Dragons and Phoenixes had to conjure the surrounding world energy and add their life force to it to produce Origin Flames. Griffons, instead, would absorb the world energy over time and store it inside their bodies to generate silver bolts of lightning called Life Maelstrom.
Both processes didn’t involve mana, only life force and world energy, but the principle behind them was different. Life Maelstrom could use the stored power to temporarily boost their magical prowess or unleash it against their enemies to destroy them.
The silver lightning was made of pure energy that could be used to supercharge both organic and inorganic matter since everything on Mogar had mana. A small amount could enhance a living being’s spells or hasten the growth of mana crystals.
A huge amount, instead, would short circuit the mana flow of anything injected with Life Maelstrom, causing them to self-harm due to their energy going haywire. On the one hand, it had no purifying effect, but on the other hand, Life Maelstrom could be used to either recharge or destroy artifacts and golems alike.
Jorl consumed part of the Life Maelstrom stored inside his body to unleash a storm of silver lightning bolts, each one of them could flatten a mountain. Sylpha had recognized the familiar sparks and moved to the safest place of the battlefield: under her opponent.
She jumped upwards, striking at the Griffon’s ribcage with the strength of a missile and cracking it in several places. The lack of air dispelled the storm and made Jorl spat out blood.
‘Dammit, all those columns make it hard for me to move whereas that flea can move nimbly. I need but one spell or hit to put her down.’ Jorl was right, but Sylpha knew her own limits as well.
Letting an Awakened breathe was a rookie mistake that she carefully avoided. Sylpha used a flight spell to move faster than a bullet, hitting the joints of the Griffon’s four legs.
Jorl couldn’t feel pain due to darkness fusion, but each strike was strong enough to both damage his bones and force the limbs to bend, throwing the Griffon off balance. Sylpha bounced randomly from one leg to another like a pinball, driving Jorl mad with fury.
A single roar of a Griffon infused with Life Maelstrom could raze the top of a mountain or dry up a lake. The shockwave spread from their bodies and moved in every direction, making it impossible to avoid.
The roar wasn’t even a spell, so it didn’t require any cast time. The impossible attack caught Sylpha by surprise and sent her slamming against a wall with such strength that, in any other place but a Guardian’s home, it would have created a crater.
Jorl took a deep breath, using it to heal himself with Invigoration, and spent another chunk of Life Maelstrom to conjured more silver lightning bolts.
The thunderstorm hit Sylpha while she was still casting her spell, leaving her unscathed. Green energy set her eyes ablaze and revealed the emerald streak among her hair that the Queen always kept hidden.
She replaced the spark of Jorl’s life force with her own and the circular motion of her arms trapped every single bolt inside her body. She used part of Life Maelstrom to boost herself, sending the rest back at the Griffon.
“A human using Domination?” Jorl’s shock intensified when Sylpha showered him with silver bolts that ravaged his body.
Yet only when the Queen completed her gravity field did the shock turn into terror. The single breath of Invigoration had allowed Jorl only to mend some of his injuries. His cracked joints couldn’t bear his weight now that Sylpha had increased it by a hundred folds.
The Griffon’s four legs broke, his bones turned into spears that pierced the flesh and sprayed blood everywhere, turning the colossal beast into a slithering worm.
“The only reason you’re still alive is that Lady Tyris ordered so, cat boy.” The sword of Saefel pointed at Jorl’s helpless throat made any nasty retort he could think of die in his throat. “Begone!”
Sylpha opened a Gate so big that the Griffon’s massive body had no trouble going through it after gravity magic made him weightless and the Queen punched him on the beak, shattering it.
Jorl had become a living missile that crash-landed in a deserted plain several hundreds of kilometers from the castle. He was about to faint due to blood loss when Tyris appeared beside his broken body, using her breathing technique, Mother Earth, to mend his wounds.
“Thanks, Mother. I’m sorry to have angered you…”
“I’m not angry, I’m just disappointed.” Tyris cut him short while forcing him to shapeshift into human form against his will. “I’m fed up with your tantrums. If power is the only thing you respect, in spite even of my feeling, we’ll do this your way.”
Jorl started to panic. Tyris held him by the neck with one hand and no matter how much he tried, no magic nor ability seemed to work.
“I hereby exile you from my home. The entirety of the Griffon Kingdom is forbidden ground to you. Come back, and I’ll treat you as an enemy. Sylpha is just a human that I trained for measly thirty years, whereas I have millennia of war and training against fellow Guardians.” Her voice was stone cold, with no trace of her usual warmth.
“I healed you solely because I wanted to make sure you got the message. Now clench your teeth and trouble your mother no more.” Unlike Sylpha’s, Tyris’s fist reverberated throughout Jorl’s body, breaking all of his bones before he could break the speed of sound.
When he landed in the Blood Desert, the impact turned the sand into glass, leaving Jorl but one breath before death claimed him.
***
Village of Lutia, Trawn woods, Lith’s tower.
After Faluel’s lesson ended, Lith’s group had barely the strength to take a quick shower and grab a bite before they lost consciousness. They didn’t want to spend the night in the tower again, especially Phloria, they simply had no choice.
“Gods, two full days away from home. Selia will kill me.” Nalrond fell asleep the second after remembering that he could’ve asked to be Invigorated again.
The Rezar appreciated Faluel’s teachings, yet he missed the Protector’s children dearly. In a foreign country where he was the only one of his kind, they managed to make him feel at home.
“No Kamila tonight?” Solus asked while looking at the stars together with Lith.
“Big case. Again. After the events in Feymar’s mines, Jirni is on the prowl. Even more than usual, I mean. She had no time to come back even for dinner and as her assistant, Kamila can’t leave either.” Lith said.
“I’m a bit sad, but at the same time, I’m happy we got to spend some time alone. Well, almost alone.” The sound of snoring coming from the open windows broke the feeling of intimacy reminding them of the presence of their guests.
A wave of Solus’s hand closed the windows and made them soundproof, making it impossible to overhear them.
“Phloria is still angry with you about me, you know?” Solus said.
“I knew all along it would happen. Why do you think it took me so long to introduce the two of you?” Lith thought about how Kamila would react in Phloria’s shoes and sighed.
