“You have my word that my intentions are pure and honest. This is not trap.” Lochra stood up while dusting off her clothes.
“They better be, because if my baby cries again, I’ll end you.” Salaark’s hand choked her neck from behind for a second before Warping back to the Desert.
The enchantments of Silverwing’s palace could protect her against one Guardian, but not two of them at the same time, leaving her exposed to the Overlord’s sneak attack.
“Good gods! Everyone calm down.” Silverwing said amid coughs as the hand-shaped bruise healed much slower than it was supposed to. “I have no hidden agenda. I swear it on my love for Ripha and Elphyn.”
“Then why did you ask me to meet you in your own fortress in the middle of nowhere?” Solus pointed at the small castle.
“It’s not a fortress, it’s my home! Do you really have no memory of it?” The First Magus sounded hurt. “You spent a lot of time here. You came to visit me every time you argue with Ripha.”
“I’m sorry, no.” Solus suddenly felt like a jerk.
Silverwing’s words didn’t ring any bell but now that Solus had taken her paranoia hat off, she found the castle both familiar and reassuring.
“Let’s take a deep breath, shall we?” Silverwing said, turning toward the rest of her guests. “I know that my words and actions toward you on the day we met are inexcusable, Lith.
“I thought that my beloved godchild needed to be rescued and instead I made an enemy out of both of you. The reason I called Elphyn-”
“Solus.” Solus corrected her.
“Solus here is because I want to start over. I want to welcome her back like I should have done in Jiera. I want to share with her everything I have left of her old life and, if she’s willing to allow me, part of my life as well.
“My name is Lochra Silverwing, but I’m also known as the First Magus. Nice to meet you.” She cleaned herself with darkness magic before offering them her hand in turns.
Silverwing gave every one of them a deep bow, even to Shargein who cooed at her, trying to grasp her shiny hair.
“Fair warning. He’s a sucker for hair. Literally.” Leegaain said after shaking her hand.
Silverwing neared her head to the wyrmling who grabbed a lock of her hair and brought it to his mouth, sucking and munching at it for a while.
“Now that the introductions are done, allow me to show you around my mage-cave.” The First Magus led them through the opened gates and inside the castle. Like a city, it had a Gate network to move quickly from one room to another without walking.
Lith recognized the stones in the walls as gold-veined white marble, one of the toughest materials on Mogar known to be resistant to magic. The hallway was furnished with a long white and red carpet in the middle of the corridor and small tables were lined up against the walls.
Vases filled with fresh flowers were placed on the tables, spreading a sweet, delicate scent.
“Where did you get so much white marble?” Lith asked with the greed typical of a Dragon.
“There’s a cave nearby.” Lochra replied with a shrug while she operated a control panel. “I mined what I needed for my home just like Ripha did for her tower.”
“Say what now?” Solus said in amazement.
“You heard me. Back when the tower was at its prime, every single one of those gloomy grey stones was actually gold-veined white marble.” Lochra nodded. “Don’t worry, Elp- Solus.
“As soon as the tower finishes repairing the missing floors, it will convey the world energy to refine the materials that you have randomly used as a base into marble. It works just like your body.
“The tower knows how it’s made and can repair it on a molecular level. It just needs time.”
Then, Silverwing opened the Gate and gave them a tour of her house. Every room was furnished with taste and high-end materials without being ostentatious. There was no trace of the frills or the pointless luxury items typical of a noble house.
Silverwing’s home was true to its name, a place where to comfortably live and to share with her friends and family. Not something to brag about or make her guest grit their teeth in envy.
“Is this my old room?” Solus asked as the First Magus showed them the guests’ quarters.
Solus could feel an itch in the back of her head as her memories fluttered through her brain like crazed butterflies.
“Yes.” Silverwing nodded with a serious look on her face.
“Can I see it?”
“Yes, but beware. I left it in the state it was after you disappeared.” Silverwing nodded at the rest of the group while clearing her throat.
Thinking back at her wild youth and Lochra’s worried gaze, Solus blushed in embarrassment at the thought of what kind of posters she might have hung on the walls and the private objects that she had left behind.
“Be right back. This is a monster I have to face alone.” She slipped past the door before anyone could ask her a single question, forming an audio-only mind link with Lith just to be safe.
“By my Mom! What have I done?” Solus turned pale as her eyes scoured the room, jogging her memory.
It wasn’t as embarrassing as she had pictured it, it was much worse.
The room was a pigsty with clean and dirty clothes thrown around that covered most of the floor. Decades old dirty plates were visible under the bed, on the bedstand, and everywhere there was a free spot amid the clothes.
There was no poster on the walls, just one of Elphyn’s first Forgemastering hammers. Centuries away from its masters had erased the enchantments for good, but it was still hanging head first where she had thrown it.
It was surrounded by the cracks created by the impact and right below there was written: “Modern art by Elphyn Menadion. Love it or suck it, I don’t care which.”
The worst part, however, was her library. It was filled with sonnets she had composed that sang about how hard life was for a brilliant and unappreciated genius with a dumb mother.
Every one of her books was a self-insertion power fantasy where Mogar was in danger and every single character past 20 was braindead. Only the protagonist, a silent but strong teen could rally other teens and save the world while the adults just sat around fiddling their thumbs.
‘Oh gods, the cringe is above 9,000!’ She screamed so loudly that even Kamila felt it through her mind link with Lith.
‘What does that even mean?’ She asked, receiving a telepathic image in reply that made her chuckle.
Meanwhile, Solus used her powers to clean the room and put the clothes back in their place quicker than any apprentice sorcerer ever had. Only once the room was cleaned, the dishes orderly piled up, and the books hidden behind a heavy drape did she open the door.
“Please, come in.” She half said and half panted.
