Lith took a deep breath, looking Phloria straight in the eyes as his inner turmoil tore him apart. He wanted to tell her everything, yet he couldn't. Lith didn't have the strength to handle the rejection in the case Phloria pushed him away after learning about his Abomination origin.
If she accepted him anyway, just like she had done four years back at the academy and two years later at Jirni's birthday party, it would have been more than he could take. Dealing with Kamila and Solus was already hard, adding Phloria to the mix would have been just cruel.
Even worse, it would mean putting her before his girlfriend and prove that Phloria had been right when she had accused him to use her as a guinea pig. To observe her reaction to his ugliest secrets and use the collected data to decide whether or not to share them with Kamila as well.
That Phloria had been right when she had accused him to keep her as a replacement in the case his current relationship ended.
"I'd really like some company." Lith sent War to the Mirror Hall. The blade needed to remain outside the pocket dimension to recover its strength, but he couldn't endanger Phloria's life by keeping it around.
She sat beside him, pulling Lith into an embrace he offered no resistance to until his cheek rested on her shoulder. Phloria could feel that something about him had changed. His body, his aura, even the spark in Lith's eyes was different.
Yet she just kept him tight until his heart calmed down.
"You know that you can tell me everything, right?" Phloria said.
"I know." Lith said, grateful for the long silence that followed. Her blind trust and acceptance were the first yet also the last thing he needed in that moment, causing him a bittersweet emotion.
***
The skies of Jiera, right after Lith's tribulation had ended.
Now that Mogar had released the consciousness of the Guardians from their grip, Tyris found her mouth full of Leviathan's neck. Fenagar had just come to his senses as well and didn't dare to move a muscle.
Even though all of his injuries had perfectly healed, in such a precarious position all it took Tyris to rip his neck off was but a twist of her beak. The construct trapping him was still there and the pause had even allowed her to recharge her Life Maelstrom.
"You disgust me." Tyris let the Leviathan go, staring at him with spite.
"Even that jackass of Roghar is better than you. How could you stand the destruction of not one, but two civilizations and not lift a finger?"
Fenagar would have liked to reply that he didn't care one bit of a bunch of flies that would die before he had the time to blink one of his serpentine eyes and that his love for research wasn't limited to his own.
Kolga had taught him a great deal about how to create unliving beings and even about how to handle Decay magic. Kogaluga, instead, had taught him how to dispose of the Chaos magic in a productive way.
The Father of all Leviathans had long been interested in the secrets of life and death and the two lost cities had allowed him to study both at the same time. Yet his interest didn't go so far that he was willing to experience firsthand what happened to a Guardian after their death so he remained silent.
"There has been too much death today to add one more corpse. Moreover, if Jiera lost one of his Guardians, the Master would surely claim your land as his own and become an even bigger threat than he already is.
"I have a lost city to destroy and land to cleanse. Farewell. Pray that we shall not meet ever again." Tyris dispelled the construct and turned her back to Fenagar without waiting for an answer.
Going back to Garlen took her an instant since Leegaain and Salaark were already there. The mind link they shared made conjuring a Warp Gate even at such a distance child's play.
Tyris appeared right in front of Kogaluga, the undead city. Without the Hands of Menadion and the Forbidden Sun fueling it, the rift had started to close. She crossed the barrier that sealed the city and walked towards the source of the Necromantic energy, destroying everything on her path.
'The good news is that this batch of undead will be the last. The bad news is that if I don't clear it myself, the next time the Ranger in charge of the Kellar region comes here, he will think that Kogaluga's cleansing is his doing.
'He would claim the glory that belongs to others and there would be no way to deny it without explaining things that are best left forgotten.' She thought while looking at the rift in the sky that shrunk as the darkness fueling it ran dry.
'This way, I can give the credit for the cleansing to Lith and mess with Deirus's plans without directly interfering in the Kingdom's matters.'
***
Lith clung to Phloria until it was clear that any longer and they would have both fallen asleep due to exhaustion and to the comfort that they took from each other. It would make things beyond awkward and add one secret too many they would have to keep.
Phloria left his room and went to check on Tista before going to bed.
Lith retrieved War who seemed to still be on cloud nine. He could feel its emotions via their blood bond that allowed them to communicate without a mind link.
'Thanks for your help today.' War had no concept of gratitude and ignored those words. The blade had a purpose and it was happy to follow it to the bitter end of others.
'Again.' It said.
'What do you mean, again? Don't you remember what happened to me? How many died at your Adamant today?' Lith replied.
'Again.' War's pleading voice reminded Lith of a dog offering its master a ball for it to catch.
'I guess that's what you feel when your pet brings you the carcass of a small animal as a present. No matter how disgusting it is, you have to accept it.' Lith inwardly sighed.
'I would gladly leave today with the tower warp, but I'm an a.d.u.l.t and I've got a duty to fulfill.'
A duty to his wallet, of course. Lith had yet to get paid for his services and no amount of trauma was enough to make him work for free.
After a long evening and night of sleep, Lith went to the mayor's office to collect his due. Xoth the Nue was so happy with the results of the mission that he gave Lith all six Adamant ingots instead of the four he had earned.
Lith had bargained for two ingots for each mystery he solved and even though he didn't provide any explanation for how Kolga controlled the mana geyser, Xoth didn't care.
"Are you sure you don't want to stay for a bit longer? You and your companions are Reghia's heroes and there's still much you can do for our city." The Nue said.
"Damn sure. I want to go home as soon as possible. Don't contact me until everything is ready for our departure."
