Foresigh

by Sophia Schmidt

  Lith was considered a dangerous yet talented individual. The Court was still debating what to do with him. So far, he had proved to be manageable, but his loyalty to the kingdom was shallow at best.

  After the help he had provided during the plague outbreak, the unanimous consent was that unless proven otherwise, he was worth the risk of letting him live. The Court hoped that marrying him into a noble household would put him on a leash for good.

  After the fight between Awakened Ones, Farg wasn't so sure it was such a good idea.

  She had many unanswered questions, so she used that time to mull them over. Getting an audience with Lady Tyris was a rare event even for the King himself. That was the reason why she didn't submit her report until now.

  When Tyris imparted orders, they had to be executed at once leaving no space for discussion. Only when one was required to give a report or was granted an audience, they may have the opportunity to ask questions.

  'Since I risk getting stuck with brats for a whole year, I better make good use of this chance and try to understand as much as I can about Awakened ones. I don't know when or if I'll get the opportunity to speak with the master again in the near future.

  'This might be my only opportunity to learn from her for the gods know how long and I don't know how many questions she'll allow me. I must make them count!' Farg thought.

  As soon as she walked through the double stone door, Farg's body froze in fear. Every hair on her neck stood up, her instincts screaming at her to beware of the danger ahead. Something was wrong with the underground throne room.

  Instead of being dimly lighted as usual, everything was bright as daylight, allowing Farg to notice black stains of blood on the floor and columns. Near each stain, there was a small crater from which departed several cracks.

  Farg needed but a glance to recognize the signs of a struggle. She knew how powerful were the defenses in the lair, yet the invaders had managed to smash some of the stone armors decorating the room, damaging even the thousand years old tapestries.

  Before she could understand what had happened, a sudden flash almost blinded her. The light was followed by a shockwave, like thunder after a bolt of lightning.

  Farg used earth fusion to protect herself, conjuring a barrier with spirit magic a split second later. Yet the force of the impact was enough to push her several meters back with one knee on the ground, the air squeezed out of her lungs.

  A second was all she had before a second flash appeared. Bracing herself for what she knew was about the come, Farg strengthened the barrier. This time she managed to stand her ground, but the effort took a toll on her.

  After a third and a fourth shockwave, she finally realized that the flashes had a precise rhythm.

  'Could this be just a heartbeat?' The surprise faded away quickly.

  Farg brushed off the panic that had paralyzed her until that moment, taking the whole room into account. Right behind the throne, there was a white mass that she had never seen before.

  At first glance it looked like a white wall, changing its color at the edges. The left one seemed to end in a gold vein, while the right one was of a clear grey, like a mountain peak.

  About once per second, the wall produced a lightning. It was dissipated on the ground by several arrays, so powerful to be visible to the eye, leaving behind only its light and the resulting shockwave, yet producing no sound.

  "Lady Tyris, it's me, Farg! Please, cease the attack!"

  The next lightning had almost completely formed, but after Farg's words, it disappeared. The white wall opened, revealing a silver circular window as big as the throne itself, one meter and a half (5') high and 1.1 meters (3.6') wide, with a black dot at its center.

  The contrast between the gleaming silver reflecting the light and the dark dot, made it appear like a bottomless hole in Farg's mind.

  "There's a reason why you should always announce yourself before entering." The voice was soft like a whisper, yet it made the walls and the floor tremble.

  "Sometimes I feel the need to stretch myself. Other times, like now, the human form cannot contain my wrath and I need to revert to my original one."

  The wall moved backward, towards the center of the massive underground cave. Farg realized it was no wall, it was simply a portion of Lady Tyris's head in her griffon form. The gold vein that Farg had spotted earlier was actually her beak, while the grey belonged to a different shade of feathers near her neck.

  Tyris's body was enveloped by a white aura that was the real source of illumination. The griffon had the head and the front legs of an eagle, while the rest of the body was that of a lion. On her back there were three pairs of feathered wings.

  "It seems that my enemy does not only know about my existence, but also about my efforts to identify them. Attacking me in my own home is something no one managed to do in millennia. This should teach them a lesson."

  The griffon body shrunk, turning into the familiar womanly form Farg was used to.

  "Sorry for earlier, but that was no attack. When I'm angry I produce lightning bolts that the arrays in place are supposed to nullify. It seems I was still a little worked up from before, so my power overloaded them and part of the energy ran wild. Your report?"

