‘I knew that the flames over my head couldn’t be solely decorative. They form the crown of the Dead King, they are proof of my talent for Domination, and each one of them will activate a different ability.’ Orpal thought.
‘Yeah, too bad we have no idea how. Or do you plan to risk your life for another stroke of luck?’ Night’s words struck like a whip, but he kept gloating.
When Feela, Jiza, and Faluel could finally see again there was no trace of the Night King.
All of their plans, all of their forces waiting in ambush outside had been for nothing. Orpal’s Full Domain and Jirni’s Blade Tier spells had gone beyond their expectations to the point of screwing everything they had prepared.
“I told you that keeping Jirni out of the loop was a bad idea.” Faluel said amid swear words. “We should have alerted her of our plans and presence.”
“And tell her that she comes from a family of Awakened?” Jiza shook her head. “No way. In times like this, she would demand to be Awakened. On top of that, I doubt it would have changed anything.
“You’ve seen the power of Orpal’s steed. If we moved in earlier, he would have just swapped with Night. Between his bloodline ability and that damn spell, it would have turned me into mincemeat. I don’t have Davross equipment. Do you?”
“No.” The two Emperor Beasts shook their heads.
“Our plan didn’t take Moonlight into account. We thought that to deal with a mere human, Orpal would have left his tower behind. Fighting a mage while they have their tower requires an open space where we can make up for the lack of firepower with teamwork and numbers.” Feela said.
At the same time, Jirni managed to link all the swear words she knew into a single sentence. The Life Maelstrom reserve of the armor was empty, her proto cubes were depleted, and she had no idea how to chase Orpal.
‘I won the damn battle but I lost the war. I did my best, but the bastard still managed to escape. I underestimated him this time. Even a blue cored Awakened with a tower is too much for me.’ Jirni thought.
‘Had I brought Balkor and Lith, things would have gone differently. The silver lining is that I still managed to learn about Meln’s next moves and his newfound bloodline ability. The next time we meet, I’ll be ready.’
The moment the arrays protecting the Myrok household were turned on again, she used her communication amulet to alert Wanemyre and Marth. Then, she contacted the Royals and lastly the Desert’s embassy.
Jirni couldn’t show the recording of her battle to the Crown without revealing the existence of the proto cubes. She would have to explain how she had obtained them and reveal her involvement with Balkor.
Aside from Tyris, he was the only one who had mastered memory crystals. The Royals knew that without his help imitating the powers of the Spell Hoarding Cube would have been impossible.
Lith, instead, would use the recording as training material against his brother.
‘I’m not going to share such a masterpiece of magic just to be charged with treason for a thank you.’ She thought.
Jirni then looked at the holograms of her husband and Manohar who had already started to fade.
“I won’t waste my breath with a replica when the real one waits for me at home.” Yet she looked at Orion’s shadow with eyes full of love and yearning.
It was only thanks to him and Skywarp that her mad plan had succeeded. She felt happy about the life she had built for herself, promising to help Dyta to achieve the same.
At the end of the day, Orpal’s words were based on a half-truth. Her cousin really was unsatisfied with her current life and with age, Dyta had discovered to long for things she had despised during her youth.
Then, Jirni turned towards Manohar who gave her thumbs up.
“Don’t worry, old hag. As long as I’m here, all will be well.” He said with his patented smug grin.
“Thank you, Manohar, for always being the pain in the ass you were. You forced me to constantly improve just to keep up with your tomfooleries. You may not be among us anymore, but I’ll make your words come true.
“Goodbye, god of healing, and may you be obnoxious in death as you were in life.” The light construct disappeared, and with it the final trace left of Manohar’s consciousness on Mogar.
***
A few hours later, Blood Desert.
Lith had just started making breakfast when the embassy sent him Jirni’s recording. He and Kamila watched it holding their breath from start to finish. Even though they knew that Jirni had to be alive to have sent it, it was still a terrifying show.
She hadn’t cut anything, not even the part where Orpal had stripped her clothes, in order to let them study his weak points and how chatty he became when he believed to be winning.
Something that Lith had never noticed since he had always beaten Orpal’s ass.
“Poor Jirni.” Kamila said. “I can’t believe she went through all of this and yet she’s already back to work.”
“Indeed. She should have called me. Together we would have killed Meln.” Lith nodded. “There’s no telling what I can do now that I’ve reached the violet, especially if she imbued me with Life Maelstrom.”
“Lith!” She threw him a reproachful glare.
“I mean, he has discovered a bloodline ability, but we already know how to counter it. Also, with this information, I can finally start working on my golems.” Lith rushed to say, only making things worse.
“Damn, even Orion knows Blade Tier spells, I guess the issue can’t be delayed any long-”
“What did we decide about work and honeymoon?” Kamila took the pan away from the fire and squished his cheeks in her hands, forcing Lith to look at her.
“That they don’t mix. I won’t work. I promise.” He replied.
“Good boy.” She gave him a long passionate kiss in reward. “Now, let’s have breakfast and hit the beach. I can’t wait to take a good look at the coral reef.”
***
After a few more days of that peaceful and slow life, however, things really became boring. They had visited Yrma so many times that they knew every nook and cranny of the city. They had even tasted every single local delicacy.
Lith and Kamila started to go back to Salaark’s palace to allow Trion to spend a bit of time with his family. On top of that, Tista was having issues recovering from her own inner demons as well.
She had always been a gentle soul and during the fight at the Hogum mansion to rescue Raaz, she had done things that had scarred her. Lith’s madness had infected her, but that was no excuse for the slaughter that she had caused with her spells and Cursed Flames.
While she was scared for her father’s life, Tista hadn’t cared one bit for the lives of the guards or of Hogum’s house staff. Even worse was the memory of gloating as she had watched Lith murdering Hogum and his wife in cold blood.
