Once infused with the bloodline ability from Ryla’s silver eye, the mana of any light element spell would keep being diluted in world energy until it lost cohesion and the spell degraded into formless energy.
“I don’t get what I’m doing wrong.” Lith looked at Solus who shook her head.
Even with the Eyes, the process was a mystery. They had no data about Ryla’s mana organs and when Lith manipulated the energy with his own silver eye, the number of variables more than doubled.
“And we can’t help you unless you teach us Light Mastery.” Morok sighed. He didn’t even try to ask for lessons, knowing Lith would rather walk out. “Let’s move on to darkness.”
The final element turned out to be a massive failure. They just stood there, enveloped in creeping shadows until they ran out of ideas.
“Solus?” Lith asked.
“Still no clue, sorry.” Aside from the raw mass of darkness element and world energy, there was nothing for the Eyes to pick up.
“No problem.” He sighed. “Before we give up for today, I’d like to try something.”
Lith walked to Valeron and offered him a hand. The baby boy grabbed it and after the Dragon scales relayed the message, he gave Lith as much Life Maelstrom as he could.
“Thank you, son. I’ll make good use of it.” Lith caressed Valeron’s cheek who replied with a happy:
“Papa!”
“Dya!” Elysia grumbled, angry for being still incapable of emitting non-draconic complex sounds.
“Don’t be jealous, sweetie.” Kamila said. “Valeron is older than you. It’s natural that he speaks better.”
“Ba.” Elysia could faintly grasp the concept but it didn’t make her feel better one bit.
“Mama!” Valeron giggled while looking at Kamila with his round silver eyes.
“Thank you, sweetie.” She peppered his head with kisses, knowing how much feeling accepted by his new family meant to the baby boy.
“Ba!” Elysia glared at Valeron in outrage, engaging him in a staring contest for almost five seconds before they fell asleep as one.
“Why didn’t you do that during our first sessions?” Morok asked since it was the first time he saw the little Valeron use one of his bloodline abilities aside from Origin Flames.
“Do you think it’s easy to explain to a child so young what a bloodline ability is and how to use it without hurting himself or others?” Lith replied. “It took me days to reach this point.
“Babies are not fond of training and have an attention span shorter than yours.”
“Hey!” Kamila and the Tyrant said in unison, but for completely different reasons.
“Don’t drag the children in your crazy schedule. They are infants!” Kamila said.
“Sorry.” Lith apologized. “Now, before taking your share of Life Maelstrom, I want you to focus. Don’t send it to your yellow eye. Just circulated it through your bodies like you did with Ryla’s abilities.”
“Why?” The Fomor tilted her head in confusion.
“I want to test a theory.” Lith replied. “What if Glemos was right about Morok? What if there is no need for a seventh eye, just to master life force to obtain an effect similar to Friya’s emerald streaks or Morok’s scales?”
He didn’t want to expose his full theory because even if he was right, Menadion’s path might have been suited solely for a pure human. Ryla and Morok were already evolved and maybe, what worked for the Prime Engine wouldn’t work for them.
Lith hoped that by giving Ryla and Morok hints, they would be able to find a technique suited for their individual evolutionary branch.
“That’s stupid.” The Tyrant sneered. “If that was the case, then why do you have an emerald eye?”
“I agree with Morok.” Ryla nodded. “Not about the stupid part. It just seems far-fetched that both Tyrants and Balors have been wrong all along when you are the living proof that achieving a separate Spirit Eye is possible.”
“It’s not far-fetched.” Lith shook his head. “Consider that, unlike you, I’m not entirely human. Maybe my Abomination side condensed my life force to protect it from its Chaos spark.
“Maybe my Dragon side carries the same gift of the Hydras. On top of that, if the seventh eye really is the answer, why did the Balors end up falling? Why can the Tyrants obtain the emerald eye only by sacrificing the other six?
“Think about it. Doesn’t it sound like the fall of the Balor race and the opening of the Tyrants’ seventh eye are just the result of forcing their way on the wrong path?
“Otherwise why would Glemos need to mate with a human woman instead of a member of his own race to have a child with a body completely different from a normal Tyrant?”
“When you put it this way, it does make sense.” Morok pondered. “Glemos wanted my help at all costs and planned to make me have a child with Echidna. Yet the only thing that changed after I’ve reached the violet core is my body and he knew it would happen.
“His tracking spell was set to activate after my Awakening and it was then that my scales first appeared. Maybe, by diluting the Tyrant’s blood with my mother’s, Glemos managed to backtrack a little and alter the course of my evolutionary path.”
“Which would explain why Glemos also wanted a child with a Fomor.” Ryla said. “Balors are unable to get the seventh eye by nature.
“Maybe he hoped that by sealing that evolutionary path, the Tyrant bloodline would have been forced to revert to the state before they merged their six eyes. If that were to happen, the newborn Tyrant would be capable of resuming their evolution.”
Lith was amazed by how brilliant Ryla was despite having lived in forced isolation for most of her life and by how deep Morok’s thinking was when he decided to pull his head out of his ass.
Lith had only given them a few clues yet they had almost reached his same conclusion.
Almost.
“Glad we are all on the same page.” He nodded as he passed to each one of them a powerful bolt of silver lightning.
Valeron couldn’t produce enough Life Maelstrom for three people but Lith hadn’t stood idle while they talked. He had amplified Valeron’s small silver lightning thanks to the Tiamat’s yellow and spirit eyes until he had enough for everyone.
“Remember, focus on your body, not on opening another eye. In case you get the feeling your life force is trying to condense in a single point, don’t give in to that impulse.” Lith said.
‘The Life Maelstrom is a bit diluted and less effective, but it’s better this way.’ He actually thought. ‘If their evolutionary paths aren’t just untapped but blocked, forcing their way might make them blow up. Solus?’
‘Immortal body array and life support systems are on standby.’ She replied. ‘If something happens, I’ll take care of them immediately.’
The Hands appeared in the form of short evening gloves and the Mouth as a scarf. No one but Kamila noticed their appearance because they were focused on controlling the silver lightning.
Lith, Ryla, and Morok, made it circulate through their eyes and bodies, using the boost that Life Maelstrom granted their life force to bring it on par with the power of the elements.
