to push it open. Not with the stupid bed on top of it.
“Please, hold on, Asmodan, I’m coming,” she said as tears poured down her violet skin. He was her only friend that kept her company when everyone else was working. The flames were loud, she could hear the wooden beams in her room start creaking and groaning. She banged loudly at the door with all her might to get it open. But to no avail did it move.
She helplessly watched her teddy from the crack and whispered, “I’m so sorry…” She started crying as the raging flames devoured her best friend.
Stay tuned next week for the next part!!
If a paid sub isn’t your thing, and you still wanna help support my work, purrhaps you can buy me a coffee or a can of tuna for Nezuko. 🥰🖤
Aww, poor little Lilith. I know how much children get attached to Teddy's and they are like real friends to them. So sad.
Nooo...Asmoden!! 😭 I remember this, you really upgraded it since you first sent it to me!! I love it!