Yet when Mogar had made her its offer, she had refused it, finding it no different from what the Odi wanted from her.
"I'm sorry, but I agree with Baba Yaga. I refused to become a Guardian as well because after all I did and all the horrible things I witnessed during my travels, I couldn't stand the idea of living an eternity of duty." The silver-haired woman said while looking at Tyris in the eyes.
"You're both wrong." Leegaain shook his head.
"We are not slaves and Mogar never forced us to do anything. I started hoarding knowledge back when I was still a Salamander and saving species on the verge of extinction back when I was still a Drake.
"To this day, I've yet to do as a Guardian something that I wouldn't have done if I remained an Emperor Beast. Becoming a Guardian doesn't mean to embrace shackles, far from it.
"It simply means to share with the rest of the world what you love the most not to indulge your ego or receive praises, but just because it makes everyone around you better for it.
"Like you did with undeath, or like Lochra Silverwing did by inventing the specializations and giving birth to the title of Magus. Magi are the closest thing to a Guardian that humans manage to become because they are too obsessed with themselves."
At that point, Baba Yaga felt that any more words wouldn't be a discussion anymore, just bickering. She Warped away, quickly followed by the Guardians, until only the silver-haired woman and Leegaain remained.
"It's not every day that the Lord of Wisdom seeks an audience with a humble mortal. How can I serve you, Master Leegaain?" She said without trying to conceal her chuckle.
"How many times do I have to tell you, Lochra? It isn't funny now just like it wasn't funny the first time we met. Why the heck are you on Jiera? Do you have any idea how difficult has it been to find you?" Leegaain didn't trust communication amulets and even he couldn't establish a mind link across an entire ocean.
Yet there was little that the combined might of the Guardians couldn't achieve. He had asked for peacemakers not because he thought they would need them, but to have the opportunity to establish a mind link with Lochra despite the distance separating them.
"Garlen has too many painful memories. I came here hoping to make some good, but so far, I failed. Despite my best efforts, the humans unleashed the plague before I could find a cure. It made me regret to have ever invented specializations." She sighed.
"It happens to the best of us. Slave collars still give me nightmares, but that's not the reason why I looked for you. I just wanted to tell you that a few years ago, I found Menadion's Desperation.
"She's on Jiera as well so if you want to meet her, this is the perfect occasion."
***
City of Reghia, Jiera continent.
Seeing Solus crying in her sleep made Lith worry for her, yet he couldn't afford to wake her up. He stood guard the entire time and when Tista woke up first, he stopped her before she could interrupt what she considered just a nightmare.
'Even if it's really a nightmare, it might reveal the circumstances that led Menadion to turn her apprentice into a hybrid.' Lith said via their mind link.
'Can't you fuse your minds and check up on her? It has been hours since Solus fell asleep and she keeps crying non-stop.' Tista said, worried sick about her friend.
'Dreams are a frail thing. A noise or a touch is enough to alter them, let alone the arrival of a foreign entity. A mind link would be akin to talking while mind fusion would share my memories with her.
'Both would cause Solus enough distress to interrupt her dream.' Lith replied.
He didn't even dare to hold Solus's hand, afraid that the physical contact might mess up with her memories. The moment she woke up, Solus started to cry even harder and was unable to speak for a while as Lith lulled her in his arms like a baby.
She shared her dream with him via their mind link and later she described it to Tista and Phloria. She considered some details to be too intimate to show them even her friends.
"So you're not just Menadion's apprentice but her daughter? That's even worse. How could your Mom do such a thing to you?" The revelation shocked Tista.
"Someone must have killed Solus." Lith said.
"When Protector was dying in front of me, I would have done anything to save him, just like I would have done anything, even use Forbidden Magic to save you or any member of our family.
"Back then I was just a student, whereas Menadion was already an Archmage and a Magus. She succeeded where I failed. Fusing Solus with the tower must have been a last-ditch attempt to save her life without compromising either of their life forces."
"Then why did Menadion abandon Solus? How could she leave her own daughter in such a predicament without saying a word?" Phloria said in outrage. For being a mage of proverbial wisdom, Menadion seemed to have acted like a jerk to her.
"That's not necessarily true. Menadion might have left Solus a message or maybe they even spent some time together after she fused Solus with the tower, but we'll never know because of Solus's amnesia.
"If it was me, I would have hunted down whoever was responsible and I would have done all I could to kill them." Lith said with his eyes brimming with mana and fury.
"If my Mom was anything like any of yours, I bet that she didn't wait to recover before going on the prowl." Solus sighed. "Especially if Dad died at the hands of my assailant or if we had already lost him to age or to an accident."
"I think you're right. My Mom didn't slaughter the entire Deirus household only because I'm still alive and because she has other children to take care of. But if something happened to Dad and she had nothing to lose anymore…" Phloria couldn't finish the sentence and shivered at the thought.
The day that Jirni Ernas lost what kept her human would probably make Balkor's anniversary look like a holiday. Unlike the Blood Magus, she had spent decades preparing for the worst, she had a vivid imagination and enough money to build an arsenal.
"Yeah." Tista nodded. "I bet that Mom would be willing to do anything, even to become an undead if it meant getting her revenge."
Once they managed to set aside such gloomy scenarios, they discussed the knowledge that Solus had acquired through her dream. The group moved to the tower's mines, hoping that at least one of the violet crystals had started to turn white.
Unfortunately, even the orc shaman's crystal had yet to show any signs of further refinement. It had grown in size and spawned several branches, giving birth to more violet crystals, but nothing more.
"On the one hand, I'm bummed we don't have a white crystal to experiment. On the other hand, however, after using my only Adamant Forge on the Scalewalker armor, if we did have them, you would have seen me crying." Lith said.
