"Vastor had to give me access to Arthan's diaries to keep me from wasting time just to reinvent the wheel." Quylla said.
"There's one thing that doesn't add up." Morok said. "Nalrond saw a Rezar, but we have no way to know if the shade was an Emperor Beast or one of his ancestors.
"Either way, if a Rezar knew how to merge the two life forces of a hybrid, why didn't he share such knowledge?"
"We'd have to wait for Nalrond to wake up to answer to that." Friya said. "In the meantime, we'd better call Lith. None of us knows anything about Awakened or mind links.
"Maybe the woman with Faluel's hair was the Awakened equivalent of Arthan and maybe he could explain to us how to fight against the shades on equal footing." She took her communication amulet out of her dimensional item, noticing that all runes were lit.
Unbeknownst to them, the Fringe was akin to a giant mana geyser, allowing them to reach the others on the Jiera continent even when they were outside Solus's tower.
Friya turned the holograms off before calling Phloria. She didn't want to show her sister in a nightgown to Morok nor wanted to risk exposing Solus's existence before being sure that the Tyrant could be fully trusted.
"I hope this is important. Do you have any idea what time is it here?" Phloria had gone to bed for a few hours now, but she still felt like crap.
"No, I don't. Yet I wouldn't call you if this was anything but vital. We're on the clock here. The Fringe is far from uninhabited and we're this close to getting burned at the stake." Friya replied, explaining Phloria about the Dewans and about the failed attempt at communing with Mogar.
"Slow down. I'm still half asleep so I'm not understanding even half your words. On top of that, I can't ask Lith for help. Nalrond has been damaged in the body, but Lith had it worse. His life force is compromised and he needs rest. I can ask S-"
"Morok says hi to you." Friya cut her short.
"Hi, Quylla's tomboy sister." Morok had no clue why formalities mattered during such a moment but he didn't care enough to ask for an explanation.
"Do you really have yet to remember my name?" Phloria said. "Never mind, I'll call the others."
She went to Tista first, but Invigoration's effects had yet to reset and she was so tired that no amount of knocking on her door could wake her up. Phloria then went to Solus's room, finding it open and empty.
'I should have known that she wouldn't leave Lith's side no matter how tired she is. I bet that Solus has taken care of him ever since we went to sleep.' Phloria thought.
When she opened the door and found the Wisp resting on the Wyrmling's chest like a puppy, the scene moved her.
'It's really hard to even guess how deep their bond is. If I was in Kamila's shoes and saw this, I would be mad with jealousy, though.' Phloria shook Solus gently, trying to not wake up Lith as well.
The Wisp wobbled as she regained consciousness, turning beet red when Solus realized to have been caught red-handed. She didn't sleep with Lith ever since she had regained a humanoid body for obvious reasons.
"I'm sorry to wake you up, but Friya might have found something about your mother and I thought you needed to hear it first." Phloria whispered while casting a Hush Zone around Lith.
She thought to have recognized Menadion from the description, but she wasn't sure of it. Only Solus and Nalrond had actually seen the First Ruler of the Flames, the others had only heard about her.
At those words, Solus became wide awake. Between the mana geyser under Reghia and being so close to Lith, she had recuperated most of her strength.
"Can you endure a mind link?" Phloria asked.
"I can, but you're still too weak. We need to use words." Solus could see with her mystical senses that only sheer willpower allowed Phloria to stand.
"I'll let you speak with Friya, then. Be careful of what you say, though. The others went to a Fringe and there's Morok with them." Phloria said.
'Why didn't they wait for us? I could have learned a lot from a Fringe, maybe even get another talk with Mogar.' Solus thought. 'Unless Faluel sent them there as part of their trial of wisdom, I'm going to give Nalrond a piece of my mind when I see him again.'
"Hi, mysterious Lith's third girlfriend. Nice to hear you again." Morok said as soon as he recognized her voice.
"Friya, can you explain to me what's happening?" Not having the patience to put up with the Tyrant's nonsense, Solus ignored him.
After listening to everything that had happened since they had entered the Fringe, Solus tried to answer their questions to the best of her abilities.
"Quylla is right. The man was definitely Arthan. From your description, he wore the clothes and chains of the day of his execution. As for the woman, she was Magus Ripha Menadion, wielding her fabled hammer, the Fury." Solus remembered it from Orion's book.
The artifact had a too peculiar shape to forget about it.
"Did she say anything?" Based on Menadion's tattered clothes and her battle frenzy, Solus realized that just like Arthan, the shade was likely the depiction of the final moments of Menadion's life.
Any clue, no matter how insignificant, could help Solus uncover the mystery behind her condition and Menadion's disappearance.
"No, she didn't. Do you have any idea why the shades could use both magic and equipment whereas Nalrond only had his human body?" Friya said.
"I have never fought with Lith during our mind links, but I know how the mindscape works." Solus replied. "Everything that happens there depends upon your perception of yourself.
"The form you take in the mindscape isn't related to your physical appearance so much as to how you picture yourself. It's similar to how an Emperor Beast chooses their human form."
Even during their mind fusion, Solus wasn't able to see herself as a human because she had no idea of how she looked like before becoming a hybrid. On the other hand, Lith could take the appearance of Derek McCoy, of the Wyrmling, or that of his actual body.
"Let me get this straight. You think that the reason why Nalrond couldn't shapeshift nor use magic is that he sees himself as a normal man, correct?" Friya asked.
"Yes. If he considers such abilities as something that belongs to his beast half, then he can't rely on them during a mind link. On top of that, what the other Rezar used wasn't magic.
"It was a manifestation of its willpower, just like Arthan's strength or Menadion's hammer. Arthan pictured himself like a god while Menadion lived and died wielding her Forgemastering tool." Solus replied.
'Good gods, no wonder Lith managed to get this far in the academy and the army. We are all tired, yet Solus managed to put together the pieces of the puzzle like it was nothing.' Friya thought.
