Chapter 3719: Perfect Kingdom (Part 2)
Chapter 3719: Perfect Kingdom (Part 2)
Anger rose in the Thunder Griffon’s voice and spread like wildfire to the rest of the Griffons.
"No." Tyris winced in pain at the mention of her wayward and strangely untraceable son. "He’s blameless this time. This is about what some of you did and what others attempted to do to one of us."
Most of the Griffons furrowed their brows at her words, but a few of them widened their eyes in understanding.
"As you have noticed, some of us aren’t here today." Tyris said. "A few months ago, the contact runes of a handful of your siblings disappeared at the same time, and more did in the following days.
"Now that Kamila Verhen’s second pregnancy is public knowledge, I can reveal to you that those Griffons didn’t die in a freak accident while working together on a powerful artifact. They attacked Kamila Verhen with the intention to kill her.
"Unfortunately for them, she was already pregnant. You can easily imagine the rest."
Gasps and whispers commenting on that piece of news echoed through the cave until the Mother of All Griffons gestured to her children for silence.
"I wasn’t on shift that day. Leegaain captured your fellow Griffons and passed them to Salaark for interrogation. With each name they revealed, more Griffons were apprehended, interrogated, and executed when no longer useful to the investigation.
"I was there every step of the process. I didn’t plead for their lives, and even if my fellow Guardians might have been willing to let those traitorous Griffons live, I’d have executed them myself."
The murmurs rose into worried arguments, and this time, Tyris didn’t stop them.
"Why did you go to such a length, Mother?" Asked a Fire Griffon, voicing what many were thinking.
"Because their motive was sickening!" Rage and spite twisted Tyris’ lovely features. "Their plan, if you can call it that, was to make Lith Vehren into a widower, so that our common pain would bring us closer.
"Those heartless monsters planned to do to Vehren what Arthan has done to me, and all because I haven’t chosen a new husband yet. They wanted to make Verhen available for the role, in the hope that the Tiamat and our Griffon bloodline would mix.
"To bring more of you into Mogar and maybe even give life to a new species that holds the powers of all the Guardians of Garlen! For that, an innocent woman had to die, and a man had to lose his heart.
"Those Griffons whose names I now expunge from our records dared attempt such monstrosity in my name! I couldn’t forgive or understand such foolish behavior, and the only answer was death.
"I haven’t informed you until now because I couldn’t risk someone among you revealing the pregnancy to the rest of Mogar. I couldn’t alert any other idiot left among you who might pursue such a revolting plan.
"I wanted to find all those whose hearts have become twisted and rotten beyond salvation and put them down like the rabid monsters they are. Now, however, there’s no point in secrecy. I also want to tell you that killing Kamila Verhen won’t get you anywhere.
"I know your plan, and would rather spend the rest of my life atoning for such a crime than playing the role you’ve decided for me. If you want to make me happy, mind your own business.
"Ruin any life just to play matchmaker, and I’ll stay a widow for the rest of my life. Is that clear?"
The Griffons nodded to her before turning to their neighbors and discussing the news. Some pointed out the foolishness of their dead kin. A few admitted to having heard talk about the plan, but had dismissed it as stupid talk.
Everyone else just noticed Tyris was angry and kept it to themselves.
"Which brings us to the second point of this meeting." She said once the room fell silent again. "A few days ago, there was another attempt. This time not on Kamila Verhen’s life, but on Valeron the Second, the son of Thrud Griffon.
"Fourteen Awakened waited until the baby boy was alone with Lith Verhen and then demanded that he forsake Valeron. When Verhen refused, the Awakened tried to kill him and the baby. I’m telling you this because among those Awakened there were Fae, humans, Lesser Dragons, Phoenixes, Leviathans, and even Fenrirs.
"Yet what pains me the most is that many Lesser Griffons were involved in that abomination. The only silver lining is that no full blooded Griffon raised their hand against their own kin, and I can’t express how thankful I am to all of you for that.
"Still, on that day, Valeron’s innocence was robbed and his happiness destroyed. Please, do not to try anything that might harm that poor baby, no matter what you might feel about his mother.
"If you do, I won’t stop you. You know I can’t. All I can do is tell you it would make me disappointed in you. I know the horrors Thrud perpetrated. She was the daughter of the accursed Arthan, the man who took away the love of my life!
"Many times I thought of ripping her head off and bleeding her like game, but I didn’t. Thrud Griffon wasn’t her father, and I couldn’t burden her with Arthan’s crimes. She was mad like him, but with a different kind of madness.
"While Arthan only sought immortality, Thrud wanted to make the Kingdom prosper. Her methods were inhuman and would have cost thousands of lives, but not even I could argue with her results.
"She brought to life new Divine Beasts by awakening the Guardian blood in your lesser siblings, something everyone had given up upon. Thrud also tried to undo the fall of many races and gave birth to the Doppelgangers.
"She paved the way for changes that until that moment were considered impossible, and now her work is bearing immense, bloodless fruits. Yet the real reason I never helped the current Royals, the descendants of my beloved Valeron, is another.
"Thrud turned the west side of the Kingdom into a utopia. Sure, it was a dream paid with the blood of criminals and the less fortunate, but a dream nonetheless. During her rule, she uprooted all the corruption.
"She remade the west side of the Kingdom, wiping out in months the horrors caused in centuries by her incompetent predecessor. Her people were safe, happy, healthy, and well fed. Nobles worked for the good of their subjects and didn’t exploit the law to fill their own pockets.
"Had she won the war, Thrud would have done the same for the east side. She would have bloodied her hands to build Valeron the First’s dream. After that, she planned to leave the perfect Kingdom to Valeron the Second and let herself die to be reunited with her beloved Jormun.
"An immortal white core was willing to sacrifice everything not for herself, but for my people and her son. She was going to undo all the mistakes the descendants of my Valeron made. To bear the burden of all the hard decisions so that her Valeron wouldn’t have to.
"To give the perfect king the perfect Kingdom."
Tyris took a pause to let her children mull over her words.