“Is it true?” The rage in the voice of the Great Mother made the chamber of both Garlen’s and Jiera’s Council quake despite being just a psychic projection.
“I swear it on my family. I can even offer to share my memories once I get back to Garlen. The source of Kolga’s and Kogaluga’s misery is the same. I have purged the lost city enough times to know the energy signature of the fissure like the back of my hand.
“On top of that, based on the information collected by my associates during our recon, Kogaluga is meant to become Kolga’s outpost on the mainland as soon as they get rid of the barrier blocking the city.” Lith said.
The cold fury that twisted Tyris’s face also made her long golden hair whip around like snakes, giving her a savage and cruel appearance.
“Did you know about this, Fenagar?” It was spoken like a question, but it sounded like an order.
The edge in her voice was fueled with so much mana that even Inxialot, the Lich King, and Breganoth, his Jiera counterpart, held their ears in pain while their dead eyes bleed.
“Do you have any idea how vast the ocean is?” The Leviathan snorted in annoyance. “Water covers over 60% of the planet, I’m not responsible for everything that-”
“I’m not asking about the whole Mogar, only about your turf. Did you know about this or not?” Tyris cut him short.
“I didn’t know because after making sure that no Awakened was involved, I didn’t bother investigating the matter.” Fenagar tried and failed to be as intimidating as her. His total lack of care made him sound more bored than furious.
“That’s your excuse for your incompetence? That since no Awakened was involved you let your people mess with my land and kill my precious children?” With every word she spoke, Tyris became less human.
By the end of the sentence, her voice caused hurricanes while the stomp of her foot triggered an earthquake that turned mountains into rubble and sent several tidal waves towards Jiera.
“Precious my scaly ass. Don’t get your feathers in a bunch for such small stuff. Kolga has done to both our turfs negligible damage compared to your dear Arthan. You didn’t check on him because he wasn’t an Awakened and we all know how that turned out.
“On top of that, if I recall it correctly, the founder of the city even came from your continent so if you want to blame someone, blame yourself.” Fenagar said with a smug grin, just a few seconds before the image of the Father of all Dragons abandoning the Council in a rush wiped it off the Leviathan’s face.
“You shouldn’t have pushed the Arthan button. Leegaain out!”
“That does it!” Tyris’s roar sent everyone on their knees.
Lith and the others weren’t affected like the two Councils only because Tyris didn’t want to endanger their lives, yet Lith found himself swallowing multiple times, wishing that Tyris wouldn’t look too deep in his memories if she ever decided to.
“If by the time I get there the attack hasn’t already started, Jiera will need another Council along with a new Guardian!”
“You can’t come here without my permission! I-” Fenagar’s outrage disappeared when Tyris’s psychic projection disappeared and her energy signature left Garlen.
‘Fuck me sideways, things just got out of hand and into the fire.’ Lith thought. ‘I think I can handle a normal Tyris since she’s very kind, but not her royally pissed off version. On top of that, I never planned on making two Guardians fight.
‘If things go as I predict and Fenagar finds out about my deception, the Jiera continent will be off-limits for me.’
“How much time do you need to prepare your strike force?” Lith asked the Jiera Council.
“How much time do we have until Tyris gets here?” Aren asked a Garuda with a knack for numbers.
“Judging from her speed, about ten minutes. Unless she Warps, of course.” The Garuda replied while pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose.
“Eight minutes.” Aren said to Lith before gesturing the Garuda to take care of the rest of the conversation. He had already started shouting orders in his amulet, contacting the strongest members of the Beast Council.
The human, the plants, and even the undead representative took out their amulets with panic, calling to arms the greatest champions their respective race had to offer.
“How dare you refuse my call? There’s my undeath on the line you ungrateful bastards!” Breganoth, the Lich Sovereign of Jiera, seriously considered ripping the traitorous heart of Vladion the Vampire, the Awakened ruler of his species.
“We left for Garlen almost a year ago, you dimwit!” Vladion replied with a fury that made his eyes shine like rubies. “We have no way to get back to Jiera so quickly and even if we could, our answer would be the same you gave to us when the plague brought us to our knees. Deal with it.”
Only after Vladion hung up did Breganoth remember that Liches were the only undead species left on Jiera, be they Awakened or not.
“As you heard Lord Aren say, there are seven minutes left before the raid.” The Garuda said with a professional smile that along with her glasses and blonde hair fixed in a small bun made her look like a secretary.
“In six, I mean five minutes we’ll send a pulse to your amulet. It will be the signal to take your position. About a minute later, we’ll send a second pulse to get both your coordinates and start the Warp Gate.
“All you need to do is to get in position in time and fuel the amulet with just enough mana to speed up the formation of the dimensional tunnel.”
“We’ll be there.” Lith ended the call.
“What do we do during these five minutes?” Tista asked.
“We rest.” Solus came out of hiding spot, touching her companions to siphon the little poison that already coursed through their veins.
“Are you sure you want to do this alone?” Phloria asked.
“It’s not a matter of want so much as I must.” She sighed. “In the case that someone spots me, you can’t afford being seen giving me a hand. This way, I’ll remain a mysterious outsider and even if someone witnesses as I take the Hands, they’ll have no way to find me.”
“Just one question.” Tista said. “Let’s say everything goes right. How do you leave Kolga? You can’t use the Council gate with us, correct?”
“Wrong. That’s exactly what I’ll do if I can’t use the tower warp in this form.” Solus replied.
“If I manage to beat the King and retrieve the Hands, all I have to do is to fetch the white crystal atop of the tower. Without it, both the Forbidden Sun and the dome that isolates Kolga from the ocean will crumble faster.
“This will force the Council to open multiple emergency Gates to evacuate the strike force. Amid the ensuing chaos, it will be easy for me to slip through unnoticed. Once I get to the other side, the effects of Forbidden Magic on me will take but a few seconds to fade.
“Once I’m back in my stone form, it will be easy to slip at the finger of any of you and pass as a simple yet charming accessory.” Solus showed Tista the two cloaking rings on her hand.
