Chapter 539

"Four. You believe Ratpack?" He asked.

"Yes. From your description, she reminds me of an old friend of mine who passed away long ago." Lith nodded.

Then, to Zolgrish he asked: "How can he see ghosts? What kind of creature is Ratpack?"

"It would be nice if he could." The lich sighed.

"It would mean that at least he isn't a complete failure. Ratpack is a chimera, I made him by assembling the corpses of an elf child and a Balor. Then, I used necromancy to raise the corpse as a vampire.

"He was supposed to be the ultimate being. An immortal, natural shapeshifter vampire in perfect tune with the world energy like an elf, and with a Balor's Evil Eyes, capable of amplifying each of his spells.

"Instead he kept the build of the child and the inability to handle the world energy of the Balors. Becoming a vampire messed things up even more because neither elves nor Balors usually become undead. That's why Ratpack is Ratpack.

"That said, ghosts do not exist. They are just a superstition, whereas undead are magical creatures, and magic is science. All undead can be killed and need to feed, but ghosts? What could they possibly eat?

"How could you destroy something that has no body? If ghosts were real, with all the people that die every day on Mogar, there would be more undead than living. Believe me, Snart, there is no return from death." The sadness in his voice surprised Lith

"Whoever she was, no matter how important she was to you, she's gone. The sooner you accept it, the better. Ratpack is funny and loyal, but he is not the sharpest tool in the shed."

Yet Ratpack's words triggered something inside Solus.

For a moment, she spaced out as unknown images and sounds flooded her mind. At first, she was running away from something. She had no idea what it was, but she knew that stopping or stumbling meant death.

The vegetation of the woods kept whipping her face and a few pebbles had gotten inside her sandals, hurting her feet with every step she took. Her chest felt heavy, her breath was ragged yet she didn't dare to slow down.

Then she was watching the sunset together with a woman so tall that she seemed like a giant, someone she called "mom". Solus barely reached her hips, and was clinging to the woman's hand that was much bigger than her own.

"Stop daydreaming, child." A cranky feminine voice said.

"You can't become the next Ruler of the Flames if you don't focus on the Forge."

"Yes, Master Menadion." Solus's voice replied as the purple flame in front of her shattered, returning her to Zolgrish's underground lab.

Lith shared all the fear, the love, and the admiration she felt as the fleeting memories passed, but had no idea what was causing them until she shared her visions with him.

'Are you thinking what I'm thinking?' She asked.

'Yes. As I've always told you, you are a person, not a thing. No matter if you were born human, beast, or tower. The moment you gained feeling and self-awareness you were a person to me. The only real revelation is that your memories aren't entirely lost.' Lith replied.

They both had hoped that, since she still remembered what the complete tower looked like and the passing of time after her late master's demise, Solus could recover part of her past together with her powers.

Yet after so many years with no sign of improvement, they had relinquished that thought. At least until that day. Now Solus could remember picking out a dress among many and the feeling of a silver hammer in her hand.

They were too faint to be memories. They were more like impressions left by an action performed so many times to have left a mark in her subconscious. Solus didn't let herself be swayed by the joy those images brought her.

On the contrary, Master Menadion's words made her focus even more on their predicament.

'Lith, we need a plan.' She said.

'To make one, we need information and rest. Have Zolgrish open one of the rooms for you. Remember that you have been fighting non stop ever since we entered the underground complex.'

Lith nodded. Even though he had used Invigoration only twice, healing his wounds had taken a toll on his body. He needed to eat to restore his natural stamina.

Zolgrish didn't like being ordered around, but without Lith his only asset was Ratpack. He could only suck it up and open one of the doors on the seventh floor. After making sure no one had followed them, Lith sat down and took some food out of his pocket dimension.

"I get the part about shutting down the device, but how do you plan to do it? If it's the key to their power and they know of your escape, it's likely to be heavily guarded." Lith said while chewing beef jerky.

"What plan? You were so confident that I was just following your lead, dear Garb. It's not my problem if something goes wrong. Ratpack and I cannot die." The lich shrugged.

Lith took some deep breaths to calm himself. Suddenly the underground complex looked like more like a tomb than a magnificent loot crate.

'This idiot is even more deranged than I thought. I need to contact the army as my back up plan. Worst case scenario, they destroy the complex, the lich returns to wherever his phylactery is, and I can stage my death to get plausible deniability.

'If I make Zolgrish believe I'm dead due to the lab's collapse, he will not resent me.' He thought.

'I don't get why Borg is so nervous.' Zolgrish thought. 'Worst case scenario, I'll make the arrays surrounding the lab collapse and flatten the mountain. Sure, I'll lose my lab and Borg will lose his life, but he's just a human.

'That way, I'd get my powers back and destroy the device. It's a win-win. At least for me.' Mean minds did indeed think alike.

"What kind of weapons do your minions have at their disposal?" Lith asked.

"Only those I made for the kitchen staff. It's unbelievable how they struggled to butcher daily specials. I had to forge a few tools because they refused to give up. Some monsters are tough to kill bare handed and the meals ended being delayed."

"What about the treasury? Or the Armory?"

"Double lock. To open them they require my mana, to which sadly Yozmogh and Dann'Kah have access, and a combination. I never shared it with anyone, not even Ratpack, so they should be safe."

Zolgrish drummed his fingers on the ground. There was something he was missing.

"Oh, yeah. They're not proper weapons, but they could use the excavation and lab tools. They were never intended to be used in battle so their effects are simple, but they are quite powerful."

"That's just great!" Lith said.

"Can you please tell me that you know what the abilities are of all the monsters who reverted to their pre fallen state? I need at least one piece of good news."

"Sorry, but no. It was an unexpected development and they never bothered to share their discoveries with me, except when they used their newfound powers to kick the crap out of me.

"What I can tell you, is that Dann'Kah has somehow shrunk his purple crystal into a ring. It allows him to stir the surrounding world energy as if it's a soup and to cast tier five spells non stop. And he never learned tier five magic!