Destroying Kolga would lead to a war that would tear apart the two continents, then the races of the winning Council, and lastly the members of the faction that came on top of the competition.
At that point, the other factions of the Council would attack their weakened enemy and start the fight anew. A single artifact would trigger an endless war.
‘Good gods, how could Menadion be so stupid as to not put some kind of restriction on it? On top of that, Lith is right as well. So far, Solus lived on the crumbs of his free time. This place would be a start for her. Horrible, but a start nonetheless.’
Phloria instead, was old and mature enough to be unfazed by Kolga’s dark side and immediately agreed with Lith.
‘These kinds of things happen every day. Kolga is but a drop in the ocean of what people do to each other since the dawn of time. The Odi did much worse for much longer. The Gorgon Empire enslaved its own people.
‘Arthan sacrificed countless lives in the name of his research. Even Balkor and Nalear are just symptoms of the horrors that still happen to this day in the Kingdom. Compared to what would happen if Menadion’s legacy fell into the wrong hands, Kolga is the lesser evil.’ She thought.
Thanks to the combined effect of the mana geyser and of the three streams of energy that she received from the Forbidden Sun through her companions, Solus woke up before the sun set on the Jiera continent.
She felt perfectly rested in the mind and body as if the events that had shocked her had taken place weeks rather than a few hours back.
‘I know that I’ve seen a lot of bad stuff while traveling with Lith, but I feel way too good. Am I going crazy or what?’ She thought while stretching her limbs and experiencing for the first time the pleasant sensation of wiggling her toes.
‘Or what. What you have seen in there didn’t shock me in the least so now that we’re close, I’m your psychic fortress. Also punching me in the face it’s not a nice way to say good evening.’ Lith replied.
Only then did Solus realize that the uncomfortable bed that had given her back pain was Lith’s arms. He had lulled her the whole time like a child after making her sit on his lap.
“Not only do you snore, but you also almost kicked me in the groin.” Tista had barely dodged the surprise attack.
To avoid getting poisoned again and to get back to their peak condition without Invigoration, no one had left Solus’s side. To make matters worse, they looked at her with that odd mix of worry and affection that parents show while looking at a newborn.
“You’re going to have a problem with Kamila. Even if Solus died at twenty-eight, she barely looks twenty. Not to mention all her pretty streaks. I thought you had just silver and orange.” Phloria referred to the combination of elements that was commonly known as the blessing of the light.
“It might be due to my tower having all kinds of elemental affinity or because of Lith. He has no streaks but he got seven eyes nonetheless. Maybe he passed them onto me thanks to our bond.”
Solus tried to get up in a hurry to avoid further embarrassment, only to fall face-first on the floor.
“Aww, she’s so cute! She reminds me of Aran when he tried to stand up for the first time.” Tista said.
Instead of crying like a baby, however, Solus cursed like a sailor.
“Take it easy. One step at a time.” Lith helped her to stand up, holding Solus by the hips until she gained a stable footing.
“You really look like a doll. You are really short and your hair almost touches the ground.” Phloria moved behind Solus and fixed her hair in a tress with Spirit Magic to keep her from tripping on them.
“I’m not short, you beanpoles! I’m taller than Jirni.” Solus inwardly thanked Phloria for not making her pigtails.
Between the height gap and the need for help to even stand, she already felt like a child among adults. After a few attempts, she managed to stand up on her own and then quickly learned how to walk.
Solus had moved Lith’s body in the past, she just needed a peaceful environment to put her experience to use. On top of that, the more her body stabilized, the easier it became to trigger her dormant muscle memory.
Lith let the girls take care of her so that later they wouldn’t suffer much from the Forbidden Sun.
“Girls, Solus and I need to talk about our next move. Some things require a bit of privacy.” He said.
Solus had no idea what he was talking about and seeing the others leave without a word only made her feel more confused.
Lith knew there was no easy way to tell her what he had to so instead of using words, he fused their minds for the second time in just a few hours.
‘How can you even think of abandoning me here?’ She said in outrage via their mind link.
‘I’m not abandoning anyone. I’m just offering you a choice.’ Lith replied.
‘Are you doing this for me or just to get me out of your hair? It would make things much easier for you with both Kamila and the Madness.’ Her thoughts were devoid of malice, expressing solely how betrayed she felt.
‘That’s why I fused our mind instead of talking. Thoughts cannot lie. I don’t deny that after looking at your memories, I copied the schematics of Kolga’s arrays. What she has done with just a mana geyser is outstanding.
‘Her workings are the missing link I needed to rid the Odi’s body swapping machine from most of that outdated technology and to mix what I know of the Madness with it.
‘If I succeed, when I swap bodies, I’ll have double the lifespan of a regular Awakened and regenerative abilities similar to what Silverwing demonstrated.’ He said.
‘After everything you’ve seen here, after witnessing what they did to Khalia, are you still willing to use Forbidden Magic?’ His lack of empathy flabbergasted Solus.
‘Solus, this isn’t a bard’s tale. There are no heroes nor villains in real life. Everyone only cares about survival, me included. Does it make any difference if I kill someone who attempted on my life with War or with the ritual?
‘Do you really think that I would go easy on anyone who dares mess with my family? Look into my memories. What I did to Count Lark’s brother-in-law, what I did to those knights who tried to stop me from getting my apprenticeship with Nana was much worse.
‘If Deirus even tries to get close to Lutia, I’d make sure that once I’m done with him, hell would look like heaven to him. He would still die a horrible death, the ritual only makes it less of a waste.
‘If that happened, would you try and stop me just because of what you’ve seen today?’ Lith asked.
Solus didn’t reply for a few seconds. Not even back when she had just regained her consciousness, had she been so naïve that she would consider all lives sacred, even those of their enemies.
