?Chapter 3265 Always With You (Part 2) "Imprint the ring, now! Do everything Epphy tells you or at the first sign of resistance I'll slice your brain like a steak." She squeezed the elf's neck, making her squeal in terror. "Can't you imprint me, Mom?" Solus wanted to cry. She had dreamed for so long to see her mother again. To hear her voice and feel her touch. Now that it was finally happening, she was forced to hold back everything she wanted to tell Menadion and focus on their escape. "You carry Lith's energy signature. If you imprint me, my bond with him will be restored." "Fuck Lith!" Ripha spat the word out like it was a curse. "I mean, not literally, Epphy. I mean, I can't. I'm just an extension of his will. I'm no different from a strand of his hair or a toenail. I can't imprint anything on my own. "I can only carry things he has already imprinted." "What about the Fury and the Anvil, then?" Solus asked in confusion as Menadion shoved the stone ring into the Librarian's quivering hands. "Not imprinted either." Menadion sighed. "I just Forgemastered them with no safety measures whatsoever. Anyone wielding my current equipment can use its powers. Even worse, without an owner, these artifacts recharge slowly so we must get out of here and quickly." Hearing those words, the Librarian found her courage again and decided that resisting wasn't such a bad idea. "They need me alive and soon my master-'It was then that a vine slithered up her leg just like it was happening to the elven army assembled outside against the invaders. The Librarian yelped as the wooden fibers pierced her skin and started to spread through her bloodstream. Elves were born without impurities and couldn't Awaken without exploding. Their bodies couldn't withstand the vigorous mana flow released by even an orange core. Without impurities, the elves were ripped apart before body refinement could take place. The expression "Awakened from the crib" derived from elven myths that had later been adapted by the four races to justify the existence of individuals capable of incredible feats. That until Lith and Valeron the Second had made it true and later Elysia's birth had replaced the expression with "Awakened from the womb": It was also the reason the World Tree replaced impurities with their vines during the Awakening process. The Yggdrasill's fibers formed an endo and an exoskeleton that resisted the pressure exerted by the mana core until body refinement ended and the Awakened elf became capable of surviving on their own. Becoming a Chronicler was considered the greatest honor an elf could receive, but it only came after a rigorous selection and several tests of loyalty and wits. Tests that the Librarian in Menadion's hands had never undergone. The World Tree would never Awaken her. The only possible explanation was that the situation outside had gotten so bad that the Yggdrasill had enacted the Great Assimilation. All elves knew about the contingency plan, but until that day it had just been considered as a scary story. Something to tell the kids around the bonfire during the summer nights to teach them that power came with risks and responsibilities. Not once since the First Awakened had gained sentience had a World Tree even considered using the Great Assimilation. Yet as the wood invaded the Librarian, she touched the Yggdrasill's mind enough to understand that the story had just turned into reality. "Gods, no!" The elf imprinted the stone ring in a panic. As the bond between Menadion's tower and the Librarian formed, her body expelled the wooden vines. There was no space for a third person inside one body, terminating the slower and weaker connection. "What's happening?" Mother and daughter asked in unison, one out loud and the other telepathically. 'My name is Ghar'mar Riverflow. Kill me if you have to but please save my family!" The elf used the mind link to share everything he knew with Solus in the blink of an eye. 'Don't let the World Tree take them. Don't let Verhen kill them. 'Give me your word and I'll do everything you say.' Solus wanted to laugh in the Librarian's face and destroy her psyche with a series of mind fusions but as soon as she received the information, she changed her mind. Not only was what the Yggdrasill was doing monstrous, but there was also no time to waste. 'Deal! Lead us out of here, quick! Solus established a mind link with Menadion to explain the situation to her as well and communicate more efficiently. "Fuck!" The First Ruler of the Flames put Ghar'mar on her shoulder like a sack of potatoes and started running. While she moved, Menadion used Creation Magic to reshape everything that was left of the dead Chroniclers' equipment into a full set of armor for Elphyn's host. 'Quick, the corridors in here can change according to the Tree's wishes. This is their body after all. I don't know how long my memory of this place will be a reliable source of information. The Librarian said. 'About that, since when do you know Creation Magic, Mom?' Solus asked. 'Where have you been all this time?" Menadion bolted through the corridors faster than a bullet and cut corners with a single flap of her wings. Her short legs would have given her a short pace even as an Awakened so she cursed Mogar for making her bloodline petite and cursed a thank you at Lith for her newfound wings. 'Also, what do you have against Lith?' 'Let's see. I was inventing Creation Magic on my own during my final years. I never got it right, not even with the Thievery's help. Once Sally started giving you guys demonstrations, however, everything suddenly made sense. Menadion coughed telepathically in embarrassment. 'Sally?' Solus' eyes would have gone wide in surprise if she had any. 'Salaark. Grandma. Menadion met a patrol of screaming Chroniclers while they were still turning into Puppets and slipped past them by sticking her back to the ceiling. 'One of the perks of the master-apprentice relationship with a Guardian is that you can give them a pet name without getting punched in the face. Especially if you remain friends with them once the apprenticeship ends.' "That's right! You were Grandma's apprentice and fr- You were there for our Creation Magic lessons?' Solus was flabbergasted. I've been by your side since the day I died, Epphy.' Menadion sighed. I never moved on. I regretted so much failing to kill Bytra and leaving you alone that I've haunted your ring for over seven hundred years now. 'I was there with you when you cried my name and begged me to return. I hugged you as the tower crumbled over the centuries and you lost parts of your body. I cried with you when you sacrificed your memories to fuel the tower core and started to forget about your father and me. 'I was always there for you, Epphy. I've never stopped talking to you. Cheering for you. Crying with you and holding you when everything seemed lost. It's just that you couldn't see or hear me.' If you know everything already, you should love Lith like a son!' Solus rebuked her mother.