"I wonder if Nyka can stay awake here as long as we keep the artificial sun down or if the outside light element forces her to slumber during the day despite the tower's protection." Solus pondered out loud, snuggling on Lith.
Lying down on the grass like that made the height gap between them disappear while being finally alone and talking about something different from work reminded her of the times back when all they had was each other.
During all those years before Lith had come clear with his family, both he and Solus had suffered from the isolation, fearing that the people they loved would have rejected them, considering them monsters.
Yet at the same time, that very same isolation made their relationship deeper than words could express. Back then, it had been the two of them against the rest of the world.
Now that many people knew about their secrets, they weren't alone anymore. Their bond was as strong as ever yet their lives had drifted apart ever since Solus had gained her energy body and had refused to follow Lith during his dates.
They both had strived to break free of their co-dependency and to make space for other people in their lives. It had made them stronger, but it also left a bittersweet longing for each other.
"I guess there's only one way to find out." Lith shrugged. "I'm curious to see how Kalla and Nyka are doing. Also, if we return to the Eclipsed Lands, I would get the opportunity to ask Vladion when the heck he is going to deliver the information he had promised me."
"Sounds like a plan." Solus said.
The seconds passed without either of them saying anything. Then, she decided to talk about the elephant that had entered the room ever since they had visited Vastor's home.
"I think that Kamila would like it here as well. Why don't you bring her to the Greenhouse for a picnic and a heart to heart? I noticed how she looked at you. There was more sadness than rage in her eyes."
"That's why I'm going to stay away from her." Lith said, feeling his stomach churning. "You've seen what happened to Zinya because of me. Now she is safe because of Vastor, but if I get close to Kamila, that bastard might switch targets.
"After we broke up, the copycat left Kamila alone because he knows that the only way that he has to hurt me is to make her hate me, but if I approach her again, he might kill her at the first opening he gets."
Solus nodded, feeling guilty for what she had just done. She already knew the answer to her question and had only mentioned Kamila to test the waters. While they were so close, she had no need for a mind link to feel his emotions.
'Even if I had my human body, there's still no place for me in his heart.' She thought in a deep recess of her mind.
"You know, ever since Aalejah helped me gain my other forms, I can't stop thinking about Mogar's twisted sense of humor." Lith said, drawing her attention. "We are identical, yet so very different.
"We both died at a young age and lost our bodies. Yet you were given new life out of love whereas I got mine only out of the hatred I felt toward every living being in the universe.
"We are just like light and darkness, two sides of the same coin that ended up glued together out of sheer luck."
His human form disappeared, replaced by the lesser Abomination that bore the appearance of Derek McCoy. His IRS haircut danced in the air like a black flame while her golden long hair floated as if she was suspended in water.
Both wore clothes yet neither really needed them since they just covered a living mass of energy. Solus stared into his seven white eyes before noticing that now their hands were threaded together.
Her gold shone more dazzling among his blackness which in turn grew deeper because of her light. Thanks to the focus granted to Lith by the Yggdrasill branch and the energy from the mana geyser, his touch was cold but pleasant, inflicting her no harm.
"Luck or not, even if I could turn back time, I would do it all over again. I wouldn't want to bond with anyone else, my dear host." She chuckled, repeating the words she had used on their first meeting.
"Me too. Mage towers are really hard to find and without the pocket dimension, my life would have been much harder." Lith replied with a smug grin on his shadowy face.
"You son of a gun!" Solus slapped his shoulder with fake outrage. "I sold myself short only because I had no other choice, my dear bare minimum requirements. Never forget that you are nothing more than an off-brand life supporting system."
'I really missed this.' She thought while they poked and teased each other. 'Even though now many people know that Lith is not a human, the part of his life as Derek McCoy still belongs to me.
'Protector and Kalla may know his story, but I'm the only one who really knows how many scars got deeper and which have somewhat healed. How each one of them had turned the man he was in the one he is.'
***
A few days later, while Lith was still struggling to make even a single tinge of color manifest inside a white crystal, Xenagrosh contacted him.
"Hey, little brother, are you ready for our adventure?" She asked.
"I was actually starting to fear that this moment would never come until I was gone back to the Kingdom and too busy to take Sinmara's offer." Lith said.
"Already tired of the Desert? It hasn't even been one month."
"I'm not tired, just worried." Lith sighed. "I can't help but feel guilty for what happened to Zinya. I should have known that with me gone, she would have been the next target. The copycat always went after the easiest prey."
"You have no reason to feel guilty nor worried." Xenagrosh shook her head. "The Master hid the existence of the Balkor card from you on purpose, to lighten your burden as much as he could.
"Also, now that she lives in our home, Zinya and the kids are surrounded by our brethren. Frey and Filia refused to get another magical beast and still cry a lot at night, but at least during the day, they have started to laugh again.
"I really hope that bastard makes another attempt because I've gotten so many bones to pick with him that I can rise a fucking undead army!" A savage grin appeared on her face as she daydreamed about how to make the copycat's death as slow and painful as possible.
"Any news about the marriage?" Lith asked.
"It may be a small and private ceremony, but it's still the marriage of an Archmage. You can't just snap your fingers and make it happen." She replied.
"How so?"
"Unlike a certain someone" Xenagrosh pointed at Lith.. "Normal Archmages have duties to the Kingdom, to the academy, and to their own fief."
