‘Damn, how can the power gap between my Eldritch-monster hybrids and the Guardians still be so large? With our current strength, going against the three Guardians of Garlen would end up in a one-sided slaughter.’ The Master thought.
“I told you it was incredible.” Zinya chuckled, believing him to be more awed than shocked. “Kami’s pregnancy has to remain a secret so not a word with anyone, especially the children.
“This is not like one of their usual stories about their amazing dad and magical friends. The news of Lith’s son wouldn’t be taken as a child exaggeration but at face value. If even a rumor starts spreading, Lith’s enemies will keep hiding like rats until the baby is born.”
“Especially Meln.” Vastor gritted his teeth at the name, the Future card still burning in his pocket. “But Zin, this should be good news. Your sister is safe, Lith got rid of two enemies in one day, and you are going to have a nephew.
“Please, don’t be sad. How many times do I have to tell you it’s not your fault if we can’t have more children? It’s all because of my experiments, but I’m working on a solution.”
“Is it that obvious?” Zinya timidly met his gaze.
“Do you want the truth or a convenient lie?”
“The convenient lie, please.”
“Your poker face is amazing, Zin. There was no concrete tell-tale sign, I was just bluffing.” He replied, making her laugh.
“Do you think things would change if I were an Awakened?” She asked.
“What?” Vastor was so taken aback that he let go of Zinya’s hand.
“I mean, Kami got pregnant in one night and Jirni had no problem conceiving despite her age. Isn’t that because they are Awakened?”
“It’s not that simple, Zin.” Vastor took a deep breath to calm down. “Awakening doesn’t solve all problems. It creates new ones. You would need to train your body and core, adding more tasks to your already busy schedule.
“You would see the kids grow old and die unless we Awaken them too. Do you see where this is going?”
“Yes.” She nodded. “But you didn’t answer my question, Zogar. Would Awakening help?”
“Maybe and maybe not.” He shrugged. “But the real question is: are you sure you want to do it? All it takes me is one breath to Awaken you but once the door is open, you can’t close it.
“The power and magic would constantly tempt you but training them would take a lot of time. To make matters worse, you would have to hide your new abilities. No one at your age can suddenly become a mage.
“Also, once you Awaken, what excuse will you tell the kids to keep them away from Tezka’s lessons? Unless you give them a very good reason to keep such a gift to yourself, they are going to resent you.”
“You thought this through, Zogar, even more than I did. Thank you.” She kissed him, glad that her husband kept protecting her, even from herself. “Is there anything else I should know?”
“Yes.” Vastor took a brief pause to find the right words, but there were none, only the harsh truth.
He held her hands firmly, looking her in the eyes before saying:
“There is the possibility that once you Awaken, your body’s vitality might be able to counter my Abomination side. Yet unless the two forces find a balance, the baby would consume itself and you’d have a miscarriage that no spell on Mogar can prevent.”
Not having a child from the man Zinya loved was painful, but the thought of feeling the small life growing inside of her, maybe for months, just to lose it was much worse.
“I need some time to think this over.” Zinya stood up, wishing to be reunited with her children to shake off the deathly cold that made her shiver. “Are you coming with me?”
“In a minute. Please, send Tezka over, Zin.” Vastor’s smile died the moment the door closed.
‘Awakening Zin has never been part of the plan. My cover holds mostly because she’s ignorant in the matters of magic. Just Life Vision and Invigoration are enough to screw things up. Alas, refusing to Awakening her would raise questions I can’t answer.’
He was still musing his problems when Tezka entered the room.
“What can I do for you, Grampa?” The Fylgja said.
“I want to discuss our gains.” The Master ignored the joke, his face frozen in a cold expression. “The When All Are One array gave me insight on how to perfect our cores and maybe even on how to mix the six cursed elements in a seventh.”
“Cursed Spirit Magic? That’s big. Are you sure?” Tezka’s voice sounded sceptical.
“No, but it’s a path worth exploring.” Vastor replied. “I’ve also experienced how my Blade Spell should feel. I’m going to talk about it with Bytra once she returns. Your turn.”
“I’ve collected several elven corpses for you to study.” The Fylgja replied.
“What am I supposed to do with them?” Vastor raised an eyebrow in confusion.
“It would be great if you were to find a way to replicate Soul Vision.” Tezka sat on the couch, taking a teacup and a biscuit. “Otherwise you can always use the corpses to craft a body for one of our associates.”
“What makes you think it can work?”
“If you ask me, elves are a Fallen Race.” Tezka was simply eating, but his bared fang gave him a cruel, almost sadistic appearance. “They can’t Awaken without dying and have been rejected by Mogar, considered no more than an oddity to save for later.
“On top of that, their bodies offer no resistance to mana and Chaos, albeit corrupted, is still mana.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” Vastor nodded. “Anything else?”
“Lots of Yggdrasill weapons, a few blades of Davross, and nine perfectly functional Wood Golems.”
“Nine?” Vastor jumped up from his seat in excitement. “Why the odd number?”
“Six for your Fallen Guardian project I always pretend not to know about and three more because that’s the limit of my pocket dimension. Those things are big. There’s not enough for everyone but on the plus side those things are made of solid Yggdrasill wood.
“Even if, let’s say Zoreth, reaches the size of a white core upon fusing her twin cores, one Golem is more than enough for a full body armor and weapons.”
“Well done. Yggdrasill wood is not Davross but it’s the next best thing. You might have solved our Davross provisions’ crisis.” Vastor pondered. “We don’t have enough to make a single set of equipment for a Divine Beast but our reserves should suffice to coat the Yggdrasill wood.”
***
A few hours later, when Frey and Filia had gone to bed and the Eldritches back to their private labs, Zoreth and Bytra arrived shortly before sunrise.
“Welcome back.” Aside from the servants already up to prepare breakfast and warm the house, only the Master was awake. “You’ve spent quite some time in the Blood Desert. I hope your reunion with Menadion wasn’t spoiled by violence, Bytra.”
“It wasn’t.” She rushed to say. “I’m sorry for being late. Lith invited us for a celebratory lunch that lasted until a while ago.”
