Supreme Magus

Chapter 4517: Diminished (Part 1)

"I’d rather we stay by Althika’s side." Baba Yaga Hushed the Dryad to ensure nothing would disturb her rest. "She’s not going to listen to a word anyway."

"I’m okay with that. Solus, do you mind joining us?"

"What’s the matter?" She came out of the stone ring.

"I need to share a few things with you guys. With all of you." Lith offered his hands, and the others formed a circle to complete the mind link.

He showed them everything that had happened from his point of view. He started with the voices in his head, then shared what he had seen with Spirit Vision and learned from it, to his combined use of Dread and Scourge Flames.

"Order and Chaos, I’d call the Vurdalak’s life force an abomination, but that would be demeaning to all Abominations and even Eldritches!" Salaark snarled. "That’s a monstrosity, Yaga.

"Something not even the worst Forbidden Magic I’ve ever encountered ever did. How is that possible?"

"I believe it’s thanks to the combination of Meln’s multiple bloodlines and the nigh-immortality Night bestows upon him." The Crone shapeshifted into her Mother form. "Without Meln, Night’s experiment would’ve failed, yet without her, he wouldn’t have survived the procedure.

"As you called it, Salaark, it’s a monstrosity born out of opportunity and unusual circumstances."

"That’s not what I wanted to show you, though." Lith replied. "It was just the context you needed to understand this."

He replayed how he had needed the Scourge Flames to purge Orpal’s essence and Dread Flames to cleanse the Vurdalak life force.

"As I see it, Scourge Flames are the equivalent of darkness magic for a healer. They can only destroy, true, but they are also the only means you have to get rid of a parasite.

"Meln’s essence was so intertwined with Althika’s life force that the Dread Flames alone couldn’t destroy one without killing the other. Scourge Flames, instead, ignited only Meln’s essence. No matter where it moved or how deep it hid.

"The Scourge Flames never lost track of their target. I limited their movement with Dread Flames because I didn’t want the parasite to ravage Althika’s body in its futile attempts to escape, but Scourge Flames could have done it on their own."

"Following your parallel, Dread Flames are healing magic, instead." Leegaain nodded. "They clean the wound, sew it closed, and remove the infection, but their effect depends on the patient fighting the infection.

"Like when you cleansed Raum’s lab. The world energy and the lingering souls were struggling to get free, and the Dread Flames cleansed them. If they had been infected with a malignant soul that spread and fueled the corruption, you would have needed Scourge Flames to burn the malignant soul first."

"Exactly." Lith nodded. "I wanted to show this to you, Grandpa, because you’re the greatest expert on Origin Flames I know."

"What about me?" Salaark grunted.

"No offense, Grandma, but I’ve never heard anything about you having anything close to a Father of Fire. As far as I know, the only purification you deal with is the treatment of the ingredients for your Forgemastery.

"Not a single Phoenix ever offered to teach me anything, whereas Valtak came to me and explained that he just upheld the tradition Grandpa established."

"Point taken." She sighed.

"I wanted to share everything also with you and Yaga because I hope you can help me understand my abilities so that if you ever need them, I can help you."

"That’s a lovely thought, child." The Mother gave him a perfect curtsy. "I’ll do what I can."

"And so will I, Featherling." Salaark ruffled his hair. "I’m proud of you. You may have inherited the elements of destruction from us, but you employ them to rid Mogar of what can’t be saved or doesn’t want to be saved."

’Thanks for being close to me yet giving me my space, Solus.’ Lith said via the mind link. ’I didn’t know how much I needed to make that decision on my own until I did.’

’Don’t mention it.’ She replied, giving him the telepathic equivalent of a hug. ’Fate sure has a twisted sense of humor. The very day you decided to forgive Trion, you also had to face a similar decision regarding Meln’s son.’

’Do you think this might be Mogar’s doing?’ Lith went full paranoia, but even he couldn’t see a connection between the two events.

’Mogar doesn’t care about something this small.’ Solus pondered. ’Besides, that would require her to have somehow manipulated all the events since the day Meln attacked Bornar. That’s a lot of work, and for what?

’Mogar doesn’t get anything out of this, and there were too many factors involved. Althika might have made a different decision, and so could you. There were infinite possible outcomes. Too many to control them all.

’Also, you are the one who made the final decision. Did you feel any external influence?’

’I wish.’ Lith inwardly sighed. ’I’ve never been so conflicted in my whole life. I wanted to ask your advice, Kami’s, and even Mom’s, but I knew the responsibility of everything that came next was going to be mine.

’Putting that burden on your shoulders would have been cruel. I was alone, Solus. More than I’ve ever been since the day we met.’

’This settles it, then.’ She nodded. ’Back to the problem. Assuming that we can explain everything properly to the grown-ups and things don’t blow up in our faces, what do we tell the kids?’

’That’s one decision I’m glad that I don’t have to take alone.’ Lith replied. ’Grandma and Grandpa will help us, and so will our parents. Also, if you are listening to this, Mogar, feel free to chime in. I can use an extra hand.’

Only silence ensued. Mogar was aware of every speck of dust on its surface. The planet knew where it had originated, how it had reached its current position, and where it would probably land next.

Yet it didn’t alter even such a trivial outcome. Even producing a gust of wind would have triggered a domino effect that would have affected many other events until lives were lost.

So Mogar kept spinning like usual, hoping that someone else would stop the speck of dust and prevent the next domino tile from falling.

***

Jiera Continent, Maneka Region, fortress of Nareka, at the same time.

A piercing pain woke the Dead King from his peaceful slumber. His blood seemed to have burst into flames, and not the corrupted flames that bestowed power and strength upon him. It was real, scorching fire that burned everything in its path.

’What’s wrong with me? What’s happening?’ Meln used his breathing technique, Birthright, to check on his body, and when he found nothing wrong, he stirred Night awake.

’You’re fine, and so am I.’ She replied. ’If anything bad were happening, my regenerative enchantments would have kicked in, and I would know. Nothing is wrong, and our breathing techniques just confirmed it.’

’Then why- Gods!’ Orpal clenched his chest as the pain rose in intensity, as if someone had stabbed him with a sword and twisted it in the wound before pulling it out.

He felt as if he had a gaping, bleeding hole in his body, yet on the surface everything looked fine.