  Tyris smiled apologetically at Farg. Normally she would have her subjects kneeling, but she could see how tired Farg was after withstanding wave after wave of her anger empowered heartbeats.

  A nod of Tyris's head wiped out all the traces of the attack, cleaning the black blood and repairing the stone furniture in the throne room. It also made a comfortable armchair appear right behind Farg, allowing her to rest.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting.

  "My lady, did someone dare to attack you?" Farg didn't know if to be worried about her master's safety or the enemy's madness.

  "Yes. Several Abominations Warped in here and self-detonated. I don't know if they were trying to harm me with the explosion or to make the underground cave collapse, destroying the castle in the process.

  "Either way, the only thing they managed to do was annoy me and force me to upgrade my arrays." Tyris sighed sadly. Even if her protections were ancient, one of her oldest and roughest works, she still loved them dearly.

  They had been one of her few happy memories of the times when she still had most of her feelings and now they were gone forever.

  "It pains me to admit that albeit outdated, their power was supposed to be unmatched. I guess that Arthan's Madness isn't the only thing our enemy has managed to find in the archives. That, or we have a traitor among the Corpse's ranks.

  There is no way for beings so weak to bypass my protections unless they had a deep knowledge of my arrays. Now your report, please."

  Chapter 249 Burdens

  Farg was shocked by the news of the attack, but managed to hold her curiosity. If Lady Tyris was angry, her patience would be very limited. The questions at her disposal were already down by one.

  Farg told her everything she had noticed about Lith from her observations during the fight with the Clackers and the academy's lessons. Tyris listened in silence, nodding from time to time.

  "Do you have any questions?" Farg's report did nothing but confirm what she already knew. Tyris always allowed some questions because often humans needed help realizing details that they had seen but not noticed.

  "Many." Farg replied honestly. She was honored to be allowed to sit while her host was pacing around and listening to her report.

  "The kid is barely thirteen years old, yet I saw him go toe to toe with evolved monsters and magical beasts. How is that possible? The members of the Corpse are faster and stronger than normal humans, but not like that. We need enchanted equipment to make up for the difference in physical prowess."

  "Quite the contrary." Tyris shook her head.

  'During our brief encounter, I was only interested in his mana core and neglected to check his body. This is another important p
iece of the puzzle. It seems humans aren't the only ones to be slow on the uptake, sometimes.' She thought.

  "It is possible. Your Queen, your King, and the veterans of the Corpse are all like that. It may seem incredible to you now, but only because we have just started your refinement process. In time, you'll become like that too. If you live that long, of course."

  "What?" Farg was stunned, the words escaped her mouth before she could realize to have wasted another question.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting.

  "Doesn't that mean that the kid is a veteran too? Isn't he too young?"

  Tyris smiled at her, happy to see the rookie catching up on her own.

  "Yes to both. There are only a few possible explanations. Either he is an Awakened from the birth and that would be as incredible as terrifying, or he is a weak Abomination that possessed the body of an infant. That would be even worse.

  "The former scenario would mean a natural talent like I have never seen before and hopefully will never see again. Beings Awakened from birth are incredibly rare, almost a myth even to us Guardians.

  "I have never met one alive because when they are born from humankind, they start abusing their powers and get killed by their own kin before they can become a real threat.

  "On the contrary, true magic comes natural to beasts, but being too much reliant on their instincts, they lack the wisdom and awareness about the risks the refinement process implies, so they die young too.

  "The latter scenario would mean that albeit being incredibly weak, an Abomination managed to evolve into a Puppeteer and then stumbled into a highly compatible body that still lacked any sense of self or distinguishing feature.

  "It makes it the perfect match. The body grows alongside the user's power, making the rejection of the new soul almost impossible. It would give birth to a Puppeteer that can hide in plain sight and without the need of switching bodies.

  Needless to say, such a thing is almost impossible"

  "It doesn't make sense!" Farg blurted out again.

  "His mana flow is blue, not black. I checked more than once with Life Vision. Yet I saw with my own eyes black tendrils reattach his severed arm. That's something only Abominations can do.

  "Also, I think the kid is utterly insane. One moment he puts his life on the line for his companions, the following he treats them like garbage."

  "Excellent point." Tyris sat on her throne.

  "That's why I suspect him being a hybrid, rather than a pure Abomination. A hybrid is born when something goes wrong during the body's assimilation process. If the Abomination is weaker than the host's body, it gets assimilated instead. It loses its nature and remains trapped inside it.

