"Shouldn't you leave some for the others?" Elina asked.
"Nah, they are still too hard. It's better to erase the evidence of this disaster and prepare a second batch later." Solus replied.
"Isn't it too much right after dinner?" Elina said.
"I promise that I won't touch them, Mom." Solus finished the cookies and stood up. "I'm going to my room if anyone looks for me."
She Warped away, leaving Elina alone and sighing.
"She could have at least walked. It's no wonder that Solus gains weight if she doesn't take a single step after eating a mountain of food."
Solus Warped the tower to Lutia long enough to check that no one had left messages for her before moving to the borders of the Gorgon Empire and calling Nyka.
'Ever since we came to the Desert, I've been too busy to call her. On top of that, regular amulets don't work from this distance so we could only talk through Council amulets when Lith and Kalla were both available.
'I wonder how she's doing.' Solus thought, unaware of Elina's worries.
"Who the heck are you and how did you get your hands on my friend's amulet?" Nyka's joy at the sight of Solus's rune blinking turned into rage when she didn't recognize the person projected in the hologram.
The Vampire had been risen by Kalla with Necromancy just seven years ago, yet her body and mind were those of an adult.
Nyka looked like a young woman in her mid-twenties, around 1.7 meters (5'7") tall with emerald green eyes emphasized by her rosy skin. A vampire was pale only when unable to properly feed and that wasn't her case.
Her raven-black hair looked almost blue and after her Awakening, Nyka had gained yellow and pitch-black streaks typical of the elemental affinities of her species.
She wasn't a stunning beauty, but undeath gave her smooth, delicate features and kept her body lithe. Yet now it also twisted her face with fury as she bared her fangs and he eyes burned like embers.
Nyka was so enraged that her slender fingers grew longer and her red-painted nails became sharp claws.
"I am Solus and this is my amulet, dummy!"
"Lies! She lives in the Kingdom and no regular amulet can reach my position. Also, she looks nothing like you." Nyka replied.
"Tower Warp, remember? I know a lot of mana geysers from the time when Lith worked as a Ranger." Solus suddenly understood how Lith must have felt back when she had failed to recognize him.
Right after she had regained her body, between the shock of the sudden change and the temporary disappearance of their mind link, it had taken him quite some effort to calm her down.
"Okay, you know about the tower and about the Warp, but how do you explain the rest?" Nyka still didn't believe her.
"What rest? I'm finally human again and I wanted to share the good news with you." Solus cursed at her own stupidity, turning into a wisp, then into her energy body, and then into a human again.
"This is amazing! I waited so long for this moment that I'm having a hard time believing it even though I'm seeing you with my own eyes." Nyka lost her feral features, jumping with joy like a child.
"You have no idea how scared I was back when it happened. I had lost all of my powers and I couldn't control-"
"What do you mean, back when it happened? How long have you had your body back?" Nyka cut her short.
"A bit less than a month ago." Solus lowered her gaze in embarrassment.
"And you are telling me just now? What kind of friend does that?" Nyka replied. "That's it, I invoke my right to kick your ass. Give me your coordinates right now!"
"I'm really far away and undead are not very good with dimensional-" Solus attempted to say, but Nyka hung up the call the moment she learned the tower's position.
"At least at this longitude, it's still night." She sighed. "There's no risk Nyka gets harmed by sunlight."
Solus released the Sentries to check the surroundings of the tower before lowering the cloaking array that made it invisible to the naked eye. She had just moved to the Mirror Hall when she heard someone knocking.
"Solus!" Nyka expected her to be floating in mid-air like usual so her arms were a few dozen centimeters too high and hugged only air.
"That's the oddest kick-ass attempt I have ever seen." Solus embraced her friend. "I missed you and our talks a lot."
"I couldn't stay mad at you. I just wanted to see you in person." Nyka tried and failed to lift Solus to take a better look at her. "Nice rack, shortie."
"How did you get here so quick?" Solus effortlessly lifted Nyka, spinning her around as if she was just a little girl.
"I had help."
"Long time no see, Solus." Kalla the Wight had to shapeshift to pass through the door.
Even though she looked like an undead, she was actually an Emperor Beast whose body had mutated to accept the massive amounts of darkness element that now replaced part of her flesh.
Her height at the withers was over 2.5 two meters (8'3") and her body was as big as a small house. Her skeleton still resembled that of a bear and the white bones glimpsed from time to time under the living shadow that made her skin.
The red light that burned in her eyes could easily be mistaken for that of undead and she wore a pure white crystal the size of an apple on her neck.
"Please, tell me that you've not turned yourself into a Lich." Solus let go of Nyka from the surprise while she was still spinning.
The Vampire managed to avoid crashing against the wall only thanks to her agility, landing on her feet with a backflip.
"I wish." The Wight sighed. "I have a long way to the bright blue and then I have to find a way to reach the violet."
"Then why the crystal?" Solus asked.
"I discovered that by making my phylactery attuned with my life force, I can increase the chances of achieving Lichhood." Kalla replied.
"And I'm stuck. A little help here." The brown Byk following them was incapable of shapeshifting and passing through the door even though his size was way smaller than his mother.
"What are you doing here, Nok?" Solus asked while enlarging the entrance. "No offense but you are the one I least expected to see."
"None taken." The Byk replied. "I just couldn't miss the opportunity to get some fresh air after months spent in a stinky cave."
"The Eclipsed Lands don't stink!" Nyka rebuked him.
"Are you kidding me? Do you know what it means to live surrounded by the smell of blood and of dead flesh when you are on a strict diet? I couldn't get the food out of my head because it was constantly in front of my eyes." Nok snorted.
The word diet stung Solus, making her eager to change the topic.
"It's wonderful to have you all here.. I can finally introduce you to my family."
