Supreme Magus

Lith could see everything clearly thanks to Solus's tenth sense, while the girls could only perceive through their spells that either there was a crowd around them or they were in an enclosed space.

Once they stopped, Lith shared Solus's senses via a mind link, letting them realize that the entire population of Zhen had assembled for some kind of ceremony.

The merfolk held hands, forming an upward spiral formation whose extremities lied at the monument on the seabed and at a height comparable to that of one of the tallest buildings.

The person at the top of the spiral started humming and the vibration spread down along the living spire, growing in intensity with each person it passed through. When it reached the seashell statue, the humming propagated to the rest of the city.

The phenomenon reminded Lith of whale songs, but being able to feel rather than just hear those sounds, he understood what was happening. The people of Zhen were celebrating Khalia's short life while also mourning her loss.

The formation allowed those who knew her to share their feelings beyond what words could express, giving them a substance that even a human could understand. The sounds reverberated throughout the city, echoing inside the buildings and giving the impression that they were crying as well.

'Gods, this is incredible.' Tista wept silently. 'When I first arrived here, I considered this place no different from an underwater graveyard filled with cold and darkness. Yet it's exactly because of it that the merfolk have learned to give color to their life by sharing their emotions.

'Mal was right. Until this moment, I wasn't capable of appreciating its beauty.' The humming allowed her to see the city even without Solus's senses. Every place relevant in Khalia's life emitted a different tune, almost painting her whole past.

The group could feel Khalia's joy while she played as a child, her efforts to practice magic as a teen, and the enthusiasms with which she had daydreamed about her future on the mainland once she became of age.

"May the Leviathan, the great god of the seas and of discovery accompany our sister's final travel toward the greatest of mysteries, death." Ren said before breaking the spiral and guiding the group toward Kolga again.

"You know, back when I first met your brother in Reghia, I thought to have finally found my Dragon Charming. A tall, handsome, powerful Wyrmling with his pockets full of magical wonders who would have taken me away and shared Mogar with me.

"Then, when I saw him turning into a human, I thought that I'd rather die than spend one more second with him. Now, however, I'm not so sure anymore." Khalia said to Tista.

'Why a Dragon and not a Leviathan? Isn't Fenagar the god of the seas?' Tista asked via the mind link. It would cost her mana and weaken her core before the mission even started, but she couldn't let Khalia spend those last minutes alone.

During most of her youth, every time Tista went to bed, she feared that her weak lungs would betray her and that she would die in her sleep, without anyone noticing until it was too late.

Back then, she thanked the gods every single morning for allowing her to live another day. Tista still remembered how the fear would come back every night, getting worse whenever the cough and fever sapped the little strength that she had.

Khalia stopped swimming for a second in surprise before answering.

'You Awakened are really amazing. Maybe I should have really given your brother a chance.' She inwardly sighed.

'As for your question, according to lore, Dragons are greedy creatures yet they are also wise and treat their beloved like the most precious treasure.

'Leviathans, instead, are self-centered jerks who love people like they love a tool, appreciating them more for their usefulness than for who they are.'

'Doesn't that go for most males, no matter their race?' Tista chuckled trying to lighten the mood.

'I don't know. I never left Zhen except that for visiting Reghia a few times.' Khalia regretted not having abandoned her city long enough to make some memories in a distant land.

Good or bad didn't matter. Everything was better than the endless what-ifs running through her mind.

Tista didn't tell her that Lith already had a girlfriend, nor that he wouldn't take seriously someone he didn't know nor trust. Dreams were all Khalia had left, there was no point taking them away from her.

Tista shared with the merfolk the memories of her favorite landscapes, the sensation of running through the snow, the sight of sunrise and twilight. They shed their tears in silence, invisible as they became drops in the ocean.

'Thank you.' That was all Khalia said before leaving Tista in front of Kolga's barrier and pointing to her the apartment that belonged to her alias.

After drying herself from the seawater to not arouse suspicions, Tista realized that her eyes were still wet and it took her a while to compose herself. Lith held her shoulder without saying a word, just making sure to shield her from the poisoning as long as he could.

Finding the right apartments was easy. Not only did they know the floor where their respective housing was located, but Life Vision also allowed them to spot the only door that had lost its imprint due to the death of the owner.

'I could imprint it myself, but I don't know if doing that might trigger some kind of alarm. Solus?' Lith asked, yet she was still in a daze.

He used the tier four Forgemastering spell, Phantom Echo, to study the door's pseudo core from a distance with a mix of earth and spirit magic. The lock was simple and so was the enchantment protecting it from burglars.

With no magical metals nor mana crystals, there was only so much a Forgemaster could do. Any more and the door would crumble under the strain exerted from the spells that were supposed to reinforce it.

'That's good news, but arrays have alarms as well and they don't burden their host.' Lith thought while activating an array detection spell focused solely on the door in front of him.

Alas, there were so many layers perfectly overlapping each other that they gave him a headache.

'Solus, I really need your help. Can I cross this door or not?' He asked.

'I don't know.'

'What do you mean, I don't know? You crack things harder than this for breakfast.'

'I don't know if I can live with the answer. If I say yes, that girl will die. If I say no, she will live, but this horror founded on my mother's masterpiece and on the lives of Mogar knows how many people will keep expanding until someone finds a solution.

'Whatever I do, someone is going to die.' Solus replied.

'None of this is your fault or Menadion's. This is just what happens when a madman gets their hand on a powerful artifact. Do you think that Tyris feels responsible for what Thrud does with Arthan's Sword or Silverwing for how her specializations are used?' Despite his words, Lith could understand her feelings.

Solus had yearned for so long to learn about her past, yet everything she learned about her family's legacy only led to more corpses.

'Every single day.' Solus didn't know Tyris or Silverwing well, but after meeting the two women, she had realized that the reason why they both had given up on helping people was because of regret.