Lith had no idea what a World Sapling was, so he planned of using the only powerful Awakened he knew to gain the Council's support or at least ask Faluel to share with him her knowledge about the matters at hand.
"You have done well coming to me, Lith." Faluel said. She was in her Hydra form because he had caught her in a bad moment. Between her magical research and training Protector, Faluel could only pay one head worth of attention to him
"Not only is Laruel's situation quite dire, but also if you contacted the human Council, you would have put yourself in danger."
"What do you mean?" Lith asked.
"I've never lied to you and I'm not going to start now. You have done wonders in achieving amazing feats while keeping your nature as an Awakened hidden, but now that you've been acknowledged by the Council, the two worlds are bound to meet.
"You've already made yourself a lot of enemies in the human society, but now they can rely on the backing of several Awakened you've crossed."
"Wait a minute. I've never crossed anyone. I've simply defended my life from those who made an attempt on me. Also, I'm pretty sure that I've killed all those who stood in my path, so who exactly has a bone to pick with me?" Lith asked.
"Every single young Awakened." Her reply shocked him, but what followed was much worse.
"You've slain Treius after he bonded with a cursed item, an event no one cared for as long as you were just a nameless Ranger, but now you are a benchmark.
"You've killed the disciples of many leading figures of the Awakened community, but most importantly, you've caused the downfall of their masters as well. On top of that, you've refused Raagu's scouting attempt and drawn my attention.
"Those are all feats that garnered you respect, but also envy and resentment. A lot of masterless Awakened depended on Gaaron to make their living and all the young apprentices now have to fight you to gain their master's recognition.
"You have become a constant in their life. For the former, you're the one who took away what little they had and got away with it. For the latter, you've turned down the opportunity they never had: to become the disciple of the strongest human Awakened alive.
"To make matters worse, you've also become the object of their resentment since now whenever they make a mistake, their masters compare your achievements with theirs.
"Just like the old Awakened are thrilled at the idea to watch the heights you might reach, the young Awakened want you to fall, both metaphorically and literally. Possibly dying in the process.
"As you can imagine, they are more than willing to give fate a 'hand' and trigger your destruction."
"Wait a minute, if the old fogeys admire me, why don't they just stop their disciples?" Lith asked.
"Because if their disciples beat you, it would mean that you were not destined to greatness, but just the spur others needed to reach their true potential. If their disciples fail, instead, you'll just have weeded out the weak for them.
"Also, don't forget that all the old Awakened, Raagu included, want to bring you from the beasts' side to their own." Lith didn't miss how Faluel had not said 'to the human side.'
It heavily implied that the human Council wasn't treating the matter as a community, but considered him a bone of contention.
"Yet they don't want to treat you like a peer, they want you docile and humbled down for the use. Hence they'll let slide most of what happens with the goal of forcing you to seek for their protection." Faluel said.
"Isn't anything that the beasts' Council can do to help me?"
"There is and they would, if you were part of it, but you're not even my disciple. You're still a rogue Awakened with no affiliation, otherwise no one would allow this disciple war, especially humans.
"Awakened are few in numbers and recently many of them have died because of their apprentice's foolishness. The human Council can't afford an open conflict with the beasts."
Lith pondered Faluel words for a split second before understanding all of their implications. With the help of the Awakened, all the enemies that he had made and that he had ignored so far would have the resources to mess with his life.
Both personal and professional. He even suspected that Phloria's career was being endangered as a twisted way to get back at him
"Let me guess. You're not going to help me either. This way, I'll be pressed to fall in line and do as you say." Lith snarled.
"Wrong." Faluel sighed. "If I wanted to force you to do anything, I would have put a price to my help against Raagu, or I wouldn't have mentioned any of that to you. The smart move would have been to let them catch you unprepared, to make you feel small and helpless.
"Then, when you were at your weakest and desperate for help, I would have 'casually' sent Protector to help and renew my offer."
She was right. Lith felt a jerk even more than usual for accusing the Hydra of treachery. Maybe Faluel wasn't his friend, but she was honest with him, which was already more than he could ask.
"I'm telling you this so that you'll be ready for the worse. A trap isn't a trap if you know it's there." Faluel said.
"I'm deeply sorry for doubting you and for my earlier words." Lith gave her a deep bow. "It's just that so many bad news at once made me feel cornered…"
"And a cornered beast is the most dangerous one." Faluel completed the phrase for him. Even though it wasn't what Lith was about to say, he liked the spin she had given to his words.
"We'll make sure that even those blockheads learn such an obvious lesson. I am willing to help you, but there's a limit to what I can do as just the ruler of Derios helping one of the Awakened kings of the Trawn woods.
"At least I can guarantee you that your family will be safe. Any attempts to harm your human cubs will be met with extreme prejudice." Her voice was just a hiss, yet it held a power that reverberated through the cave, making it tremble.
Lith had an odd feeling about it. The vibrations were nothing like when he went all-out. The Hydra's lair didn't quake so much as shifted its weight as if it was readying itself for battle.
"Thank you, Faluel." Lith bowed to her again. His enemies had lost the element of surprise and as long as it was him they had to deal with, Lith was confident about his odds of success.
"It's not me you have to thank. I wouldn't have gotten wind of any of this until it was too late if my human colleague, Athung, didn't tell me about it."
"Athung? That young Awakened?" Lith asked.
"Indeed. My guess is that she likes you where you are. If you become part of the beast Council, you two will never have to compete. Also, you would become a reliable asset as both a Forgemaster and liaison with another race of Awakened.
