"I'm glad you'll take part in this journey, young Ernas. For too long the burden of responsibility has forced you to grow while worrying about others. To achieve true power, however, one must learn to be egotistical when needed."
Leegaain took a small wooden box out of his pocket dimension that contained four pins the size of a button.
"I am just lending them to you so I expect to get them back upon your return." He put one pin each on Tista's and Phloria's collar of their shirt, giving the remaining two to Lith.
"You should always remember that a hybrid counts double." Leegaain looked at Feela, but winked at Lith.
"What the?" All three of them suddenly had a splitting headache that brought them to their knees.
Countless words and idioms they had never heard before flashed into their minds, making them speak what sounded like gibberish but actually was a mix of dozens of different languages.
"A dimensional library of that size can be unpleasant at first, but you'll get used to it." Leegaain said.
"Dimensional libraries? Do they even exist?" Friya asked.
"Yes, child. Asking your friends to waste months to learn and practice multiple languages that they are going to use just for a few days would be beyond cruel. Each one of those pins holds the necessary knowledge to fluently speak all the languages on the Jiera continent." Leegaain loved seeing the thirst for knowledge burn in the eyes of youths.
"How is that even possible? I am a dimensional mage myself and so is my teacher, but I've never heard or even thought of such spell." Friya hogging his attention made Faluel, Feela, and Tyris scowl.
The Emperor Beasts because they found it improper for a youngling to address a Guardian in such a casual way, and Tyris because she knew that, with the right audience, Leegaain would talk non-stop for days.
"That's because you're a fake mage. Dimensional magic needs to be mixed with Spirit Magic to create a mind link with the storage space through a complex system like that the libraries use to index their books." Leegaain said.
"Are you saying that you can create mind links with things as well?" Friya knew what he was talking about because the Ernas's library used a similar device.
The thought that Spirit Magic, Forgemastery, and dimensional magic could work together in such wonderful ways reassured Friya to have made the right choice by not giving up on her apprenticeship with Faluel.
"Now step back and stay quiet. This might be rough." A wave of Leegaain's hand made everyone get away from him, leaving him enough space to turn into his true form.
His Dragon body now stood over thirty meters (100') tall, covered in black scales larger and thicker than a tower shield. Each one of his fingers looked like a pillar and ended in a claw bigger than an adult man.
His colossal size made it impossible to look at him as a whole from so up close, so they could only look at one limb at a time. Leegaain had burning yellow eyes with a vertical pupil, giving him a feral look only tempered by his calm.
He had dark bony protuberances on his head that resembled a crown, and a set of enormous membranous wings came out from his back.
The beat of his heart sounded like war drums and each breath he took produced gales so strong that Tyris had to conjure a barrier to protect her subjects from the unrestrained might of the Father of All Dragons.
A split second later, the air in front of Leegaain tore apart and a dimensional tunnel as big as the entire cave appeared. On the other end of the rift, a being of similar power and appearance scoffed his contempt.
"Took you long enough. Are you getting old or did you waste time with another of your ramblings?" Fenagar the Leviathan said.
His serpentine body lacked humanoid limbs and was covered in pristine white scales. Fenagar's size rivaled with Leegaain's and his ocean blue eyes were filled with fury and malice.
The resemblance went so far that he even had horns on his head that formed a crown, but made of golden curved bones that resembled fish hooks. On top of that, two massive horns came out from Fenagar's temples, giving the Leviathan a demonic look.
Gusts of ocean salty breeze blew from the portal, carrying the fury of a storm that only Leegaain's presence kept from sweeping all those present away. The heartbeat of the Dragon blocked the noise of the thunder just like his breath negated the wind, making the lair silent and safe.
"You're wrong as always, Fenagar. I just had to make sure that those poor souls wouldn't die out of the plague that your incompetence unleashed nor lose their minds trying to understand the gibberish that your people dares to call a language." Leegaain replied.
While the Guardians exchanged colorful insults, Lith noticed a couple of figures standing right behind the Leviathan on the other side of the dimensional rift.
"How long will they argue and who are those people?" Lith asked Feela, who in turn looked at Tyris.
"They'll go at it until they get bored. As for those people, they'll be your handlers on the other side of the ocean. Only Guardians can open such long-distance Warps and only the Council has the means to contact them." She said.
"There is more than one Council?" Tista's voice trembled at the idea.
"Each continent has its own Council just like it has its own Guardians." Tyris replied.
"Awakened like to keep things simple and care only about the places they can actually interact with. Each continent has different customs and languages, making travels impractical at best."
"Then why am I being sent there?" Lith asked and this time it was Faluel to reply.
"Because even though we don't know what you are exactly, you're still a hybrid. It stands to reason to assume that once you reach twenty years of age, you might be forced to choose between one of your three natures.
"Soon you'll be nineteen and I want you to experience first-hand how the Beasts' society works. Here on Garlen, it would take you too long to meet enough members of our race to understand how different our lifestyle is from the humans'.
"On Jiera, instead, the plague only affected the humans, giving the Beasts the opportunity to thrive and even establish their own country. I want you to go there and live like one of their own."
Faluel's kindness moved Lith. Even in his paranoia, he had always assumed that either his life forces would have merged or that he would remain human. The Hydra, instead, had taken failure into account and wanted him to experience both worlds in case he needed to make a choice.
"Except how to fight them, I know very little about Abominations, but I'm pretty sure that if you ask Xenagrosh she'll gladly give you a tour." Faluel said.
At those words, the Hydra's lair fell silent.
"I've heard about your lost daughter, Leegaain." Fenagar wore a cruel grin, enjoying the discomfort that name inflicted on the Dragon's face.
"After you failed her, I'm not surprised you're sending one of your hatchlings here. I'll take good care of him, better than you could ever do."
