Supreme Magus

Gaakhu dashed inside, using her magical protections to tank several small air blades and ice spikes. The room had several dimensional runes which she recognized. They were the names of ancient Odi cities, some of them were too far from Kulah to be affected by the poison tainting its surroundings.

Gaakhu struck with her Royal Forgemaster wand at the dimensional rune associated with the modern city of Othre. The Gate opened, revealing a stone tunnel devoid of danger.

Gaakhu jumped towards her freedom, only for a stone hand to hit her on the head and made her lose consciousness. She had been the constructs’ priority from the beginning.

Only after their precious slave had been apprehended did the Odi order the Golems to collect the soldiers.

***

Lith and Morok went back to the elevator and even to the living quarters, finding no trace of their missing companions. After returning to the research labs, Lith put the list of Odi words the Professors had shared with the rest of the expedition members inside Soluspedia.

He hoped that it would help him to make head or tails of at least a couple of signs. Unfortunately, they turned out to be useless. The Odi language was too complex and the words at his disposal were too few to allow Lith to figure out the meaning of the writings along the corridors.

When they finished exploring the lab, they found another door, probably leading to a lower floor.

"We should go down. The woman told me to search the basement and this place doesn’t fit the bill." Lith said.

"Agreed, but I don’t like the idea very much." Morok shapeshifted from time to time to look for clues. His mystical senses had a greater range than Lith’s and Solus’s but they didn’t provide much information about the nature of the threat at hand.

"There’s something big and really powerful down there and for some reason, it’s visible to all my four eyes."

"Why is that bad?" Lith asked.

"I’m no Awakened, so I can’t see world energy, life force, or any of that stuff. I can only spot elemental mana. What I can see, even from up here, is some kind of energy pillar as big as a hill and is composed of all the four elements at my disposal."

Lith tried using Life Vision, but the pillar was too far for him. He couldn’t see past the arrays sealing the door in front of them. Solus’s mana sense was blinded by the amount of magical equipment surrounding them instead.

Lith closed in on the door, activating Invigoration to study and neutralize its lock. He had to hold back a laugh when he recognized the Nightmare Safe. It was the same device the Odi had used to lock the secret documents in the office of Kulah’s commanding officer.

"We’re lucky, it seems that at the time this kind of protection was considered to be the best magical seal available, while it’s actually the easiest to crack if you know what you’re doing." Lith said while reading the array containing the password.

"Hey, that wasn’t an array revealing spell. You’re an Awakened!" Morok had seen his own father using such abilities so often that he immediately recognized Invigoration.

"Does it change anything?" Lith asked, opening the door while Morok took note of the password.

"No, but that’s an amazing piece of news. Are you willing to Awake me?" The Tyrant knew that with that kind of power, very few beings could pose a threat to his life. Alas, Golems would still be among them.

"Depends, are you willing to swear me obedience for one hundred years?" Lith replied.

"Absolutely not!"

"Then you have your answer. If I have to put my life on the line for you, you have to be damn worth the risk. So far you’re just a pain in my ass." Lith opened the door, scanning his surroundings.

The coast was clear, but they had to move fast, to not give the constructs the time to pinpoint their position.

"What if I save your girlfriend?" Morok said while they were darting along the stairs.

"She’s not my girlfriend, and a human doesn’t live as much as we do." It was Lith’s biggest gripe with every one of his relationships. Even with a crippled life force, he was likely to outlive most of his loved ones.

"It was worth a shot." Morok grumbled.

Forcing someone to Awaken another person was a waste of time. All Lith had to do was either to let the Awakening fail or report Morok to the Council. Both events would lead the Tyrant to a premature death.

To make matters worse, Morok had seen his fellow Ranger fight and Lith was a force to be reckoned with. The idea of having a semi-immortal enemy of that caliber on his tail forever was simply appalling.

The moment they reached the bottom of the staircase, Lith could catch a glimpse of the pillar Morok was talking about. Yet it was still too far to take a proper look at it, making it necessary for them to find a way to the lower levels.

Whatever was on their current floor, it was nothing useful.

***

After waiting for a bit in front of the elevator, Phloria and Quylla had been forced to Warp away because of the Flesh Golems looking for them. The more time passed, the more they had to assume the worst.

Lith might have been captured or killed. Also, without a Warden, they were stuck with just Phloria’s Forgemaster skills, which greatly limited both their options and escape chances.

The two young mages were growing more desperate by the minute. Phloria even checked with Warp Steps the furthest point in Morok’s pathway to Kulah she could remember, but even that was filled with black smoke.

The various underground tunnels had to be connected or at least share their airways.

"We can either get ourselves captured on purpose or take our chances and open random doors." Phloria said. They were getting tired, constantly changing their position without rest drained their mana.

"If we get captured, we can rescue the Professors and have them help us. The problem is, what if the Golems stun us? Remember that they know I can deactivate them if they touch me." Once again, Quylla cursed her own helplessness

’If only Yurial was here, he would know what to do.’ She thought.

"Don’t worry, I’ve a plan. It’s very risky, but it can bring us behind the enemy lines and get rid of a Flesh Golem at the same time." Phloria said, taking deep breaths to calm herself down.

"What? Why didn’t you propose this earlier? Professor Neshal has died and maybe even Lith. You could have saved them both!" Quylla started to sob. Another Warden had died, and yet she was still alive.

She wasn’t actually angry with Phloria, Quylla was just trying to shut up the voice in her head telling her that she was bad luck. First Yurial, now Lith. Everyone she loved died because of her.

The fear of losing Phloria, made Quylla feel like her existence was cursed.

"Because it’s a desperate plan. Earlier, with Lith and Neshal, we still had a chance of escaping on our own. If it fails, we’ll end up in the Odi’s hands." Phloria hugged her sister, trying to comfort Quylla.

"Since both our lives are at risk, I can’t make this decision on my own. Are you with me?"

Quylla stopped crying and nodded. Phloria explained her plan to Quylla, making her yelp more than once. A few minutes later, they were in front of a locked door. They had hoped that a Golem would find them, but since that didn’t happen, they had to lure one.

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