For a moment, the glowing runes in the sky stood still, giving both the decoy and strike team respite from the onslaught of Tower Tier spells.
“Move!” With his opponents paralyzed and the cover fire interrupted, Lith unfolded his wings and traversed the final kilometers separating him and his group from the World Tree in the blink of an eye.
“Wait, you bastard!” Radoghorn was still regenerating and he couldn’t afford the risk of sending Valtak alone.
Sure, The Golems were motionless, but there was no telling how long the phenomenon would last. Were the colossal constructs to recover while the Father of Fire was away from both Radoghorn and Lith, Valtak’s personal mission would fail.
“Don’t worry, Father. We can catch up with them again.” The Elder Wyrm drew avid gulps of air, his lungs burning from the mere effort of keeping Radoghorn’s fighting pace. “Focus on recovering.”
Away from the ground and its nutrients, the regenerative powers he drew from the Titania would be useless and the Champion of Fire would remain crippled while he chased after Lith flying.
“No, we can’t.” Lith’s team and the two Fire Dragons had reached deep into the enemy lines. “We need to keep moving or the moment these things snap out of whatever is affecting them we’ll be surrounded and neutralized.”
Radoghorn carried Valtak on his back and ran on all fours as fast as he could. It was slower than flying but much faster than walking. I also allowed the Father of Fire to catch his breath while the Champion of Fire rebuilt his strength.
‘I can’t believe we did it!’ Vastor raised his hand and his teammates mirrored his movements, unleashing each a tier five Chaos Spell, Howling Hunger.
The five spells struck the shivering World Tree’s trunk at the ground level and opened as many deep holes.
‘I can’t believe we failed to find a single fucking corridor even with a target this big!’ Tessa replied.
The holes lead nowhere. The spells had struck some of the solid sections of the World Tree and there was only wood inside, no access to the internal network where Solus was trapped.
‘This is Jirni’s doing.’ Lith said while throwing a glance at the dozens of intact yet screaming Wood Golems just a few meters behind them. ‘She must have been forced to kill the elf and made it count. The problem is that whatever she did, is not going to last long. We need to find a passage and get to Solus and we need to do it now!’
***
Inside the World Tree, at the same time.
‘Epphy, stay close to me!’ Ripha spun the Fury in a circle, clearing the room of the Puppets that had surrounded them and sending them to crash against the shutter sealing the corridor.
Then, she raised her left hand and released a tier three Chaos spell, Howling Void, from each of her fingers. Five black pillars as large as a small tree and as fast as a bullet struck the just-closed wall in a circular pattern.
The First Ruler of the Flames grabbed Spare Parts by the waist and charged forward. The Fury of Menadion spun faster and faster in her free hand until she threw it at the damaged wooden shutter, blasting it off its hinges.
Once on the other side, Ripha unfurled her wings again before asking.
‘Which way now?’
‘There!’ Ghar’mar recognized a corridor leading to the external layer and from there straight to the Moon Elves’ village.
The tunnel was slanted and a few details were deformed by the combination of spasms and defensive protocols of the Yggdrasill but the Librarian could still orient herself.
All the elves working inside the World Tree knew the emergency procedures like the back of their hand and memorized the shortest routes to the exits. The Yggdrasill was in too much pain to improvise clever tricks so every change of the space inside their trunk was by the book.
A very complex and tortuous book that would have trapped Ripha and Elphyn Menadion if not for Ghar’mar’s help.
Just like the elves had never expected the World Tree to resort to the Great Assimilation, the World Tree would have never expected a Librarian to guide their enemies through the maze of her own free will.
‘How far are we from the exit?’ Solus asked.
‘Not much.’ The Librarian replied. ‘The World Tree is big, but not that big, and your mother is very fast. Please, remember your promise to spare my people and save them if possible.’
‘I will.’ Solus nodded.
‘And so will I.’ Menadion lied through her teeth.
Spending over seven hundred years as a wandering soul had made her heart hard and bitter. Ripha had cursed herself and her weakness every day since she had died at Bytra’s hands.
Standing helpless and unheard while her daughter slowly withered and lost her memories in front of her just made things worse. The First Ruler of the Flames had regained a measure of peace after Lith had found Solus.
Menadion didn’t know or trust him but at least her daughter was no longer in mortal danger. On top of that, the only silver lining to Elphyn’s condition was that, without a body, no one could touch her.
Over time, Ripha had gotten reassured that despite his many and disturbing character flaws, Lith loved and cared for Elphyn. Yet every time their bond was broken, Menadion fell back into her private hell of rage and fury.
After the Chroniclers had kidnapped her daughter and helped the World Tree to torture and force Epphy into a slave bond with a Librarian, Menadion had come to hate every elf who lived in the Fringe as much as she hated their master.
Ripha had witnessed every torture and listened to every threat Elphyn’s captor had made, making it her personal mission to pay every single one of them back in kind. Menadion had played her role in convincing the Demons to attack the elven villages by sharing her story and fury with the wandering souls, yet that wasn’t enough.
She had named Ghar’mar “Spare Parts” because that was how she perceived the female elf. Nothing but a tool, an extra life that would cover for any mistake the First Ruler of the Flames made during Elphyn’s break out.
Menadion wasn’t going to act rashly but if the occasion to escape from the Yggdrasill’s clutches at the cost of the Librarian’s life arose, she would take it with no hesitation.
Then, it would be the turn of all the elves who had stood idly while her baby girl was tormented.
‘Soon it will be your turn, you little bastard. Soon.’ Menadion smiled, the screams of agony echoing through the corridors were music to her ears. ‘First I have to bring Elphyn to safety, though. She is my priority. My only priority.’
‘Why are you smiling, Mom?’ Solus asked.
She was a gentle soul and despite everything she had gone through, witnessing and hearing so much pain and misery gave her no joy.
‘Because I’m happy to be reunited with you, sweetie.’ Menadion wasn’t lying but she wasn’t telling the whole truth either. ‘Can you take out the full set, Epphy? Just to be safe.’
