Night's steed, Moonlight, stood atop a mana geyser, giving the Horseman and her host the energy that they needed to train non-stop.
They had been at it ever since their defeat at Vastor's hands, without taking a break except that for resetting Invigoration, eat, and fuck some lives up.
'Are you sure that your mother can't find us?' Orpal asked.
'Damn sure. Unless both she and I open our link, Mom can't track me. Now shut up and practice. Your body needs some serious training if you want to get past your deep cyan core. I can't wait to discover if your brother is unique or not.
'Imagine everyone's face when we give birth to a second Tiamat, even better than the original. We only need to give you a proper undead side to replace the Abomination.' She said.
'I'm the firstborn hence I'm the original!' Orpal replied with a snarl and doubled his efforts to put Night's memories into practice. 'He cheated to get there first, just adding another line to the long list of things he has stolen from me.'
***
Lith's birthday passed and soon the new year started.
Unbeknownst to everyone, the blue-robed man had followed those who had received his cards, aiming to kill one of them on the winter solstice, but he failed to find a proper opportunity to attack.
Marth was the easiest next target after Zinya, but he never left the academy for an unsafe location. Manohar now lived at the Ernas to learn both swordsmanships from Orion and how to properly use his new equipment.
Vastor traveled so quickly and so often that tracking him was impossible. Wanemyre had a Royal Guard always with her and to make matters worse, she was undertaking the exams to become a Royal Forgemaster.
She spent her time either at the White Griffon academy or at Valeron and both places were beyond the reach of the blue-robed man.
The Yehval sisters were supposed to be easy prey, but whenever he got close to Lith's home, death kept looking at him. The blue-robed man was no fool and followed his instincts, running away the second after he arrived.
As for Lith, now that Aran and Leria were close to turning six, he had decided to teach them magic like Nana had done with him. They already knew how to read, write, and count so the village school was obsolete for them.
The kids had proven to be responsible with their own powers and Lith decided to prepare them in the case they wanted to join the academy at 12 or if they needed to defend themselves.
During the morning, before going to Faluel, Lith taught tier one magic to Aran, Leria, and Protector's kids. Thanks to their Skoll half, Lilia and Leran had amazing magical potential and they were in dire need of magical training.
Protector couldn't teach them fake magic and he took part in the lessons as a student as well. He would always stay home during winter, but this time Ryman had decided to work less and enjoy his family more.
He had taken a break from the missions that Faluel assigned him to take care of her turf, allowing him to stay home until summer.
Protector appreciated Lith's teaching methods that he had derived from his experience as an Assistant Professor at the White Griffon and as Faluel's apprentice. Like a Professor, he had prepared books for his students that they would use during the lessons and to study on their own.
Lith had written down the spells he considered the most useful along with the tips and the insight he had gained over the years. Like Faluel, Lith was always strict in his teaching ways, but also kind.
He never scolded the kids, letting them make their mistakes and patting their heads when they learned without further explanations. He also wouldn't help them unless they proved to him to have tried and failed on their own until they had run out of possible solutions.
Lith wanted them to learn how to face their own problems rather than spoon-feed them and make them reliant on him.
"Good gods, I can't believe you put so much thought behind tier one magic lessons, and yet you still have no kids of your own." Ryman said.
"One more word and I'll double your homework." Lith replied with a snarl. "You and your kids are already behind. If you have the time for stupid remarks, then focus more on your accents."
Beasts with their nimble fingers had an easy time tracing the correct hand signs, yet they found it incredibly hard to remember their correct sequence along with the pronunciation of magic words.
Aran and Leria, instead, had no true magic to use as a crutch so their fighting spirit to match their friends' spells made them progress much faster than the rest of the class.
"This is boring!" Lilia said. "I already know how to make these spells with true magic. Why must I learn all this stuff?"
"Because home is the only place where you can use it without arousing suspicions." Protector repeated for the umpteenth time. "Use too many or too few words and any mage that sees you will notice that something is wrong.
"On top of that, the common spells are well known. If kids like you start having too many personal spells, they will take you for geniuses."
"And why is that a bad thing?" Leran asked.
"Because once they put you to the test and discover that not only you don't know a single fake spell, but also that you have no idea how to use it, our family will be in a lot of trouble." Ryman replied.
He already had almost been found out several times while interacting with human society. Beasts asked no questions and dead men told no tales, but to become part of a mercenary guild, Ryman needed to pass a magical exam.
Without a guild, he couldn't get access to the high bounties that would allow him to work less, but his ignorance about the simplest spells and the lack of free time had forced him to compensate the low payout of his bounties with quantity until that moment.
After teaching the kids, Lith would go with the others to Faluel's lair.
Becoming a Tiamat and having gained the body of a creature over 20 meters (66 feet) tall had forced Lith to stop taking his Dominance lessons. Now he took part in the physical training along with the others, but in his Tiamat form.
Of course, Faluel had no qualms giving him "private lessons".
"Why the heck do I have to come here even when the others got their day off?" Lith said amid pants, trying to catch his breath.
"Don't be such a sourpuss. You're single and I'm single. How can you say no to a hot woman who invites you to some steamy hot action?" Faluel replied while sweat made her rosy skin sparkle in the dim lights of her cave.
"First, I'm not over my relationship with Kamila, yet. Second, all the double entendre on Mogar don't make purifying hundreds of kilograms of magical metals during my free time any sexier." Lith said.
"At least tell me that by using my emerald eye to make up for my poor control over the Origin Flames I'm training all kinds of Domination."
