“What’s wrong with my blood and how is it affecting my baby girl?” Elina stared at the tiny feathers on her arms and then lifted her skirt a bit to check her legs, feeling like her own body had betrayed her.
“Again, if there was anything dangerous for you or the baby, I would have healed it right after conception, back when you moved to my palace to escape from the Kingdom.” Salaark rolled her eyes at their hard-headedness.
“You guys are just forgetting that the bond between mother and child during pregnancy works both ways. The baby girl is a part of you and the Dragon blood in your veins also courses through her body. It amplifies Leegaain’s influence and smothers the effects of the Blood Imprint.
“Kamila, instead, carries no bloodline so Elysia reacts to my ability without suffering from any interference while Rena possesses both the Dragon and the Phoenix bloodline by herself.
“Were she pregnant, she would amplify them both and turn temporarily into a hybrid. Do you really think that those scales on your body belong to your baby or those feathers on Kamila’s to Elysia?” Salaark pointed at the women’s skin.
“A newborn Dragon’s scales are as small as a fish’s while a Phoenix chick is featherless. What you are experiencing now is the manifestation of the babies’ bloodlines after being enhanced by the bond with their respective mothers.”
Raaz and Elina sighed in relief, knowing that everything was fine with the baby girl and Elina’s body.
“I think we should start thinking about a name for our unborn daughter as well.” Raaz inwardly cursed himself for doubting Elina’s faithfulness again.
He couldn’t help but wonder if it was due to the trauma Orpal had inflicted on him or if Lith had inherited his paranoia from the father’s side of the family.
“I’m tired of referring to her like a stranger we don’t even know.”
“I agree.” Elina nodded. “Grandma, would you mind if we named her after you? No strings attached. We won’t ask you to be her godmother or any special treatment for the baby. It’s just our way to thank you for all the help you’ve given us.”
Knowing that the Strangler didn’t plague her body anymore and that all of her descendants would be born free from the deadly disease lifted a huge burden off her chest.
After Rena had almost lost Falco to the Strangler and learned that it was inherited from the mother’s side, Elina had been scared to death that the same thing might happen to her unborn daughter as well.
‘And it would all have been my fault.’ Elina thought. ‘I’ve almost killed both Tista and Falco. I couldn’t forgive myself if it were to happen again.’
“Of course you can. It would be an honor for me, dear.” Salaark slightly flushed with joy. “But if have to be honest, after Kamila decided to name her daughter after me as well, I think you are giving me too much credit.”
“Wait, what?” Kamila blurted out in surprise.
“I’m still here and waiting for-” Tista was royally pissed off for everyone stealing her thunder and ignoring her after the months of anguish and doubt she had gone through before reaching her new form.
“Yeah, yeah. You are big, strong, and a mystery wrapped in an enigma. We got that.” Needless to say, it got even worse when Kamila cut Tista off and shushed her with a gesture. “Back to my baby, please. What were you saying, Grandma?”
‘Sure, don’t mind me. I can wait.’ Tista’s thoughts oozed sarcasm. ‘I’m only a unique living being, the first of my species, and the second Demon alive on Mogar. How can any of it be comparable with the etymology of a name? Silly me for complaining.
‘It’s not like when Lith became a Tiamat everyone made a big deal of it. He sure wasn’t the only thing our family talked and worried about for days. It went exactly like for me. Not!’
“I was planning to tell you on another occasion, like on Elysia’s birth or her first birthday, but there’s no point in delaying.” The Overlord replied. “You see, I didn’t start as a ruler with an iron first.
“Right after becoming a Guardian, I decided to do like Tyris and help my turf to develop by nurturing its talented people with a loving hand. Of course I knew that I was no Tyris and that my first try was likely to fail.
“So I changed my appearance to something more Tyris-like, called myself Elysia, and pretended to be the goddess of the sun while I looked for my Valeron. I traveled the Blood Desert for centuries, teaching people about magic and how to always find the nearest oasis before giving up.”
“Why did you give up?” Lith asked in confusion. “You are a wonderful teacher and the best Forgemaster on Mogar. I bet that the tribes of your disciples thrived like never before.”
“They thrived indeed!” Salaark slammed her delicate foot on the ground with anger, causing the nearby dunes to slide and turning the sand into glass for dozens of meters around her.
“They weaponized every spell I taught them and used the knowledge I imparted them to gain a monopoly of the oases, forcing the other tribes to either submit or die. Every one of my disciples turned out to be greedier and more ambitious than the other.
“Whenever they toppled a tyrant, they would either take their place and become an even worse ruler or walk away to follow their own agenda and leave a power vacuum.
“The ensuing chaos and bloodshed made the despots they killed look cute in comparison.”
“I’m so sorry, Grandma.” Kamila patted her back. “Now I understand why the legends say that Elysia drowned in a pool of her own tears after her light had been eclipsed by the ingratitude of her follower.”
“I’m sorry, but that part is entirely made up.” Salaark shook her head. “I didn’t cry. I stormed off after killing everyone and giving birth to the legend of Krahan, the god of darkness. My rampage went on until I calmed down and realized that fear alone wasn’t enough to rule a country as well.
“But that’s a story for another day and definitely not suitable for future mothers. Whatever you do, please don’t look for Krahan’s name in history books.” The Overlord blushed in embarrassment in a way that would have been cute if not for the creepy subject at hand.
Lith and Solus looked at each other, remembering bits of information about the gods of darkness from their studies. They had researched the lore about ancient monsters in the hope to learn something about Vastor’s Eldritches and be ready in case their relationship with the Master went sour.
Krahan of the Starless Night was allegedly a god whose description matched an Eldritch and whose bloody feats in the Desert rivaled with Tezka’s. They had dismissed him as a myth after the Professor had told them that Krahan wasn’t part of the Organization and none of his associates had ever met the guy.
“Can we talk about me now?” Tista drummed the talons of her foreleg on the sand with ill-concealed annoyance.
