Three leviathans—all larger than Farron but one that was significantly taller than the rest—came from the sky above, all underlit by the blaze surrounding the clearing. Each one took a different form, but they all exhibited some form of reptilian influence. Whether their scales were more pronounced or skin-like varied, and the kind and orientation of their horns were each unique. Some scales were orange, some pale blue, some nearly white, and some a blood red.
Farron, now in black robes from Rolan's pack, observed them all silently. The tallest, presumably the prince, walked with an imposing air of strength as his white-gray clawed feet left deep impressions in the ground.
Horns curled around the side of his head above thick scales. He wore incredible, almost artistically carved glossy armor that resembled obsidian. It was so black that almost none of the carvings were visible to Farron. He could only see it when the fire outlined a few of the carvings' points from the side.
"I assume that this is the information source? I thought you already had the information yourself."
"This is it. I couldn't tell you that it was in the form of a guide because these devices are so limited, but it's mostly as I said."
Another leviathan, this one with pale blue scales, offered his services. "Why don't I get it out of him?"
Rolan, trying to protect his own contribution, intercepted him. "Don't touch him. He doesn't have many weaknesses, and we need his cooperation. Besides, he could become a valuable asset later. He is immortal. We can use him."
With this revelation, the new arrivals, with the exception of Lao, the Princeps Dominorum, showed surprised expressions. The one with blood red scales snorted, "Well, we found out why the contest's difficulty is so high. His gift probably single-handedly brought up this whole competition's grade by several levels." He was exaggerating, but the bitterness was still present.
Malik, the one with pale blue scales, countered, "If he's immortal, then that makes me even more effective, not less. I need to get the information from him so we can trust it."
Lao snapped, "Shut up! Just stop talking. Malik, we're keeping him. We have the same motivations. There's no reason for us to get rid of him because he wants to find the core as much as us, got it?"
Reigning in his silent dissent, Malik acquiesced and turned away. Lao, having dealt with the issue, turned to Farron and asked, "What's your name?"
"Farron."
"Very good. We'll be working together from now on. Rolan will carry you, and we'll search from above. Can you recognize the land from that high in the dark? Rolan's fire will alleviate the issue somewhat, but it will still look different."
"I'm sure. We just need to work as fast as possible. There are many places it could be, and we only have twelve hours to find it."
Lao, trying to appear reasonable to a potentially strong ally, concurred, "I agree. We need to move quickly. Just make sure you do your job well, and we'll get out of here lauded by Life itself."
Within fifteen minutes, Rolan was holding Farron by his chest and flying at incredible speed. Farron's robe whipped him as he pretended to survey the ground, holding his hand above his eyes to shield it from the wind.
After over half an hour of flying, Rolan yelled above the howling wind, "The nearest burrow can't be this far! Where is it!?"
"Well, the one I know of is this far! It shouldn't be much further! If I can recognize it, I'll tell you!"
In reality, this was the furthest one he knew of in the opposite direction of Elise. He planned to lead them around on goose chases to run out the time. Their speed was surprising and confounded a part of his plan, but there was another part of it.
Although Life referred to the core in the singular, it had withheld information before. It was only a slim chance, but perhaps there was another core. He wouldn't just waste time. There was a purpose to it.
But when they arrived at a shallow cave that was supposed to be a nest of foxes, all they found was shadows, blood, viscera, and orange fur. The shadows targeted more than the lords in their slaughter.
Later, after several more stops and more than eight hours of fruitless searching and constant flying, all but the prince began to grow agitated. The prince was anxious but physically comfortable. After finding little more than the fat remains of an enormous bear in their most recent stop, Malik accosted Farron, "Do you really know where you're going? We've been constantly flying for hours, and we have yet to find even a hint of the core. Do you know how fast we've been flying?!"
Lao reprimanded him, "It's better than nothing. At least he's been actually leading us places. If we were on our own, who knows if we could even find one or two of these nests?"
Malik stepped closer to intimidate Farron, but he stood his ground. Rolan would have normally stepped between them and intervened, but he remained where he was, internally wanting to see his frustration relieved.
Seeing Farron's lack of a reaction, Malik came even closer. When he still failed to evoke a reaction, his temper exploded, and he punched him with a scaled fist and dense knuckles, nearly breaking through his cheek.
The others stood back, slightly curious as to how Farron would react and what the result of the exchange would be.
At the moment they made contact, Malik received a vision, courtesy of his gift. After analyzing the information in the vision, which gave Farron the time to recover, a deep scowl remained on Malik's toothed maw for several seconds, though it only precipitated a thunderous cackle and a nearly joyous smile. Farron, not knowing the reason for his reaction, only sat behind him, wary and prepared.
As his laughter died down, Malik shouted, "Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! Oh! The irony! The drama! Ha, ha, ha!" Shocking Farron, Malik's finger rose to point in a direction, the direction of his paradise, their home, and Elise's general direction. "I found the core! It's his lov— Hrgh!"
Malik's gift showed him whatever information he needed to inflict the most pain on his target, whether the pain be physical, emotional, or otherwise, and when he touched Farron, it showed him Elise.
As Malik was revealing the truth, a series of glowing threads that resembled lines flew from Farron's body to Malik's and formed a garotte that severed his head and began to fly to Rolan's.
But, before it could find its second mark, a similarly glowing bullet from Lao crushed the bridge of Farron's nose before destroying his brain, the remains of which quickly turned to ash.
Lao, infuriated by the loss of a lord and the ensuing blame headed his way, shouted, "Fuck! I'm killing that her, and I'm making the wretch watch!"
Rolan reminded, "We can't take him with us! He'll just kill himself and turn to ash!"
Lao yelled, "Agh! Fine! Rolan, you stay here and keep him dead! And make sure it hurts! We'll find that core and make him watch then!" The leviathan with blood red scales and Lao took off in the direction Malik pointed out, traveling as fast as their incredible bloodlines would allow them to.
Rolan snorted but obeyed and lifted his hand. They were already surrounded by a ring of fire, but a new blaze started around Farron's still forming body. New muscle wilted and burned as the partially developed skin peeled back.
Though he could not scream yet, Farron could feel his body being incinerated. It was not his first time being burned alive, but this time, he could see his fingers turning to ash. Most people are only formed from ash and then become the same ash.
But Farron was born from ash and became a new ash, and another new ash, and another new ash. Constant death and rebirth was his lot. But with rebirth comes reformation. The muscle, nerves, and viscera were all destroyed, and as Rolan increased the temperature, even the bones were incinerated.
But Life continued to try to recreate him. Farron could not live if he could not exist, and that would betray his gift and make him something besides immortal. So, the small points of bone that Life began to recreate gradually became tougher and tougher so as to resist the fire.
Rolan increased the temperature to get rid of anything he saw forming, but it eventually became too much for even him to control safely, and he was forced to allow it to exist. The soft tissue gradually became increasingly fire retardant as well, but the gradual toughening only resulted in Farron's pain.
When he could, he tried to scream, but he was oftentimes simply able to experience pain alone and possessed little, if any, motor control. After two hours of burning, Farron was able to retain consciousness, even in an inferno of over 7000 F (3871 C), and after Rolan nearly died a second time to Farron's magic, he sprinted to him and swiftly beheaded him.
Although the tissue was noticeably tougher, it was not so much so that his guandao could not kill him. This bought Rolan several seconds of respite but made him realize that this was a serious opponent, not something that could be approached lightly like he had been doing before.