Quylla was about to rebuke Lith that Kamila knew a lot about the real him, but this time her mind was as quick as her mouth and she managed to stop herself.
What she was about to say would have been hypocritical since Quylla knew Lith even better than Kamila did and yet she had no idea how those revelations had changed their relationship.
“Can I talk about it with Phloria?” She asked.
“Yes, but with no one else. There are too many lives at stake.”
“You have my word that I’ll keep your secret, no matter what I decide. Before giving you my answer, I need some time to think.”
Lith walked out of the room, leaving Quylla alone with her thoughts. For the first time in her life, magic had no answers to offer her, only more questions.
‘That went well.’ Solus thought, trying to cheer Lith up.
‘Not really. First, she treated me as if I was one of her patients, then as a freak of nature, and lastly, she was scared. The worst thing is that I think that Kamila will go straight to the third step. Maybe I should just break up with her.’ Lith replied, ignoring the sting that such words caused his heart.
‘That would be wrong for both of you, but especially for you. It would mean that you can’t have a relationship with anyone but Phloria, or well, me, if I ever get a body.’ It took Solus sheer willpower to say that without stuttering.
Contrary to her expectations, instead of taking it as a joke, Lith nodded. Kamila and Jirni were out working, so he informed Phloria of the most recent developments before starting to study and organize everything he knew about Runesmithing.
“I’m sorry it came to this.” Phloria said. “I really hoped you would tell her of your own free will instead of being forced to. Don’t worry, I’m sure everything will be alright.”
Yet her words lacked conviction. Lith didn’t reply and kept staring outside the window of her room while using Accumulation. Even the silences between them were never awkward, they could both tell what the other was thinking just by looking at their face.
“By the way, since when do you have horns, a tail, and all that stuff?” Phloria asked.
Lith told her the little he knew about world tribulations, about how it started in Kandria and how he lacked the ability to control the transformation in such circumstances.
He even assumed his hybrid form to show her the differences between his normal and tribulation state.
“Wait! Turn around.” She said.
“What’s the matter?”
“Your eyes are not yellow anymore and there’s a blue one opened on your forehead.”
“Yeah, it opened while we were in Kulah’s underground facility, but it does nothing, just like the others.” Lith shared with her the details about his sudden ability to understand the Golems’ language and the messages he had received.
Thanks to Solus’s talk with Mogar, now Lith knew that somehow even his understanding of the Odi language was related to his tribulation, just like the eyes and the hands erupting from the shadows whenever he was very upset.
The eyes were Mogar’s consciousness while the hands were the manifestation of the dead spirits around him. It wasn’t only his life force to be damaged, but his souls as well, making it a natural receptacle for necromantic energies.
“I don’t think it’s so simple.” Phloria said.
“And why is that?” Lith had reverted to his human form as soon as Phloria had finished examining him.
“Because your left eye is still black and your right eye is still red. That has never happened before. Your hybrid eyes have always been yellow and the human eyes brown.”
Lith conjured a mirror made of ice, discovering that Phloria was right. A simple thought and everything went back to normal.
“Well, that’s new. At least I can change them at will.” Lith switched them several times from red to black and then to blue, testing the limits and the speed of his control.
“The question is what can they do?” She asked.
“Just what I fucking needed right now! Another goddamn change I’ve no control over!” Lith stood up abruptly looking for something to destroy to vent his rage until he remembered that he was in Phloria’s room, not his own.
“I know that there’s nothing I can do or say that can make you feel better, but please, remember that if you ever need someone to talk with, you can always count on me.” Phloria held his hands until the rage and frustration that made them tremble faded.
She didn’t try and reassure him about how Quylla would react, nor attempt to ease his worries with empty words. Phloria just hugged him, holding Lith tight to let him know the only certainty that she could offer to him.
That he wasn’t alone.
No matter the details of his physical appearance in any of his forms. To her, Lith was an irreplaceable person.
After witnessing all the pain and anger he bottled up that only his hybrid form could express, after seeing him put his life on the line for her over and over against the Odi, she wasn’t scared of him one bit, she only loved him more.
The two of them might not even belong to the same race, they weren’t together anymore, yet Lith was always there for her, no matter the cost. And not because he wanted her money or lusted after her body, he simply cared for her.
Phloria was only 21 years old, yet she already knew how rare it was to find such a person and how precious such a blessing was.
Lith returned her embrace, wondering once again if he hadn’t made a horrible mistake not fighting for her back when Phloria had proposed that they break up. Oddly, for the first time in years, she asked herself the same question.
‘Maybe Lith was the right person, but back then I was too young to really understand the implications of his secret and he was too afraid to open up to anyone. We met in the wrong moment of our lives.’ She thought.
“Thank you, Phloria. Now I’m sorry, but I feel very tired.”
Back in his room, Lith used Accumulation non-stop to assess the condition of his body.
‘Did you notice that every time you use a lot of mana or receive serious injuries the process of accumulating the impurities in your body speeds up?’ Solus pointed out, trying to take Lith’s mind off his predicament.
It was hard to decide what was worse between the risk of losing one of his few life long friends and being dumped by his girlfriend not because of something he did, but just for who he was.
‘Yeah. I think that it depends on the massive mana flow coupled with the complete body reconstruction I have endured. It happened almost the same way after Balkor’s attack’ Lith replied.
‘I’m nearing the breakthrough, but I can’t risk it happening while I’m at the Ernas manor nor in front of Kamila. That would mean opening up not because I want to, but because I have to once again.’
Lith’s life force appeared to have returned to its peak condition, but he decided to follow Quylla’s advice and take another day of rest, just to be sure. A failed breakthrough meant death or becoming an Abomination.
Thanks to Carlos JBC for his generosity.
Thanks to Victor D for his support.
Thanks twice to Aleš F for your contribution.
You are spoiling me, guys.
*Author bow*
