2518 Trust Issues (Part 2)



"Yet that will be just a side piece to get inside. At that point, I will recover my tracker while my Demons collect the intel we need to set our next course of action. Given time, I'm a one-man army and I can conjure enough souls to cover a huge area in a reasonable time.

"While we would have to give our all to move around without being spotted, my Demons can hide in the shadows and let themselves be carried around by the monsters.

"Also, the bond I share with them cannot be detected by mystical senses like the Evil Eyes or Life Vision and allows us to exchange information in real time. I'm going to give one eye to each Demon and if they even suspect having been discovered, I can just disperse their energy and retrieve the soul before giving it a new body."

"It's an excellent plan." Faluel and Ajatar nodded. "There are too few of us to cover a structure the size Nalrond described and we have no idea if Glemos' children have developed skills that would detect our spells or mind links.

"Lith has plenty of Demons, they are stealthy, and most importantly they are expendable. Even if Lith is somehow exposed, he can just empower and sacrifice them to cover his retreat."

"My thoughts exactly." Lith said. "Nalrond, once I found an entry point and break through the barrier, I need you to stay on the other side. I don't know how deep we are going to go and if Glemos left behind space compressing arrays.

"Until I'm sure that I can just Spirit Warp to the surface, you are the only way I have to exfiltrate in case I learn what we need or get discovered."

"You got it." The Rezar nodded, feeling proud of being useful for once. "Just one question. Are you afraid of confined spaces?"

"No. Why?" Lith asked as Nalrond grabbed his hand tight and suddenly the ground below them turned into a swirling pool of mud.

Mogar went from bright and hot to dark and damp in one second, giving Lith the impression of being so deep under the sea that light didn't reach him anymore. The liquified ground stuck to him like a second skin, exerting a delicate but steady pressure.

Lith could feel something gelatinous pressing against his nostrils and instinctively held his breath. It took him sheer willpower to repress the impulse to swim upward and remember that he had asked for that.

His clawed hand clenched Nalrond's, waiting for instructions, but the Rezar stood still and squeezed Lith's in return. His long claws tapped the Tiamat's forearm in what seemed Morse code.

'Why doesn't he… Crap, I forgot Nalrond is no Awakened.' Lith established the mind link, allowing them to communicate.

'Took you long enough.' The Rezar said. 'Did you forget I'm not an Awakened since everyone else already is?'

'Well-'

'It was a rhetorical question.' Nalrond cut Lith's lie short. 'Breathe normally or you'll never last until the underground complex.'

The Tiamat tried and failed numerous times but not because the Rezar's bloodline ability was faulty. The longer Lith was underground the more his paranoia ran rampant.

Life and Fire Vision didn't see anything but Nalrond, leaving him blind and deaf. The feeling of being surrounded by hundreds of kilograms of rock and mud with no idea of where the up and down were overwhelmed him.

Lith was at the Rezar's complete mercy and if for any reason Nalrond withdrew his protection, Lith would breathe pebbles, worms, and all kinds of insects. One instant of panic would be more than enough to kill him while he was too busy struggling for survival to defend himself.

'If only Solus was here, I could let her keep a Warp at the ready while I focus on Nalrond. I can't believe I-' His train of thought derailed when he realized how little he actually trusted the Rezar despite everything they had gone through together.

'Calm down, old man.' Lith wanted to take deep breaths to relieve his burning lungs but he still couldn't muster the courage. 'Nalrond knows about the tower and Solus. If he wanted to screw me over, he would have already done it.'

Yet only once the Eyes of Menadion locked on the energy signature of the rest of the group, giving Lith the dimensional coordinates he needed for a quick escape, did he manage to relax.

'Wow. I'm deeply offended.' Nalrond said after noticing how long Lith had taken to draw his first underground breath. 'How many contingency plans did you prepare before "trusting" me?'

His thoughts oozed so much sarcasm that Lith could hear the air quotes.

'Three. I can go back to my full size, I can Warp, and I can blast my way up.'

'Thanks for your honesty. Now keep the Eyes of Menadion on me and do what I do.' Nalrond started by slowly bending toward his feet, as if he was going to stretch.

Then, he focused his aura in front of them and weakened the part behind, returning the soil to a semi-solid state. He waited for Lith to assume the same position before giving a gentle kick that propelled them forward in a way no different than if they were in the ocean.

There was no air underground so part of the Rezar's bloodline ability consisted in keeping a small portion of the earth above them liquid and making the oxygen travel to him by osmosis.

Once collected enough for one breath, he would pass half of it to Lith via physical contact. The air element kept the air bubbles compressed while the water element extracted the moisture in the ground in order to coat the bubbles with a thick layer of water.

The pressure kept the air from breaking apart into smaller and useless bubbles as they moved through the mud funnel while traveling from the surface to the Rezar.

The water layer captured the dust and impurities along the funnel and was shed away before the bubbles entered their targets' noses. Nalrond would send half of the conjured air to the Tiamat and decompress the bubbles upon reaching their respective nostrils, filling them with fresh air.

Both moving and breathing required to keep a precise rhythm. Nalrond kept it slow and regular until Lith got the hang of it before speeding things up. A mistake in the former would lead to Lith hitting the still-soft soil and remaining stuck, forcing Nalrond to a halt as well due to the mass gap.

A mistake in the latter, however, was much worse. Lith would inhale nothing, leaving his lungs empty and giving him the feeling that he was suffocating. Both happened a few times and while slowing down wasn't an issue, Lith risked a panic attack every time he messed up the breathing tempo.

Missing an air bubble meant to start choking, followed by a violent cough that further emptied his already burning lungs and made it harder to recover in time for the next bubble.

Lith managed to regain the correct breathing rhythm without the need for an emergency surface only thanks to his mental discipline and Nalrond's help.