"Think about it. The resonance started with your two. It spread to Solus because of your bond, and to Morok and the rest of the Balor race because they are sohow attuned to Ryla, you, or both." Quylla said.
"Also, don’t forget that having access to the Eyes of nadion and the instrunts of the Infirmary would be a great help in my research."
"Solus?" Lith asked while he pondered Quylla’s request.
"Ryla is a trusted ally and Garrik is a good kid." She replied. "Yet they are still naïve in the ways of the world, and they spend too much ti with Jirni and Orion. I don’t question their discretion so much as their ability to keep our secrets.
"If Quylla discovers sothing with the tower’s help, Garrik is bound to brag about it and Ryla to be happy. Once Jirni notices, I doubt either of them can resist the pressure of Jirni’s ’friendly’ interrogation techniques."
"I agree." Lith shook his head. "I’m sorry, Quylla, but our answer is no. I trust Ryla with the knowledge of the tower, but not your mother. There’s no telling how Jirni would react and what might demand from in exchange for her silence."
"This isn’t your fault, Lith." Friya groaned, holding her head in her hands. "We are the ones who should apologize to you. You have welcod our entire family into your house to protect our mother, and now she stands in your way."
"Do you really need Ryla to set foot inside the tower to perform your tests?" nadion asked.
"Yes, Ripha." Quylla nodded. "I think there is a link between her and Lith, but I have no idea how to find it. Even if the Eyes revealed the link and recorded it in the Library during the fight, I still need Ryla.
"Without her, I can’t replicate the conditions under which the resonance between her and Lith manifested and confirm any hypothesis I co up with."
"If that’s your problem, the solution is easy." The First Ruler of the Flas tutted.
***
"I don’t know what to say, Lith." Ryla wore a thick mask that left only her mouth exposed. "Thank you for your trust. I’ll do my best not to betray it."
" too, but is this really necessary?" Garrik grumbled from under a full-body glove that covered every milliter of his skin.
"Yes, young man!" Morok scolded him. "The location of a mage’s lab is his most important secret. You are too curious for your own good, and with your ability to open your eyes on most parts of your body, this is the bare minimum."
"I’m sorry, big bro." Garrik had tried and failed to open an eye on his tongue, and the realization that his big brother was right not to trust him made Garrik feel dirty.
"Don’t worry." The Tyrant replied while taking off the blindfolds. "We are already there."
Lith had Warped the group to the Infirmary and then the entire tower to Verendi.
"Really?" Garrik rushed to a window, and his eyes widened as he stared at the unknown landscape filled with plants and animals he had never seen before.
"But we are still above a mana geyser, right?" Ryla checked Garrik’s Harmonizer first and then her own body with a diagnostic spell.
"Of course." Solus said. "We would never harm you. Just rember that everything you see and learn here is a secret. Please, don’t tell anyone about what you see and hear in here, and I an anyone."
"I will." Now that Ryla was reassured of her child’s well-being, her first priority was loyalty to her hosts. "We won’t ntion this place. Ever. Do you understand , Garrik?"
"Not even to Aran and Leria?" The young Fomor-Tyrant asked, feeling guilty for lying to his friends already.
"Aran and Leria know about my lab." Lith replied. "But Lilia and Leran don’t, and so Jirni and Orion. Things must stay this way. One slip of your tongue and your friends will ask you questions, Garrik. Do you think you can fool them?"
"No." He lowered his eyes and shook his head.
"Then make things easier for yourself and pretend this is just a silly dream." Lith said. "If you need anything, go to your mother, Quylla, or Morok, and they will find a place where you can talk."
"Okay, Uncle Lith." Garrik nodded. "What is this thing?"
Garrik placed his hands on the life-support tank, trying to see if there was sothing inside. The contact triggered the Eyes and the Ears, which perford a deep scan of the boy.
The information collected by the two pieces of the nadion Set was relayed on the Infirmary’s screens. They now displayed Garrik’s heart rate, brain activity, organs functionality, blood pressure, mana flow, and the configuration of his life forces.
"Mana core: dormant and compromised. Life force: 50% stable rank 1 human Tyrant, 50% unstable rank 2 human Fomor. Overall: 100% evolved human. 30% of the life force is defective. No wound detected. Perfect health.
"Warning: stepping away from the mana geyser might have permanent or lethal adverse effects. The defective life force is self-healing at a slow rate. Estimate recovery ti without external intervention: 9 years.
"Further diagnostics are required before a viable treatnt can be identified. The subject is healthy, and any alteration to his life force is strongly discouraged." Ryla fell to her knees and cried as she read the prognosis out loud.
The light around Garrik flashed yellow a few tis before going out.
"Don’t worry, Mom, I’m fine." Garrik said, hugging her. "I can wait. Nine years will fly by. We are not alone anymore. We have my big brother, Uncle Lith, and-"
"Nine years!" She smiled from ear to ear, cutting him short and hugging him back. "Garrik, you are just six and the coming of age is sixteen, yet your life force will stabilize in only nine years! Your breathing technique works, Lith! It works!"
Only then did everybody realize that while they had focused on the bad news, Ryla hadn’t missed the piece of good news. Garrik would be freed from his golden prison one year earlier than expected, and that ti could be further shortened.
If Garrik kept practicing the breathing technique and Morok further improved it, there was no telling how faster Garrik’s life force would stabilize.
"Wait a second." nadion’s smile turned upside down. "What in the gods’ nas are human ranks? I have no idea what this thing is talking about, and I’m the one who... helped you craft it."
"I was about to ask you about that, Mom." Solus pondered. "There was no such thing back when Aran and Leria got scanned by the Infirmary."
"That must be because only the kids, Mom, and Rena took the test!" Lith’s eyes widened in realization. "They are regular humans like..."
He turned around, but there wasn’t one pure human among them.
"Be right back." He said while Warping away.
"Rude! What about ?" Quylla grunted.
"No offense, sis, but you carry Morok’s twins and I Faluel’s blood." Friya shrugged. "We are not humans anymore. At least not completely."
"What about ?" Nalrond placed his hands on the tank and waited for the Infirmary’s response.
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