“What children? I thought she was married to a woman.” The Father of Fire replied.
“If Bytra is okay with it, it’s not hard for Zoreth to… you know.” Lith shrugged. “I doubt she wants her bloodline to go extinct and she’s nigh-immortal. It’s more a matter of when than if.”
“I see your point and I’ll think about it. It’s all I can promise.” Valtak caressed his beard.
“It’s all I ask.” Lith gave him a deep bow. “Let’s go back home. I asked Kami to prepare enough food for three hungry Dragons and you are my honored guest today.”
***
During the following days, Lith alternated training with Valtak and Sinmara. He tried bringing Elysia and Valeron along, but fights scared the kids and the Flames bored them to death.
Soon they would demand attention or reassurance, forcing Lith to go back home and leave them in Kamila’s care.
He and Tista learned how to produce Primordial Flames on their own first. The secret was to keep the amount of world energy they breathed in constant while adding more life force than normal.
It wasn’t enough to produce a spark capable of igniting white flames, it also had to possess enough energy to keep them from turning violet as they soared through the air and mixed with the world energy on their path.
Immortal Flames, instead, needed Lith and Tista to keep the world energy out of their lungs. Valtak taught them how to create the spark inside their lungs and slowly grow it inside their bodies until it became a burst of pure emerald flames.
Such a technique was useless on the battlefield since it took minutes, but it was an invaluable training tool. Lith and Tista could steadily accumulate life force without enduring too much strain while also checking on their bodies’ condition.
The toll on them was so great that after every attempt they needed food and rest, no matter if they succeeded or failed. Invigoration couldn’t help them restore their life forces.
Past a certain point, Valtak used Primal Spark again and made them move on to practicing the phasing Flames exercise. Lith and Tista improved after each lesson, practicing during the afternoon how to apply the fruits of Valtak’s lessons to other mystical flames.
It was at one of such moments that Bodya returned to the Verhen home.
Tista was out in the Trawn woods, alternating between bursts of Origin and Cursed Flames.
‘This is amazing.’ She thought as the Flames altered their path according to her will.
Tista could now make them curve slightly to follow or anticipate an enemy’s dodge. It wouldn’t be enough to keep up with a fast opponent but compared with her usual straight and predictable bursts of Flames it was a great improvement.
She could also make them partly phase through anything.
‘Once I master this, I can have my Flames bypass energy barriers and enchanted armor to strike directly at my enemy’s flesh.’
“What did those poor weeds do to piss you off that much?” A familiar voice said, making Tista turn around so fast that Bodya expected her to get whiplash. “I hope you weren’t thinking about me.”
“You hoped wrong.” She said with a stern expression that quickly broke into a warm smile as she ran into his arms. “Just kidding. The soil here has been poisoned by the chaotic energies of an Abomination years ago and I was cleansing it.”
She was in the area of the Trawn woods that was still barren despite the passing of time. Only the most stubborn of weeds grew there which made it hard for the animals to live.
Tista was putting Valtak’s lessons into practice, turning the weeds into ashes that fertilized the ground and using the Origin Flames to purify the land from the scars left by the prolonged exposure to the Wither’s deadly aura.
“Where have you been? I was worried sick.” She pouted, inwardly afraid of the answer.
“I’m sorry, but after our return from Jiera, living with your family made me understand how precious you are to me. Seeing Lith with Elysia and realizing how much your niblings look up to him, made me more than envious.
“It made me want to be part of it. I couldn’t drag it any longer. You needed an honest answer but I couldn’t give it to you without learning the truth about Narso so I went back to my family.”
Bodya told her everything about his meeting with his grandfather and what Vothal had revealed to him.
“What a bunch of treacherous snakes!” Tista snarled, biting her tongue the moment she realized that she had said it out loud. “Sorry! I hope it wasn’t a racial slur or something.”
“No, our progenitor is a lizard but you went this close.” He brought his thumb near to his forefinger. “Not that I would have cared. I couldn’t agree more with you. Now that you know everything-”
“Wait.” Tista put her hand on his mouth. “Before you give me your answer, there’s something you should know.”
She told him about the renewed threat of Orpal and the potential danger that Kelia brought to the Verhen household as long as she was their guest.
‘Gods, I wish I could tell him about the Ears, the Tower, and all the secrets that becoming part of the family entails but I can’t do it without Lith’s permission. Also, I’m certain that it would scare the crap out of Bodya.’ She thought as she watched his expression change.
“Let me get this straight. If everything goes wrong, your crazy brother will become more powerful than the two original Horsemen combined, the destruction spell will become useless, and he might target me just to hurt you. Correct?” Bodya said.
“Well, yes to everything but the last point.” Tista shook her head. “Lith hated all my boyfriends so I don’t see why he should make an exception for you. Also, Meln wants Lith to suffer whereas by killing you he would do Lith a favor.
“You are safe. From Meln, I mean.”
“Wow, and I thought my family was fucked up.” Bodya clicked his tongue, making Tista burst into nervous laughter. “So your evil brother might kill you while your good brother might kill me?”
“Yes. Also, since I’m going to fight by Lith’s side, if I piss Meln off he might target you as well.” Tista nodded. “He believes that by siding with Lith I’ve betrayed him. Also, Meln is a huge creep.”
She used a mind link to share the images of their last meeting in person and the various pieces of “art” regarding Tista she had found in Orpal’s secret quarters.
“Scratch might. He’s going to target me for sure since I’m not going to rest until I see him dead!” Bodya snarled, spitting droplets of acidic venom on the ground. “Is this enough for an answer or do you want me to be more explicit?”
He gave her a deep kiss to emphasize the concept.
“Are you sure?” She asked once they were both out of breath and broke contact. “My family is messy and things are bound to get dangerous.”
“My family was and is much worse.” Bodya replied.
