Over a mana geyser in an isolated area of the Distar Region, Golden Griffon academy.
Unlike her so-called ally, the Dead King of the Undead Courts, Thrud had trustworthy Awakened at her service. The moment Orpal shared with his associates the secret of Awakening they would abandon him whereas the members of her army shared her dream.
She had sent Protheus instead of a Skinwalker not because she was afraid of their potential like Lekha had said, but to keep an eye on her investment without endangering the life of any of her followers.
She didn't Awaken the Hati or the Traughen because they would have ended up like Ekidna, forever trapped on a mana geyser. This way, instead, they could freely remove the Harmonizer and simply go back to their fallen state.
It wasn't pleasant, but it beat the alternative.
"What do you think of this project?" She asked after Glemos' death had caused the destruction of all the Harmonizers in her possession.
The Tyrant had given his allies old models that were not only less efficient, but that would also crumble when examined with Invigoration. There was no honor among thieves.
"I examined the real Harmonizers worn by the Fomors by using your Forgemastering spells while I pretended to mine for crystals, mother. Glemos never thought that you would trust me with Spirit Magic or your personal spells so he never suspected a thing." Protheus shared his findings with her via a mind link.
"My personal opinion is that Glemos' idea can work, but it will take centuries at best to complete it. Investing your resources in the Harmonizers now would just be a waste of time. They will never be ready in time for the war."
"My thoughts exactly." Thrud nodded, using water magic to write on a parchment everything they knew about the artifact. "Yet once I take the throne, just using them to expedite the formation of mana crystals and magic metals will make the Kingdom unstoppable."
"With an army equipped only with Davross and white crystals, the other countries will kneel before you, mother." Protheus said.
"That's far in the future. I'm more worried about the present. What about Verhen?" She asked.
"He's indeed powerful and has a talent for meddling in your affairs, but he's nothing much." The First Doppelganger snarled at the memory of his defeat. "I've collected enough of his body to mimic and study it."
"Good thinking. The more we know the less of a threat Verhen will be. Show me this so-called Tiamat." Thrud said.
Protheus recalled the bits of Lith's skin that he had stored during the fight and black veins bulged out of his body. They spread like fire, burning everything in their wake and making the Doppelganger scream in pain.
The veins reached Protheus' face, forcing it to turn into a black slate with seven white eyes and a mouth filled with teeth that was curled up into a cruel smile.
"I see you." The black thing inside Protheus had a voice that sounded like the wind howling inside an abyss.
It stared at the Mad Queen's as it consumed the Doppelganger, eating at it from the inside.
"Dammit, Protheus. I told you never to underestimate an enemy." A snap of her fingers released a silver bolt of Life Maelstrom that burned the black matter before it could completely swallow its prey.
A lot of meat and a few breaths of Invigoration later, Protheus was alive but far from well. He had experienced what he usually inflicted upon others and found it terrifying.
"I hate to admit it, but Orpal is right. Lith is too dangerous to be left alive." Thrud said while covering her foster son with a blanket and embracing him as he shivered from head to toe. "Give him everything he needs for his plan."
***
Lith and Solus were still embracing each other when images of Thrud and an odd throne room flashed in front of their eyes. After trying and failing to find a reasonable explanation for the phenomenon, they blamed it on the stress from Ekidna's death and the impending war.
"We'd better go home. The tower is reinforcing our emotional loop to the point that we are hallucinating." Lith said while opening a Gate.
"Agreed. I'll go first." Solus could recall words, but not make sense out of them.
"Solus is that you?" A familiar voice asked the moment she walked through the dimensional door.
"Kami?" Solus replied, shocked at the sight of Lith's ex-girlfriend sitting in front of the fireplace with Elina while the kids sat on their laps.
"Kami?" She echoed, shocked by hearing such an intimate moniker coming from a person she barely knew.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get too familiar. It's just that Lith and I are linked and he still calls you like that." Solus replied in a hurry.
"He does?" Months had passed since their break up so the news shocked Kamila but also brought a small smile to her face.
"Kami?" Lith arrived the moment the tower shrank to the size of a ring and slipped onto his finger. He didn't care sounding like a broken record as long as he managed to not make that situation even more awkward.
"Are you alright? Did something happen to you or Zinya?" He realized how dumb those words were the moment he said them.
With Zogar Vastor as their healer and his Organization of Abomination hybrids to protect them, there was little that could threaten their safety.
"I'm alright and so are Zinya and the kids." Kamila said, having a hard time taking her eyes off the lovely petite woman in front of her. "I came here because Elina told me that you are having trouble dealing with the consequences of Zeska."
Lith's mother had actually exaggerated her story to make sure that the two would meet. Elina and Zinya had led Kamila to believe that Lith had been physically and emotionally scarred by the fight with Syrook.
None of it was true, but after Ekidna's demise, Lith looked exactly as Kamila expected him to be.
"What consequences?" Lith shrugged. "The army didn't like the Tiamat snatching the Dragon's corpse but I had warned them that unless they helped me, I would take it. My mission was already over and without me, the regiment would have been wiped out.
"They should be grateful that my intervention nipped the revolt in the Nestrar region in the bud."
"I'm not here as a Constable, but as a friend so I don't care about what the army wants, only about how you feel." Kamila could see the pain in his eyes and wrongly assumed that it had to be something serious to have lasted that long.
"I could definitely use a friend." Lith scratched his head in embarrassment. "Do you mind if we take a walk? I need some fresh air."
"Sure." She recognized their code word for something that couldn't be said in front of the children and stood up after putting Leria down her legs.
"Are you leaving already, Aunt Kamila?" The little girl asked.
"No, don't worry. I'll come to say goodbye before leaving." Kamila said while caressing her soft blond hair.
"But we missed you a lot in the Desert and you've just arrived.." Aran tugged at Kamila's shirt. "Can't you at least stay for dinner?"
