Only thanks to Salaark's magic keeping the pain at bay did Tista manage to follow her instructions and re-establish her connection with her Dragon side.
At the same time, the Overlord put Tista's other two life forces in stasis, allowing the silver star to reconnect with Tista and grow back to its original size.
"Now it's up to you, my child. Only you can bring your different natures together." Salaark said.
Those words gave Tista hope and turned her tears of sadness into joy.
She remembered the melody of her Red Demon life force by heart and she let it fill her whole being. Not just the symphony that the twin beasts' stars produced but also that of her human side.
Salaark interrupted her spell, freeing the life forces from the stasis as Tista replayed the melody over and over. Her three life forces danced to her tune, growing closer every time the tempo became faster, and distant when it slowed down instead..
The red and the silver star mirrored each other's movements while the human life force moved on its own. It took Tista time, effort, and several nudges from Salaark's Rebirth Magic to make the three life forces become two again and reform the body of the Red Demon.
Yet the Guardian didn't lower her guard and used Rebirth Magic several times, fine-tuning the hybrid life forces until they returned exactly as they had been just a few minutes back.
Tista still felt great pain, but it was nothing compared to the worry of having ruined everything out of greed.
"I'm so sorry, Grandma. I shouldn't have tried to enhance my Phoenix side just to become as powerful as my brother." She said amid tears. "Please, tell me that there is no permanent damage to my life force."
"Hush, child." Salaark said, holding her tight and making Mother Sun circulate through Tista's body until she checked it down to the cellular level.
"It's not your fault, but mine. In my curiosity to discover the powers of your bloodline, I let you do something that I knew was stupid. I've seen countless of my children undergo what has just happened to you when they reached twenty years of age.
"Because of me, you were seconds away from becoming a regular hybrid. As for your question, there is no damage that I can find. Yet I forbid you to train your Origin Flames, your magic, or even to shapeshift until I'm sure that you have stabilized.
"Can you do that for me?" Salaark asked.
"Yes, Grandma." Tista nodded, before turning towards Lith.
"Solus is right. Whatever our beast life force is, it's not faulty at all. I felt a great power as I turned into a Phoenix, yet the feeling of loss I experienced while my Dragon side was just as big. We are not weaker, just different."
After saying those words, pain and exhaustion made her lose consciousness while Tista was still in Salaark's arms.
"Well, I guess I need my own room here because I'm not leaving my sweet Featherling alone until she recovers." The Guardian said.
"Me neither." Lith caressed Tista's head, feeling no better than the World Tree for endangering his little sister just to sate his curiosity.
Her Red Demon form had lost much of its luster and the silver on her plumes was now barely visible.
Solus moved them all inside Tista's room and placed a Sentry, one of the tower's surveillance devices, to constantly monitor her life force. Lith and Salaark sat around a table, both searching for a way to deal with their respective guilt.
"Do you think she will be alright?" He asked while Hushing Tista to not disturb her sleep.
"She should." Salaark said. "Yet she went this close to turning into a fallen race."
"What? How can a Phoenix or a Dragon be considered a fallen race?" Lith asked.
"They are not. The term fallen doesn't mean turning into something weak so much as to lose an important part of yourself. For the Orcs it was their magic, for the Wargs it was their intellect. Falling didn't weaken them but it made them incomplete.
"That's what's almost happened to your sister." Salaark said.
"Is there anything I can do to help her?"
"No. We can only wait and hope that those few seconds don't cost Tista her everything." The Guardian sighed.
Seconds turned into minutes and since the silver veins on Tista's feathers were slowly becoming brighter, soon Salaark grew bored of doing nothing. She had Solus create a long table for her where she placed several official documents of the Desert that needed her approval.
"I get that you are powerful, but what if Tista has a relapse and you fail to notice it?" Lith moved to his sister's side, using Abyssal Gaze to make sure she was alright.
"Kid, everything in the Desert is under the effects of my breathing technique. It takes skills just to avoid my detection but once I know someone's position, they cannot hide from me." She replied.
"Then why did you hold Tista before?"
"To reassure her and to focus my utmost attention on her. The problem of checking on such a large territory is that small details, like Vareen, can escape my notice." Salaark calling the Eldritch a detail made Lith shudder.
He remained by Tista's side for a few minutes. Then, after nothing happened aside from a soft snoring, he grew bored as well and moved to Salaark's table after preparing a strong tea.
"If you have anything to ask me, just do it. I can multi-task." The Overlord said while reading some documents, amending others, and using air magic to have several conversations at the same time over her communication amulet.
An hour passed before Lith felt safe enough to stop checking on Tista and focus on something else.
"Grandma, during my exam in Urgamakka I put my hands on a few things." He said. "I think I got everything I need for a couple of major projects, but I feel like I'm missing something and I could use a second opinion."
"I'm all ears." The Mother of all Phoenixes said.
Lith took the Yggdrasill staff, the Evil Eyes of the Balor, Trouble's corpse, and that of the Vagrash out of his dimensional pocket.
"Did you say two?" Salaark looked at the different pieces as her instinct of Forgemaster searched for the best way to employ those ingredients and tap into their full potential.
"Yes." Lith nodded. "Keeping a Balor and his eyes together is too dangerous. This is why I'm thinking about grafting the Evil Eyes inside the staff. This way, Solus would have a weapon that will allow her to cast her best spells and to conjure the world energy even when away from a mana geyser."
"For me?" Solus said, moved by his words.
She knew that Lith had long since planned to make something for her, but she had never thought that he would use so many unique ingredients for her.
"Of course. I have War while you have nothing. It's time to make you something suitable for someone with great magical talent but limited combat experience. The Sage Staff will provide you both with the focus to not space out like you usually do and the energy to make up for your core."
