‘She just didn’t sugarcoat her words and regarded others with the same impossible standards she applied to herself. All the people we have met who knew Elphyn Menadion loved her and considered her a troubled but good person.
‘Aerth, Malyshka, Silverwing, and Grandma had many good things to say about you and a few bad ones, because guess what? Nobody is perfect.
‘When Bytra begged for your forgiveness and showed you her side of your story, she admitted that the reason for her anger wasn’t the harshness of your words but the fact that she was the first one to demean herself when compared to Ripha.
‘You don’t have to carry the weight on Mogar on your shoulders. People are responsible for their own decisions and the actions that follow. It was Threin who chose not to train his body. It was Ripha who abandoned you to seek revenge instead of staying with you until she recovered.
‘It was Bytra who let her envy drive her to murder and madness. You were part of their lives, not their master. You may have contributed to the events but the final choice has always been theirs.
‘Whatever part you played, whatever wrongs you did in the past, you have paid for them in full.’
Through the physical contact, Lith forced her to remember about everything she had suffered before meeting him. The loneliness, the hunger, the desperation that had plagued her for centuries as her sense of self was slowly eroded by the tower in order to keep her alive.
Then, he reminded her of the sense of isolation she had suffered back when she was just a voice in his head. The creeping madness from her inability to sleep due to the lack of a physical body.
The darkest moments of Solus’ second life flashed in front of her eyes, including all the moments when people treated her like a cursed object and were hell-bent on destroying or enslaving her without a second thought.
‘What you have today is not something that some merciful god has gifted you out of the goodness of their heart, it’s something you built with me!’
It was then that the brightest moments of her new life pushed the darkness back into the deepest corners of her mind that had spawned it. Solus remembered all the time they had spent together when Lith was a kid, practicing magic and taking care of Tista.
Her life had begun anew as a little more than a talking tool, but with time, her role in his life had grown and he had given in to more of her demands. The academy, their friends, and every bit of herself she recovered was a dot of light, forming a line that led to the present.
The darkness lay in between the dots, but their collective light overwhelmed it. Solus Verhen had suffered much and sacrificed even more, yet the result was worth her efforts.
Her mother’s tower was back and so was her body. She had a loving family that trusted and depended on her. Elphyn had lived her life alone despite being surrounded by love whereas Solus had nurtured every bit of affection she had received even at personal cost, making it grow.
She stopped fighting, still clenching at Lith’s arms but now to keep them close instead of pushing them away.
Solus kept sobbing while neither of them said a word. Yet their silence was filled with memories of the time they had spent together, each stirring a different emotion that conjured another memory in a loop.
They remained like that until the internal clock of the tower alerted them that it was time for the second shift. Solus gently pushed Lith away, checking the logs of the Sentries for anomalies or witnesses before making the tower emerge from its hiding spot.
She used plenty of water to wash her face and light magic to erase the signs of the prolonged crying. Solus had many things she would have liked to say but no time. Any moment now and someone would come out of the caves to take over guard duty.
“Thanks.” She said while walking through the tower’s door.
Solus gave Lith a dazzling smile that she hoped would express everything she felt.
***
City of Setraliie, Ra’Firo Clan, Firestone branch family, at the same time.
High Chancellor M’Rael Firestone walked through the dark passages of his household’s dungeon. His path was lit only by the luminous spheres he had conjured around his head.
His steps were filled with rage and frustration, stomping rather than walking toward his destination.
“This isn’t how things were supposed to be. Those foreigners should have backed into a corner, allowing themselves to be slaughtered and me to collect their resources to increase my status with the Parliament of Leaves.
“They should have been just another stepping stone on my path to reunite and lead the elf race in taking back our ancestral lands. Instead, the Parliament turned its back on me and I was forced to fold like a cheap shirt. This shall not stand!” M’Rael talked to himself because he couldn’t trust anyone with the truth.
Down in the deepest part of the dungeon, in a secret corridor that he had built himself with earth magic back when he was young and angry, lay the secret of his success.
He hadn’t lied to Faluel and the others because there was no reason to.
Everyone knew that a Chronicler of the World Tree had come to their Fringe to push the idiotic agenda of his master. The Yggdrasill did give M’Rael Awakening, the violet core, and the Sage Crown.
He had simply omitted to say those weren’t gifts but things he had extorted from the young Tree and that the Chronicler had never left Setraliie.
Every elf knew how being a Chronicler worked. They were the Harbingers of the Yggdrasill, recipients of the Tree’s power and knowledge. Or as M’Rael liked to see it, the Chroniclers were the weak point of an otherwise formidable being.
Chronicler Eldun Flippage was chained to the wall with mystical chains that wounded and healed him non-stop, keeping him in an unconscious state. A high-concentrated nutrients potion dripped into his mouth, ensuring that consumption never reached a critical state.
The Chronicler had been in such a state for weeks now, his enhanced Awakened body made it easier to keep him alive no matter the punishment he endured. After all, M’Rael had no interest in Eldun.
“Why waste your time with the dog when by pulling its leash you can drag its master to the ground?” The High Chancellor said to the wood splinter stuck in Eldun’s chest, the only piece of Eldun’s Yggdrasill equipment left and the place where the consciousness of the World Tree was trapped.
Usually, capturing a Chronicler was an impossible feat.
Strong with the nigh-omniscience of the Yggdrasil and the bright violet core coupled with Soul and Life Vision, there was no trick a Chronicler wouldn’t avoid or lie they wouldn’t expose.
The moment the World Tree perceived the slightest ill will they would order their emissary to cast an unstoppable Spirit Warp while the Tree conjured through their wooden equipment spells of untold power to cover the Chronicler’s escape.
Usually.
