"If the need arises, your help will be invaluable and the Council will properly compensate you for your ti." Feela's words were welcod with cheers.
Getting paid just for standing around and doing nothing was a dream co true even for Awakened.
"Thank you, brother. Lith walked up to Tezka to thank him. "Your presence wasn't needed but knowing you were here boosted my confidence."
"Don't ntion it." The Fylgja sniffed the air, recognizing a familiar scent. "Is it what I think it is?"
"Correct." Lith nodded. "The first of many, it seems."
"Good luck with your endeavor and let know if you are interested in selling the thing once you put it together." Tezka laughed.
"Thanks, and we'll see." Lith replied. "Can I count on you if things go south?"
"Yeah, but always rember it will take ti to arrive. Unless you send your location in advance, of course."
"I'll keep that in mind." Lith ignored the offer.
'Like I'd risk giving Vastor access to the World Tree's repository of knowledge. Heck, even I don't know what I'll do once I get my hands on it.' He thought.
Only once the siege was broken and the beasts on their way to their respective hos did Lith open his hand and let the shard of light point the way.
"Thanks for your trust, little brother." Zoreth didn't miss how he had not sent her away after learning how high the stakes were.
"Please, if there's soone I can trust, it's the godmother of my daughter." Lith said as the group flew at high speed.
When the compass pointed them in a clear direction, they Warped forward dozens of kiloters and then kept flying until it stabilized again.
"She's what?" Feela was flabbergasted.
"You heard ." Lith noticed how the closer they got to the next fragnt, the more condensed and brighter the shard in his hand beca. "Xenagrosh is the closest thing to a Tiamat I know and the fact she's damn powerful and family it's a huge plus in my book."
"Eyes on the prize." It was Lotho's turn to open a Warp Steps leading the group as far as he could. "The shard is spinning"
They stopped flying and waited for the fragnt to stop.
"Below?" Lith said in confusion.
There was nothing around them that even the Eyes of nadion could perceive. On top of that, the shard moved erratically as if it couldn't pinpoint its target.
"This is weird." Solus said. "The signal got clearer as we approached and now that we are in proximity of our target the fragnt can't pinpoint it anymore?"
They landed on the ground but the fragnt kept pointing down.
"This has just gone from weird to nonsensical." Lotho said. "No World Sapling lives underground. They are too big and require sunlight to grow!"
"Nonsensical or not, we know what to do." Lith released a pulse of earth magic that dug a pit reaching dozens of ters of depth.
The group had descended for about half a kiloter when the ground rose to et them.
"Who are you and what do you- Lith?" A mass of orange mist-like fog said.
"You... You?" Lith knew the creature but had no mory of its na.
'Loma, you Lich!' Solus rebuked him. 'He was a fungus folk when we t him in Kulah and had evolved into a Horde when he participated in the test for Awakened disciples staged in the fake Urgamakka.'
"I an, Loma?" Lith quickly corrected himself. "What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the sa question." The Horde was a hive creature whose body was comprised of thousands of small fungi each with its own mana core but sharing one mind.
Loma reassembled themselves into a humanoid figure made of thick orange smoke. "But since you asked first, I'm here on Hordes' business. One of us had a sudden revelation and asked us to join him."
"Hordes?" Lotho echoed. "As in more than one? And what do you an, him?"
"All eight of us." Loma nodded. "Our entire race assembled because this is an important matter that will determine our future. As for your second question, I'm as surprised as you are. We Hordes are our own mothers, fathers, and children.
"We have no gender nor can we reproduce. He sighed wistfully. "Your turn."
"I'm looking for the fragnts of the shattered consciousness of the World Tree," Lith replied, obtaining stern glares from his companions that he ignored. "Did you notice anything weird around here?"
"Weirder than the assembly? No." Loma shook their head.
"Is it by any chance taking place in the direction pointed by my shiny compass?"
above and that spinning thing more or less encompasses the area we've spread our
bodies."
"Spread?" Solus asked in confusion.
"Wow. We have yet to reach the caves and there's already echo here." The Horde scoffed. "Yes, spread. My people don't take humanoid form unless we have to interact with other races, just like you don't dress up just to sit on your couch.
"We are still fungi. We like to lie around in humid places and snack on anything we find."
"This answers a few of our questions but opens many more." Lotho tried and failed to make sense of their situation. "How can a Horde have what we are looking for?"
"If we are talking about questions, I've gotten quite a few of my own and I won't let you go forward until I get so answers." Loma's body beca denser. "Let's start with sothing simple. What are you doing here and what's that thing?"
The Horde pointed at the shard.
"Loma, I know we have t only twice but I need you to trust ." Lith replied. "If things are as I suspect, I'm going to need your help. You have to convince the other Hordes to let deal with the one who summoned you Hordes here and keep him
from escaping"
Hordes were nigh-immortal. As long as a single batch of spores remained alive sowhere, they could rebuild the entire Horde in a matter of minutes. Many of the fungal creatures hid parts of themselves in multiple locations, making them hard to find and impossible to eliminate.
'If the shard of World Tree can move freely inside the Horde, I need to locate the exact section of the life force currently holding the fragnt and recover it before it can be
moved away.' Lith thought.
"You freed , Lith Verhen. You did more than save my life, you rescued from an eternity of slavery and suffering. For that, you have my eternal gratitude. Yet trust is a road that goes both ways.
"I can do whatever you ask without questions but my brethren won't reserve you the sa treatnt. Unless you give a solid argunt, I wouldn't worry about them refusing to help so much as attacking you.
"After the Plaguespreader killed one of us, there are only eight Hordes left in the whole Mogar." Loma lowered two denser packs of spores on their face that Lith assud were supposed to look like eyes.
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