Chapter 4576: Peace is Poison (Part 2)
Chapter 4576: Peace is Poison (Part 2)
The Mogar-Silverwing sat with her legs crossed at a finely carved cherrywood table and sipped a tea brew that smelled like the First Magus’ favorite. She also wore an alabaster-white day dress that under those circumstances was a mockery of Silverwing’s condition.
"Lizard? How is Leegaain involved in all this?" The First Magus asked in confusion.
"Leegaain is one of the biggest and strongest lizards I know, but he’s far from being the only interesting one." Mogar’s upper lip curled up in annoyance. "We both know you wouldn’t be here if not for Ajatar, so I consider him responsible for this meeting."
Silverwing was about to ask Mogar if she still followed and observed the First Magus’ every move when she remembered the green pillar that had assisted her in reaching her apex form.
’Of course she knows. My evolution must have triggered ripples in the world energy, and Mogar decided to help me after noticing them.’ She thought.
"Indeed." Mogar nodded. "Don’t flatter yourself, Lochra. You’re just one of the many humans on my surface. I don’t bother following you around anymore. If I’m being honest, after a millennium of nothing, I had lost hope this day would ever come."
"Just a human?" Silverwing snorted in outrage. "I’m Lochra Silverwing, the First Magus and one of the few living white cores. I’ve achieved a lot, and done even more for my fellow humans.
"Even disregarding my contributions in the development of your beloved races, we’ve known each other for almost a thousand years. How can you still treat me with so much contempt after all this time?"
"How could I not, you mean?" Mogar-Silverwing pushed her wicker chair back and stood up, twirling slowly in front of the First Magus. "One thousand years and I still look like this whenever you enter my Mindspace."
A snap of her fingers conjured a gilded-framed mirror that reflected Silverwing’s human appearance for a few seconds before disappearing. Much to the First Magus’ dismay, there was no difference between her and Mogar’s projection.
Silverwing still didn’t consider her apex form as a part of herself. Her manifestation in the Mindspace still bore the appearance of her younger self back when she had yet to Awaken and took part in the Spring Festival with her parents.
"One thousand years and you’re still the only person you care about." Mogar snarled. "If you truly loved and cherished Elphyn Menadion as you so disgustingly often claim, I would look like her.
"Now that we’ve established how conceited you are, allow me to point out it’s been over eight hundred years since you’ve achieved the white core, yet look how little progress you’ve made as a mage.
"You’ve figured out your apex form solely because Lith Verhen’s Indech form revealed to you that humans can evolve, and Ajatar’s Sapphire Dragon form showed you how to achieve it. You still have no inkling about White Core Magic, let alone Guardian Magic.
"Or am I missing something, Lochra? Did the great Silverwing achieve something on her own while I wasn’t looking, or did you rest on your laurels since being crowned as Mogar’s First Magus?"
"No, you’re right about everything." Silverwing lowered her head in shame.
Everything Mogar said was the truth. The only thing the First Magus may have objected to was that she hadn’t quite rested on her laurels. Silverwing had never stopped researching and studying magic, but after achieving the white core, time had lost meaning.
Instead of focusing on her experiments like in the old days, she had preferred travelling the world and doing all those things she had always postponed because there was only so much time in each day and she wanted to make the best of it.
Now she was timeless, and there would be no end to her days. Her prolonged personal peace and the lack of a reason to give her all had dulled her edge and quelled her drive.
She had become the kind of person she mockingly called a "hobby mage" in her younger years. Someone who practiced the mystical arts because they could, not because they had a clear purpose or passion for what they did.
"Peace is poison, child." Mogar’s expression and voice softened. "You may be immortal, but time waits for no one. While you had your fun travelling and your talent stagnated, other people reached new heights."
A wave of her hand conjured the images of Raum, Tezka, Lith, and Scarlett.
"By detaching yourself from the rest of the world, you’ve also forfeited anything worth protecting. You’re still the fighter you were, but now you stand for nothing. Without a cause, you have become a well-armed traveler, but still a traveler. You depart every place you visit as you found it, leaving no trace of your passage."
"How did Tyris do at my age?" Silverwing used the First Guardian as a metric because white cores had to learn everything by themselves, whereas modern Guardians could rely on the first six of their kind for guidance.
"Please, there’s no comparison." Mogar snorted. "Tyris started traveling around Mogar less than a century after becoming a Guardian. She fought creatures who had plagued my lands and slaughtered my children for eons before she was born, killing those she could and forcing the rest to stop treating entire continents as their playgrounds.
"Tyris brought change wherever she went, but she was humble enough never to be the driving force behind it. She ensured those who had the skill and will to do it lived long enough to have their chance at greatness, and they did the rest.
"This way, people learned that talent and hard work pay off instead of sitting on their thumbs while waiting for the next heaven-sent prodigy. She picked the worthy ones like you were supposed to do, Lochra."
"Me?" Silverwing’s eyes widened. "Was I supposed to become a Guardian like Yaga?"
"You? A Guardian?" Mogar laughed so hard and for so long that the First Magus’ face flushed with anger in the real world and the Mindscape both. "Order and Chaos, no. Back when you Awakened, a few of my friends and I placed bets on that.
"Mind you, no one thought you would ever become a Guardian. We bet on how many tribulations it would take for you to die. I was all in on the first tribulation. I mean..." Mogar waved at her current appearance without bothering to finish the phrase.
"Then what does that mean?" Silverwing grunted.
"Don’t play coy with me." Mogar tutted. "You know how this works. Do you have any more questions before we start the trial by combat?"
"We can start. If anything else comes to my mind, I’ll tell you." The First Magus nodded, and Mogar conjured a prismatic sphere beside her.
Silverwing moved forward just enough to trigger the sphere and reveal its hidden nature, but not enough to draw its aggression.
The creature released by the prismatic orb looked like Silverwing’s apex form, but it had six wings, each of a different elemental color instead of two covered with pristine feathers.
The mirror image looked at its original with scorn and spite, like a pompous professor sizing up a first-year student.
"Gods, am I really such a prick?" She asked.
"You tell me." Mogar highlighted her current appearance again.