The word “Gifts” coming out of Salaark’s mouth snapped Lith out of his stupor and knocked his greed to the sixth gear.
“I did mention you a lot, Grandma. I just never showed them your hologram because I never had a reason to. I planned to do it before visiting you in the Desert.”
Elina finally managed to piece everything together, figuring out the identity of the annoying transgressor.
‘Thank the gods I didn’t try to kick her ass, otherwise things might have gotten ugly for me.’ She inwardly sighed in relief.
“What about Grampa? Don’t tell me that you included him in the family picture.” Salaark’s eyes were reduced to two fiery slits of white mana.
“Who?” Raaz asked in confusion.
“Then everything is forgiven.” Salaark said with a warm smile of triumph.
“There’s no need to be jealous, Elina.” Salaark said, taking her hands into her own. “At least of me. I was only congratulating the man who carries my blood for giving me such a wonderful grandchild.”
“Wait.” Elina was so shocked that her fear faded away, making her forget everything about honorifics and etiquette. She now treated the Desert’s Overlord with the same familiarity she had with Selia.
“Are you telling me that he’s the Phoenix and I’m the Dragon?”
“Well, of course. Just look at our baby.” A snap of Salaark’s fingers forced Lith to shapeshift into his Tiamat form. “Everyone knows that boys always resemble the mother. Otherwise he would have many more feathers.”
While everyone was still shocked out of their skull, Salaark moved around the house as if she had lived there all of her life, greeting people in a way that made them feel as if it was her party they were attending.
The Overlord used her breathing technique, Mother Sun, on all the members of the Verhen family, sniffing them to understand who carried who’s bloodline more.
“Not to be rude, Grandma, but to what gifts were you referring earlier?” Lith said while offering her a cup of hot chocolate after she was done with the introductions.
“Always straight to the point, huh?” Salaark raised an eyebrow in annoyance at his greed.
It was a Dragon thing, hence she didn’t like it much.
“I brought you three gifts. The first is peace. You have my word that for today and the next few days, nothing bad will happen. I’ve sent my agents to protect all of those who have received a Balkor card.
“If the culprit planned to ruin your birthday, they’d better think twice about it.” Salaark had a cruel smile that reminded everyone of Lith’s, making them wonder if it was really all Mogar’s doing of if the two were actually distant relatives.
“The second gift is companionship. Of course I don’t mean just mine, but also that of those you love and of those you should love.”Â
At the same time, several Phoenixes in human form walked through the door, bringing food and drinks for everyone.
Meanwhile, on the outside, Captain Locrias had just had two brushes with death. Seeing the Monarch of the Blood Desert waltz inside the Verhen household had made him choke on the birthday chocolate and biscuits that Elina had offered to his team.
After that, witnessing a flock of legendary birds appear from the shadows around the farm and then shapeshift into human form before walking inside had given him a stroke.
“No need for reinforcements. Overlord Salaark is there on an authorized diplomatic mission.” Sylpha lied through her teeth, wondering why Tyris had forbidden her from interfering with the attempt to cajole one of the most promising Archmages of the Kingdom.
The three units of the Queen’s corps that patrolled the house thanked the gods for their mercy. The sight of Salaark’s Court was enough to make their lives flash in front of their eyes.
They had as many chances of stopping them as they had of keeping the sun from rising again.
Meanwhile, Salaark placed her left thumb on the forehead of Solus’s stone doll, turning her into her humanoid energy body.
“By my Mom, how did you do that? Could you make me human again?” Solus asked while looking at her hands that now had nails and veins.
“Your form is currently limited by two things. Your damaged cores and the world energy. I can’t fix the former but I can provide you with plenty of the latter. As for your human form, I could, but only as long as I’m here.
“Believe me, you don’t want that trauma again.” Salaark caressed Solus’s head, making her feel like a small child.
‘Dammit, why is everyone so tall in here? Even now that I have my humanoid form, I still need to float to look people in the eyes without getting neck pain.’ She thought.
“Grandma, who are those people?” Lith asked, not liking the arrival of even more uninvited guests.
“The people you should love I just mentioned. Your brethren, silly.”
“Okay, but my house is too small. Maybe-”
“My third gift is a lesson of Creation Magic. Watch and learn.” Salaark’s words plunged the room into silence as everyone capable of casting magic stared at her as if they had found their soulmate.
She raised her hands in the air, making the dimensional blocking arrays become visible to the naked eye.
“While practicing magic, always remember that many things that people think as opposites are actually two sides of the same coin. The line between sealing and strengthening magic is paper-thin.” Salaark widened the arrays, creating enough space to insert several dimensional runes.
She did it nice and easy, without explaining anything but giving everyone the time to understand what she was doing and why. Just like the lessons Salaark gave Balkor, it was up to the student to become capable of Creation Magic.
When she was done, the living room had become four times longer and wider yet neither people nor furniture had been deformed by the dimensional stretch.
“Is this dimensional magic?” Friya asked as she was once more proud of her rare Dimensional Mage specialization.
“Indeed, child. I have affected solely this room and only for the duration of my stay. Yet it’s not omnipotent, we still need more pieces of furniture.” New tables and chairs appeared in a blaze of emerald flames, giving everyone a place to sit.
“No, you can’t keep them.” Salaark replied to Lith’s silent question as he stared at the high-end furnishings. “Now let’s get this party started!”
A clap of her hands made an upbeat music fill the room.
The Desert’s Overlord proved to be an unparallel singer, dancer, and to have forced her children to learn her favorite choreographies. She even helped the kids making a family portrait with their crayons, creating what looked like an original Van Gogh.
“How? Why?” Lith asked in amazement while she hung it to the wall.
“Your Grandfather likes to dabble in arts and I’m very competitive.” Salaark said with pride.
“More like obsessed with winning.” Crevan said with a sneer.
“Crevan! You don’t badmouth family on your first meeting. Some things require t-”
“Are you really my Grandmommy?” Aran stared at her with his big puppy eyes while tugging at her dress.
“Of course I am.” Salaark lifted him in her arms, too moved by his words to care about the stains that Aran’s dirty hands left everywhere.
“Why did you never come to visit before, then? Is Grandad dead?” Leria asked, raising her arms in the air to be lifted as well.
