"The real question you should ask yourself is: what was Menadion trying to accomplish by fusing a dying person with a tower? Is her work really flawed or did she actually achieve exactly what she wanted?" Mogar said while absorbing the shade of the First Forgemaster who cried in shame and regret.
"Last but not least, the matter about your other half. Tell me, what does he want? Where does all of his rage come from? How much of your life and your actions have been influenced by his presence?
"How can two so different beings become one if they are incapable of sharing even the most insignificant aspect of tier lives?" The Rezar disappeared as well and so did Mogar.
The Mindscape suddenly turned so dark that Nalrond couldn't even see his own hands. At least until he understood that the mind link had been broken from the other side and that he was still sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed.
"How did it go?" Friya asked while performing a diagnostic spell to make sure that he was alright.
"Very oddly. Mogar asked me many questions, but I don't think you would like them." Nalrond said before sharing with them his conversation with the planet. He glossed over the part about Solus due to Morok's presence.
He already knew about Menadion and if they mentioned the tower as well, even someone as simple-minded as the Tyrant would discover her secret.
"Based on what it said, Forbidden Magic is the only way to fix Lith's life force." Quylla shuddered at the thought.
There were few things that she wouldn't do for her friend, but sacrificing human lives was among them. She had researched Arthan's Madness under Professor Vastor's supervision and she knew how reckless the procedure was.
Forbidden Magic would require dozens of victims and the slightest mistake would enlarge the cracks instead of fixing them if not even destroy Lith's mind, replacing it with an amalgam born out of all the fused consciousnesses.
"What do you think Mogar meant with those questions about your other half?" Friya asked.
"Yeah, more like, do you even have one?" Morok shrugged. "I've been a hybrid until I became twenty, but I never heard voices inside my head nor did I have arguments with myself. More than any other teenager, I mean."
"Honestly, I don't know." Nalrond shapeshifted several times, trying to feel if another presence inhabited his body, but to no avail.
Ever since he was a kid, his elders had taught him about the history of the Werepeople, of how being fused with Emperor Beasts had made them different from any other race. Yet he couldn't remember a single time when he had felt anything but himself.
On top of that, after seeing Lith and Solus merge while fighting against Dawn, after spending so much time with them, he had witnessed what one living being split into two different halves looked like.
Not only did they have each their respective mana core and life force, but they also had different dreams and goals. Yet it didn't keep them from helping each other. Quite the contrary, they were so close that it was hard to tell where one finished and the other started.
"Wait a minute." He said after pondering the issue for a while. "The first time that I fought Dawn's undead, fear paralyzed me. The only reason I survived is that my body acted on its own, attacking with a fury that surprised me.
"The same thing happened when I had to cut through Night's army to reach Selia's house. I didn't need to think or plan my moves in advance. Every time an enemy stood in my path, instinct and fury guided me to the deadliest solution."
"Could I possibly be like Lith and-" A friendly nudge in the ribs from Friya cut him short.
"Nah, dude. You're nothing like Lith." Morok waved his hand to firmly deny the possibility. "I mean, sure, you are both grumpy, but I've seen him cut through two armies at the same time whereas you needed help to beat a couple of undead."
"Never mind." Nalrond said, ignoring the Tyrant's remark. "I meant that maybe, all this time my people worried about what the human mages did to us without considering that our beast half might be in an even worse condition.
"To have loyal soldiers capable of following orders, our makers couldn't have two conflicting personalities inside one body. The constant struggle for dominance would have driven us insane and made us useless.
"It's possible that they sealed the beast's mind, leaving the human side in control. If I'm right, then the reason why Werepeople never became a true race and are incapable of Awakening is that the barrier separating our two life forces also traps our beast half in some sort of slave contract.
"Because of that, not only our bodies, but also our minds can never be in synch." Nalrond said.
"It's a terrifying hypothesis." Quylla said.
The more she learned about the consequences Forbidden Magic had on its victims, the less she felt like considering it as a solution for Lith's problem.
"If you are right, then you should give up on the idea of becoming whole. There's no telling if your beast half has enough sanity left to reason once freed, nor what might happen if it doesn't recognize you as an ally.
"Best case scenario, it will be as naïve and ignorant as a baby and you'll have to take care for him for a long while. Worst case scenario, it's been awake all this time and it resents you for it." She said.
"I think you are right." Nalrond sighed.
"Before making any decision, I'll talk to Faluel. Maybe together we can come up with a solution, or at least with a way for me to communicate with my other half without tearing down the wall that has kept us apart until now.
"That said, I've got nothing more to do here and this place is filled with too many memories to be pleasant. Unless you want to communicate with Mogar as well, I'm ready to leave at any time."
"Thanks, but I've had enough of this place." Friya said. "Between my Soul Projection and the things that I learned by practicing magic here, I've got plenty of things to think about when we get home."
Quylla and Morok nodded at her words. They both could feel that after Nalrond's successful communion, Mogar had shifted its attention to something else. Morok didn't even hear the voice in his head prompting him to Awaken anymore.
"Then if we all agree, I'd say that it's better to leave without saying goodbye." Nalrond said. "Kimo and I didn't part on good terms and the way they acted towards you guys felt like just a charade to get on my good side.
"Once they hear that I'm going to leave the Fringe for good, they'd have no reason to hold back. If their real motive has been learning Light Mastery all along, things might get messy."
Having already stored their possessions inside dimensional amulets, they had no need to go back to the Dewan village. They had everything they needed safely literally at their fingertips so once the group left the cave, they went directly to the Fringe's border.
