‘There’s no time for weakness. Menadion is dead and so is everyone else I knew. All the apologies in the world will not turn back time. The original Bytra was a genius as much as she was a monster, but now it’s up to me to carry her burden.
‘I have people who depend on me and a second chance at life. This time, I will not let everyone down.’ Bytra thought.
“I knew you would make it!” Zoreth roared.
She was so happy that she would dance with joy if not for the too many witnesses.
“How do you feel and what about the madness?”
“I feel horrible, inside and outside. As for the madness, it’s still there but its hold over me has lessened. I don’t know if I will ever be completely free from it, but right now, I’m aware of two things. First, I’m no more a threat to my allies, and second, I’m starving.” Bytra said.
“We’re done here. Let’s get you something to- What the heck?” When Zoreth folded her wings and turned around, she discovered why the members of the Red Gorgon cartel had stopped yelling for a while.
They were no longer sitting on the stands, but kneeling with their heads and hands on the ground.
“What are you doing?” Bytra asked while her hair still whipped around as if it was alive.
“We’ve witnessed the power and the mercy of the gods today.” Wern spoke in a soft, deferent whisper.
He felt unworthy of speaking to the two deities, yet not answering them would have been even more disrespectful.
Bytra twirled her forefinger at her temple, suggesting that their guests had gone mad.
“The Shadow Dragon clan swears its undying loyalty to you, my liege. Our lives are yours to take.”
“Shadow Dragon clan? Gods? Now I understand why Dad stays cooped up in the castle all day.” Zoreth told Bytra with an air spell, to not let anyone else hear her.
“And you dared say that you’re not beautiful. You’re a god now.” Bytra giggled in reply.
“You’ll never let me hear the end of this, don’t you?” Zoreth said with a sigh.
“Nope. Now invite me to dinner. We have many things to celebrate tonight.”
***
Griffon Kingdom, Kellar region, inside Lith’s tower a few months later.
For once, life seemed to have listened to Lith’s plea and nothing big had happened ever since his fight with Dawn. It had given him the opportunity to spend a lot of time with his now many nieces and nephews, with Selia, and his own family.
Thanks to the fact that he finished his rounds early, he always had a lot of free time that he could use to catch up with both his old and new allies while also assessing his gains.
After finishing the academy and coming of age, Lith had joined the army in the hope of finding some clues about how to solve his reincarnation problem. Gaining merits with the army had given him the chance to access all the books he needed for his research.
He had chosen to become a Ranger to always work alone and the Kellar region as his patrol area after asking Kalla for advice. The region was rich in lost cities that had allowed him to further study cursed objects and explore the possibility of binding his soul to an item.
Also, it was the motherland of the Odi, notorious body snatchers and the forefathers of Lichhood. On paper, it was the perfect place to find a way to either swap his dying body with a new one or at least gain further insight on Liches, the allegedly perfect undead.
Lith would have never thought of actually meeting, fighting, and interacting with all of them, even befriending a Lich named Zolgrish. That or whatever such raving mad undead passed as friendship.
During those two years, Lith had gained a lot and learned even more. He now was sure that turning himself into a cursed object was impossible. Just like it happened for corpses when they were risen as greater undead, the Living Legacies had a mind, if not a soul, of their own.
On top of that, Lichhood had lost most of its luster after noticing how mad each one of them became, even Kalla who was barely halfway through the process wasn’t an exception.
Discovering that Liches couldn’t get too far away from their phylactery without losing their powers had been the final nail in the coffin.
His visit in Kulah had given Lith the means to replicate the workings of the Odi, of which he had personally experienced their performance, and opened more questions about Mogar’s role in his world tribulations.
Lith had never planned on meeting someone like Kamila, who he initially considered just a fling, nor to reconnect with Protector, or meeting Nalrond. His relationship with Kamila had grown slowly but steadily since their first date, to the point that she was aware of both his hybrid and Awakened nature.
She was only unaware of Lith being from Earth and of Solus’s existence, making her the only person outside his family with whom he had been completely honest and who didn’t rip his secrets out of his mind.
Protector had helped him a lot to grow as both a man and a mage, introducing Lith to Faluel. As for Nalrond, Lith had at first spared him only on Solus’s whim, but after the Rezar had helped to save Rena’s children and had offered to teach him Light Mastery, Lith had started caring for him.
Mostly because Nalrond was his only lead about Fringes, mystical places where he could speak with Mogar. Such knowledge, coupled with Light Mastery, made the Rezar a priceless asset.
Lith was sitting at his desk while contemplating the lost academy of Huryole from one of the tower’s windows. Now that Solus’s mana core had reached the deep cyan core, she had unlocked the second floor of the mage tower.
“This is our last opportunity to raid the academy and get our hands on that sweet Forge made of Davross. Once we are done with the army, we’ll lose our privileges.” Lith said.
“Well, we’ve raided it more than a hundred times, yet we have found the Forgemastering lab only once, when we took the Runesmithing booklet.” Solus said. “Also, if we stumble again into the Emerald Dragon, we might die.”
“I love the smell of pessimism in the morning.” Lith chuckled at her lack of enthusiasm.
“Look at the bright side. We’ve yet no idea how to remove the Davross Forge from the ground, we don’t speak the draconic language so we have no way to communicate with the Dragon, and we’re relying solely on dumb luck for Huryole’s maze to rearrange itself in a convenient way.”
“What bright side are you talking about? What you said sounded like the recipe for a disaster.” Solus said.
“Because it is. The bright side is that after our honorable discharge, we’re done cleaning other people’s mess, be they past, present, or future. Our apprenticeship with Faluel will take place on our terms and once we’re part of the Beast’s Council, we’ll be free to go wherever we want and do whatever we want.” Lith steepled his fingers, planning what he considered the last steps of his journey.
12/19/2020: extra chapters
