Jirni let the god of death rant while she checked on Manohar's position. She already had two gods dancing on the palm of her hand and Jirni was eager to discover if she could get a third.
***
Lith's house, Village of Lutia, a few hours later.
"We are about to have some tea, dear. Would you mind joining us?" Elina asked after knocking on Lith's door.
"Thanks, Mom. We'll be there in a minute." Tista replied while hugging her mother.
No matter how angry they got at each other, it wouldn't last long. Elina loved her children too much to hold a grudge for more than a few minutes.
"I'm sorry for earlier." Elina said while returning the embrace. "Between Orpal's death, your brother almost dying again, and hearing how much you suffered, I wasn't thinking clearly. Gods, why did all of this have to happen at the same time?"
Tista would have liked to say that Orpal was bad news in more than one way, but it would have achieved nothing but hurt her mother more.
"I'm sorry too, Mom. I shouldn't have said all those things." She actually said.
"Don't think for a moment that I've forgotten about all the bad things that your brother has ever said and done to you." Elina let go of Tista and took Lith's face between her hands.
"I haven't forgiven him either. Pretty words are cheap. Yet if he really has changed, then he deserves to be at least part of my life if you don't want him in yours. Are you willing to help your stupid Mom to make sure it's not all an act?"
"First, you're not stupid, Mom, you're just too kind for your own good." Lith didn't have a shred of resentment toward her. There was a reason why Mogar took her semblance in front of him.
If not for Elina, Lith would have never cared about anyone but himself. Her unconditional love had quelled the abyss inside of him back when he was trapped inside his infant body and kept his fury at bay until he had met Solus.
Even after learning that Lith was a hybrid and maybe not even her son, Elina had been the first member of the family to accept him.
"Second, you don't even have to ask. I'll help you to the best of my abilities, but you have to promise me that you'll keep an open and clear mind. The truth is pointless to those who refuse to see it."
"I promise." Elina hugged him, making sure once again that he wasn't hurt in any way.
The rest of the day passed uneventfully. After an awkward start, the mood of the Verhen family returned to normal. Later, that evening, Lith informed Vastor of the threat that Zinya's parents posed to her and asked Kamila to thoroughly investigate Orpal.
He also contacted his friends and arranged a meeting for the following day at Solus's tower.
They met at dawn since both parties had many things to say and knowledge to share. Quylla went first, sharing the events inside the Fringe, what they had learned about how to communicate with Mogar, and the new magic they had learned.
Friya had become a Gravity Mage while Quylla had become the first human true mage and even dabbled in Light Mastery now.
"Seriously? Elves?" Solus couldn't believe her own ears. "Aside from the golden skin and the shitty attitude, they look like those in Dun-"
She pointed at Quylla's hologram until Lith's glare cut her short.
"I mean, what a bunch of assholes!"
Before anyone could wonder what she meant, Lith told them everything that had happened in Reghia first and then in Kolga, leaving out only the part about Carl.
Listening to the fate of the humans in Jiera, to the fight against the Puppeteer Abomination, and to Khalia's fate was an emotional roller coaster that peaked when Solus used the tower's abilities to make a hologram of her real appearance overlap with her energy body.
"This is how I'm supposed to look like." She said while dispelling the illusion. There was no joy in her voice, only sadness.
Yet their ride derailed when Lith told them the truth about himself and an awkward silence fell in the tower's main hall.
"That's what you couldn't tell me in Reghia?" Phloria was flabbergasted.
It all made sense to her now. She had actually guessed it from the moment she had learned about how Awakened turned into Abominations, but she had always denied the possibility that Lith wasn't really human.
"Yes. I didn't tell Solus either. She already had too much on her plate and Kamila deserved to be the first to know about my latest crazy shit for once. I owed her that much." Lith said.
"Are you two still together?" Quylla asked in reflex while trying to calm the storm that raged inside her head.
"Even though I have a hard time believing it myself, we are. She said that between my Abomination side and my brief death at birth, she had already guessed, yet she doesn't care about it." Lith's words made everyone's eyes but Phloria's go wide in surprise.
After the initial shock, it was the same thing that she would have told him if he decided to share that news with her first. Except he didn't and it really hurt.
"After talking with Solus and Protector, I don't care about it either. He is right. What I am doesn't change who I am or the way I love my family. Later I'm going to inform Faluel as well but I wanted to tell you guys first.
"I'll understand if you want to have nothing to do with me anymore, but I have to ask you to keep it for yourself. My life is already messy as it is and I don't need more trouble." Lith left the room to not be the proverbial elephant in the room while they decided what to do.
"You didn't have to tell them right now, you know?" Solus's wisp rested on his shoulder.
After experiencing her human body, she could barely stand her energy form. Everything she saw, felt, and heard was now a pale imitation of the real thing as if a thin veil of cotton was spread over her body and dulled her senses.
"Yeah, but I don't want to keep lying. I have no need for fair-weather friends and they need to know the risks in the case I lose it. As Protector said, the first thing a real Abomination do is killing all those closest to them." Lith c.a.r.e.s.sed her gently, feeling her sadness as his own.
The door opened barely a second after he had left, letting out Nalrond and Phloria.
"You have yet to tell me what you did with the Hands of Menadion and with the white crystal. I'm no Forgemaster but they are both priceless treasures that could help fix the problem with my two sides." The Rezar said, leaving Lith flabbergasted.
"Don't be so surprised. Ever since we met, I've never considered you a human. Humans don't shapeshift nor do they turn into frigging giants. I always knew you were a monster so giving it a tag changes little.
"Protector trusts you and Mogar considers you as one of her children. That's more than enough for me." Nalrond shrugged.
