‘First Kami Awakened and now Selia has decided to follow her lead to feel closer to her husband and live longer. Maybe I should ask Zogar to Awaken me as well. Maybe it would solve my fertility issue.’
Zinya had been thinking about it since Tezka had explained to Filia and Frey the difference between mana capacity and talent. According to the Fylgja, her children were born with negligible mana but great affinity for magic.
They had been pestering Zinya for months now about what Awakening was and if they could really learn magic through it.
‘It’s inconsiderate on my side not taking into account their wishes. Also, if they were to Awaken, it would be silly of me to be the only non-Awakened in the family. It would kill so many birds with one stone.’
Her reasoning was solid yet Zinya struggled to make up her mind. Awakening her children also meant that in the future their lives would be at risk even more than they already were.
Becoming a mage led to traveling, searching for rare ingredients, and interacting with other mages. All things that, based on Kamila’s stories about the Council, led to a premature death.
Awakening implied new powers, responsibilities, and a long life. Too long for Zinya’s taste.
‘What if Zogar and I argue? He would be afraid that if I leave him, I could reveal his secrets. Having a good marriage that lasts decades is rare, but centuries? Is it even possible?’
“Welcome back, Mom. How are the babies?” Filia asked.
The Verhen’s family tree was quite intricate so they considered Surin and Elysia their nieces and Valeron the Second their nephew for simplicity’s sake.
“Happy as ever. How was school? Did someone bully you again?”
“School was good, Mom.” Frey sighed. “Since Dad has become an Arch Duke, the real problem is to keep the bootlickers at bay. They all introduce themselves with a smile but give them a minute and they’ll ask us for something.”
“No more bullying. You have my word, Zin.” The two magical beasts that the two children rode fused into one and shapeshifted back into Tezka’s real form. “Here’s my report about today’s events.”
He handed her a scroll that she opened and closed very quickly while trying to keep smiling. It contained a list of the potential threats he had spotted during the day and a note reminding her that the kids were still asking him about Awakening.
“Thanks. Go get some rest. You deserve it.” Rest was the codeword for magical research since Eldritches never got tired. “I’ll help the kids with their homework.”
“Nonsense.” Tezka shook his head. “I have multiple tails whereas you are just human. You need to rest more than I do.”
“What if we do it together?” Zinya smiled. “I’ll get to spend time with my children and you can better focus on your work.”
“It would be my pleasure.” Tezka gave her a small bow which drew a scoff from Orulm.
The Skinwalker-Eldritch hybrid had recently returned from Jiera and was enjoying the fruits of his success. The flow of magical resources from overseas earned him Vastor’s trust which led to obtaining more funds for his private research and authority in the Organization.
Tezka let Zinya and the kids go ahead, promising to join them soon.
“What was that?” The Fylgja asked the moment they were alone.
“I understand that you have to follow the Master’s orders and protect his bastards, but there’s no need to kiss the ass of his woman.” Orulm shrugged, confident that with his monster core and new equipment he had at least closed the gap with the Fylgja.
“She’s a liability. The only good thing about her is that she’s going to die soon. We need to think in the long-” Tezka’s clawed hand grabbed Orulm’s throat, making the Eldritch choke on his words, spine, and blood.
“Bastards?” Tezka’s voice was a barely intelligible snarl. “If someone here is a liability who’s going to die soon that’s not Zin.”
The lights in the house flickered as a punch with the might of a falling asteroid struck Orulm’s guts. It shattered his Davross armor, pierced his organs, and broke every bone in his body.
Chaos coursed through the wounds, infecting the Skinwalker-Eldritch’s life force and sealing his regenerative abilities. Yet not a gust of wind escaped the blow. There was no noise and no shockwave.
No one, not even the house staff in the vicinities noticed what had just happened. They looked at the two men for longer than it was polite but only because they were so handsome that there was no maid who didn’t secretly wish to catch their eye.
‘When did you shapeshift us both? How could you shapeshift me against my will?’ Orulm thought.
“Blargh!” Was what actually came out of his mouth along with a fountain of blood.
Tezka let go of Orulm and walked away. He was far from finished, but he had to leave the others something to have fun with.
The six Eldritches offspring of the original Guardians all shared with the Master the same bond as Tezka. It was their tissues that the Master had used to engineer his Abomination half.
Their blood ran inside of him and his thoughts were their own. If Vastor was akin to a father to them, Zinya was their mother. Filya and Frey, however, were a different matter.
The monster-Divine Beast hybrids considered them as their children and any threat to their safety, no matter if real or perceived, was dealt with extreme prejudice.
***
Meanwhile, in Vastor’s office, he had to deal with an unexpected guest.
“Are you sure you want to do this? There’s still time and you can use more training.”
“There’s no time and it’s because I need training that I have to do this now.” Orion replied. “I can’t wait for Jirni to give birth to Awaken. What if the Myrok attack the day our daughter is born?
“Even if they don’t, how am I supposed to hold the baby if I can’t even grab a glass of water without shattering it? I need to Awaken now so that I can get used to my new condition and master my powers before the attack.
“I can’t just cross my fingers and ask the Myrok to give us some more time to prepare. If it weren’t for the baby, we would already be at war. Jirni is getting stronger while I can’t cast anything above tier three with true magic even after over a year of your training.”
As time passed, Jirni’s body had gotten used to the bright orange core. Every layer of tissue protecting the baby had been reinforced and the enhanced nourishment she received from her mother made her grow healthier than a regular human baby.
After checking the condition of mother and daughter with Vastor, Zoreth had allowed Jirni to break through to the yellow core under supervision. Everything had gone well and now Jirni could move on to learning tier three and four spells.
They would be too much for a regular yellow core, but not for a pregnant yellow core. The boost in power that the almost fully developed baby gave to her was enough to dabble with the training spells for tier four that required skill rather than lots of mana.
