Agitha ran as fast as she could with Cora’s unconscious body on her back, which meant that she would have passed a racing horse as though it were standing still. Her promise to Cora weighed on her heavily, and she prayed over and over that Elisif and Mathael would have some answers. A journey that would normally take a full day took less than an hour for the supernaturally athletic warrior. She also didn’t bother making for the great gate of the northern border wall. She instead ran in a straight line in the direction of Coralia’s camp. The wall loomed ahead quickly, and she didn’t even slow. The moment she judged the trajectory was right she channeled a massive surge of power to her legs and leaped straight over the thirty foot tall barrier.

A bored guard stationed atop the thick wall noticed a shadow pass across the sun bathed stone and quickly looked up. He saw the humanoid form carrying another person soar past and land lightly on the grass on the other side. Before he could even begin to raise an alarm the apparition had disappeared into the thick northern forest beyond. He imagined the headache that would come with such a report and decided to forget he had seen anything at all.

Deeper in the forest, one of the kobold elite sentries detected Agitha’s passage and leveled a blow gun, following the incredibly fast intruder with huge twitching rodent ears. The kobold inhaled deeply through her pink nose, ready to loose a dart loaded with potent paralytic toxins and blew hard, perfectly judging the intruder’s path and aiming where it would appear in the tiny clearing below. The dart flew true but the blur of the speeding humanoid didn’t slow their progress. The kobold recognized Agitha only when she was within a few yards. The kobold, dropped to one knee in terror and shame that she had attacked her queen’s master.

“Lady Agitha please forgive me! I have the antidote to the dart here.” The kobold felt a gentle pet on the top of her furry head. She looked up and found a calloused palm near her eyes holding a dart still coated in poison that had been caught in mid flight.

“Don’t apologize.” Agitha’s smile was genuine and reassuring. “That was a perfectly timed shot and my entry could only be considered hostile. I have an emergency so I’m heading on to the village.”

“I’m undeserving of such praise!” The little kobold bowed again and beamed happily as Agitha nodded and raced on.

When Agitha arrived, she noted that several more buildings had been erected in the short time she had been away. The sounds of a smith diligently hammering away rang out at even intervals and there was the same sense of enthusiastic buzz that Agitha had come to expect of her pupil’s many followers.

She spotted one of the ebon dwarves standing over a wooden table discussing something with a few nearby kobolds. She approached quickly and hailed the stocky black skinned being.

“Hey, Brecker was it?” Agitha struggled to recall the name of this particular dwarf.”

“Aye lady Agitha.” Brecker replied turning from the building plans on the table to give the revered woman his full attention.

“I need to find Coralia and the knights. Do you know where they might be?” She asked, too distressed to remind the dwarf that she didn’t like the ‘lady’ title.

“I can’t say for certain but they’re supposedly training advanced tactics today. It’s either the northwest pits if it’s practical training or the main hall if it’s classroom training.”

Agitha thanked the dwarf and hurried first to the main hall and found it empty. She gently laid Cora on the floor on one of the fur rugs that had been laid out in place of chairs. She left her there and made her way northwest to where the training grounds had been set up.

She arrived to find Mathael and Coralia standing in the center of a large circle of kobolds who were all paying close attention. Next to them was a large humanoid shaped wood carving that had the rough dimensions of a Maiphonian Orc which meant it was just over seven feet tall. Mathael was giving a lecture on their anatomy and weak points.

“It’s very unlikely that you’ll be able to strike at the head or even the torso’s vital points, however there is a solution at your level.” He paused and pointed with the blade of his fine greatsword at a place on the effigy’s inner thigh. “There is an artery here that will bleed out nearly as fast as the one found in the neck. We will be focusing on advanced movements that will allow you to avoid the predictable strikes and afford opportunities to strike this point at the same time.” Mathael noticed Agitha’s approach and paused his lecture.

Coralia had sensed her approach and was already waiting patiently for whatever the news might be. The look on her master’s face immediately made her heart sink.

“What is it?” She asked before Agitha could speak.

“I’ll show you and explain when we get there. We’ll need your knights as well.” Agitha said, trying not to cause Coralia to panic.

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Coralia turned to the assembled kobolds and spoke loudly, addressing a confident looking kobold female wearing the signature dark leather of the elite guerrilla force. “Change of plans. Laz, take over and run conditioning exercises for the rest of the afternoon please.”

“With pleasure lady Coralia.” The kobold replied. It was clear from the crestfallen look on the other kobolds’ faces that Laz’s training was a brutal thing to endure.

“Mathael, please bring Elisif to the main hall as quickly as you can.” Coralia ordered the red skinned demon respectfully.

Minutes later Agitha, Coralia, Elisif, and Mathael were gathered around Cora’s sleeping form. Elisif held Belithel on her hip, who was also studying the unconscious girl with bright golden eyes.

“The demilich I defeated last winter has somehow possessed her. She must have used one of the items I sold Karakis as a phylactery and then invaded her when Cora was working in his shop. I was foolish to not imagine she could use a phylactery, that’s elementary lich hunting.” Agitha bowed her head as she relayed the information.

“If she has already managed to perform a full possession as you described, then this is a very advanced state.” Elisif said. As a high ranking demon she was well versed in the process of possession. “There are many steps that every entity must follow, including liches. It is very extraordinary that Miss Cora has remained in control for as long as she has. The invading lich was powerful enough to use both the spatial magic required to pull so many to a pocket dimension and create a skeletal dragon. That alone places it in a legendary class along with the Original Three.”

