Chapter 2 scene 7 The conversation of Lilith and Mike (and the history of Mike)

As both Mike and Lilith wait for the others to arrive, they converse about each others past and to what they hope their futures’ with regards to their positions may have in store for them.

As the daylight drew to a close and the night settled in for its turn at the twenty-four hour cycle, both Mike and Lilith and the two animal companions awaited the rest of the group members to arrive. As they waited they began to converse about the possible future events that may transpire and then they started to inquire about each others past, first was the past of Mike.

    

 

The campfire's light flickered and played its light than its shadows across the faces of both animal and human assembled and the surrounding clearing and forest as both Mike, Lilith, and the Bandit's two animal companions Spirit and Starling waited for the others to arrive. The light of the sun and the bright disk of the sun itself had sometime ago set, leaving only the moon (set just above the treeline in the nighttime sky) and the stars to light the land and forest below (save for the light of a campfire and the sphere of light that by each passing moment drew the rest of the group nearer to the inevitable whole group's meeting),

    

     As Mike sat in front of the fire opposite Lilith, he wondered about the way life must be like in the world of Ashena, Mike felt an need to converse on their new world that none of them had quite visited yet but all knew so much about. As Mike sat in front of the campfire, sipping some of the water from one of the bottles of mineral water, he glanced at the woman that all of the group had loving called (and knew her most by) as the Bandit and wondered just how well the six of them (together with their new human and animal companions) would stack up in the final confrontation against the Grey Ones and their minions, a confrontation that all knew was to come.

    

     As Mike thought further on this topic of battle and how well their group and their allies would face against the Grey Ones and theirs, he had decided to strike up a conversation on the topic with Lilith. For though the group knew much of one another, an awkward silence had fallen between the two of them (both Mike and Lilith) for though they knew much of each other, they were only truly meeting for the first time and as such these new waters with regards to their lives with one another and as a groups henceforth were uncharted ones.

    

     "So Lilith, what do you think about the world of Ashena to where we all are going. Do you think it will be much like the world of our ancient past, or one very much different than the one to which history has recorded on Earth?" inquired Mike of Lilith as he finished his sip of water from the bottle and returned the cap to it and twisted it shut.
    
     "I suspect" said Lilith to his question,"that the world of Ashena will be much like the world of myth like ours. I also suspect that we will learn of the ways the people of Ashena live is much like that of our ancestors did many centuries ago, but the ways that they live will in many ways still be as distinctive to their world as the ways we and our ancestors live and lived is distinctive to ours." the play of the shadows and then the light of the campfire on her hair as she said those words made the colour of her hair seem to go from a soft black at times to a deep black that would mask even the most pitch black of a nighttime sky.

    

     "I agree" said Mike as he poked at the campfire with the point of his knife as he attempted to better move a piece of wood back into the fire as it was to near the fire's outer edge.

    

     "May I ask a personal question of you Mike?" inquired Lilith as she looked up at him from her kneeling position and past the still roaring fire.

    

     "You may" said Mike in return as he showed her a warm smile to let her know that any inquires, no matter how personal, were more than welcomed and as such she need not worry to in asking.

    

     "I know that the six of us know much of each others past and of their histories, but I wish to hear it from you for the first time and in person. What was your life like her on Earth and what do you hope the future has in store for you. For us all." said Lilith at last ready to let Mike speak, to answer questions of some to which she already knew the answers to and still some to which she did not.

    

     "Well, Lady Lilith" started Mike to her questions before Lilith interrupted him with a hearty laugh.

    

     "I am not of nobility and neither are you or any of us for that matter." stated a smiling Lilith at the prospect of being called a Lady before finishing by saying,"Though we all, may it be we six or our allies not be of noble birth, we will nonetheless both stand forth as a united front and with honour and fight and if need be give our lives for the good and for what we believe in.You may now continue...Lord Mike" and as Lilith finished by calling Mike Lord Mike, a playful smile than spread across her lips.

    

     "Thank you, Lady Lilith." said Mike as he started up again all the while showing an equally playful smile upon his own lips an as he did so he continued by saying,"Though may I say that if you had been born in a time other than this, I am sure you would have been born of noble blood and birth. And as I was saying earlier, I was born in the northern outskirts of Ottawa, and had lived there all my life up until now. Up until the summons, I mean. I went to a school called Lord Benard, and had found myself at an early age being drawn to ancient history and to its military and their tactics. I never had much time for athletics though I was gifted in it, rather I found myself at the age of fourteen playing AD&D with my friends though at a military and strategic level." as Mike paused for a moment to take a breath, he finally got the piece of wood he had been fiddling with with the point of his knife to the right position and as he did so he continued,"Both me and my friends would pit our heros against impossible odds and would try to receive as few casualties as possible as we dealt as much damage as possible."

