1819 Into the Vurdalak's Lair (Part 1)

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Lith looked at Xenagrosh in surprise, feeling Solus tremble at the sight of the Shadow Dragon and the smell of Bytra that she carried.

"We may have our differences, but you know that I've always kept your secrets. You can trust me." The divide that had opened between Zoreth and the man that she considered her little brother hurt her deeply, and her eyes showed it.

She was eager to redeem herself and her wife in Lith's eyes to the point that neither of them had told Vastor about Solus' real identity. Bytra preferred to die rather than inflict more pain on the woman that she had already killed once.

'The decision is up to you, Solus.' Lith said.

'I don't like Xenagrosh much, but if we face Orpal and he conjures his tower, we'll need all the help we can get. Just keep her away from me.' Solus' ring was made of inanimated stone, yet it managed to shake in fear.

"I accept."

"But we don't." Raagu looked carefully at Leegaain, weighing her words.

The last time that Lotho had mistreated the lost daughter of the Guardian, he had been humiliated to the point that just seeing Xenagrosh had made the Treant subconsciously shrink in size and seal his own mouth.

"With all due respect, Xenagrosh, the Organization is not a part of this Council. We appreciate all the help and information you have provided us, but this doesn't change that Awakened don't like dealing with people that remain hidden in the shadows.

"As long as the so-called Master doesn't reveal himself, we cannot let you take part in any mission. It would mean sharing with you confidential information that we can't disclose as long as we don't fully trust each other."

"Fine." Xenagrosh snorted, producing a puff of black smoke. "But if anything goes wrong, it will be on you and I'll make sure that you pay for it."

"There's one thing that I want to say before we move out." Tista stepped right in front of Raagu. "If we do this for you, we'll leave our house exposed. Meln has made no mystery of his intentions and his troops will likely attack the moment the coast is clear.

"While we are away, I want all the Regional Lords to help Faluel defend our home. Lith isn't the only one under Meln's threat and we won't risk everything for you."

Raagu looked at the other Lords who sighed but accepted.

"If everything is settled, you have five minutes for the final preparations before we Spirit Gate you to your destination."

"No briefing? No time to study the maps?" Phloria asked, curling her upper lip at their stupidity.

"Who do you take us for, humans?" Raagu put a pin on their chests and the information about the place they were about to raid flowed into their minds.

Blueprints, the number of known enemies, even their names and known abilities were easily accessible to them with but a thought. Lith's group had already experienced the effects of the tower's library, yet the pins surprised them anyway.

"Just be careful not to lose them." Leegaain said. "I couldn't cram so much knowledge into your minds without damaging your memories so it's all stored inside the pins. They will work like a second brain, with no burden on your abilities."

"Thank you." Lith tried and failed to study his pin with Abyssal Gaze. Leegaain's cloaking runes let him see only a simple message through the fog that covered the power core of the pin: "Nice try."

"Friya, as the Storm you are supposed to scout the enemy lines and deal devastating blows to disrupt their battle formations. Take Thundercrash and make it rain." Lith handed her the railgun and a full cartridge.

"I thought you had imprinted it yourself for your missions." She accepted the weapon with a small bow of gratitude.

"I did, but I always have Grandma reset it when I visit her."

"Lucky bastard." Friya took the words out of the mind of everyone present.

While they discussed the final details, Leegaain left his seat and approached his daughter.

"Are you alright?" He said.

"Not really, Dad, but thanks for asking."

"You know that you can tell me anything, don't you?" The Father of all Dragons touched her shoulder, checking on Zoreth's condition.

Much to his surprise, both her twin life forces and cores had stabilized. The Master's experiments had brought the fusion of the life forces near its completion while the black and the troll core now spun around each other like twin stars.

'Whoever this Master is, he must be a damn genius.' Leegaain thought. 'They managed to turn Zoreth from a messed jigsaw puzzle into a proper hybrid. She is now no different from the offspring of two different Emperor Beasts.

'The only question that remains is if her two sides will manage to fuse into one like it happened for Lith or if once they come too close, she'll be forced to choose one. At this point, everything is possible.'

The Father of All Dragons saw the Eldritch life force try to suck the troll's dry, only to be pushed back by waves of pure light element.

At the same time, the two cores got closer with every cycle until they collided.

They managed to partially merge before the repulsive effect forced them apart and they started their dance anew. The black core was a creature of Chaos just like the Troll core was infested by Decay.

In theory, they should have neutralized each other and achieved perfection, but in reality was much more complex. Too much light energy would turn Chaos into darkness, just like too much darkness would snuff out the Decay.

So far, the two cores neutralized the side effects of each other but that wasn't enough to bring Zoreth fully back to life.

Each core had its own output and needs that couldn't be fulfilled by the random amounts of energy that the other emitted. The final step that Zoreth needed to become something whole yet also completely new, was to have her two life forces become one.

Only then, after the energy and the flesh of her body became interchangeable like it happened for the white cores, would her cores manage to synchronize. At that point, it would be only a matter of time before the troll's and the black core's energy signatures would synchronize and they would fuse as well.

On paper, it was very simple, but it was actually an incredibly complex process that involved too many variables even for Leegaain to calculate.

"Dad, do you think that it's possible to forgive someone who has hurt you really bad, if they didn't do it on purpose?" She asked, worrying about Bytra's mental health.

"Depends, my dear." He replied. "Just saying sorry is cheap. The first step is to recognize your mistakes, the second is apologizing, and the third is proving with actions to be worthy of forgiveness.

"Even if you do everything you can, however, the final decision is always up to your victim. You can't demand to be forgiven. Even if you think to have compensated them properly, what you believe doesn't matter, only their feelings do."

"That's what I thought." She sighed.