Lith’s shadow had become identical to the monster the other boy had left after his death, and now he was also holding Elysia, but in her Abomination form. Whoever the unknown boy was, he was still alive. Whoever he was, he was still burning.
Leegaain took his hand off Raaz’s shoulder and the vision fell apart slowly, replaced by reality.
Lith was still in his Abomination form, smiling and playing with the little girl. A wisp of darkness was twirling around his index finger and dancing in front of Elysia’s face. She grabbed the wisp and brought it to her mouth, munching it in curiosity.
Elysia spat the darkness out in the form of a Chaos projectile the size of a bead that only the arrays of the Verhen’s household neutralized before it could pierce through the walls and hurt one of the farmhands.
“Bad, Elysia! Bad!” Lith scolded her while pulling his finger away. “What if that thing hit someone?”
“Ba?” She repeated, not understanding the problem.
“Yes, bad!” Kamila joined the scolding. “Magic isn’t a toy.”
Lith charged his finger with a cantrip and aimed at a big fly that was buzzing through the room.
‘Fuck, no. I’m not going to introduce the concept of death so early in her life.’ He thought about pretending to shoot at someone and made them play dead, but that was even worse. ‘Either she’ll think that we are monsters or that people can actually resurrect.
‘How do I explain the “do no harm” concept to a baby too small to understand the difference between violence and self-defense but smart enough to be emotionally scarred?’
To buy time, he reverted into his human form and Elysia followed suit. The Abomination was comprised of pure darkness, making it easy even for an infant to conjure a spell whereas as a human, magic required a finesse that the baby girl lacked.
“Kami, I know you don’t like it, but can I use the Dragon scales to teach Elysia self-restraint?” Lith knew how she missed that particular ability and the connection it granted between parent and child.
“You are not showing off, you are making sure that everyone around Elysia is safe and that she doesn’t do something that she would regret her whole life. You don’t need my permission for that. But thank you for asking.”
Kamila hugged him from behind, doing her best to hide how hurt she felt. The problem wasn’t Lith using the Dragon scales so much as the awareness that she wasn’t able to raise Elysia properly.
‘I’ve tried using mind links to explain complex concepts to her. Yet if I keep it simple, Elysia doesn’t understand and if the conversation goes on for too long, she starts suffering from mana poisoning.’ Kamila inwardly sighed. ‘I just can’t make it right.’
Dragon scales allowed for communication without the exchange of mana so Lith could express his worries about her actions to the baby in detail without risks. He showed her a vision of the Chaos projectile hitting Raaz and wounding his arm.
Elysia knew and understood pain, even though just in a limited, childish manner. The images of her grampa unable to hold her and forced in bed until the wound healed saddened her but that was it.
Lith furrowed his brows, repeating the images and changing the point of view until Elysia realized that she was the one shooting the Chaos spell. At that point, he had the imaginary Raaz cry in pain.
Only once sadness turned into guilt did Lith interrupt the flow of images.
“Ba?” Elysia asked, her eyes veiled with tears.
“Yes, sweetie. Hurting your family is bad.” Lith kept his tone neutral and smiled.
“Ba?”
“No, I would never hate you, but it would make everyone very sad.” Lith added images of Elina who was also crying, hugging Raaz in worry.
“Ba!” Elysia burst into tears, apologizing non-stop for her imaginary misdeed and mistaking it for a real event.
Lith had to hand her to Raaz so that she could make sure that he was actually alright and wasn’t angry with her.
“I’m sorry, Dad.” Lith said after explaining Raaz his ruse with a mind link. “I couldn’t use Kami or Elysia would have been traumatized.”
“Are you telling me that I’m expendable?” Raaz replied chuckling, but it was only half a joke.
After what he had seen through Leegaain’s Eyes, he partly believed those words.
“Don’t ever say that, Dad.” Lith was dead serious, instead. “It’s just that if you get hurt, Mom cries. If Kami gets hurt, I’m the one crying and then Elysia would think that she has hurt both her parents.
“I’ve seen how Valeron still blames himself for the disappearance of Thrud and Jormun. I don’t want Elysia to live in fear of her powers but I also need her to understand that actions have consequences.
“It’s hard raising someone who’s too smart for their own good.” Lith sighed. “I’m sorry, Dad. I didn’t mean to make you feel expendable. I want you to know that the day I thought I had lost you at the Hogum mansion is one of the worst of my life.”
“Don’t apologize. I’ve walked quite a few miles in your shoes.” Raaz cooed at the baby, letting her see that his arm was fine. “Lith…”
“Yes?”
“Nothing.” Raaz shook his head, banishing the many questions he still had. “I think we are done here.”
Elysia had calmed down but now she wanted to apologize to Grandma Elina as well so Lith handed her the baby and explained the situation to Elina as well.
“Are you satisfied now?” Leegaain asked after Hushing them again.
“Yes, thank you.” Raaz patted the Guardian’s shoulder and was about to walk away when Leegaain stopped him.
“Well, I’m not. Based on what we saw, at least a part of Lith doesn’t belong to your stillborn son. What’s the point of searching for the truth if are not going to ask him anything about it?”
“What’s the point?” Raaz shrugged. “If Lith is aware of it, asking him questions would mean forcing him to open up with me. If he doesn’t, I would screw up his life. As a father, it’s my duty to protect my son’s happiness.
“I don’t care if a part of him comes from someone else or if he’s just a soul wearing a corpse. Lith calls me Dad and Elina Mom. We raised him. We fed him. We love him. Lith is my son, everything else is irrelevant.”
“Then why did you ask me to peer into his soul?” Leegaain asked.
“Because I’m just a human. I was afraid that his Abomination side was the only reason he has grown into the man he is. That a mere farmer like me had just been a burden for him.
“I was afraid to not be his father not because of where his soul comes from, but because I had taught him nothing. Now I know that I was wrong.” Raaz looked at Lith taking care of his own family with pride.
“That poor boy knew nothing about love. He lived like a beast and died a monster. Elina and I may have not given him life, but we made him human again.”
