“He’s still alive.” Lith looked at Thaymos’ body with Life Vision, noticing that even without the pseudo core it still had a visible mana flow and life force. “I don’t know what Tyris is going to-”
Right on cue, the figure of the Great Mother in her human form appeared in the sky accompanied by a gentle radiance that lit the night as bright as day.
A wave of her hand healed the scars on the ground left by the conflict and scattered the ashes of the dead monsters. A powerful darkness spell erased the smell of death from the air and that of sweat and fear from the living, making them feel like after a relaxing hot bath.
The living corpse of Thaymos was the only reminder of the fierce battle that had just transpired.
“People of Garlen. People of Jiera. Heed my voice.” Tyris sent a telepathic impulse that triggered all the communication amulets on Jiera, forcing them to project her image and carry her voice.
“For a long time, you have lived in fear of the Black Tide and of the lost city of Thaymos, not knowing that they were one and the same.” The amulets projected segments of the battle where the Eternal Fortress appeared in his humanoid form and fed upon the essence of the monsters.
“The Black Tide is no more.” The images now showed a Golden Griffon unleashing a beam of light that had conquered the darkness of the night and exterminated the monsters.
Then, she let go of the crystal block containing the pseudo core of the Eternal Fortress. It merged with the mass of molten rocks, rebuilding itself with astounding speed as he sucked in the surrounding world energy and Tyris provided him more.
[“Please, no.”] The Eternal Fortress said the moment he had a mouth again. [“Don’t kill me. I’ll do anything you ask. I’ll protect your people. Fight other lost cities. Anything!”]
Even though no one understood his words and Thaymos had no facial muscles that could express emotions, everyone could hear the fear in his voice and feel it in his trembling limbs.
He was double her height and his limbs were covered in deadly weapons yet he was the one backing away, his hands raised in surrender.
His pleas were met with a cold, merciless gaze. Thaymos knew he had no way out but he still had to try. He turned around and started to run when Tyris took out an ancient parchment and spoke the first rune of the self-destruct spell.
The mana flow in his body froze, his limbs flailing as he fell to the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut. The Guardian chanted the rest of the spell even though she had no need for it.
Tyris wanted everyone to listen and understand what was happening. Every rune she spoke appeared in the air in front of her and then rushed into the Eternal Fortress, making him spasm.
Every rune that her fingers traced was a luminous sword that cut the white stones of his body open. The cracks started as small as her movements were slow but they spread as if the living city was made of glass.
His self-repairing enchantments flowed backward, making the slightest injury grow deeper and langer instead of closing it. Thaymos screamed in agony, his powerful voice echoing for miles and scaring the few animals left into a rout.
Tyris found no pleasure in his suffering but she kept chanting slowly.
She had no idea if there was an afterlife or if a living legacy possessed an eternal soul. The only way she had to be sure that Thaymos paid for his cruelty was to take care of it herself while he was still alive.
The Eternal Fortress tossed and screamed, his agony broadcasted through the communication amulets to the entire Jiera. His death throes were a warning to the rest of the lost cities of the fallen continent and the smaller living legacies who had never been imprisoned and possessed an amulet.
Orpal was among them, his amulet safely stored inside his pocket dimension, but physically close enough to see and hear everything. Night was frozen in terror, her mind empty as she witnessed what her fate would be if caught.
The self-destruction spell seemed to act the same way of those that Thaymos had suffered earlier but the truth couldn’t be more different. The spell wasn’t affecting the Eternal Fortress’ body, there was no attack from which his enchantments could shield him.
The runes conjured by Tyris were unravelling the forbidden Forgemastery spells that gave Thaymos’ limbs life, the spells that stored his memory and gave him self-awareness. The self-destruction spell was undoing everything that made the Eternal Fortress a living being.
His existence could be described like a book filled with the chronicles of his life through the millennia while Tyris’ spell was a candle whose flames was burning the pages one by one.
Thaymos felt the magic of his enchantments disappear, the spells that had been part of his since his creation were now forgotten, leaving a painful void inside of him. His body wasn’t breaking apart, it was fading from existence.
Every piece of him that crumbled was lost forever akin to an amputation and he knew it.
[“Please, no!”] He begged, overcoming the agony through sheer desperation.
Until the final rune was weaved, there was still hope for mercy. Hope for tomorrow.
[“I’ll be your slave. I’ll do anything you want forever.”]
Tyris paused for a moment, staring at him before glancing back at the camp and at the small Valeron the Second. The baby was still crying, but this time out of joy.
Lith was back. His father was back. The baby boy still had his family.
[“Anything?”] She asked while tracing the runes with her fingers as slowly as possible without interrupting the spell.
[“Anything!”]
[“Then here’s my first order for you. Die!”] Tyris resumed chanting and her fingers waved rune after rune to make up for the lost time.
Thaymos’ legs were the first to disappear. Then, it was the turn of the arms. When his head crumbled, he lost every perception of the outside world and his voice distorted into a shrill shriek before ceasing.
Tyris had taken everything away from him. His mind was trapped inside an eternal blackness without any means to interact with the rest of Mogar. His memories were the only thing he had left.
And she took them away for last.
Suddenly there were holes in his memory. Thaymos could remember where he was but not what had led to his current situation. Fear of the unknown and agony soon matched as his personality regressed and became shallower with every lost memory.
Once his mind became a blank slate, it took a single rune to snuff out his consciousness. The stone chest was back to be a mere stone fortress wrapped by walls. There was no life or magic left in them, only the coldness of the night.
The final remnant of Thaymos the Eternal Fortress cracked as the last remnants of the forbidden spells faded and the souls imprisoned within fought their way out.
