Raaz gently rapped on Lith’s chest.
“He brought me my son back. Everything else is irrelevant.”
“I’ll relay your message to him.” Lith extended his hand and Raaz promptly shook it just to be sucker-dragged into an embrace. “Thanks, Dad. Your words mean a lot to me.”
“Don’t mention it, son.” Raaz patted Lith’s back and stepped back.
“You gave me a big scare, little brother.” Rena went straight for a ribs-crushing hug that ended up squeezing the air out of her own chest due to the mass gap.
“You mean yesterday?” He asked.
“No, that didn’t scare me at all.” Rena shook her head. “Once they brought you here, I was relieved. No matter what came out of your mouth, I knew you are too stubborn to let something trivial like amnesia and an army of brainwashing souls stop you.
“I meant when you disappeared for all those days. After it was clear that you had lost your memory and someone had repeatedly tried to kill you, I was worried sick. I spent all this time staring at your communication rune.
“I was afraid to fall asleep and not find it when I woke up. You have no idea about the insane number of lies I had to come up with not to make the kids worry about your absence.
“Once we let them in, just nod. No matter what silly thing they ask you.”
“Thank you, Rena.” They were all aware of his actions as the Void yet none of them mentioned them to not add to Lith’s grievous burden and he was grateful to them for that.
“If it doesn’t strain your life force too much, could you please let Trion out?” She avoided using the term summon because the death of their brother was still a sour note in their parents’ hearts. “We haven’t seen him since the day you left as well.
“Mom was really worried about the two of you but she is too afraid to compromise your health to ask it herself.”
“Rena, I told you that in confidence!” Elina blushed in embarrassment.
“I’m worried about Trion too, Mom. Lith needs to know how important this is for us.” Lith remembered that in case of his death, his parents would also lose Trion.
‘About that, I have no idea if my persistent condition as an Abomination affected the souls I host inside my Void Sigils.’ He thought.
Lith unfurled his feathered wings, sighing in relief when he noticed that the runes were still there. All four of them.
He summoned Trion first, making him take form in Lith’s own shadow to ease the process. It rose from the ground and gained a third dimension but it was just a black humanoid slate.
The shadow body resembled Trion’s but it had no features. Lith poured more mana into it yet no eyes opened. He had to send a mental command via the black chain connecting them to wake Trion from his slumber.
“What happened? Where am I?” He looked around in confusion like a man who had just awoken from a deep slumber, needing a few seconds to sort dream from reality.
Because that was exactly what had just happened.
“Trion, baby!” Elina rushed to him but kept her distance until it was clear from his gaze that he remembered who she was and understood he was safe.
“Mom?” The demon clasped his head as blinding pain washed all over his body and forced him on his knees.
“What’s wrong with him?” Elina asked Lith.
“I’m sorry. I have no idea.” Lith strengthened the connection with his older brother via the black chain, sharing Trion’s burden.
The Void Sigils kept the souls they stored in a cycle of dreams and nightmares to keep their minds from going insane due to their undead state.
While Lith had been stuck into his Abomination form, the Voidfeather Dragon had also used his life force to insulate the souls from the Void’s madness. Yet after the Abomination and Dragon side had merged to form the Void Demon Dragon, things had gotten worse.
Even in their slumber, Trion and the others had experienced the agony of the blue flames and had almost been burned away for it. Only the tether with the human life force had preserved their connection with the world of the living.
“Don’t worry, Mom. Whatever it was it’s gone now.” As the powers of the whole Tiamat, not just the human side, flowed into Trion, his condition as a demon was restored and his vessel regained full functionality. “What did I miss?”
A quick mind link answered his question and lots of hugs ensued until everyone was reassured Trion’s soul hadn’t suffered permanent damage.
“Good gods.” Trion shuddered. “I have no memory of any of that. The only recollection I have of the past few days is the feeling of being stuck inside a small box during a long, bumpy carriage ride.”
“Are the families of my demons here as well?” Lith asked, obtaining a nod in reply. “Then I’ll better let them out as well.”
He was aware that his disappearance had affected more than his own family. Locrias’, Varegrave’s, and Valia’s existences depended on him, and their respective families were bound to be as worried as Elina.
The three demons appeared stunned and confused just like it happened to Trion but they recovered just as quickly. They left the room after expressing their gratitude to Lith and renewing their oaths of loyalty to him.
Tista came in last, hugging Lith and using Invigoration to check up on his condition and life force. Only once she was reassured that Baba Yaga and Salaark hadn’t hidden anything from her did she relax.
“I’m sorry.” She said while shedding silent tears.
“For what?” Lith furrowed his brows in confusion.
The Void had addressed no mean words to Tista so she had no fault, real or imaginary, to apologize for.
“For being too weak to help you.” She replied. “Despite all the things you’ve taught me, despite all the treasure you’ve shared with me, I couldn’t help finding you or Solus.”
“Don’t beat yourself up.” Lith caressed her back. “I moved without direction. If not even Zoreth and Baba Yaga could find me, how were you supposed to do better?”
Tista squeezed him in silence a little longer before she couldn’t stop herself from asking:
“Is it true? Did the World Tree really took her?”
“Yes.” Lith nodded, sharing his memories before being beheaded with her via a mind link.
“But why?” She asked in frustrated disbelief. “Why would such an ancient, powerful being invest so much time and effort to kidnap Solus and kill you? It doesn’t make sense. You guys have nothing the Tree might want.”
“So it really was the Yggdrasill.” A silvery feminine voice said, making everyone turn toward Silverkeep. “Until this moment, all we had were conjectures. It’s nice to know we were right but this opens many more questions and makes our next task daunting.”
Lochra Silverwing, the First Magus, and Baba Yaga, the Red Mother, came out of the silver tower and approached the Verhen family.
“Your sister asked a good question. Do you have any idea what makes Epphy so special to the Yggdrasill?” Silverwing asked.
