“I love you and I could never be ashamed of you, Mom. You are the best mother in Mogar. Even the Fringe confirmed that.” Lith said.
“Oh.” Elina sniffled, proud that her son treasured her to the point of seeing the embodiment of his entire world with her features. “Thanks, dear. I feel much better now.”
‘Good gods!’ Kamila thought while caressing her own womb. ‘I feel like I dodged a hail of bullets here, not just one. Thank you, beloved.’
A kick ensued and she interpreted it as an “I love you too, Mom”.
Kamila had ups and downs too, but nothing that a few deep breaths and a touch of Dragon scales couldn’t fix. Every time her mind ran rampant or her insecurities threatened to crush her, the scales gave her the reassurance she needed.
***
Almost two months later, Solus’ tower.
“Dammit, dammit, dammit!” Away from prying ears, Lith was free to vent his rage and frustration.
He yelled at the top of his lungs, trashing tower-made furniture that would cost nothing to fix.
“The baby is about to be born and I’ve gotten nowhere close to achieving the bright violet core. Therapy sessions, support groups, meditation, facing my inner demons, I tried everything and nothing worked!”
Lith slammed his fists on a table, cracking it.
Solus just stood there, letting him be since nothing she could say would help.
‘He really did his best, trying even the most farfetched theories I could come up with.’ She inwardly sighed. ‘His body is almost filled with vortexes and auxiliary cores but due to the imbalance in his life forces, the Accumulation process is becoming slower and more painful by the day.
‘Soon Lith will be forced to stop altogether or risk his core to crack and become an Abomination. In their current state, his life forces can’t handle the power of the bright violet core. Until he finds a solution, his abilities will be capped whereas his enemies can still grow stronger.’
***
Village of Lutia, the same day at the same time.
On the days when her mood was stable, Elina loved to take the DoLorean for a ride and go out for a bit. She would go shopping for the soon-to-be-born babies or groceries, just to keep her mind and hands busy.
Sometimes, like today, she also brought Aran along to teach him the value of money and make him feel involved with taking care of the family.
It was exactly the kind of moment that two bright violet-cored Awakened from Verendi had waited to strike.
“Verhen’s wife is clearly off limits, but there’s no Guardian’s oath regarding his mother.” Winion Sez, a brown-skinned man about 1.9 meters (6’3″) tall, said. “Also, according to our data, Verhen has a soft spot for his little brother.
“These two are the perfect target to avenge our fallen comrades and bring that arrogant runt to heel.”
“I know, but don’t you find it weird?” Narant Mur, a 1.78 meters (5’10”) tall beautiful woman, replied. “I mean, Verhen has Golems, Demons, Beasts, Queen’s Corps. Why there’s no one here?”
Her skin was even darker than Winion’s and along with their camouflage armor, it allowed them to be like shadows in the darkness of the alley. Only their eyes were visible and solely because they were scouting the area from a distance with Life Vision.
The mystical sight had a limited range but they had more than doubled it with enchanted goggles that only the Awakened of Verendi knew how to craft. Its inventor could have become a Ruler of the Flames for it, but he preferred to keep his monopoly and with it, insane prices.
“Golems and Demons are bound to Verhen so their absence is nothing to worry about.” The man set the goggles to maximum distance, sacrificing detail for range yet nothing came out. “You are right about the rest.
“Where’s the kid’s beast, Onyx? And how can mere humans hide from our sight?”
“You know, this would be funny if I wasn’t sick of this already.” A voice said from behind, forcing the two Awakened to turn around and assume a defensive stance.
Their enchanted and poisoned weapons jumped in their hands on their own and then froze just like their owners.
“Kris blades and Wyvern poison. The mark of professional assassins.” A lean albino man 1,75 meters (5’9″) tall, with snow-white hair and skin stepped out of the shadows.
His eyes were purple and had a vertical pupil. The lab coat he wore over a set of pitch-black clothes revealed his identity as much as the Dragon Fear that paralyzed Winion and Narant like sheep in front of a pack of wolves.
“Now, usually I’d kill you and get over with it, but I’m sick and tired of this game. Since you are already dead, I might as well put you worthless pieces of trash to good use. You should be honored. You are going to help me with an experiment.”
It was true that no vow forced Leegaain to protect Elina but after spending nine months under the same roof with someone carrying his own blood, it was hard for him not to get attached.
Especially since she carried along with her a boy who called the Guardian Grampa.
Ever since Shargein was born, Leegaain had a soft spot for children and Elina carried another one of his blood in her womb.
“Now, if I’m right, this should be utterly terrifying. Please, try to not faint. I need you awake and conscious for the experiment to bear meaningful data.” Leegaain set numerous sensing arrays while the two Awakened were paralyzed.
The only things they could do was breathe and think, which made his words sound even more ominous than they already were. The Father of All Dragon activated Leegaain’s Eyes, developing three vertical pupils that crossed each other, forming a six-pointed star in each of his eyes.
“And go!” A snap of his fingers Warped Lith from the tower to the alley, making his fists hit only air.
“What the heck am I doing here?” He asked and Leegaain answered by sharing the two Awakeneds’ plan via a mind link. Down to the most cruel and vicious detail.
“You!” Lith turned around in fury and the Dragon Fear disappeared. “How dare you?”
His eyes moved from Elina and Aran to the couple of assassins as the images of what would have happened without Leegaain’s interference flashed in front of his eyes.
‘I feel normal now, but I still can’t move!’ Winion said via a mind link.
‘Same, but Leegaain talked about an experiment. We can still get out of here. Verhen is just a violet core and there are two of us. We can kill him easily, just weave your spells.’ Narant replied, following her own advice.
Then, the picture of Elina and Aran’s bodies overlapped with Carl’s corpse at the morgue. At his funeral. As Derek/Lith buried the casket.
“I hate you!” Lith’s neck tilted to one side and then to the other, cracking.
His breathing split into three quick, shallow breaths in, followed by three more out. Five of his seven eyes disappeared as his skin became pitch black and the remaining two turned white without a pupil.