    

     As Mike paused yet again, this time to clear his throat, Lilith inquired with a further question by asking of him,"And how is it that one such as yourself after what I'm sure was much time spent playing AD&D, how could you find such time to learn how to cook such great meals in the open outdoors?"

    

     "Well, I will tell you" said Mike with a smile returning to his face,"Between my time spent at school, playing AD&D and later on in life working, I still found, remarkable may I add, time for the great out doors and to learn the fine arts of cooking and living off of the land and my surroundings." he finished this by sweeping with his left arm and hand in an arch towards the land and forest outside their camp and  beyond their campfire's light to indicate the land to which he easily found it easy to live off of.

    

     "When the summons came I prepared myself for the journey, however long that maybe, and immediately set out thereafter. Upon arriving at the forest, then at this here clearing," Mike then paused to yet again make a sweeping motion with his left arm and hand to indicate the clearing to which they and the rest of their soon to arrive group would briefly call home and sanctuary to before continuing on by saying,"Then I dug the fire pit, made the campfire and prepared and cooked the food and then finally I awaited your arrival as we are now awaiting the arrival of the others."

    

     "And before I forget," Mike continued a moment before he paused as he raised himself to stand by the fire, then moving to stand on the edge of the ridge that overlooked the rest of the clearing and his scooter, he claimed down and moved to stand by his scooter to retrieve something like he had done already so many times today.

    

     As Mike once again reached his scooter he then continued the conversation without turning to face Lilith, he continued by saying,"I even painstakingly drew six maps' of the world of Ashena. I have a photographic memory you see, and I remember with exquisite detail every map of every realm and land that exists in the world of Ashena and even the map of Ashena as a whole." as he then paused his end of the conversation a moment he then pulled the seat of his scooter back to reveal its internal trunk and pulled out a satchel, slinging it over one shoulder he placed back the seat into its original position and turned back towards and walked up to and climbed over it. As he the momentarily knelt like Lilith did on drawn up knees, he pulled the top flap of the satchel open and pulled from within to without a sheet of homemade paper to which a map had been  painstakingly drawn on and then handed it to Lilith, he did this with a look of pride on his face as he then did continue the conversation by saying further,"I drew these some nine months ago, when I had a feeling that we would one day soon have to travel to the world of Ashena and the realms and wilderness beyond. And I guess I'll have to draw a seventh one someday soon for our newest companion. Though I doubt your animal companions will be needing any." he then finished with a chuckle to himself.

    

     "No. I don't think they will." chuckled Lilith at the amusing notion of her animal companions trying to use one.
   
     And with the handing of the map to Lilith now complete, Mike merely said as he climbed once again to his feet,"Well, at least we have the maps for us. And I'll get right to work on the seventh map for our new companion when we get to Riunea castle and to the safety of the keep." as he said that he sat back down at his usual spot and rested a moment before further saying,"And as regards to what I hope the future will hold for me and the rest of us. I only hope that I may be a worthy  tutor to the free human realms of Ashena as we prepare that world for battle against the Grey Ones and their minions. For after a thousand years of being out of power and wanting to get back into power has meant that they are probably more than ready for us." as he  finished those final few words, the smile that had so readily played on his face earlier now turned to a frown. A frown made at the thought that both he and the others might not yet be ready for such an undertaking when their opponents had a thousand years to prepare for them and their new world.

    

     Frowning for a moment longer at the thought that they (and in particularly him) might fail at their prophesied appointed tasks and a still unknown possible future, Mike merely forced from his mind the possibility of defeat at the hands of the Grey Ones and their forces and forced himself to focus on the here and now while reminding himself that the future was yet to be written and only the here and now really mattered for it was only this moment, the present that they had control over and as such if used properly, they could still yet make the future their own and end up the victor in the war and battles yet still to come.

    

     Finally then having forced from his mind (if only temporarily) a possible defeat at the hands of the Grey Ones, Mike reminded himself that he had yet to hear from the woman to whom still knelt before him. That he had yet to hear of what she had hoped for the world of Ashena and of what she hoped they and she could do to oppose the Grey Ones. And that he had still as of yet still not heard of her life before now and how she had become ready for this endeavour to whom they all belonged.

    

     Finding then a new reason for optimism for the future and the present, Mike decided to inquire about what Lilith hoped for for the future (for their new world and them and herself) and in her past (though he knew a lot of both her and the rest of the group as they did of him, though neither side knew all).

    

     "And you, milady. Lady Lilith. What do you hope for in your future, the future of our new world and the rest of us. And may I finally inquire into your past as well." asked Mike with that the warm and playful smile returning to his face.

    

     "You may, milord Mike." said Lilith as she looked up from the map held within her hands safe from the flames of the fire before her, and as she looked up a warm and playful smile too play upon her lips once more. Placing then the map before her on the ground, she prepared to tell him her own life's story.

Author's Note

Please tell me what you think about this scene, and I hope that you enjoy it. Thank you