[“There’s no such thing as immunity to magic and you know it.”] Kamila said, knowing that Lith wasn’t just in there. [“Don’t you remember the first thing you taught me about magic? It’s about willpower and imagination.”]
Lith was the person in front of her.
[“Otherwise, how do you explain this?”] She asked. [“Think about it. Your spells don’t work because you can’t imagine hurting me. Because just like with Ragnarök, your will is to protect me. As you have always done since the day we met.”]
[“Lies!”] Feeling scared by the unknown and harassed by the parasitic voices, Derek used earth magic to carve a huge block of stone from the ground that he threw at the woman.
‘There’s no mana involved. This is a physical rock and unless she’s immune to that as well she-‘ An orange eye opened on his cheekbone, burning with mana as it glared at the boulder.
The block of stone turned into fine dust that swirled around Kamila, forming a protective barrier.
[“I’m not lying.”] She took a step forward and this time he couldn’t move away. [“Check with Life Vision. Whose mana courses through this barrier? Whose willpower?”]
Derek’s paranoia and the voices tried to find another possible explanation but there was no denying that simple truth. The spell was still infused with his mana and it was his will controlling it.
‘Witch!’ ‘Thief!’ ‘Liar!’ The parasitic souls called upon their brethren coming from the gate, throwing them into the blue flames to burn at the ground, the grass, and the world energy.
Everything burned.
A second set of feathered wings erupted from Derek’s back as the four other eyes opened at once.
A silver flame enveloped Kamila, burning the blue flames like they were dry wood and purifying them into nothingness.
Everything burned but a silvery path connecting the Void to Kamila.
[“I told you already and I’ll repeat it to you until you believe it. I’m your wife, Derek McCoy. I don’t like you but I know and respect you. You’ve promised me never to hurt me and if I know one thing for sure, it is that you’ve never broken your word when given freely.”]
As the Tuner started to play Unbeatable, one more memory flashed in front of Derek’s eyes. He was back in Kamila’s apartment in Belius after Meln had killed Count Lark.
Derek saw himself holding Kamila tight in his rage, trying to leave the apartment until she had taken off her clothes and revealed the wounds on her body. The wounds he had caused.
That day he had vowed never to hurt someone he loved just to feel better about himself. To never be like his Earth father.
[“If you don’t like me, woman, why should I believe we’re married?”] The Dread Flames now engulfed half of Derek’s body, purging the blue flames and allowing him to think clearly.
[“Because I love, respect, and trust Lith. I love the man you have become. I believe in him.”] Kamila replied. [“You are just an echo of his past, Derek. Please, give my husband back to me.”]
Derek felt the tug of the human life force, its attempt to reconnect with the other two. Yet the Void Demon Dragon’ was stuck in that form. The Abomination and Divine Beast sides were fused together by the blue flames.
The raging souls threatened to devour the human side as it attempted to resurface, its radiant energy naked and without protection from their deadly touch.
As Kamila approached him, the souls took control of his right fist that bolted toward her enveloped in blue flames. Derek stopped it with his left hand, using the silvery flames to fight off the possession.
[“Even if I wanted to, woman, I don’t know how.”] Lith’s life forces squirmed in pain, incapable of freeing themselves from the clutches of the blue flames.
[“Don’t worry. I know someone who does.”] Kamila gave him one of her dazzling smiles, seeing Lith’s presence in the extra eyes that were fixated on her. [“Before I call her over, I need you to promise you won’t hurt her.]
As much as Derek found it hard to believe, it was impossible for him to deny the truth. The mana and willpower in the spells protecting that woman was his own. Ragnarök, his only loyal companion during his journey on Mogar protected her.
He was stranded on an alien planet yet she spoke English and knew things about Derek he hadn’t shared with anyone. Last but not least, every fiber of being churned and twisted at the thought of harming her,
Yet the doubt remained and his paranoia stoked its embers into a raging inferno.
[“If you really are my wife, answer my questions.”] Derek said. [“What happened to my father?”]
[“You watched him die after he slipped on wet stairs.”] Kamila replied. [“You could have warned him but decided not to. It’s the reason even though you played no part in Ezio’s death, you’ve always considered him as the first person you killed.”]
[“First?”] Derek swallowed hard. He had never shared those details with anyone. Not with his brother or therapist. [“Why? There’s more?”]
[“Yes.”] Kamila nodded. [“Chris Wainright. You killed him too, making him suffer exactly like Carl did before taking your own life.”]
[“And you married me knowing all this?”]
[“No. When I married you, I didn’t know any of it.”] Kamila replied. [“But when you opened up to me about your past life, I decided to stay because you were a different person.
[“Lith Verhen, the man raised on Mogar. Not Derek McCoy, the broken man from Earth.”]
[“You are crazier than I am, woman.”] Derek said. [“But you have answered my questions and now you have my word. I swear on Carl’s name that I won’t hurt you and your friend.”]
Now that the situation was pacified and the Dread Flames contained the blue ones, the Guardians Warped Elysia to Kamila.
“Mama?” The baby girl asked in confusion.
“Yes, pumpkin.” Kamila nodded while handing the baby to Derek. “Say hi to your father.”
“Dya?” Elysia turned around, sniffing at Derek like a hunting dog. “Dya! Dya!”
She could finally sense him in all of his aspects. She extended her small arms to him, giggling.
Elysia Verhen, daughter of man.
Derek’s seven eyes lit up each with a different element and shed tears of their corresponding color as the baby’s human side resonated with his own. The silvery flames coming from the feathered wings burned stronger, overpowering the blue flames and insulating Derek’s body.
“Dya!” He took Elysia in his arms and she shapeshifted into a small Voidfeather Dragon.
Scales of six different colors burning with matching elemental power covered her small body and stumpy wings came out of her back. Derek followed suit, the pitch-black scales of the Void Demon Dragon turned red, and burning black feathers covered the membranous wings.
Elysia, daughter of Dragon.
[“Elysia?”] Derek asked as the Dread Flames spread forward and devoured the blue fire.
[“Dada!”] Elysia replied, turning into a small bundle of shadows with white eyes and a set of pristine fangs.
Elysia, daughter of Derek.
Hearing the baby speak with an English accent, seeing her Abomination form so close to his own, broke all the barriers between the life forces that the Voidfeather Dragon had erected and that the Void had frozen in place.
