"She's missed her aunties a lot. Isn't that right, sweetie?" Lith asked.
"Yah!" Elysia nodded while looking around. "Auie So?"
"Auntie Zor couldn't make it, pumpkin, but she'll be here soon. I promise." Bytra focused on Elysia's warmth and held Lith's hand. "Be quick. Elysia needs her godmother."
The mind link didn't show much more than what the Fourth Ruler of the Flas had already told them. The unknown assailant moved fast even by the Raiju's standards, and changed shape and size too quickly to make out any of its features.
"Could it be a Horde?" Solus had witnessed Bytra's mories via her bond with Lith, while nadion through the black chains. "It would explain this kind of strength and tactics.
"Hordes are the closest thing to a white core, and if they want, they can multiply the number of their spores at will and with it their power and mass."
"That would also explain why the Skull had such a hard ti following its movents." The Raiju's eyes flared up with black mana in fury, but her voice remained warm and soothing.
"A Horde's Blink is almost impossible to follow because each spore opens its minuscule dinsional opening. That many signals would easily overload the Skull since there was no mana geyser to fuel its keener enchantnts."
"It doesn't explain why you are so worked up and why you ca here instead of asking for the help of the other mbers of the Organization, though." nadion pointed out.
"I'm worked up because the attack was two days ago." Bytra replied while rocking the baby in the crook of her arm. "When I regained my senses, I didn't move from the spot and called for everyone, and I an everyone.
"I hoped that with the Master's arrays and Tezka's dinsional magic, we would find a clue. When that failed, we used the resonance effect between us hybrids to pinpoint Zor's position, but that failed as well.
"Whoever took her, they didn't leave a single trace, and wherever she is now, it's shielded against any tracking thod we know. That's the reason I ca here. Solus, Lith, I need your help.
"Zoreth is the best tracker in the Organization and with her gone, the others don't stand a chance to find her. You, instead, have the Eyes and the tower of nadion. You are my only hope. Please, if there's soone who can find Zor, that's you."
Bytra started to cry again, and Elysia giggled and babbled in an attempt to console her aunt.
"I don't an to be rude, but there's sothing I don't understand." Solus took the baby back, allowing the Raiju to blow her nose. "If the attack happened two days ago, why did you co here running like that instead of just giving us a call?"
"Why am I still acting crazy after so long, you an?" Bytra sniffled, her words making Solus blush from embarrassnt. "Don't worry, Solus. That's a reasonable question and I'm happy to answer it.
"You see, Zor carried a precious cargo in her omni pocket, and she is among the strongest of us. Only Tezka and Orulm can beat her. That and the fact that our enemy let live brought the Master to believe that Zor is just the first target.
"He thinks that the unknown assailant was just probing the ans of the Organization's elites and that once they're done with Zor, I might be the next. After all, I'm the Fourth Ruler of the Flas.
"If the enemy manages to extract information about the Master's plans from Zoreth, they'll learn that I'm the key to delaying the Organization's progress indefinitely. To make matters worse, I Forgemastered the Maw and the Skull.
"If the bastard kills Zor and imprints her artifacts, they'll find out that both pieces are in their sealed state and will need my help to unlock their full power. The Master couldn't risk losing another hybrid, especially , so he suspended all operations and put the Organization on lockdown."
"It's a wise move." Lith nodded.
"No, it's a heartless move!" Bytra snarled and stood up abruptly, scaring Elysia. "I'm sorry, baby girl. I didn't an to alarm you. Everything is fine."
After a few seconds to regain her composure, Bytra resud speaking.
"Put yourself in my shoes, Lith. I needed to contact you, but I couldn't tell anyone why. Zor and I are the only ones who know about the tower, and you have every reason to doubt the motives of the Organization and its mbers.
"Yet keeping your secrets puts between a rock and a hard place. Without your help, I have no hope to save Zor, but the Master would have never let out of our hidden fortress unless I told him the truth.
"As far as he knows, you can't do anything more than the Organization has already tried. If I told the Master that I wanted to visit you or Elysia, he would have sent soone with , and we would have never had this conversation.
"Even if we did and you agreed to help , using the tower would have been nigh impossible in the presence of a witness. There is no way that soone as brilliant and ancient as one of my teammates wouldn't suspect sothing after noticing that your 'powers' need a mana geyser to work.
"Not to ntion all the lies you would have to co up with to explain your findings." Bytra sighed. "I raked my brain to find a solution, but I only found one."
"Are you telling that you broke out of the lockdown?" Lith's eyes widened in surprise.
"Exactly." The Fourth Ruler of the Flas nodded. "One of the advantages of being the resident Forgemaster is that I know all defensive asures like the back of my hand since I'm the one who put them into place.
"I silently deactivated everything on my way out, but either the Master has modified a few arrays without telling or soone noticed my absence because once I reached the exit, sothing or soone triggered the alarm and everyone chased after .
"At that point, I started to run and never slowed down until I got here."
'By my Mom, poor Bytra!' Solus thought. 'I know how desperate she is because I felt the sa way when those Awakened kidnapped Lith and Valeron the Second. Unlike , however, she couldn't ask for help.
'She waited two whole days that she could have spent looking after Zoreth before escaping, not to expose our secrets. Bytra put my safety above the love of her life and the guilt at the idea that Zoreth might already be dead must be eating her up inside.'
"Will you help ?" Bytra asked.
"Of course, we will." Solus nodded, coming close to the Raiju for the first ti since her arrival. "But there is no guarantee we'll find the Horde, assuming that's what we are dealing with, over a mana geyser.
"If they took you and Zor down that easily, I doubt Lith and I will be much of a challenge without the tower."
"Don't worry, I have that covered." Bytra nodded. "I just need your help to locate Zor, the bastard, or both."
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