‘Mom and Rena kept me from killing myself when I first arrived here. Then Tista and Solus taught me what love is. Phloria helped me to become a real human instead of just pretending to be one. Kamila saved me from you time and time again.
‘She taught me that there’s more to life than worrying and killing.’ Wings popped out of Lith’s back as he grew in size, turning him into a Tiamat identical to the one that still lay on his knees in the real world.
‘Without all those people, I would have died a long time ago. I would have never reached this strength nor would you have. Now look me in the eyes and answer me. Do you really call this weak?’
Multi-colored flames burst out of the Tiamat along with the powers he had and the shadows of those yet to come.
‘No.’ Derek said, fusing with Lith once again.
‘Yet you are right as well. The Kingdom needs to be taught a lesson.’ The Tiamat said.
Time started to move again and Lith’s colossal hands stop trembling.
He gently lifted Raaz’s body, feeling the spark of life that still remained inside of him and feeding it with Invigoration. Maybe it was his dormant Phoenix blood making him sturdy, or maybe Raaz had too much to live for to give up.
Whatever the answer was, Raaz’s core was still intact.
Lith stopped the bleeding, healed what he could, and cupped his hands to protect his father from the cold and the rain.
“Go away, Tista.” Lith said, freeing her from his madness and snapping her out of her own. “You don’t want to see what I’m about to do?”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Her whole body turned into Flames, her rage too strong for such a small body to contain. “He was my father as well! Whatever you’ll do to them is not enough. Death is not enough.”
“Dad is alive.” Lith said, making her fury and Flames disappear together. “Yet this can’t be the end, a message must be sent.”
He took his communication amulet out of his pocket dimension, using for the first time the emergency override command that Jirni had taught him. Lith called Peonia, the Royals, and whoever had a shred of power he knew.
“This is what you have done.” The amulet showed Raaz’s mangled body and the room where the torture had taken place.
Blood was sprayed throughout the room, and bits of flesh and bones covered the floor. The Demons of Darkness carried in the room Frenon, Cenia, and everyone who had lain their hands on Raaz, even if just to drag him from one room to another.
Tears blurred Kamila’s sight but she held still without making a sound. Seeing the condition of the man that she loved like a father, that she had once wished was her own or at least her in-law, broke her heart.
Yet she wasn’t there as a friend of the family, but as a Constable, and she couldn’t allow her pain to distract the Court. Also, she knew how Lith must have felt and inwardly wept for him.
Orion and Jirni exchanged a meaningful look, both barely suppressing their rage. Raaz was a friend and an innocent victim, dragged into political plays against his will by forces beyond his control.
Orion was tempted to break Morn’s neck, but Jirni stopped him. Death was too an easy way out for the fallen General. His foolish actions would help her plans, but for once the Archon found no joy in a lucky break.
“This is what your foolish actions caused my family.” Lith’s voice was deadpan, echoing in the Royal Court like a Monday decree.
“Who is that idiot and what has he done?” Peonia yelled in horror and outrage.
“That’s Baronet Frenon Hogum and his wife.” Brinja said. Then, noticing that no one recognized the name she added: “The idiot who petitioned the Court to seize the Verhens’ lands after I sent him away.
“Morn’s decree must have given him the legal ground he needed to further his plan.” All eyes fell on the General.
Whatever would happened, Morn knew that the blame would be on him.
“You have taken much from me, yet I’ll still give you the same choice that was given to me today.” The Tiamat’s forefinger came down on Hogum’s right leg, his delicate touch not matching the pain from the Abomination Touch turning the limb into a dried plum.
Hogum screamed at the top of his lungs, begging for mercy, but Lith just Hushed his mouth.
“To everyone who is currently chasing me, heed my words.” The forefinger moved to the left leg, slowly draining the life out of the limb and injecting it into Raaz. “You can only run away for your lives or come here and die.”
Lith then drained Frenon’s arms one at a time, turning him into Raaz’s match before moving on to his wife.
“Please, it’s not my fault.” Hogum said once Tiamat freed him from the silencing spell just to hear and ignore his pleas. “I was just following orders.”
“Ah, yes. The oldest excuse on Mogar.” Lith drained Cenia’s life force and used it to fix the damage that the Void had done to his own before it became permanent. “I clearly recall warning you, Hogum.
“I told you that one single mistake is enough to make an entire household burn. Yet you didn’t listen.” Cenia screamed and called for Orpal’s fake name so Lith had still no idea of his involvement.
The love that Hogum had for her made those words hurt more than the torture.
Even in her final moments, Cenia didn’t care one bit about him. Theirs had been an arranged marriage for power, but he had hoped that just like he had come to love her with time, she would do the same.
“Now you are going to burn, Hogum. I’m a man of my word.” While Lith drained everyone involved of their lives, adding it to both Raaz and his own, he had also conjured countless fire and earth spells.
“Please, at least spare my son. He’s but an innocent baby.” Frenon said amid tears, agony ravaging his body whenever he tried to move the stump that his body had become.
“And my father is but an innocent man.” Lith replied. “Don’t you dare play the family card. If it was alright for you to drag my father into this then the same stands for your son.”
“I didn’t do anything to your father.” Frenon sobbed, hoping that rescuers would come at any moment now. “I was just detaining him for General Morn. I was a Baronet, not a butcher!”
Hogum considered himself already dead, but he hoped that he could at least save his son, Felmor.
“Please, Lith.” Tista joined his plea. “I’ve lost enough today. If you kill that baby, you’ll also kill the image of my little brother that lives in my heart.”
Lith pondered their words, then he thought about what Derek McCoy would have done in his shoes and did the opposite. He would show his enemies no mercy, but he wouldn’t relish in pointless cruelty either.
