2060 The Price of Wwar (Part 2)

With no other option left but to wait, Lith went to the kitchen and prepared himself a hearty meal.

'If not even the smell of my ravioli with Bolognese sauce wakes her up, Solus must be really out of it. I'd better make enough for later. Both she and Kami love this dish and we don't eat it for-' It was then that the realization hit him.

The good food and thinking about the two most important women of his life had reminded him of the meal they had shared just a few hours ago in their home and made his paranoia run rampant.

Losing control of the borders put the Kingdom in hot waters and Lith straight into lava.

The Royals had yet to sign the deal and his failure to protect the city might force them to worsen its terms if not to rewrite it entirely. Kamila was still in Valeron and despite all of her reassurances, there was no telling if they would take her hostage.

Lith put down the fork before he could destroy it with his grip, too afraid to further compromise Solus' health since even the cutlery was a part of the tower. He looked at the multiple blinking lights on his amulet like snakes in the grass.

The Royals, the Council, and Kamila had left him multiple messages which in his experience was never a good sign. He had slept for way longer than he expected and in war, there were countless things that could go wrong in eight hours. 

'Calm down and eat, old man. The tower drained you and if something bad happens, you need your strength.' Lith forced himself to resume his meal while listening to his voicemail.

Luckily, the Royals were just worried about his disappearance, Kamila had sent him constant updates about the battles for the two remaining cities, and the people he knew from the Council wanted to reassure him that they were still alive.

Lith spent half the time pacing around and the other half cooking and stress eating. He kept the communication amulet on the table, staring at it like an angry beast that might jump at him at any moment and bite him with bad news.

"Is this delicious smell coming from a baked Alaska?" Solus's voice took him by surprise, making Lith turn toward her with a bolt of lightning running along his left arm and a fireball in his right hand.

"If you don't want to share, just say it." She pouted in mock indignance.

"Thank the gods you are okay!" Lith dropped the spells and held her tight just to hear her whimpering in pain from the strain of being touched. "Please, tell me that you are okay."

He let her go as softly as he could, afraid to hurt her. Now that he looked carefully at Solus' energy body, Lith noticed that she emitted no radiance, she wasn't floating like usual, and her long golden hair dragged on the floor, collecting dust.

"I'm not okay but I will be." She said with a small smile while massaging her shoulders and back. "I can't conjure my human body yet and I shouldn't even use this form. It consumes too much energy compared to my wisp form and slows down my recovery."

"Then let it fade and rest." Lith took a quick look at the tower core.

It wasn't hazy anymore, but it would still become blurred from time to time.

"Are you kidding me?" She replied. "I would have kept sleeping if not for the delicious smell of your sweets torturing me. Since you have woken me up, you must take responsibility."

During the last few hours, Lith had prepared her favorite foods in the hope that Solus would wake up and then eaten them in frustration when it failed.

"Meaning?" He asked.

Solus had him sit down in front of the cake and then she sat on him before starting to eat.

"This is the quickest way for me to regain my strength." She said in-between mouthfuls. "Food for the body, your mana for my core, world energy for the tower. No mind links, please. Both the tower and I are suffering from a bad case of mana abuse.

"Due to the tribulation, I was forced to bite much more than I could chew."

"I can see that." Lith chuckled seeing how in her feeding frenzy Solus dirtied her mouth, dress, and hair. "Let me help."

A gentle touch of Spirit Magic tressed her hair and cleaned her from the stray bits of baked Alaska.

"This time you scared me to death, Solus. I really thought that I'd lost you for good." He leaned his head on her shoulder, rubbing his cheek against her and making Solus blush. "Don't you dare do it again."

"How do you think I felt every time you underwent a tribulation or whenever you pulled one of your crazy stunts against an enemy stronger than us?" She turned around without letting go of the cutlery and hugged Lith with so little force that he barely felt it.

"Now you know how it feels walking a mile in my shoes." Solus sniffled in fear as the memory of the battle overwhelmed her and buried her face in his shoulder.

Then, her energy body suddenly turned human again.

They remained like that for a while, appreciating each other's warmth and listening to the beating of their hearts.

"You should save your strength. There's no point forcing yourself to take human form." Lith said while gently caressing her hair.

"I'm not doing it on purpose, dummy. It just happened." Solus felt her body relaxing and her consciousness slipping as the embrace soothed their spirit.

"Go back to sleep. I'll put the rest of the baked Alaska in the pocket dimension and you'll finish it when you wake up." Lith said when her eyes started to droop and her breathing to turn into the occasional snoring.

"My cake!" Solus stood up abruptly and cleaned her plate before Lith could say anything else.

"That hit the spot." She said with a satisfied burp. "You have no idea how much better everything tastes compared to when I'm stuck in my energy body."

Then, she turned into a wisp of light the size of a basketball and fell asleep in Lith's lap.

'Dammit, physical contact really is the best way for her to recover. She's gotten her human body back and I feel like I just finished a double-shift.' Between the amount of food he had eaten and the mana Solus had drained from him Lith felt drowsy.

He carried Solus to his room while making a quick call.

"Mom, please call me as soon as Kami gets back, no matter the hour. Also, have Grandma take a good look at her and make sure the army didn't plant anything on her."

"Do you really think that the Royals would do something like that?" Elina asked.

"They have yet to sign our deal and without it, the Royal Court might pressure them into making something foolish like what they did to Phloria." Lith sighed. "I'm sorry to burden you with this, Mom, but Solus still needs some time to recover and I have no idea when we'll get back."