Lith’s mage tower, at the same time when Kamila was talking with the Queen.
After returning from Huryole, Lith attempted to call his handler multiple times, yet Kamila’s army amulet was unavailable. He then tried to reach Jirni, and when even that failed, Lith tried to contact them on their civilian amulets.
“This doesn’t make sense. I’m certain that they had to work today and neither of them ever turns off her work amulet. Something must have happened to them!”
Lith searched his amulet for Orion’s rune. The Tower Warp was pointless if he didn’t know where to go. He rarely called Jirni’s husband, so by the time he found the right communication rune his army amulet started to blink.
“What the heck has happened and why didn’t you pick up earlier? You had me worried sick!” Lith said to a flabbergasted officer in his mid-twenties, with brown hair and eyes.
“I’m afraid there is a misunderstanding. Captain Yehval is currently unavailable so the system rerouted your calls to me. I’m Lieutenant Brarr and I will be your temporary handler until further notice.” The officer said.
“What happened to Kami- I mean, Captain Yehval?” Lith hated surprises.
“I’m not at liberty to say, but feel free to start your report as soon as you are ready.” Brarr said.
“When will she be back and why I can’t get in touch with Constable Ernas either?” Lith looked at the hapless Lieutenant in such a way that if glares could maim, Brarr remains would easily fit in a lunchbox.
“The system says I haven’t got clearance to know that.” Lith’s handler rushed to explain.
The hologram saved him from the oppressive mana the Ranger was exuding, but Brarr could see how angry he was, which reminded him of all the things he had heard about Lith. Horrible things.
“Fine!” Lith snarled and told the Lieutenant about the group of undead who had triggered the arrays’ alarm that protected Huryole.
As soon as Lith mentioned Arthan’s name, Brarr stopped him.
“This is way above my clearance level. Let me ask General Berion for authorization before you continue.”
Lith nodded for him to proceed. Berion still retained his role of Commander because they had yet to find a valid replacement.
“What is it now?” King Meron’s annoyed hologram appeared, making Brarr freeze in panic while Lith’s paranoia shifted to top gear.
‘If the system redirected the call, then Berion is unavailable as well. On top of that, for the King to take the call personally it means that either the General is under investigation for treason or that the King doesn’t trust the upper echelons of the army. This doesn’t bode well.’ He though.
Lith repeated his story from the beginning, but the King interrupted him when Lith described his meeting with Headmaster Hystar Sevenus.
“Lieutenant Brarr, the contents of this conversation are state secrets. I’ve already locked the file and you are forbidden from disclosing anything about what you heard so far. If I catch a single word about it going around, you’ll be charged with high treason. Am I clear?” Meron said.
Brarr nodded and the King forcibly shut down the Lieutenant’s amulet.
“Now you can continue your report, Ranger Verhen.”
By the time Lith finished talking, the King was pinching his nose in frustration.
“I never receive good news. I’m starting to think this crown is cursed.” Meron said. “Who else knows about this?”
“Only your Majesty and I.” Lith replied.
“I stand corrected. Finally good news.” Meron sighed.
“Just like all your predecessors, you’ve probably understood for a while that Huryole is an academy. We always believed it was a failed prototype, but according to what Hystar said, it actually works as intended.”
“You didn’t know?” Lith was flabbergasted.
“Most of Arthan’s records are lost either due to time or because he destroyed them once he realized his days were numbered. I’m not going to lie to you. You are not the first one to reach the core of the Golden Griffon academy, but you are the first to ever live to tell the tale.
“Repeat everything from the beginning and don’t leave out any detail.”
This time the King made Lith a lot of questions about the light Hystar had enveloped him with and about the combat prowess of Huryole’s inmates.
“If the Living Legacy called them an army, then there must be a way to control them. I’m afraid that light was not only meant to bind you to the academy, but also capable to exert some kind of mind control.” Meron said.
“My Orichalcum Skinwalker armor protected me and I’m certain to be alright.” Lith didn’t like the implications of those words one bit.
“We need to make sure. You could be an involuntary puppet right now. Jakra is already out there somewhere and if he ever crosses paths with Thrud, he might be compelled to tell her about the army Arthan prepared for her.
“I expect you to reach the Royal Capital for a mandatory quarantine. Meanwhile, I’ll send someone to further investigate Huryole. This is no longer a matter of containing it, but to be prepared for the worse.
“We need to know if once outside the prisoners are freed from its influence or still retain their immortality. Thrud is already dangerous as she is. If she were to acquire an undying army formed by hundreds of years old battle veterans enslaved to her will, the Mad Queen would make the undead invasion look like a walk in the park.
“King Meron out.”
“Solus?” The moment the King’s hologram disappeared, Lith performed a full body scan on himself with Invigoration and Scanner while Solus did the same.
“Don’t worry, you are fine. Between studying your hybrid life force and the cracks in your human essence, I know them as the back of my hand.” Solus said. “Also, I made sure that the light never touched your body.”
“That’s a relief, but it doesn’t save me from quarantine. They will never believe to a self-diagnosis and I can’t bring you along. We got to split up.” Lith put everything valuable inside his pocket dimension before reaching the nearest city with a Warp Gate in record time.
He found Royal Guards looking for him at the city gates, who stripped him of all his enchanted items before tying his fingers and putting a gag to his mouth. Such safety measures were pointless against an Awakened, but would render any normal mage helpless.
They brought him to Valeron, the capital of the Griffon Kingdom, where Headmaster Marth and Professor Vastor were waiting for him.
“For the gods’ sake, Lith, we must stop meeting like this.” Vastor said, trying to lighten the mood.
“Yeah. I can’t believe that I’m starting to consider crises as the occasion for your social visits.” Headmaster Marth nodded.
The two Royal Healers and their Guards brought Lith inside a white padded cell that Life Vision confirmed to him was covered in arrays that blocked all elements but light.
Without Solus, he lacked a good chunk of his usual brainpower, so Lith had no idea what was happening and asked for an explanation the moment they removed his restraints.
“Together with Manohar, the two of us have spent a lot of time studying the tomes and machines you found in the Odi ruins. We did it to assess the threat a second Kulah might pose to the Kingdom in the case they caught us unprepared.
“Imagine our surprise when the resident genius pointed out that he had only seen one contraption that exploited both light magic and technology to work.” Marth said.
