2165 More than Meets the Eyes (Part 1)

The Queen traced a circle in the air with her finger, conjuring a Spirit Gate.

"I'm glad to have you on board, Scourge." Kalla the Wight walked through the dimensional opening, leaving Lith flabbergasted. "I'm sorry to drag you into this but you are one of the few people I trust with my life."

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 her skin was comprised of.

A white crystal the size of an apple was hung to her neck, its light mixing with the darkness that seeped under the gemstone's surface from time to time, painting it black.

Even though she was alive, her eyes burned with the red light of undeath, marking her as a unique existence. In a way, her condition was similar to Lith's. It was the reason he had shared with her the secret of his reincarnation and sought her advice.

By her side, walked Vladion Dragonborn, the first Vampire and ruler of the Eclipsed Lands of Lightkeep.

He looked exactly like when he was still alive. A handsome man in his early thirties about 1.87 meters (6'2") tall, with short black hair, light olive skin, and icy blue eyes that were filled with the warm passion of youth.

He had the bearing of a general and the build of a soldier. One look was enough to understand that he had earned his stripes in battle, not by pushing papers and licking boots.

A regular undead would have been turned into ashes by the sunlight coming from the windows, but Vladion had long since reached a full red blood core. He could temporarily give up on his undead nature at any time to turn back into a living being.

"What do you mean and what are you two doing here?" Lith asked.

"It's very simple." The Wight nodded. "I'm the one who requested your presence because I suspected that your Abomination side would make you immune to the Unwavering Loyalty just like my undead side protects me.

"Vladion already offered to come with me, but we could use a heavy hitter who is familiar with the Golden Griffon in case we are forced to fight. Also, I know that there's no one who can synergize with me as well as you do."

One of her eyes flickered in a wink, followed by another when she noticed that Lith hadn't caught her drift and then by several more.

"Is there something wrong with your life force, bear?" Inxialot the Lich King asked. "I had a similar problem as well back when I had started the process of splitting my mana core."

Only then did Lith activate Life Vision, noticing that the white crystal had not only a mana flow but also a shred of life force.

"Good gods, Kalla, what have you done?"

"For now, nothing." She replied in annoyance. "I'm still fully alive. What you see is just the progress I made in synching my energy signature with the crystal's. It will take years to complete the process and I won't become a Lich before achieving at least the bright blue core."

Kalla spread a blue aura, flexing her energy body to show the progress she had made since the last time they met. Back then, in Lightkeep, the Wight was barely past the deep blue and her homebody physique made her unsuitable to fight even fake mages.

"With all due respect, Your Majesty, you can't be serious." Lith pinched his shadow nose in annoyance. "Kalla is as weak as a baby. How can she possibly contribute to the mission? She's a liability at best."

The Wight was actually stronger than most mages of the Kingdom, but for Awakened standards, she was unsuited to fight. Even the members of Thrud's Forgotten corps had at least the bright blue core and many of them had reached the deep violet.

"I'm very serious." Sylpha's face was a stone mask but the same couldn't be said about the rest of the Awakened and even Xenagrosh.

Lith could see a mix of rage, envy, and greed in their eyes that he couldn't find an explanation for.

'I can't believe that Kalla's crystal is that precious.' He thought. 'Inxialot is also a Lich so her undead nature can't be the issue either.'

"I agree with you on her lack of battle prowess but Lady Kalla holds means that are invaluable for this mission. Without her, all of our planning wouldn't have even started in the first place." Sylpha said.

"You see, she's the one who stepped forward to offer to help our cause with her Eyes of Menadion."

"She what?" Lith's Abomination face was supposed to be a featureless black slate yet it still managed to express his astonished surprise.

He was well aware that Kalla possessed the Eyes since he was the one who had given them to her after Scarlett the Sekhmet had left to start her training as a Guardian. What shocked him was the fact that Kalla had willingly revealed the existence of the artifact to the rest of the world.

"I understand your incredulity." Sylpha completely misunderstood his reaction. "I wouldn't believe it myself if I hadn't seen such a legendary item with my own eyes. It seems that they are part of the legacy left behind by Scarlett the Scorpicore."

The Queen kept a calm appearance but her grip on Saefel's Sword became so strong that it would have bent regular tempered metal.

'I can't believe that the Kingdom had the Eyes of Menadion right under our nose for 100 years and in the White Griffon forest as that! We could have bargained with the Forest Lord for them since Mirim had a great relationship with the Scorpicore.

'Heck, maybe if we treated her better, she wouldn't have entrusted such a priceless treasure to a mad semi-Lich!' Sylpha's frustration knew no bounds and was matched only by that of the members of the Council.

They had often interacted with the Scorpicore and were now deeply regretting having always dismissed her as a minor player and a major pain in the ass.

'What I'd give to get my hands on the Eyes.' Xenagrosh thought. 'They would be the perfect gift for Bytra. With them, the Absolution, and the Mouth, it would be just a matter of time before she manages to craft her own mage tower.

'After that, with Nandi's help to make up for the missing Hands, her creations would match those of the Guardians!'

"I have them right here." Kalla put what looked like a golden pince-nez on her snout and its lenses grew to the size of a tea saucer to fit her. "I'm sorry for hiding the Eyes from you Scourge.

"It's not that I didn't trust you, I just didn't want to involve you in the mess that I knew would have ensued were the existence of the Eyes been revealed."