Ever since Quylla had returned to house Ernas, whoever dared to come too close to Orion or to her unannounced would have a brush with death, if they were lucky.
"Whoever those uninvited guests are, tell them to go fuck themselves." Lord Ernas replied.
"They are three Archmages, sir. Do I have to be that explicit or am I allowed to relay your message with kinder words?" The butler asked.
"Send them in." Orion sighed as he let go of Quylla, giving her some personal space.
A moment later, Vastor stepped through the door, followed by Marth and by Manohar who was hiding behind the Headmaster, pulling his clothes left and right so as to use him as a perfect human shield.
"For what reason did Lady Myrok send you here?" His voice was calm, but he activated the arrays of the house with a bit more intensity than necessary.
The magical formations paralyzed the three Archmages and only after Orion confirmed their identities did he let them go.
"That was rude and unnecessary." Vastor said. "What kind of array was that?"
"The kind I developed to make sure that you can't pull on me what I saw you do on Deirus, dear Zogar." The violet flame of Orion's wrath started from his eyes and spread to his hand, where it took the form of a one-edged curved sword that emitted a ghastly wail.
"Look, I'm sorry for what I did behind your back, but my actions don't need an explanation. In similar circumstances, I'd do it again." Vastor said.
"I wouldn't expect any less from Lady Myrok's favorite accomplices." Orion clicked his tongue in disgust. "I'll ask you only once more before kicking you out. Why are you here?"
"Listen, as a future parent, I understand what you are going through-"
"You have no idea, kid." Orion cut Marth short.
"But what you are doing is wrong and excessive. We've been trying to get here for days. I just want to make sure Quylla is alright while these two wanted to apologize to both of you for their actions." The Headmaster decided to ignore Lord Ernas' rudeness for his colleagues' sake.
Marth couldn't condone their actions but he couldn't argue with their results either. Great things had come out from the partnership between the three gods and more magical marvels might be developed, if only they reconciled.
"Speak for yourself." Manohar said. "I'm here to check if the alterations that I made on the meat puppet's life force affected the original as well due to their telepathic bond. Do you mind if I examine you a bit, Quylla?
"I promise that this time I'm not going to put you in a tank against your will."
"Are you insane? Why did you bring me here if you have no intention to fix the mess you've made?" Marth asked.
"Because Orion has the hobby of beating Headmasters and you were supposed to be my diversion in the case something went wrong. Thanks for ruining my brilliant plan!" The god of healing replied.
"Look, I know a thing or two about divorce and I came here not only to apologize…" Vastor gave Orion a deep bow. "But also to tell you to think carefully about what you are doing. Some things cannot be taken back."
The Professor pointed at the several paintings in the house where the image of Jirni had been replaced by that of Lucky, the family Ry.
"Apology accepted." Orion relaxed a bit but he still nailed Manohar to the ground with an array the moment he stepped toward Quylla.
Much to his surprise, it was actually Marth. The Mad Professor had switched their features with a hologram while Lord Ernas wasn't watching.
"Thanks, Duke. You are the best wingman." Manohar said while examining the young woman with his personal diagnostic tier five spell, God's Eye.
"If Orion doesn't kill you, I will!" Marth said in outrage while the array faded away.
"Tell me, Duke, how can I be sure that this isn't just another manipulation? That Jirni didn't induce you to come here and try to change my mind?" Orion asked while never taking his eyes off Manohar.
"I haven't spoken with her since the day of the funeral." The Headmaster replied. "You are just being paranoid."
"Paranoid?" Orion echoed. "My wife staged my daughter's death and replaced all of my children with meat puppets for days. She let me rot in my suffering, telling me that I had to get over it for the sake of our family.
"It was my darkest hour and yet every single word that came out of her mouth was a lie! Even the funeral was a farce. She forced me to attend, saying that we couldn't let Deirus win, but her real goal was to showcase my grief to our enemy like some sort of prize!"
"All I needed was one word from her. One word and all that pain would have disappeared. Yet she chose to wait and tell the truth to Deirus first to both fuel my rage and destroy his morale. How can you call me paranoid after all that?"
Marth opened his mouth to reply, but no word came out of it. If Ryssa ever did something like that to him for just an hour, let alone days, he didn't know if he could ever forgive her.
"Now if you're done, get out of my house!" A wave of Orion's hand Warped the three Archmages back to the Gate and Quylla to her room.
He couldn't let her watch as her father conjured several paintings depicting his soon-to-be ex-wife and cut them asunder before blasting them into pieces with fireballs.
"I've been trained to not feel, to be the tool that the Kingdom needs!" Orion repeated word by word Jirni's nuptial vow with a single scream. "I will lie even to our friends in order to deceive our enemies, but not to you.
"You make my heart beat so even though I might hide the truth from you, I promise to never hurt you." He took a shield-shaped Adamant brooch out of his dimensional amulet.
"I will protect you and the family we build together from any harm. Or so you said while handing me your gift, you lying bitch!" He threw the brooch against the wall before charging at it with his new sword.
Its many enchantments made a short work of that of the brooch but the moment the blade's edge cut into the Adamant, Orion stopped his hand. He had tried to get rid of the brooch countless times, but to no avail.
Whenever no one could see him, Lord Ernas would take the betrothal gift out, cursing Jirni to the top of his lungs while hitting the brooch with everything he had at hand. Yet he would always fix it before putting it away.
***
Blood Desert, Sparkwater Oasis, one step past the Gate in the Verhen's barn.
"What the farm?" Lith said due to the presence of the children.
It wasn't the sudden drop in temperature nor the foreign landscape in front of his eyes that had surprised him so much as the fact that it was still the dead of the night there.
The moon was still rising, illuminating the white tents in front of him almost as clear as the day due to the clear sky filled with luminous stars.
