Even after Invigoration restored Tista’s lost strength, it had no effect on the now-healthy areas with missing feathers.
“What if I’m crippled? What if it takes me days or months to heal?” Tista caressed her wings, finding them so tender and swollen that they couldn’t stand even her own touch.
“Don’t worry. Worst case scenario, we can ask Grandma for help. I bet that you are not the first Phoenix that got hurt.” Solus replied.
Tista nodded and folded the wings into her back, wincing in pain. Bleeding wounds opened on either side of her spine and there was no way to mend them.
“Open up! We need food and rest.” Solus yelled at the top of her lungs to be heard by the guards on top of the battlements.
‘Back when Lith lost his hair, he was in a similar condition but sleeping accelerated its regrowth. Let’s hope that the same works for Tista’s feathers.’ She thought while the soldiers and the Head Healer mumbled between them.
It took them a few minutes to make a decision and open the city doors.
“Welcome back to Ne’sra. We are glad to see that you’ve made it back in one piece. Captain Neforce at your service.” He gave them the salute but ignores the hands that were offered to him.
“Don’t worry about your injured friend. I took the liberty to contact the White Griffon academy and prepare a Warp Gate that will lead you there. Please, follow me.”
Captain Neforce was polite, but he failed to hide the edge in his voice. He had arranged for them an honor guard comprised of soldiers on the streets and mages flying in the sky to escort them to their destination.
Yet judging from the tense expressions on their faces and the terrified gazes of the citizens around them, Solus felt as if they were dangerous criminals who had just been arrested.
“I appreciate your thoughtfulness, but this is unnecessary. We can move on our own and any decent hotel will do.” Actually, Solus had to leave due to her energy reserves running low yet she wanted to make sure that the paranoia she had developed after spending years in Lith’s mind wasn’t playing her tricks.
The Captain nodded, but he never stopped moving forward.
“I’m glad to hear that you are fine but I have to ask you to leave Ne’sra as soon as possible for your own good and ours.” He replied.
“Are you kicking us out?” Nyka’s eyes went wide in surprise. “For the gods’ sake why? These two are war heroes and the three of us just risked our lives to defend your city.”
“I’m not kicking you out. Not yet.” He sighed deeply while the soldiers tightened the grip on their weapons. “It’s just that, as you have been told earlier, Ne’sra is currently understaffed.
“We are grateful to you for saving us from those monsters, but if you stay here, the riot that will follow might do just as much damage.”
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“Why should people riot because of us?” Solus asked.
“Because the destruction you see around here, the same cracks in the walls that put our lives in danger is the work of Beasts and your friend is one of them.” He waved at the collapsed buildings, the cracked streets, and the many building sites around them.
“That’s the work of Thrud’s beasts!” Tista countered. “Also, I’m still as human as you-“
A wild cough shook her to the bone, forcing her to stop walking as she doubled over in pain. Tista used her best healing spells and even Invigoration, but the pain only got worse by the second.
When she started coughing blood, Solus used her breathing technique, Sky Blessing to understand what was happening.
“By my Mom, Tista, shapeshift. Quick!”
The young woman did as bidden, showing a face full of scales and a row of fangs in her mouth. As she unfolded her wings, the mages took aim, ready to shoot at the first sign of aggression.
What happened, instead, was that the Red Demon’s body squirmed and her mouth dilated as she puked her guts out. Whole and broken bones alike came out of her throat along with pieces of a skull and a still whole eye.
Tista kept hurling until her stomach emptied of every piece of the Warg she had devoured. The earlier pain had been caused by the long bones and the sharp pieces tearing her stomach apart.
The bystanders gasped in horror, many of them turned green and puked no less than the Red Demon.
As for Tista, healing the new wounds further sapped her strength. She shivered in shock, feeling like the monster everyone believed she was.
‘Good gods, what have I done?’ She remained on all fours with her eyes fixated on the remains of the Warg. ‘Back then I was so angry that I acted on instinct. If it wasn’t for my sturdy enhanced body, I would have died the moment I returned to human size.’
She could see her corpse laying in a bloody pool, right beside the Warg’s skull.
‘Is this what waits for me if my life forces merge like it happened to Lith? Will I lose my humanity and have no qualms eating my enemies while they are still alive like an animal?’
“No, Lady Verhen, you are not human.” Captain Neforce shook his head, his words reinforcing her doubts and shame. “Humans have no scales, wings, nor do they eat monsters whole. On top of that, there is the matter of the Golden Knight.”
He turned toward Solus offering her a polite bow in apology.
“Half of the city hates beasts for the people they have killed and the damage they have inflicted while the other half can’t stand Supreme Magus Verhen and the Golden Knight.
“The Deirus region neighbors with Thrud’s territories. Many of us had relatives and friends there who died by your hand during the war, Lady Verhen.”
“Long story short, all of Ne’sra hates us.” Solus nodded in understanding. “How curious that none of this came up when we were working in your hospitals, healing the very same people that now want to get rid of us.”
“That’s because you made it clear that you wanted to keep a low profile and your friend here was wise enough to keep her human appearance. Now, however, everyone knows the truth about her, and the monster horde you brought here caused several casualties.”
“We did no such thing!” Nyka said in outrage. “The monsters came here on their own and we risked our lives to defend you.”
“Maybe. Or maybe you have just fixed a mess that you created. I was on the battlements when you were talking with that Balor, Lady Verhen. You two seemed to know each other. How can we be sure that they didn’t come to Ne’sra for you?”
Solus opened her mouth to reply but no word came out. She wanted to tell Neforce that the monsters’ goal had been the mana geyser and that if they reached it, they would have become much more dangerous.
Yet revealing the truth would only expose the crimes of a member of the Council and cause mass hysteria.
