"Excellent thinking, Phloria. I had yet to think of that." Lith said with a warm smile. "Let's see if- The fuck?"
The Eyes had just split into two stone monocles. Lith wore the first while Phloria the second.
'Why didn't you tell me that you could do that?' Lith was flabbergasted.
'Because I had no clue! We never tried handing the Eyes to someone else.'
Solus's reply reached both him and Phloria thanks to the invisible mind link that the Eyes created on contact with their user.
'By the gods, Solus. Not only is the burden now split among the three of us, but we can also safely communicate with a mind link without being detected. Your mother was a frigging genius!' Phloria said while scanning their surroundings.
'She sure was. Thanks to the Monocle form we'll finish exploring way sooner than I had calculated.' Solus replied with joy. She was both proud of her mother and happy to be a full member of the team without the need of cutting Phloria out.
'You were right, Phloria. This will not be another Kulah. We just need to find our prize and then we can leave. This mission will be as easy as pie.' Lith thought.
'Why did you have to jinx it?' Both women whined in unison.
***
Meanwhile, Aalejah the elf and wannabe Chronicler of the World Tree was exploring the spire at the center of Urgamakka together with a group of undead.
"Thanks for having me." She said. "I'm aware that after the War of the Races, we elves don't have a good reputation."
Most Awakened resented her kind for hogging all the Fringes and for not sharing their treasures of knowledge. The most popular opinion was that a race so hell-bent on playing dead might as well walk an extra mile and disappear for real.
"No, thank you for covering our backs." Trevan the Nightwalker said. "Between the war with the Undead Courts, the incident in Laruel, and the fact that we are the only race that has no need to reach the violet, the other Awakened either treat us as traitors or envies us.
"We can use a disciple of the World Tree. Your knowledge will be a great asset and having someone that's not helpless during the day is a big relief. By the way, did you find any clue yet?"
"Yes and no." Aalejah said while staring in amazement at the penthouse of the tallest building in the city.
"What do you mean?" A female Ghoul asked.
"I didn't find any trace of the most popular hidden compartments of that time, but I can tell you that there's something deeply wrong with this place. That fresco is typical of the Rennan democracy, the bed-carpet belongs to the Scammion nomad tribe, and that vase was popular during the Xhen dynasty."
"Meaning?" Trevan's master was an art connoisseur who loved to share her passion with her disciples, yet he didn't understand a word the elf said.
"I mean that they all date to over 3,000 years ago, but who in their right mind would decorate their apartment with pieces that belong to completely different cultures? It's as if the person who lived here suffered from brain damage." Aalejah said.
***
Meanwhile, somewhere really close and yet very far from Urgamakka, a couple of corpses were laughing their asses off behind the young Awakened's back.
They were sitting in a luxurious lounge filled with holographic screens that covered the entirety of Urgamakka, allowing them to follow the expedition team's every move.
"Look at them go." Inxialot, the King of Liches, was laughing so much that he had a hard time catching up his breath. Mostly because his lungs had long withered into what looked like grey pears.
He wore a long crimson mage robe covered in dust and holes that had been patched over time by the spiders that called the Lich home. Very little remained of his muscles and a good part of it dangled from his bones, ready to fall at any moment.
He only kept enough flesh on his face to show his emotions and avoid being mistaken for a skeleton. Not only was it truly embarrassing, but it had also brought the Awakened Council to the brink of war several times.
"At least there is one competent person among those idiots. The girl seems to have noticed my ruse. I resent her calling me brain-damaged, though." He said while slowly caressing a black cat sitting and purring on his lap.
"Is she a reverted orc or a true elf?" Zolgrish the Lich asked.
In life, he had been a tall man, about 1.83 meters (6') tall that now was reduced to a skeletal body that looked like a desiccated corpse. The Lich wore a golden magician robe and the cold red light of undeath shining inside his empty eye sockets gave him a cruel gaze.
His trusted Adamant staff had several purple mana crystals embedded on it and rested on the floor, among the many things he had already forgotten having brought with him.
"She's a true elf and an apprentice of the World Tree at that." Inxialot said.
"The Word Trip?" Zolgrish was flabbergasted. "I thought it was just a myth."
"It's not. The old fart is part of the Council, just like me. Maybe we can squeeze a little bit of information from her. Chroniclers are said to have access to the Tree's memory and-"
"Status report, Inxialot." The image of Raagu, the human representative of the Council popped on one of the screens, cutting Inxialot short and making the two undead scream like little girls while showering the control room with spells in panic.
"You almost gave me a heart attack, hot stuff." Inxialot winked in what was supposed to be a flirty attitude, but due to his lack of eyelids, nothing actually happened.
"You don't have a heart. Now tell me how things are going and who the heck is that guy." Raagu was in a rush and she had no time for the Lich's centuries-old pick-up lines.
"It's a disaster." He replied amid laughter. "Everyone is moving on their own with no coordination nor teamwork. The Awakened chosen as legacy heirs are so confident in their violet cores that they are exploring the city alone.
"The others at least formed small groups, but they refuse to work with the members of other races, especially with the undead. As for him, he's Zolgrish, one of my non-Awakened apprentices."
"Hi there." The golden-robed corpse waved his hand at her.
"Misery enjoys company and so do I. Since you dragged me out of my lab for this shenanigan, I forced him to come with me and share my suffering." Inxialot said.
"It's not a shenanigan. It's a punishment for your failures and repeated oversights. You infiltrated the Dusk Court without ever making a report. You even allowed Night to seal Feela despite you knowing her plan all along!" Raagu said in outrage.
"No need to be passive-aggressive sweetie. I remember to have passed to the Council all the documents that Dusk tasked me to read as if it was yesterday." Inxialot shrugged.
"Because it was yesterday, you moron!" Raagu could already feel the familiar pain from Lich-induced headache tormenting her so she went back to business.
