“There’s still a lot of vigor in you and Zin. We must just fix your staff!”
“Don’t you talk about me like th-”
“To your future children. To our siblings-to-be!” The Eldritches chanted in unison, cutting Vastor short and forcing a chalice of wine in his hand for the toast.
***
Ernas Region, Ernas country house in the countryside of the city of Unama.
After Orion’s Awakening, he and Jirni had moved to one of the many mansions the Ernas family owned throughout the region they ruled. They had chosen Unama because it had a Warp Gate, allowing them to run away or call for reinforcements with ease.
Orion had spent the past few weeks training body casting, Spirit Magic, adjusting his Blade Spell, Elemental Sonata, for the seventh element, and growing a beard.
The rejuvenating effects of his Awakening had yet to fade and he could only hide his face for so long before people started to suspect he was a body double and that something had happened to the real Orion Ernas.
The chaos that the “disappearance” of the Lord of the Region would cause and the necessary explanations quelling it would require would ruin Jirni’s work to build their strength in secret.
So they had moved to the country house where they had spent many summers with their children back when they were still young. The place was “small” enough to not require many servants, allowing Jirni to bring along only her most trusted helpers like Dyta.
The official cover story was that they were celebrating the anniversary of Phloria’s death in her beloved summer house. The place was filled with good memories of the late lady Ernas going for horse rides, training with her father, and playing in the mud with her dog, Lucky.
It gave everyone bittersweet emotions and pushed them to train relentlessly, even the small Ry. Gone was his flabby belly and naïve attitude. Now Lucky was fit and muscular enough to vent his rage and grief on anyone stupid enough to cross him.
He still slept on Phloria’s clothes, rotating them and keeping them sealed in dimensional amulets to save her smell for as long as he could.
Due to her advanced pregnancy, Jirni could only perform light exercises, focusing her training on magic. The magical boost she received from the baby allowed her to wield much more mana than natural and even to dabble in dimensional magic.
The strain such powerful spells put on her body made up for the lack of physical training and helped her to build muscles while also tempering every fiber of her being.
Just like Orion, she spent the time when she was forced to rest practicing Accumulation non-stop. He had a long way to go before reaching the bright violet core again and with her deep yellow core, she had many years of practice ahead of her.
Unlike Orion, however, Jirni was often forced to take breaks to give her body the time to adapt to the changes without endangering the baby. Orion, instead, worked relentlessly, resting only once sleep deprivation and mana abuse compromised his focus.
Invigoration would keep him up and running for days until it lost too much effectiveness to support his training regime. The Eldritches fought, not sparred, with him, pushing Orion’s technique, body, and equipment to the limit.
They were careful not to kill him, but that was all the mercy they granted him. More than once one of his limbs flew off, his body was pierced from side to side, and his weapon and armor broke almost to the point of non-recovery.
Grimlock, his blade, raged after every defeat. Its crystals shed tears of mana and the hums of its pseudo cores sounded like wails, sending chills down Orion’s spine.
‘In the gods’ names, what have I done?’ The weapons borne from the War series all scared him. ‘Skywarp is also growing… violent for lack of a better term. It feels the baby and Jirni’s desire to protect her, becoming aggressive for it.
‘More than once Jirni’s needles assembled themselves into Skywarp without her command. The needles react to her stress as if Skywarp understands what people say and feel!’ Orion feared to have somehow created cursed objects.
That it was only a matter of time before the weapons of the War series turned against their owners. Yet until he was sure they posed a threat, he couldn’t afford to lose their help.
Grimlock grew more attuned to Orion’s mana with time, making the Blade Tier spell more powerful and faster to cast. The curved blade seemed to learn the spell, casting it on its own and drawing the power cores from the rest of the equipment.
It took part of Orion’s burden on itself and supported him in weaving Elemental Sonata’s runes instead of opposing resistance like inanimated metal was supposed to.
The constant fights to the death tempered Orion’s body and helped him master his new physical prowess. Vastor would come only when he could and spent the whole time teaching Jirni and Orion about Spirit Magic.
He was the only Awakened in the Organization capable of using the seventh element hence he could give practical demonstrations and not just theoretical lessons like the Eldritches.
“Make me one of those and I might consider fighting the Myrok by your side.” The Master pointed at Grimlock and Skywarp.
“Do you really need my help?” Orion furrowed his brows and pointed at Grimbark and the Dominator armor. “I’ve never seen anything like that and I doubt I could do better even ten years from now.”
“Make it one hundred years.” Vastor grinned with fatherly pride at Bytra’s work. “But it doesn’t change the fact that I can’t use Blade Spells with them. Meln is coming back, and the bastard can. He has a gods-damn tower at that.
“Even if you survive the Myrok, we all know that sooner or later Meln is going to come after us.” Vastor threw his Past card in front of his accomplices. “He has tried to kill Zin and Jirni once. He’ll do it again.”
Orion opened his mouth to reply but Jirni clenched his hand to stop him.
“We’ll think about your offer.” She said. “Let’s take things one step at a time, though. Please, continue the lesson.”
Quylla and Friya often received calls from their mother, respectively to have news about the twins and the preparations for her marriage.
The two women missed their parents, but with the whirlwind of activities in which they were involved, they barely had the time to notice Jirni’s and Orion’s disappearance.
It was the reason when Friya and Quylla were invited to visit their parents at the summer house, they didn’t suspect a thing.
“Can you believe it has been more than a month since the last time we’ve seen Mom and Dad in person?” Quylla sighed.
“Yeah, and now that I think about it, it feels off.” Friya bit her lower lip in deep focus. “I would have expected Dad to hover around you like a vulture, spoiling the babies while they are still in your womb.
“As for Mom, not having her bossing me around and trying to teach me the right way to organize my own wedding feels weird.”
