Chapter 4059: Far-Reaching Consequences (Part 2)
Chapter 4059: Far-Reaching Consequences (Part 2)
"If it weren’t for me, she would have died three years ago, and this would have never happened. I should have killed Night the moment she bonded with Meln.
"I shouldn’t have underestimated her madness and malice. Yet she was my child. I hoped I could still redeem her. I just wanted to teach her a lesson. I never meant to bring so much pain on you all."
"Please, Malyshka, don’t stay on the doorstep. Come in." Raaz said, shrugging off the flashes of his own son torturing him in the Hogum Mansion. "I know how you feel. Sometimes I think I made a mistake sending Meln away.
"That I should have kept him here and disposed of him personally."
"Raaz!" Elina went pale, thanking the gods that the children had already left for the morning classes.
"It’s the truth, and I won’t hide from it." He shook his head. "Yet, I also know that back the,n Meln was still my child. Even if I could go back in time, I don’t think I would have the strength to punish him for something he hasn’t done yet.
"You are a parent as well, so I can’t criticize you for doing what you thought was best, just like I did."
"Thank you, Raaz, but I’m much older and more powerful than you." The Mother lowered her eyes in shame. "This is not my first mistake. I know that my actions always have far-reaching consequences. I should have known better."
"Couldn’t you keep a Home Stone or a Firstborn here?" Jirni asked. "It would make your return quicker."
"A Home Stone is no Warp Gate." Baba Yaga replied. "Past a certain distance, it’s useless. As for my Firstborns, they are their own people. They are not at my beck and call.
"Besides, during the day, they are helpless humans. Anyone, even a random thug, could kill them, let alone one of Meln’s goons if he spots them. I’ve already lost a son to my daughter’s madness. I won’t endanger another one of my children."
"Hello, there-" Zoreth walked through the door and almost bumped into Yaga. "Is everything alright?"
"Sort of." Solus sighed. "Let’s go. We have a lot to do."
A snap of her fingers Warped them at the tower.
Ajatar was already inside, arranging everything he needed for his lab and gene-tank. With the Mana Injector taking the lion’s share of the world energy, he had only the Hands of Menadion to power up his devices.
"Hey, I needed that!" He yelled when the artifact disappeared from his grasp.
"Sorry! Tower Warp takes a lot of juice." Solus said. "I’ll return the Hands to you as soon as we’re done. In the meantime, do some theoretical work."
"This is Dragon Greed to the next level." He grumbled. "They are stingy even with the world energy they gather from Mogar for free!"
"Hey, I’ve heard that!" Solus yelled back. "I’m not stingy. It’s not my fault if we are short on power and need the Hands for everything. Have some patience."
"Speaking of the Hands, there’s something you should know." Zoreth said. "When I fought the Upyrs in Lutia, I discovered that I can combine the enchantments of Sky Piercer with my human eyes to resist the Vurdalak’s bloodline abilities.
"It drains quite a lot of power, but it will come in handy during future fights."
Then, she noticed that no one was surprised or showed any enthusiasm at the news.
"What’s with those blank faces? This is good news!"
"Yes and no." Lith replied. "It’s not a power of your eyes, but of your wings. We’ve discovered on our own that Swirling Wind splits the world energy from an Upyr’s corrupted life force. That’s good news."
"Swirling Wind? That’s why I felt my powers depleting. I can barely use any human power in Dragon form, so I must have consumed the elemental energy stored in my arms to fuel Swirling Wind." Zoreth pondered.
"That sounds right." Tista nodded. "Lith and I shapeshifted into Indeches to do it."
"While I can’t turn into my Arke form without help yet." The Shadow Dragon growled in frustration. "Thank the gods Sky Piercer worked as a crutch."
"Which brings us to the bad news." Lith said. "Bytra’s battle claw is starting to resemble the Hands of Menadion a bit too much."
"What are you implying?" Zoreth asked. "We never stole the artifact, nor did she exploit your trust to study it!"
"We know." Solus raised her hands in conciliation. "He’s just saying that the Master already has access to three pieces of the Menadion Set and that he doesn’t like the idea that the Organization gets a fourth."
"Why? We are friends and allies!"
"No, you are our friend, Big Sis." Lith replied. "I barely know a few members of the Organization, and I don’t trust them much. I respect the Master, but we hide too many things from each other to establish real trust between us."
Zoreth nodded and said nothing.
Lith had never shared his tower or the secret of Solus’ identity with Vastor, just like Vastor had never explained his goals and the means he used to achieve them to Lith.
"What’s the rush, training so soon? And why is the tower short on power?" She asked, eager to change the topic.
Lith then told her about his plan to reveal the Indech form after Friya’s wedding and his attempts to Awaken the Trawn Woods.
"It’s a good plan. Both of them are." Zoreth nodded. "What about the Drake? What is he doing here?"
"That’s not for me to say." Lith replied. "Ajatar has his own secrets. If you are curious about them, ask him yourself, but be ready to take a no for an answer."
***
Lith Warped to the Mansion just the time to pick up Ryla, Garrik, and Urhen. He always used tricks and precautions to keep them from seeing where he brought them and suspecting the existence of the tower.
After that, they returned to the Trawn Woods. Lith set the Mana Injector to enrich the soil and the Sentries from the Mirror Hall to patrol Lutia, so that he could intervene at a moment’s notice.
Two floors below, in a guest lab in the Forge, Ajatar used a spark of Life Maelstrom from Valeron the Second and his own breathing technique, Foresight, to stimulate his life force.
The silver lightning suppressed the imperfections in his life force while also bringing out the atrophied mana organs that Ajatar needed to develop in order to achieve Dragonhood.
On paper, the technique he had perfected after countless hours of training with Faluel gave him a detailed road map to success. In practice, however, things were much more complicated.
The mana flow strengthened by the Hands and Foresight had to be absorbed by the atrophied mana organs before it could move forward, and without it, Life Maelstrom was not so different from a strong tonic.
The silver lightning alone boosted Ajatar’s life force in its entirety. Only the mana flow allowed it to distinguish between imperfections and mana organs.
The Drake had to progressively awaken more atrophied organs to allow the Life Maelstrom to reveal the next stop of his research.