“One day, Kamila and Selia told me and my sisters about the benefits of having a shapeshifting companion but they always refused to share the details. Does either of you care to explain?” Friya asked.
“That’s none of your business.” Lith and Protector said in unison.
The group remained silent for the rest of the walk.
“Take it.” Lith handed Friya the railgun along with a new cartridge and power unit before opening the Gate for her.
“Is this some kind of bribe? If that’s the case, there’s no need. I won’t ask you again about the Princ-”
“No, it isn’t. The weapon still has your imprint and it could be useful to you tomorrow.” Lith turned to a shade of purple, making Solus grow more and more curious about the nature of the game.
“Thank you. Any idea about a decent name? Because Fixed Tracks Metal Barrel sucks.” Friya stored everything in her dimensional amulet.
“Knock yourself out.” He shrugged.
“I’ll tentatively go with Thundercrash.” She said while walking through the dimensional door.
The following day, Nalrond was still feeling down and he left the house before Protector woke up. When Lith reached Faluel’s lair he found the Rezar waiting for the others along with Morok and Ajatar the Drake.
“Eye brother!” The Tyrant hugged Lith like they were good friends instead of mere colleagues. “You never call, you never visit. Sometimes I have the impression you are avoiding me.”
“First, I’m not your brother.” Lith pushed Morok away. “Second, I’m not avoiding you, I just don’t care about you. We worked together only for one mission and I’m still having nightmares about it.”
“Come on. Don’t tell me that a dark, tall, and scaly Tiamat is scared by the puny Odi?” Morok said.
“It’s not the Odi who haunt my dreams.” Lith replied with a sneer.
“That’s rude! You and I have a lot in common…”
“Here, take this. I can’t let you go on the field stark naked.” While Morok still talked, Lith ignored him and gave Nalrond a prototype of his armor and Sunder, the metal gloves that once belonged to Syrook.
“This weapon works like an extension of your claws and it should suit your combat style the best.”
“Are you really giving them to me?” Nalrond was deeply moved by his generosity, to the point that he almost forgot about the utter failure of the previous day.
“And lose the biggest piece of Adamant I’ve ever found? No way! I’m just lending them to you.” Lith said with an outraged voice as if the Rezar had tried to claim his firstborn.
“I have to get back to the Desert to remove Friya’s imprint from Thundercrash anyway and Grandma can recycle my stuff in bulk so there’s no harm in increasing your survival chances.”
“Is Salaark really as hot as the rumors say? Did you have some “bonding” time with her now that you are single? I always heard crazy things about Phoenixes’ mating rituals and I’d give an arm to try it once.” Morok asked.
“Respectively yes, eww, and good for you.” Lith replied. “Also, I have just forwarded this conversation to Quylla. Have fun with that.”
“Not cool, bro!” The Tyrannical Eye turned pale as his communication amulet started to blink.
“Yours is an odd apprentice.” Even though Faluel preferred her human appearance when dealing with smaller creatures in order to put them at ease, that day she was in her original 20 meters (66 feet) tall form.
“That’s rich coming from you. Aside from the Skoll, yours are one weirder than the next.” Ajatar rarely shapeshifted and the Hydra didn’t like even to look weaker than her colleague.
The Drake was an over 8 meters (27 feet) tall and 20 meters (66 feet) long lizard covered in sapphire-blue scales, with a huge white horn coming out of his snout. His tail was almost 11 meters (36 feet) long, ending with thick bone spikes.
Ajatar would use it either as a weapon or to balance his body whenever he needed to stand on his hind legs.
“You are just jealous because I have a Divine Beast for apprentice and a human willing to become my Harbinger.” One of the seven heads said while all of them stood straight, puffing their chest out with pride.
“You are damn right I am.” Ajatar grumbled, looking at his disciple making excuses and bowing in apology to the small woman on the other side of the amulet.
To make matters worse, all lesser Dragons were prideful creatures, and the news that Faluel would be the first of their kind ever to have a Harbinger, and one with six colored streaks at that, made them green envy.
When Friya and Protector arrived, the lesser Dragons were still bickering and Morok was still apologizing.
“Where are we going?” Friya whistled in approval at Nalrond’s new shiny set of equipment that changed its size and shape to suit both the human and the Rezar form.
“In one of the woods near Distar.” Faluel said. “The mine is located on top of one of the biggest mana geysers of the region. Humans have never found it because the woods are beast territory and whoever gets too close becomes my snack.
“I want to keep things that way so use mostly bloodline abilities and spells up to tier three. If you use anything more powerful while above the ground, the spells might reveal the position of the mine while if you do it below the ground, the mine might collapse.
“Raw crystals are highly volatile and if one explodes, it triggers a chain reaction that it’s impossible to stop. Be careful.”
The Hydra gave them the passwords for all of her arrays surrounding the mine and they were so many that even with Solus’s help Lith needed to take notes.
“Quick question. How does someone get past this level of security without you noticing?” Protector asked.
“I wish I knew, that’s why I’m sending you.” Faluel sighed. “It might be thanks to an artifact, Spirit Magic, or maybe the bastard is really good with arrays.”
The Hydra stared at Lith, Friya, and Morok long enough to make them understand that she also suspected the presence of an enemy capable of using Domination.
“While you are there I’ll be dealing with Dhula, the plant regional lord, while Ajatar will take care of Issah, the undead lord. Our amulets will always be available in case you need help.
“Don’t mistake pride for courage or wisdom for cowardice. If the enemy is stronger or simply better organized than you, retreat. The Council can always assign me a new mine.” Faluel said before opening a Warping Array.
The dimensional corridor closed the moment the group walked through it.
“This is unbelievable!” Lith pointed at their destination, a beautiful pond fed by an underground spring from which originated the Philo river.
Yet he didn’t care about the colorful flocks of small birds drinking from the lake nor about the luscious vegetation surrounding it. The capital of the Distar region was visible on the horizon and Lith could hear the noise from the passage of carriages in the distance.
“How the heck did no one notice this place?”
“The humans know it well, yet the mine has never been discovered because it’s very deep and the entrance is hidden.” Protector pointed at the pond.
