BAM! Lilia opened the mansion door and walked out with a smile. "That was refreshing. I haven't relaxed like that in a while." Stretching her arms, she looked back at Cain and the girls behind her.
"You got the divine energy you wanted. Can you get to the Tarrasque now?" Cain asked, staring at her.
"Of course, I can. I might cause a disaster or two, but nothing I can't fix." She smiled, making a turn toward Cain. Thud! Thud! She rushed back at him, "I enjoyed our short time together. I will come for more personal time later."
Cain looked at the girls. The first one to speak was Lola. "She is the laughing tornado. I can't imagine what people will do to make her acknowledge their exitance. Having her like that isn't something you should miss."
The girls nodded. They all understood Lilia's power and were ready to accept just for that.
Cain looked at Lilia, "But you know the rules."
"First come, first served. I won't claim to stand higher than any of your wives unless you take me for one." She approached Sofia, "You're the one leading the girls. What do you think of me?"
"That's a difficult question to answer," Sofia smiled.
Selena approached them, "I always prefer a larger pride, but you seem different-nya," Selena glared down at Lilia, "You're a bit troublesome-nya," a golden eldritch flare ignited in Selena's eyes, "I don't like it when you're stronger than Cain-gaw,"
Selena's claws extended as if she was about to start a fight, "All of us here are incapable of Harming Cain individually-gaw, but you can-gaw. Should I worry about having to bite your head one day?" In the last sentence, Selena stopped growling. Her voice was calm.
Lilia smiled, "The rakshasa's instincts? In pride, the strongest one is usually the leading male or female. When it's not the case, the pride usually crumbles quickly." Lilia patted Selena's shoulder, "That's why I'm not asking to join you officially. Just see me as a side story."
"That's not enough. You're still far too dangerous-gaw."
"Then make Cain stronger, take him to all Lolth churches and convert them. They will happily accept upon seeing the real deal with you."
Selena smiled, "Thank you-nya,"
Cain giggled at how easily Lilia played Selena. Cain had Lolth's churches on his list for a while now.
"I hope you didn't kill all the priestesses," Cain said with a smile, and Alice stared at him with a funny smile.
Lolth approached him, "The majority are dead. You could say my entire religion is on the brink of collapsing now." She sighed, "There was no way to weaken me besides that."
Cain scratched his head. Lolth power is his power now. He would like it if she regained her strength.
"Don't worry, Lolth's influence won't crumble this easily. Just go into her domain and bring them back." Lilia said as if it was easy.
"You know they are dead, right?"
"I know how to make a temporary body, a semi-alive construct that blurs the line between life and lichdom." Lilia said with a grin, "I can teach you that for a price."
Magic that she didn't teach him before. If such a thing existed, it could even help Amaya, Bela, and every undead they meet.
Cain stared at her, "What's your price?"
"I don't know. what are you willing to pay?" Lilia smiled, "I'm sure you have a lot of interesting things to offer me." She then looked at the girls, "What do you think the price of such magic is? The power to somewhat bring the dead back."
Cain wracked his brain but found nothing that would interest her, the best thing he had was magic, and she surpassed him in every aspect of it.
Then Lolth approached her, "Well, I have something to pay you. It's my churches, after all."
"What would the spider queen herself offer me? Aren't you falling from grace?" Lilia smiled.
"I have hundreds of kingdom-sized empty cocoons. I can give you one to use as a lab. You're free to build or shape the inside however you like."
Lilia lifted her finger, about to say something but then stopped. She started thinking, "That's a good offer. I will take you for it."
Lilia accepted Lolth's offer and then proceeded to teach Cain her magic, "Can we use a private room? I don't want Mystra's eyes on us."
Cain and Lilia walked back into the mansion, followed by Lolth to learn the spell while the girls scattered to their day.
A spell that raises the dead sounded impressive. But to mages, it was easy to guess how hard its to learn. And they were right.
It was fun for Lolth in the first hour when Lilia only explained the concept of the spell.
A living being is the combination of three things, A body, a soul, and a link that she calls the life chain. A creature dies when the life chain that connects the soul and the body break.
Undead are corpses that move through magic woven into their bodies like a nervous system. Liches are a bit more advance as they link their soul to a phylactery and then project that soul into their bodies.
Lilia's magic was designed to create a fake life chain with magic and use it to tie the soul directly to the body.
The process was complicated, and even Lolth gave up in the middle. Only Cain kept listening.
"First, we need two willing test subjects. What are the creatures who blur life and death?" Lilia stared at Cain.
"Vampires, they are neither dead nor alive." He replied, "Do you intend to use one as a mold for the fake chain?"
"Yes. The process is safe (most of the time), but it can cause the vampire to die or be cured from vampirism if failed." Lilia explained, and Cain stood up.
"You found a cure for vampirism?"
"That isn't our subject, but yes." Lilia replied, smiling, "Learning about that will cost more."
"Our second test subject must be an astral being, a ghost, or the like. Anything will do as long as we can try linking it to a corpse." Lilia created a projection of magic.
After hours of explaining how it works, Cain finally got a general grasp of what Lilia meant.
"This spell can only be cast as a ritual. I will need extensive preparation." Cain said with a serious face.
BANG! Lilia flew toward him and smacked his head with a magic stick. "There is it. You got it all wrong."
Cain looked at her, scratching his head.
"Where did I get it wrong?"
"What did I teach you?"
"A spell."
BANG! She hit him again, "Idiot, I taught you magic. Spells are locked magic that Mystra verified and heavily controlled by her. This magic is not."
Cain scratched his head. Her hits hurt really bad. "What's the functional difference between them?"
"It's all the difference, spells are limited, and magic isn't." She approached Cain and touched his hand.
"Cast a spell." She said.
Cain immediately conjured a spell in his palm, a massive fireball.
"Now, use your enchanting to change its size and power." She said, and Cain did it.
"You created your enchanting based on how you learned magic from me. Instinctively, you created a weaker, second-rate version of my magic as your own power." Lilia said with a smile, "[Enchanting] you asking Mystra if it's possible to change the spell."
Lilia opened her palm, "Mystra automatically accepts your request if it's within the boundary she set long ago. But I don't need her acceptance."
Cain started slowly understanding what she meant, "Look."
Lilia flicked her finger, and Sofia appeared out of nowhere. "Cain? What? I was on deck just a moment ago." She looked around, confused.
"I pulled you here, don't worry." Lilia patted her head, "I would worry!" Sofia gasped.
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