“The steeds are just things and as such, they can be crafted again, if needed. The lives that you three have destroyed, instead, are something that not even I can bring back.” Baba Yaga said.
“What do you mean?” The Red Sun said.
“What good could war do? What if you won? Were you planning to force the other races to breed like cattle and make them live solely for your entertainment? You say that you’ve followed your mission, but you couldn’t have done it any worse.
“When will you and your damned Undead Courts understand that I’ve not created the undead as the new master race?” Baba Yaga said.
“Your words make no sense, Mother. If war is the wrong answer, then what were we supposed to do?” Dusk asked.
“You should have let the balance take its course. When there isn’t enough prey, the number of predators has to drop or they have to adapt. Otherwise the predators start a vicious cycle that leads to their own extinction.” Baba Yaga replied.
“Are you telling me that we should have just sat on our hands and do nothing?” Dusk’s voice oozed sarcasm.
“No, you idiot. You should have taught those morons from the Courts to feed without killing. Ordered them to give up on their riches to pay people willing to be fed upon. Anything but triggering a full-scale war with the living.
“You have made an enemy out of the three Great Countries, of the Master’s Organization, and even of the Awakened Council.” She replied.
“Big deal! We already were criminals to the countries, rivals to the Organization, and vermin to the Council. The war didn’t make things worse, quite the contrary, it forced them to recognize our power!” The Red Sun said.
“It made everything worse, you naïve fool! Criminals are no enemy of the state and are allowed to live in the grey area between law and corruption that every system has. Yes, you were already at war with the Organization, but at least you were beneath the Council’s notice.
“They left you alone and didn’t care for any of your activities. Now, instead, they are united against a common enemy, you.” Baba Yaga turned into her Mother form and pointed her forefinger at his forehead with such fervor that Dusk feared she would pierce him.
“I see.” He replied.
“No, you don’t. And that’s why among my three Horsemen you’re the one who disappointed me the most.” The Red Mother shook her head, tending Acala’s wounds one last time before leaving the room.
“How can you say that?” The Red Sun followed her despite his wounds.
Those words inflicted Dusk more pain than he had suffered through his millennia-long life, making the physical discomfort completely irrelevant compared to his need for an explanation.
“I have amassed countless knowledge and riches, I have found a host that’s almost perfect, I’m the only one who has forged his own Davross equipment in a sign of commitment to both my host and my mission.
“You said it yourself, I never required your aid before. Then how can I be the one who disappointed you the most? Hasn’t Dawn spent centuries trapped just to end up defeated and bedridden in a state much worse than mine?
“Hasn’t Night killed thousands of undead with her shenanigans and even involved the Council in the first place?” He asked.
“You fool.” Baba Yaga inhaled sharply while sitting heavily on a chair and forcing Dusk to lie down.
He had been so caught up in his speech that he had failed to notice that the Mother had brought him back to his room. She then turned into the Maiden, the form of Dawn.
“The Bright Day has indeed been trapped, but after surviving a confrontation with Sinmara, the Phoenix of Darkness. Holding her ground against a white cored Awakened and escaping destruction without my help or her steed is quite an achievement.
“Also, while trapped inside the Fringe, Dawn didn’t stand idle. She used Mogar itself to make countless breakthroughs in all the disciplines she knew and even some that she invented herself.
“Those stupid arrogant Rezars believed to be in control, that they were forcing her to do their bidding, but it was the complete opposite. Through them, Dawn put to the test her theories and discoveries, using them as test subjects.
“What they mistook for attempts to escape and deception were actually failed experiments. Dawn used her time wisely, finding ways to use Light Mastery to perform almost everything, even affecting the arrays that kept her prisoner.
“Of course, once she was ready and the right host presented himself, she escaped and killed the Rezars. They deserved it for trying and enslaving her for centuries, for believing that such a powerful being could be restricted forever.
“To me, what Dawn did is no different from an Awakened master killing their unworthy disciples. The Rezars couldn’t be entrusted with her legacy and knowledge. Their death was the consequence of their arrogance, never forget that.
“As for Acala, look at Dawn and tell me if she looks anything like you remember her.”
The Maiden had a hologram of Dawn’s room appear, showing the Bright Day at the Ranger’s bedside. She used a hard light construct to keep him company and hold his hand, sharing his pain.
“Ever since I brought her here, she let Acala keep his body to make his wounds heal faster. She’s nursed him in my absence. She treats him as a peer, not as a steed.”
For a moment, the hard-light construct became flesh, but the wounds both Dawn and the Ranger had sustained made such form fade.
“How is that possible?” Dusk pointed his finger at the scene in disbelief, ignoring most of what Baba Yaga had just said.
“I told you. She treats him as a peer. Thanks to that they are now capable of merging into a single being or having each their own body, as long as they are close. Dawn’s power core is second only to a white core and once fused with Acala’s mana core, everything becomes possible.”
Baba Yaga shapeshifted into the Crone, the form of Night.
“As for the Black Night, I know of all the damage and the deaths she has caused. She is whimsical, impulsive, and cruel, yet she always served her purpose. Night caused the extinction of several undead species that were too smart or dumb for their own good.
“She struck fear in the heart of the humans, making my children appear mightier than they really are into our enemies’ eyes. I consider her a catalyst of natural selection, weeding out those too stupid among both the undead and the other races.
“What limited her so far was her inability to take any matter seriously. While Dawn buried herself in her work and you worked hard to make some space in the three Great Countries for the Undead Courts, Night went insane at some point.
“Her eternal life and her power combined with countless failures led her to believe that everything is pointless. That victory or defeat don’t matter, only having a good laugh does.
“Orpal is an arrogant, petulant child, but he managed to make her take the matter with Lith as more than just a hobby, he made it personal.”
