So with the tower taken care of, we took our leave. It was unusually dark when we got out, but did not venture to figure out this oddity just yet. I showed proof to the guild that the tower had been reclaimed, and sent them back to start cleaning and rebuilding.
It was then that we were greeted by Berrel, who had exalted into a sidereal. He had grave news- Malfeas had invaded heaven, and many were slain, including Hani, which was why he was our new contact. Even worse, Luna was slain, helping to defend Lytek's machine. Lytek himself was also slain, but not before he sent out all the remaining essences out into the world. The machine itself was split between the forces of heaven and the yozi, and no one besides Lytek knows how it works. So neither side is implanting essences anytime soon, but the Yozi are in control of the part that the essences return to, so any slain exalts, their exalted essences will come into possession of the yozi.
But the forces of heaven were dealing with this issue, our lot was to get stuff down in creation. This latest incursion at least got everyone off their asses, and the Elemental Dragons promised help, that we would know when to call them.
After Berrel took his leave, we spoke with Moon's First Shadow, who seemed to indicate he didn't feel any different with Luna dead, just a little foggy, and the lunar deliberative is still going on as planned. We headed back to the flying citadel, where I learned Belladonna had exalted into a lunar.
We spent the next few days consolidating forces and seeking allies, from Lookshy to Piercing Voice of Winters. We made no headway with the latter, so the abyssals are still a wild card in all this. We met with a representative of Lookshy in Nexus. They didn't exactly trust us, so we showed the representative the citadel in the hopes that that would be big enough to get us a meeting with the governing forces of Lookshy.
With that business done, we decided to go after Rath's floating library, above the Imperial Island. Obviously, since it was in the middle of the Imperial Island, we were wary of the excursion. We met with Alabaster Twilight, to see if he could guide us through the underworld so we could enter from there, but that was more trouble than it was worth. Particularly since he could only tell us where to go, he was unwilling to guide us himself since his presence in the Underworld would be immediately noticed by the Neverborn and Deathlords.
So, we decided to just go by tornado, as usual, taking the long way around. We made it to the library without incident. There were some air dragons flying about, but they paid us no mind. Upon entering the place, we were greeted by some sort of metallic mech. I quickly drew my bow and notching some armor piercing arrows, felled it. It seemed like the defenses of this place were on auto, and needed to be turned off.
So we fought our way through, quickly making a beeline for the control room. We punched a hole through the defending forces, and Rath and I rushed through, Isha watching our backs as we switched off the defenses. So, with it in our control, we made our way back to the citadel. Besides the many magics and inventions, Rath found a powerful spell, one that would enchant a hearthstone such that it would allow one to cast spells at one level higher than they normally could. That could be quite useful in the coming battles.