'Yes, but reviving his memories will also keep Locrias motivated and focused.' Lith said.
'How can you be so cold? That poor man is reliving his death and that of his men over and over again. On top of that, whenever you call upon him, Locrias will have just a few minutes of strife in front of him before going back to his dreams.
'That's no life, just a living nightmare.' Solus said.
'Locrias knew all of this and yet he chose to stay.' Lith replied. 'At first, I wasn't happy that my Demons aren't blindly loyal, but now I changed my mind. Those that will follow me like Locrias will have a depth of character and determination that no slave could ever have.'
'You'd better go back to Zeska, or your regiment will put a bounty on your Tiamat form for kidnapping Archmage Verhen.' Solus said after a while.
There was no point in arguing with Locrias' choice, she could only respect it as much as she respected the man.
'With my luck, I'll get a bounty anyway.' Lith returned to his human form and weaved a Warp Steps leading to the same exact spot where he had left Captain Loman Estar, his second in command.
'Locrias is right, you are a jackass.' Solus said after reading his mind and his plan.
"Major! Thank the gods you are alright." Ahria said when he stepped through the dimensional door, drawing everyone's attention.
"You had no reason to worry. I told you that Tiamat is a friend of mine."
"What about the Dragon's corpse?" Estar asked.
"He took it."
"What? Why?" It hadn't been one of the Captains speaking.
Several Warp Steps had opened and the nobles' armies from the capitol were stepping through one after another.
"Tiamat said that he was willing to split with Lith Verhen, not with Major Verhen because the army would have claimed most of my part. He also said that you didn't do anything to deserve it so he will keep it safe and send me some scraps just like the army would." Lith sounded genuinely depressed.
Even Dragon poop was a powerful ingredient, making the corpse a gold mine. Yet stealing it implied that only Tiamat could employ equipment made from such magical wonders whereas Lith Verhen had to appear empty handed.
"That's not true! We helped you against Quaron, and if not for us, the Skeletal Knights would have killed you." Eman was outraged by the Divine Beast dismissing the army as useless.
"Yeah, but that was also your duty and you fought to protect your own lives. On top of that, Tiamat gave us plenty of help by sending his Demons. Not to mention that none of us gave the Dragon a single scratch." Lith replied.
Then, after noticing that everyone was looking at him with suspicion for openly defending the Tiamat he added:
"His words, not mine. I tried to talk him into sharing at least a quarter of the body, but he wouldn't listen."
"How convenient a story for you!" Captain Pelan poked at Lith's chest in anger. "I say that you bartered your share with your friend and ignored your duty as an officer of the Kingdom. That's what I think and what I'll write in my report."
'This guy is smarter than he looks.' Solus said.
"And I'll write into mine that you disrespected my authority from the beginning, gave no contribution to the mission, and that I don't recall seeing you on the battlefield." Lith grabbed Pelan's finger, twisting it until the Captain had to grovel on the ground to keep it from breaking.
"Let's move. We have yet a work to do and a city to retake." Lith said. "Captain Ahria, make sure to collect all the equipment of the Skeletal Knights. Estar, with me. We must capture and interrogate all the nobles involved in the uprising.
"It's unlikely, but if they know where the Dragon's lair is, we- I mean, the Kingdom can still get its due."
Lith brought the nobles' armies in front of the city gates that opened without offering any resistance. After the death of their so-called hero and the revelation that Quaron was working for a Divine Beast and not for them, the citizens of Zeska had lost the will to fight.
The city was taken in a matter of minutes and Lith was free to raid the City Lord's mansion. The very same arrays that had kept the army at bay now kept her and her accomplices trapped like cornered mice.
Yet the only thing that the army officers found was a bunch of corpses. Something had killed Syrook's believers, leaving no one left to interrogate. They still retained their youthful appearance so the army managed to identify them only thanks to the help of their oldest servants.
The papers in the City Lord's private chambers revealed her involvement with the Lords of many other cities. The true surprise awaited them in the keep, where all the people that had opposed to Syrook's plan were held captive.
'I don't understand why the City Lord kept them alive.' Lith interrogated them one by one and even studied them with Invigoration to understand if the Black Dragon had experimented on them in any way.
Aside from the natural consequences of prolonged incarceration and malnutrition, however, he found nothing.
'The nobles could have riled up the people against the City Lord by revealing her treachery whereas the civil servants' help will be invaluable in uncovering the details of her dealings with the rebels.'
Yet after his questions and his spells found no answer, Lith could only shrug and move on to the next city. It was none of his business and he was eager to get back to his family in the Desert.
The rest of the mission went smoothly thanks to the fact that all the leaders of the rebellion had died as well soon after Syrook's defeat and thanks to Lith projecting in front of the various cities the events that had happened in Zeska with Light Mastery.
At first, the people refused to believe in Quaron's death and his involvement with a Divine Beast. His head on a pike dispelled the rebels' questions about the Ranger still being alive while the testimony of Zeska's Commander confirmed his involvement with Syrook.
One after the other, the cities of the Nestrar region surrendered to the Kingdom.
Lith's mission was over, he had a whole Dragon corpse in his pocket dimension, and Lutia would be guarded again, ensuring the safety of his family.
He had all reason to be happy, yet a thought kept nagging at the back of his head.
'Who the heck killed the nobles of every single city before my arrival and why did none of the City Lords dispose of their enemies? An Awakened might have bypassed the elemental sealing arrays, but to what end?
'The vaults and the treasuries were all empty so there was nothing to steal. It feels like someone is covering their tracks but Syrook is already dead and each prisoner we rescued is a loose end they didn't tie.
'I even checked them for blood cores in case they were thralls of the Undead Courts and their life forces for Thrud's slave spell, but they were clean.'
