'On top of that, the only quick way back to Lutia is the Tower Warp but if I use it too often, Dawn is going to start wondering why I get better every time Nyka shuts her down.' Solus thought.
"If that's okay with you all, of course." She actually said.
"No problem." Kamila shrugged while eating her third serving of eggs with sausages.
Between the intense nocturnal activity and the growing baby, she had worked up a huge appetite.
"I'm not going back to work for a few days so we can stay together until that moment if you want."
"Thanks, but no." Solus shook her head. "I want to leave while it's still my choice instead of because I have to."
After finishing breakfast, they moved to the Desert where the sun had yet to rise.
"Sweet! After we start traveling together, we can exploit time zones to watch sunrise multiple times a day." Tista said. "Who knows, I might finally master Ethereal Aegis or even reach the violet this way."
"No way." Solus snorted. "I want to travel, not to help you train. If I have to bring a Lith along, I might as well take the original."
The moment the tower had taken form, tiredness had left Solus' body and she was now full of vigor.
'I hate this. I hate always feeling incomplete. When will I be finally free from these shackles?' She thought while using her breathing technique, Sky Blessing, to study her mana core and life force.
They were still both cracked and kept slowly leaking energy. Taking her human form put a huge strain on both and while Lith's presence plugged her life force, the tower fixed her mana core.
Without one of them, she was like a candle slowly burning out. Without either of them, she felt as ephemeral as a match.
"Is anything wrong, dear?" Elina's voice snapped Solus out of it.
"I'm coming!"
"Well, look what the Dragon dragged in." Salaark appeared in front of the tower to welcome them.
She was congratulating Lith and Tista for their achievements, moving on to Solus as soon as she joined the rest of the family.
The day passed slowly, with everyone spending time with Solus and talking about her plans for the trip.
"Are you sure you have taken everything you need?" She asked Lith while they were checking the tower's Library.
"Don't worry. I have moved the blueprints of the Tablet to the pocket dimension and I can access it even when you are away." Lith replied. "On top of that, in case of emergency, we can always communicate via Soluspedia as we did during my lockup in Valeron.
"I can call upon you via the tower and you can do the same as long as we are above a mana geyser. Between that and the communication amulets, we are always going to be just a call away."
"Yeah, I almost forgot you use the tower without me." Solus sighed. "I guess you won't miss me that much."
"Don't be silly, Solus." Lith put the book he was consulting away and walked in front of her. "I'm acting aloof and confident but I'm actually terrified. I've heard your voice in my head every day for sixteen years.
"Every time you weren't there, it was one of the worst moments of my life. When Nalear broke our bond. When I thought you were dead and when I got quarantined due to the Golden Griffon's slave array."
"What about your honeymoon?" She raised her eyebrows in doubt.
"That was different! First, we were separate for barely a couple of days and second, I could get you back at any time. Now, instead, I'm going to see you only when you need your battery charger and the thought hurts." Lith slouched his shoulders.
"The truth is that I miss you already, Solus."
"I miss you too, silly." She hugged him. "Thanks for telling me those things. I needed to hear them."
"But you are going anyway, right? If you stay because of me, I will never forgive m-"
"Yeah, I'm still going." Solus put her hand on his mouth to shut him up. "Sometimes I worry that you might consider me just a commodity and knowing that you feel the same means a lot to me."
The following day, Solus and Tista left right after her morning exercises, leaving the rest of the family in the Trawn woods.
"What now?" Tista asked. "We have never discussed where to pick up Nyka. She can't use the Warp Gates without being spotted as an undead the moment they check her body."
"Don't worry, I've got that covered. We are going to start our travel in Lightkeep." A snap of Solus' fingers and the tower moved to the belly of the Empire.
Vladion had prepared a space for the tower and Baba Yaga had altered the dimensional sealing arrays so that they would make an exception for Solus' energy signature.
The powerful mana geyser that fueled Lightkeep's magical formations would also fuel the tower and preserve Solus' strength during her stay.
"Welcome to my humble home." Vladion Dragonborn, the First Vampire, gave them a deep bow.
"It's nice seeing you again, kids." Kalla the Wight stood beside him, her huge skeletal body covered by an ever-shifting mass of darkness.
She wore the original Eyes of Menadion on her snout and a perfectly cut white crystal the size of an apple on her neck.
"Still bent on becoming a Lich?" Solus asked, noticing that the semi-phylactery now held a spark of Kalla's life force and mana.
"Thrud's death changes nothing." The Wight shook her massive head. "Quite the contrary, now that the Council knows about the Eyes, I need to become immortal more than ever or they might target my children to get to me.
"But let's not ruin your journey with depressing thoughts before it even starts. Follow me, there are a few people who want to meet you before you leave."
"Why isn't Nyka with you?" Tista asked.
"Because she doesn't want to shut Dawn down from the start and have her question the secrecy about your arrival. The cover story is that Mother picked you up." Vladion pointed at the hunting cabin that was right beside the tower.
Solus had the tower burrow underground to hide it from sight and activated the cloaking arrays to shield its presence.
"Isn't it pointless? Baba Yaga can't follow us around and Nyka can't even use Warp Gates. Now that I think about it, why didn't she come to us instead? It would have made things much simpler." Tista pondered.
"Because you've never been to Lightkeep, Tista, and Nyka wants to show you our house and the fruits of her efforts." Vladion replied.
The house of the Firstborn Vampire was a magnificent three-story manor built with a style that resembled a European abbey from the 1600s. Every room and corridor were richly decorated with frescoes, paintings, and its furniture would have looked good even in the Ernas household.
Everything was made of high-end materials and finely crafted but their beauty was understated instead of flaunted like at the Royal Court. Plenty of light came from the windows and the lack of humidity in the air made Tista think they were pulling a prank on her.
