“It’s only when they give up on themselves completely and let the hunger consume them that they turn into Eldritchs. Only then do I turn my back on them forever. My adoptive children like you, instead, had no choice.
“The beast life force is my first and only gift to those like you. I give you all a chance, yet everyone just throws it away.” Mogar showed Lith the images of his fight with the Abomination that had taken over the body of the Dryad back at the academy.
“That thing was like me?” Lith asked.
“No, it was nothing like you. He came from another place as well but after destroying his first body, he found himself a more powerful husk. You wielded your powers like a shield rather than a sword and created life instead of taking it.”
Mogar showed Lith images of how his household and village had thrived with the passing of the years since his arrival.
“I’m no hero. Everything I did, I did it for myself.” Lith said.
“Just like every one of my children. There are no heroes nor villains in real life. Everyone only cares about survival, remember? Your words, not mine.” Mogar-Elina said.
Lith pondered the revelation until a question came to his mind.
“Is this the reason why during breakthroughs and tribulations I emit two pillars of light instead of one like Emperor Beasts?” He asked, receiving a nod in reply.
“Let me guess, the black light is due to my Abomination side trying to turn me into an Eldritch while the silver it’s you trying to pull me in the path you have chosen for me, correct?”
“Wrong. I told you, there is no destiny, only possible choices.” Mogar said. “During all of your tribulations, I’m called as a witness, not to decide in your stead. Whether you’ll become just another Eldritch or something entirely new depends only on you.”
“Or you could just come with me.” Carl said. “This new life has given you much power, but it’s nothing compared to the suffering that it has inflicted upon you.”
He patted Lith’s shoulder, reverting him to his original form as Derek McCoy.
“Life on Earth was harsh, yet this is the pain that you experienced in over 26 years.”
Lith relived his first life in less than a second as the scars that his father, the years of bullying, and the relentless training had left on him resurfaced one after the other.
“I’ll skip the gunshot to the head because you did it to yourself.” Carl patted him on the shoulder again, turning Lith into his short-lived alien form. He experienced only the pangs of huger until a gaping wound opened on his chest.
“It was brutal, but at least it lasted less than 2 days. This is what Mogar did to you in barely 19 years.” Carl patted Lith for the last time, turning him into his current self.
Lith experienced the years of hunger, the beating from Orpal’s friends, and the fear of facing the beasts of the Trawn woods. When he reached the part where he had joined the academy, Lith was already covered in cuts, bruises, and wounds.
“Just because light magic makes the scars disappear, it doesn’t mean that they never happened.” Between the fight with the Talons, the plant Puppeteer, and Balkor’s Valor, Lith’s body turned into a bloody pulp.
“I’m tired to see you suffer.” Carl wept as the wounds from Gadorf the Wyvern and then from Nalear appeared as well. “Tired of seeing to see you go through such harm and so many sacrifices just because you are afraid of what will happen once you die again.
“I’m here to ask you to stop this pointless struggle. You’ve done enough.” After Lith’s years as Ranger passed, there wasn’t a single bone intact in his body. “Come with me now and you’ll be free.”
Carl couldn’t take it anymore and hugged Lith, stopping the process. Lith returned the embrace as all of his senses told him that the person in front of him was really his brother.
“What if I choose to stay?” The joy from the reunion didn’t make Lith forget what was at stake in the real world. The clash of metal and the death throes were a constant reminder that the Mindscape existed only inside his head.
“I’ll stay with you, like always. I’m your brother, after all. Yet when you die, we’ll both either be sent somewhere else or remain on Mogar if one of your crazy plans succeeds.” Carl said.
“We?” Lith asked, looking at the chain connecting them as if he saw it for the first time.
“Yes. I’m not giving up on you, just like you never gave up on me. Not even death can keep us apart. Whatever you choose, I’ll be right by your side.” Carl said.
The choice tore Lith apart. On the one hand, being reunited with his little brother was all he had prayed for since the day Carl had died, the reason why he had unwittingly started the journey that had led him to Mogar.
On the other hand, Lith could feel through the mind link Solus’s desperate fight and her worry about his condition. Being so close to Mogar, allowed him to hear the voice of Kamila, who had noticed his contact rune on her contact amulet fading away.
He could hear her begging him to fight.
“Whatever you decide, be quick. There’s a limit to how much I can accelerate your brain to alter your perception of time.” Mogar waved her hand, showing the battlefield to Lith.
Everything had happened in the split second when his eyes had blinked, yet they were starting to open up. Lith watched at the sea of enemies in front of him moving in slow motion, each with one or more wailing souls desperately clinging to their bodies.
Looking at himself from the outside with Death Vision, Lith saw for the first time the army of wandering spirits that followed him everywhere he went. He didn’t need to ask any questions to understand their purpose because now he knew the truth.
He was one of them, yet he had succeeded in having another shot at life.
The spirits clung to him because one way or another, Lith was their only hope to either return to life or at least get revenge. Just like it had happened against Night’s army or every time he conjured the Demons of the Darkness.
“You are right. Mogar is indeed a cruel place. If I were to stay here, there’s no telling how much pain and suffering I’m going to endure. On Earth, I was just a civilian like any other while here I’m an Archmage.
“Even if I leave the Griffon Kingdom, I would be forced to deal with problems like Thrud, the Master, and the Undead Courts.” Lith hugged his brother, weeping warm tears of joy.
“You have no idea how much it means to me to see you again. Knowing that you don’t hate me for what I did to that poor excuse of a father.”
“I could never hate you.” Carl returned the embrace and wept as well. “Everything you did, you did it for us. My whole life you have been my only family. You have been my father, my mother, and my irreplaceable brother.
