Random travelers gained access to the Fringe while things that had been sealed by the Yggdrasill bloodline for millennia escaped.
***
“There!” Lith pinned Ra’ntar to the ground like an insect after impaling him on Ragnarök, sealing his movements. “I can finally see Solus. Assemble everyone while I oversee the final details.”
Tezka Warped out of the room with the Yggdrasill staff in hand to mobilize the troops and have them ready for departure.
“Jirni, I’ll leave Ragnarök here until I reach the Fringe. You have until then to study his life force and find a way to keep inflicting pain without killing him. After that, I’ll recall Ragnarök and you’ll be on your own.”
“Don’t worry. It will be more than enough. Skywarp.” The stiffeners of her dress came out of their sockets and shapeshifted into metal needles that assembled into a glaive.
“Protect.” Skywarp hummed with power, orbiting around Jirni while displacing itself through space to make its trajectory unpredictable.
“Help me figure out what your brother is doing. I need you to do the same.” Jirni touched the elf and flooded his body with her breathing technique.
She focused on what parts transmitted more pain and how the presence of the Ygdrasill wood inside the Chronicler’s body affected his physiology.
Skywarp split itself back into needles and pierced the elf’s skin. It studied both the flow of Ragnarök’s mana and the disposition of the pain receptors, rearranging the needles so as to imitate the former and overwhelm the latter.
The glaive had no Counterflow ability, but Jirni’s needles were born as a tool of coercion. With enough time and the right placement, they could turn a body inside out. And that back when they were just pieces of metal in Jirni’s hands.
Now the needles had a quasi-sentience willing to assist its master in fine-tuning the multiple enchantments that Orion had imbued into the weapon.
“And she’s not on her own.” Friya activated her Dimensional Ruler spell, filling the cell with golden sparkles of light that bent space to her whims.
Her multi-colored hair whipped through the air as she flooded them with mana, ready to Dominate any spell the moment the elf weaved them.
Quylla said nothing and just kneeled beside the Chronicler. With Lith gone, she would have to replace the Immortal Body array. It was a duty she would have gladly avoided, but her loyalty to Lith forced her to put aside her moral and ethical doubts.
‘I’m a hypocrite. If it were Mom, Dad, or Friya instead of Solus, I wouldn’t hesitate one second.’ She thought while using her tier five Body Sculpting spell, Silver Hand, to hijack the elf’s metabolism.
The moment the three women took each their position, Lith Warped right after Tezka.
Dragons, Phoenixes, and Griffons were waiting for him in the main plaza where the Warp Gates for civilians, nobles, and diplomatic missions had already been activated.
There was no point flying, not when one could have access to the Gate Network of the three great countries to cross dozens of thousands of kilometers in one step.
Milea Genys, the Magic Empress of the Gorgon Empire had readily accepted. She was Leegaain’s disciple and even though the Guardian wouldn’t interfere directly, she knew how much Menadion’s Desperation meant to her mentor.
Convincing the Royals, instead, had been more difficult. They demanded an explanation for Lith’s sudden madness, his disappearance after his rescue, and why he needed a Royal Override to move hundreds of people no questions asked.
Lith was the Supreme Magus of the Kingdom and the Royals owed him much, but after the disaster of Zeska, their patience ran thin. He had gotten what he wanted, but at a price.
“Is everyone here?” Lith looked around while focusing on the several lights he could see one at a time to discern the closest one.
“We are ready.” Baba Yaga and Lochra Silverwing walked out of the tent, drawing countless gazes and causing several gasps.
They were both mythological figures and even though the members of the rescue mission had been informed of their presence, knowing and seeing were two completely different things.
“I’m also proud to say that we have done our job. You haven’t lied to anyone.” Baba Yaga returned the Ears of Menadion to him. “We have figured out the unlock code. My only regrets are that Bytra shares this knowledge and we didn’t have the time to study the rest.”
The code was written down on a piece of paper inside the Ears. Usually, the Red Mother would have used a more discreet mind link. Yet the code was quite long and she couldn’t risk Lith forgetting it.
She also handed him the Hands, the Mouth, and a pin made of white crystals.
“Our towers can’t fit a Warp Gate so we’ll follow you with our own means.”
“Towers?” More than one echoed. “There’s more than one?”
“The pin will act as a beacon. Even if somehow the World Tree drags you inside the Fringe and seals the opening before our arrival, I’d be capable of locating you even if the Tree relocates on the moon.”
“Thanks, Yaga.” Lith appointed it on the lapel of his Magus Robe and hid the four pieces of the Menadion Set under his Voidwalker armor. “What about Aylen and our skeletal friends.”
“Locked and loaded.” Baba Yaga grunted. “And I mean literally. There’s no way in Mogar I let them roam my tower.”
“Phase one is a go.” Lith yelled, his voice roaring through the place. “Sharing our respective strategies will have to wait until we reach our destination. There’s not a moment to waste. Follow me.”
Each group had prepared their best battle strategies and underhanded tricks, but they had refused to disclose them. After all, the whole mission was a huge maybe, based on the assumption that Lith located an access point to the World Tree’s Fringe.
No one wanted to expose their secrets to potential future rivals unless it was absolutely necessary.
Lith understood and empathized with his allies so much that despite his predicament he couldn’t get angry at them.
‘I’m already asking them to fight and risk their lives for me. Anything more would be madness.’ He thought while walking through the dimensional tunnel.
He moved to the four corners of the Blood Desert, stopping each time for a few seconds to adjust his readings.
“You there, bring me to the farthest coordinates in that direction.” Lith ordered the desk clerk while pointing north-northeast.
“The farthest in the Empire or the Kingdom?” The middle-aged man asked after checking his runescreen. “Because they are both in that direction.”
“Kingdom first, Empire second. Lock on the second set of coordinates already.” Lith replied.
‘In the Tree’s shoes, I’d set my domain as far as possible from the Guardians’ turfs to avoid notice. Like in one of the many free countries at the borders of the three great countries.’
The clerk of the Mage Association had a heart attack when Lith walked unannounced through the Warp Gate. According to the news, he had recovered from his madness but the woman was aware that when politics were involved, news and truth seldom overlapped.
“Still too far. Next.” Lith walked back and the passage closed while the alarm still blared and a second clerk administered first aid to the woman.