“Aghma, Dargan, and the Matriarch?” Coralia was immediately flustered. “That can’t be possible.” Her shock was complete. The Original Three were legends among legends. Many of her own most powerful spells were named after them for gods’ sake. Now her poor daughter was struggling against something like that?

“I guess now that you mention it, I probably would have been in real trouble if not for the Eudaemon and Onigoro, and Merc for that matter.” Agitha said, recalling the desperate battle where Merissa Redwave had transformed into a mythical celestial entity and obliterated Vira’s undead army before casting a ridiculously strong holy enchantment on both Merc and her sword which had inadvertently awoken the slothful Onigoro.

At that moment, the door to the hall opened and Arlim, Zell, and Merc entered. Arlim and Merc were slightly winded from the full speed sprint from the city but Zell only showed concern.

“Is she...?” Zell began.

“She’s still asleep.” Agitha answered before he could finish.

“Can you help her?” Arlim spoke up after catching his breath, looking with pleading eyes at Elisif and Mathael.

“We are knowledgeable about her condition but we’re not exorcists.” Mathael answered apologetically. “It requires divine intervention along with an incredible force of will from the victim to remove possession.” He added.

“Then what about-?” Coralia began, looking at Belithel.

“She has yet to regain her power. The attempt alone might kill both of them.” Elisif interrupted Coralia’s hopeful suggestion before she could finish it. Coralia’s face clouded over and tears welled in her eyes. “But there is some hope.” Elisif added quickly, unable to bear the pain on her leader’s normally smiling face. “If Cora is able to deny the lich’s attempts to drive her out of her body for long enough then the lich will simply integrate into her spirit much like the Divided Devil Oribis and Astarot. It will be a new facet to her personality but she will live on.”

“I’ve heard those names.” Zell suddenly said. “The dragon kid, Misazel called his gauntlets that and they can steal spells and break stuff.”

Mathael and Elisif’s eyes both widened at that casual statement.

“Oh yeah, guess it’s been a weird day all around.” Arlim mused, scratching his chin.

“I can’t accept that damned wicked monster taking any part of Cora for herself.” Agitha growled. “I’ll find a way if I have to drag a god down here by his shitty holy ear!”

“I actually believe you would.” A sleepy voice from the floor drew everyone’s attention to Cora who had finally opened her eyes. Her expression was more serene and well rested than anyone had seen in many days. Her mana was drained and she was feeling the effects of that but she hadn’t been so relieved in a very long time. “I finally remembered.” She said as much to herself as anyone else. She looked around at her worried family with a new sense of gratitude after hearing Vira’s tragic tale. “I know how crazy this sounds, but I’m going to help her and I need you all to trust me.”

“Help her? The lich?” Agitha sputtered. “She was experimenting on kids when I found her!”

“I know. I saw. She also has the potential to save many thousands of lives with her knowledge and skills. At her core she is just a very hurt child herself. I’m not asking for your agreement, only your trust. Vira and I can be more together than we ever could be on our own.” Cora leveled her eyes with Agitha, and saw the pain and frustration in those purple eyes. “You can save me by believing in me.”

“If she goes out of control again...” Agitha began.

“Then we’ll go drag a god down by his shitty holy ear.” Cora finished for her with a sincere and disarming smile, a smile that was much like her mother’s but so uniquely Cora’s. Agitha couldn’t hold onto her anger in the face of it and took three steps to crush her in a hug.

Coralia was unsure of how to react. Cora had always been kind hearted and sensitive, but trying to turn a lich good? It sounded like a euphemism for describing something absurd. She couldn’t ignore the determination and confidence though, so she decided to wait and see for now. Just as she was about to take her turn hugging Cora, her mana sense picked up a power nearly as dense as Dalazog approaching from the sky to the south.

“We have company.” She announced, drawing her primordial enchanted bastard sword Kitten Kisses from her back.

They all turned to the door and three light knocks preceded it opening slowly.

“Whoa what a party!” It was Misazel, smiling widely. “Sikuna said to come spy on you guys so I flew right over.”

“Isn’t part of spying on someone to avoid being seen?” Zell asked incredulously.

“Oh dang! Haha yeah I guess that’s like the only part of spying huh? Good call. Guess that’s why you’re the boss. Oh well my bad.” Misazel laughed it off and continued on. “Hey you’re back to normal! That was some pretty wild magic back there.” He said pointing at Cora. “Not even Oribis could copy it and he HATES that!”

“Why are you really here?” Arlim asked evenly, too mentally worn out for games.

“I mean I already said it. To spy. I said I’d do it but I never said I would do a good job or anything.” Misazel shrugged. “By the way Director Chick, the old guy from the stage the other day was looking for you at the arena. He seemed even more sweaty than usual too...” Misazel trailed off when he noticed Belithel who was staring intently at him. “What’s with that kid? She makes me nervous, and kinda sick feeling.”

“She is my child, Mr. Spy.” Elisif said coldly. “Nothing more or less than that.”

“Well, whatever. I spied and didn’t find anything. Too bad for the bratty princess.” Misazel turned to leave and spoke over his shoulder. “I’m takin’ off unless anyone wants to fight about it! See you at school Boss and Runt!”

“It’s Cora.” She corrected with a slight flush.

“Yeah that.” Misazel chuckled and then was gone.