When Elio emerged from the challenge, his corruption level ready to advance to 21, he had questions prepared for Dionz about his new combination. But all thoughts fled his mind at the sight that greeted him.
There, floating in the confined space, was an impossible visitor, Gorgita, Lila's salamander ajolote familiar.
"Elio!" Lila's voice, clear and unmistakable, rang out through Gorgita's form as she launched herself at him. The impact was strange - like embracing pure energy given barely-there physical form. The invocation was nearly weightless but undeniably present as it pressed against him.
"Lila? How..." Elio's arms wrapped around Gorgita's form instinctively, even as his mind struggled to process what he was seeing.
"We found a way," Lila's voice trembled with emotion. "Those mana increases you kept sending... they helped us prepare, get stronger. We knew you had to be alive, had to be fighting somewhere."