"Is it true?" Trion asked.

"Yes, she is really worried about you. Mom just wants to know that you are…"

"Not that!" Trion stood up, las.h.i.+ng out the insecurities that he had left festering in the last six months.

"Is what that Ernas wench told me true? That everyone has forgotten about me? That I now have a niece and a little brother? That both of them were named after you?"

Lith needed a split second to understand who the 'Ernas wench' was. A Drill Sergeant couldn't get close to Jirni, unless she was investigating them. Which left Phloria as the only possible answer.

Lith clenched his fist, yet his tone remained polite.

"Rena stopped considering you a brother after you never returned from your graduation. She couldn't forgive you for making mom cry like that. Tista wrote you off the family list ever since you and Orpal said all those things about her.

"As for dad, he never talks about you. I don't think he hates you, Trion. More like he has lost all hopes. We do have a niece, Leria, and a little brother, Aran. Leria is the only one named after me."

On Mogar, it was custom to name a child with the same initial letter of the most esteemed member of the family as a good omen.

"Well, I guess it had to be expected. A humble Sergeant is no match for an almighty magician!" Trion's anger almost drove him insane. To the point he barely realized he was discussing family matters in public.

"I can't believe Rena sucked up to you that much! What did you give her in exchange for it?"

"Nothing." Lith's voice was losing its kindness and becoming colder by the word.

"She did it because I gave her a home, I protected both her old and new family, and because I delivered her firstborn. No one knew you became a Sergeant, simply because you never bothered telling us."

"I…"

"You are done talking." Lith cut him short, throwing his communication amulet on the table. "Either you promise me in front of all these people that you will come back home, or I'll call our mother right now and you'll explain to her your reasons."

Trion and all those present looked at the amulet with greed. Such an enchanted item was worth a year of their pay.

Trion hesitated for a second. If he called Elina and she started crying, his reputation would be destroyed. He had always pictured her to his colleagues as a cold hearted woman who had eyes only for her most talented child.

Trion knew it was a blatant lie. He said it for the same reason he had never returned home. It was the way he had found to get back at a family from which he had always felt left out.

Trion hoped to make them feel guilty and worried about his disappearance. Most of all, he wanted to hurt Lith. Yet it was clear he had failed. Lith still looked at him as when they were still kids.

Lith had taught to his older brothers that the flip side of love wasn't hate. It was indifference. Even when he was little, he would stare at them without really seeing neither Orpal or Trion. Lith would talk to his brothers with the same tone he used for strangers.

Be it pelts or meat, he would never bring anything for them. Whenever they were hurt or ill, Lith never intervened unless their parents asked him to.

"I'll go back home as soon as I get a leave. You have my word."

"Good." Lith nodded. "One word of advice before our business is concluded. Our parents love you, so I won't meddle with your relations.h.i.+p. Same for Tista and Rena. They are grown-up women who can fend for themselves."

Lith stepped forward as his eyes changed from chestnut to yellow and his pupils were replaced by a red light.

"The children, however, are another story. If when I get back I find out you have been anything but a loving uncle and brother, I will end you." Lith remarked his last words by letting out a sliver of killing intent.

Or at least that was the intention. He was already tired and cranky before Trion started to insult everyone Lith cared about, so the sliver turned into a flood.

The Mess Hall's lights flickered several times as an unnatural shadow covered the windows, making everyone present think they had dozed off into a lucid nightmare. In the darkness they saw distorted reflections of themselves staring at them with hunger, some even experienced their ghastly touch.

The Sergeants were all veterans, yet they found themselves covered in cold sweat and with their weapons at hand. They were pointed against their imaginary enemies, except for those of Trion's friends which were aimed at Lith.

"At ease, Sergeants." Lith snapped his fingers, using both gravity and spirit magic to force them to lower their blades. "Or does that mean you are a.s.saulting an officer?"

At those words, the weapons were either stored inside a dimensional item again or let go onto the ground.

***

Lith spent the rest of the afternoon back at his base. Commander Berion had let him choose his first destination. Lith cross-referenced the information he had collected from the army's database with those from the Mage a.s.sociation.

'Aside from Necromancy, there's not much about the study of the nature of souls and how to manipulate them, but it's a start nonetheless.'

Lith thought. 'Too bad neither my merits nor my clearance level grants me access to most of the tomes I'm interested in.'Lith collected all the lore and legends about the regions he could choose from before leaving the base.

'Commander Berion granted me a full day of leave to solve the matter with Trion and make my decision. I'll use this time to go meet Kalla one last time before leaving. With all her connections with the undead community, she could give me advice about where to start my research.

'I could also ask her help to develop an undead empty sh.e.l.l for Solus. Two birds with one stone.' Lith took out from the pocket dimension his communication amulet.

The last time they met, the Wight had warned him she would be busy with her experiments to attain lichhood and asked Lith to not reach for her unless he was in dire need for help.

Kalla's rune was lit, hence her amulet wasn't inside a dimensional item. Yet she didn't reply if not after several attempts.

"Sorry to bother you, Kalla." Lith said when the channel was finally open. "I just need a few minutes of your time, then I'll leave you alone. I…"

"A few minutes might be all the time I have left, Scourge." Her voice was barely a whisper. "I've been trying to contact you for months. My experiments… I'm afraid my most recent failure will also be my last.

If you manage to reach my lair before it's too late, I'll help you to the best of my possibilities. I can't make any promises."

'Those b*stards!' Lith cursed at the army clerks. 'While I attended the Boot Camp, they didn't reply to any call aside those from my family and n.o.ble friends.'

The only silver lining in that situation was that Kalla lived in the forest outside the White Griffon. Thanks to the Camp's Warp Gate, Lith could reach her in less than a minute. The only problem was that he was already months late.