"She is the first friend you made after Tista so yes. I already talked to Mom and Dad and even though they are not really okay with the idea of us hanging out with an undead they agreed to it.
"As you can see, I've listed all the activities that I know you would enjoy." Lith said.
Solus noticed that he had organized a visit to the Eclipsed Lands to pick up Nyka and meet Kalla again, to watch her favorite movies, to throw her a party, and many other things.
Solus's eyes veiled with tears, moved at the thought that despite his chaotic life, the very little free time he had due to his magical research, and the recent terrible events Lith had never forgotten about their anniversary.
On top of that, he had put a lot of thought to turn what until a year back had been just a private event into a party to share with all the important people in her life.
"Would you guys really do all of this? For me?"
"We already prepared everything, silly girl." Elina said while walking inside the room along with Raaz, Rena, and Senton.
Lith had called her via the communication amulet before opening the Warp steps, to avoid embarrassing situations.
"You are now part of this family, Solus." Raaz hugged her, gently caressing her head. "The day you came into Lith's life it's also the day you came into ours. You have worked so hard from the shadows to make our life better without even receiving so much as a thank you.
"Even if you asked me to go to the moon for your birthday, I would do it because you deserve it and so much more. This is not just our opportunity to celebrate your coming, but also to show you how much you mean to us."
"Thank you so much, Dad." Solus sniffled while returning the embrace.
"So, he is Dad and I'm just Elina? You are being unfair." Elina took Solus in her arms and kissed her forehead. Her voice and her words didn't match, holding only motherly warmth.
"I'm sorry, Elina. Even though I have only one memory of Mom, it is very precious to me. Threin, instead-" A sudden flash appeared in front of her eyes, cutting her short.
She saw a young version of herself that couldn't be older than four years, holding a brush. She was sitting on the lap of a lean man in his late twenties, about 1.6 meters (5'3") tall.
He had green eyes, long light brown hair in a ponytail, and a nose a bit long. He was wearing a worn-out shirt and pants, both covered in stains of paint old and new. Solus could see the child trying to color the spaces inside the black lines of a drawing that the man had prepared for her.
Yet the little girl was so clumsy that, when she was done painting them, trees looked like broccoli, flowers looked like stains, and even the sun looked as if someone had smeared an egg yolk on the canvas.
"You are a better artist than papa, Epphy." Threin said while guiding her hand to the best of his abilities. "We must hang this in Mom's workshop so she will never forget what the sun looks like."
"Really?" Baby Solus puffed her chest out with pride while watching her masterpiece.
"Daddy is a professional, so you can trust my word. If you ever get bored of magic, you'll make into a great artist." Threin turned her around to watch Solus in the eyes and she used the opportunity to dip the brush in the palette and paint his lips red as if it was make-up.
"What are you doing, darling?" He said doing his best to bear the pungent smell tormenting his nose and the sting of the solvents on his skin.
"I'm making you pretty for Mom." Baby Solus said with a serious face as she dipped the brush again, adding a bit of white to Threin's cheeks.
"For what reason?" He asked.
"Mom always makes herself pretty for you. It's only fair for you to do the same." She replied.
"You are right." Threin laughed, letting her make a mess of his face and clothes.
Then, the memory faded as fast as it had arrived and Solus's eyes filled with tears.
"Are you alright?" Lith asked, feeling her sudden emotional turmoil.
Before she could reply, the tower started to hum with power. It drew in the sand from its surroundings along with the world energy coming from the mana geyser below. There was a reason why a skilled Forgemaster like Menadion had made most of her best works out of common materials.
This way, there was no need to hoard tons of magical metals in the case they needed repairs or if they had to fit a wearer the size of the Dragon. The tower could just take the mass it lacked from the raw materials available and flood them with world energy.
This way, the enchantments of the power core could spread through the new parts without encountering any resistance and assimilate them for as long as it was necessary.
The tower grew in size both inside and outside, absorbing so much sand that part of Salaark's palace sunk of a few centimeters compared to the rest, making it tilt. The tower had doubled its diameter, reaching over 20 meters (67 feet), and had also gained two floors, making it over 15 meters (50 feet) high.
The third and the fourth floors had been completely restored, yet there was still no trace of the roof that was replaced by the debris of the sixth floor.
Once everything was over, Lith and Solus collapsed to the ground, panting heavily in exhaustion.
Lith because the power core had taken from him the energy it lacked for the final push while Solus because the regeneration process had temporarily drained the tower of most of its power.
With her cracked core and crippled life force, she needed huge amounts of energy to keep her physical form. Now that Lith and the tower were both debilitated, she needed sheer willpower to not fade away.
Her energy body became a blurred mass of light, losing her features and letting her clothes fall down to the ground.
Lith and Solus had never been there when new floors had been restored. They had always come back to the tower after it had all the time it needed to stabilize its power core.
"What the heck just happened?" Elina rushed to Lith's side while Raaz tried to help Solus to stand up, just to discover that her body lacked any substance.
"I think I just got my deep blue core." Solus replied. "The problem is that being inside the tower, my recovery also triggered my other half's breakthrough, doubling the strain we experienced."
"You don't look stronger. Quite the contrary." Raaz said as his hand kept going through her body as if she was a ghost.
"That's how breakthroughs work." Lith didn't even try to get up, lying on the floor to save as much energy as he could.. "They make you feel like crap until you rest long enough to recover your strength.
