Chapter 3894: Still a Human (Part 1) "Indeed." Lith nodded. "We have two sets of Hands and Mouths and can get even more if you lend us your Maw and Skull." "Gladly." Zoreth tried to open her pocket dimension, and the effort made her faint. Her energy signature was in constant flux due to the ebbing and flowing of the strength of her split life forces. The omni pocket failed to adapt to the sudden changes and rejected the Shadow Dragon’s call. "Scratch that." Lith sighed. "I’ll go call Bytra, and we’ll use her artifacts. I’ll be right back." He Warped the tower back to the Kingdom and then moved as far away as the Warping Mirror allowed him to. Then, he flew at Dragonspeed in an irregular pattern to avoid being followed. "Hi, Lith, is everything okay?" Vastor answered his White Griffon’s communication amulet, the one he needed to keep available at all times as a loyal subject of the Royals. "You never call unless you need something, and I guess this time isn’t going to be any different." "I’m sorry, Zogar, but you are right." Lith sighed. "I have an ill friend and need a second opinion on her diagnosis. I know her life force looks weird, but that’s because she belongs to a race of Divine Beasts similar to mine. Can you take a look at it?" "I can, but-" The Master’s eyes went wide as the stream of data collected by the Menadion Set appeared on his amulet. "Mogar almighty! This isn’t weird. This is a disaster. Is your friend still alive?" "Barely, but yes." Lith nodded. "I’m taking care of her in the Blood Desert, but I don’t know where to start with her treatment. If you have any idea, anything at all, please let me know." "I will." Vastor shook his head slightly, signaling to Lith that he was at a loss as well. "Do you need anything else?" "Yes. Please, tell Marth that I’ll resume my Void Magic lessons as soon as I deal with this crisis. The Eldritch who was after Menadion has been dealt with." "That’s excellent news." The Master allowed himself a thin smile. "I’ll contact my assistants and study your friend’s chart with them. If we put our heads together, we might be able to find a way to help her. Good luck, Lith. Vastor out." Bytra called him so fast that the Master’s hologram had yet to fade when her rune started to blink. "Is Zor safe? Why doesn’t Leegaain heal her?" She bombarded Lith with questions without giving him time to answer. "It’s complicated." He said once she stopped to catch her breath. "I’ll explain to you in person. Here’s my coordinates." Lith chose the location of their meeting at random, and far enough away from his current position to ensure that the Raiju would arrive first and cover any track that might lead back to Vastor. She didn’t disappoint. Bytra wore enough cloaking items to be nigh-invisible to mystical senses. Even with the Eyes, Lith couldn’t tell from which direction she had come. "Hi, Byt-" "No time! Go, go, go!" She said, ignoring the tendril of mana Lith had prepared for their mind link. He moved them to the nearest mana geyser he knew of, and the tower appeared a heartbeat later. The Warp Mirror brought them inside as the tower recharged to return to the Blood Desert. "Zor!" Bytra rushed to Zoreth’s side, hugging her as delicately as she could while bawling her eyes out. "What did that monster do to you?" "Byt!" A thin smile appeared on the Shadow Dragon’s face. She tried to stand up, but the mere movement caused her crippling agony. "He did his worst, Byt, but it wasn’t enough. You won’t get rid of me so easily." "How can you joke about this?" Bytra sniffled, feeling Zoreth’s hand caress her hair. "Gods, I hate you so much!" Yet she didn’t let go of the Shadow Dragon despite the wild surges of Chaos and Decay hurting her and cast her best diagnostic spells to understand how bad her wife’s condition was. "Great Mother almighty!" Bytra said. "It’s too soon to get scared." Lith offered her the Spirit tendril again. This time, the Raiju accepted it, and Mogar seemed to swallow her whole. Bytra’s skills as a Healer were limited, but even a fourth year student could tell how desperate the situation was. The people around Bytra kept talking, but she only heard white noise. The tower was filled with light, but Bytra could barely see the end of her nose. There was darkness everywhere, wrapping itself around her chest and squeezing it until she could no longer breathe. "Bytra?" Menadion noticed that the Raiju had not batted her eyes for a while and that her stare was blank. "Are you alright?" A pat on the Fourth Ruler of the Flames’ back broke her daze and pulled her back to reality. "I’m fine." Bytra replied. "What were you saying, Ripha?" "I was the one talking, airhead." Zoreth snorted, trying to lighten the mood. "I said that this is none of your fault, Byt. Raum kidnapped me to study and replicated my mana organs. He went after you only after he got my Dragon Eyes." 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚 "I know." Bytra nodded. "Lith shared everything with me via a mind link." "Then you also know that you’re the only reason I’m still alive." Zoreth coughed. "If you had followed the Master’s plan instead of asking Lith for help, Raum would have finished his work much sooner. "He would have learned everything I know about the Organization and forced you in the open by using me as a hostage. Somehow, he had a working prototype of the Unwavering Loyalty array that compelled me to follow his orders." "I would have done and said anything he wanted, even if that meant luring you into a trap. You can imagine the rest." "Gods, that guy was insane, but also brilliant." The Raiju shuddered at the thought of a being with the ability to integrate the power cores of her masterpieces with his body. "What’s our next move?" "So far, we don’t have one." Lith lowered his gaze. "We could try to unleash the light and darkness from the Elemental Storage. If everything goes right, the Decay and Chaos will be too busy feasting on the all-you-can-eat buffet to bother with our healing spells while we fix Zoreth’s life forces." "Then why haven’t you done it yet?" Bytra asked. "Because there’s a lot that can go wrong." Solus sighed. "The abundant nourishment might upset the current precarious balance and unravel Zoreth’s life forces completely before the treatment even starts. "Or the Elemental Storage might not be enough to quell the Cursed Elements, and our spells would be ineffective. Even if everything goes according to plan, there is no certainty that we can complete the treatment before the Storage runs out of energy. "If the elemental consumption rate exceeds our expectations, we won’t finish in time, and half a cure is worse than no cure at all. There is no telling what side effects an incomplete treatment might have on Zoreth while we wait for the Storage to recharge." "Zoreth?" Quylla asked while the other Healers kept discussing among themselves via mind links. "Yes, Quylla?" "Is it true that you endured the effects of a slave array until Leegaain rescued you?"