  "It would explain the wisdom beyond his age, but not why he has helped the Kingdom time and time again.

  "As for the madness, if he is as strong as you describe him to be, then it's normal. If he is a hybrid, his human and Abomination impulses are constantly at odds. It surprises me he has showed so much self restraint.

  "If he is an Awakened from birth, instead, there is the possibility that he is afraid of harming them, hence he tries to keep them at a distance. When you get so powerful while still being so young, many have problems controlling their strength.

  Consider that for him normal humans are made of paper. All he needs to do is use a little strength to crush them.

  "Whatever is his nature, the attachment towards other humans is a good sign for us, because it means he cares for them. If he does, then if the necessity arises they can be used to shackle him."

  "My Lady, why not kill him? His corpse may answer all of your questions and he would no longer pose a threat. Two birds with one stone."

  "Killing another living being only because I don't understand them? Who do you take me for? A human?" Tyris scoffed.

  "If he was another wannabe tyrant or a monster sucking everything dry on its path, your suggestion would make sense. Yet so far he poses no threat to his kind nor to the beasts, who consider him as one of their own. Even the world has recognized his worth, subjecting him to its cruel tribulations.

  "If he fails, he'll die. If he succeeds the balance will have a new Guardian and I another potential mate. It's a win-win situation for me.

  "Thanks for your hard work, Amyla. You'll resume your surveillance when the academy reopens. Until then, you'll continue your normal activities as a member of the Corpse.

  "Do not tell anyone about Lith being a natural Awakened, not even to the Royals. They are past their prime and surrounded by strife. It would be easy for them being tempted to coerce him into turning them in real Awakened.

  The Kingdom wouldn't survive if I was forced to have both of them suddenly pass away in an 'accident'."

  Tyris's eyes shone with silver light, sending a shiver down Farg's spine. She understood how Lady Tyris was not only testing her loyalty, but also burdening her with the fate of the Griffon Kingdom.

  She still had many questions, but now Farg was scared by the answers so she preferred to leave after giving Tyris a deep bow.

  Once alone again, the Guardian let her mind ponder about what she had omitted to say to Farg.

  'I don't know what this Lith is, but for certain he is no kid. I watched all the recordings available of him, including his exams. His words, actions, and spells do not match a kid. Even geniuses like Manohar couldn't pull the thundercloud spell at that age.

  'Not when coming from an uneducated family. At this point, even using a member of the Corpse as middle man has little value. The only way I have to find out the truth is to speak with him in person.' Tyris sighed.

  'Too bad that with all that it's happening, this matter is of low priority. First I need to upgrade all the arrays of the castle to prevent further attacks. Then I have to find out how the enemies managed to get down here. As of now, the Griffon Kingdom is a giant with clay feet.

  'The noble households are still able to trigger a civil war, we have lost two of the six great academies at once, and most of my attention has to be directed at the Abomination threat.

  'I have no idea what this Lith is or wants, but so far he has proved to be harmless to me. His parents are still alive, his village still standing, and he even joined an academy. None of this makes sense, either if he was an Abomination or an Awakened at birth.

  'Maybe Salaark is right, the only way to rule humans is with an iron fist. I gave the Griffon Kingdom everything I could without directly intervening. Power, wisdom, inspiration.

  'Yet it has stooped so low that now it needs only a gentle push to fall into ruins.'

  ***

  In the two weeks following the events in the forest, Solus had managed to speak with Lith only once. For eight wonderful years they shared everything. Solus missed all the little things they did together in their daily routine, from their morning walks to choosing what to have for breakfast.

  Yet he still refused to talk to her. No matter if it was a serious matter like talking to Linjos about the rankings or something trivial like inviting his friends. Lith kept her confined in the stone marble, making her feel as alone as useless.

  Since their mind link was broken, Solus had realized that, despite during the past years she had greatly suffered from all the limitations her stone form had, it was only thanks to their bond that she had been able to keep her own sanity in check.

  Even with their mind link shut down, Solus still retained all of her senses.

  She could hear and see the world around her, perceive the mana flow of everyone that came in contact with them or the alterations in their emotional spectrum. Yet without Lith, without access to his body, she couldn't feel anything outside her own thoughts.

  It was like being locked up inside a panic room, having access to the outside world only through cameras and monitors.

  She still received all the nourishment she needed to keep restoring her power, but her life had turned into nothing more than a cage. Solus fel
t desperate and lonely, but she did her best to not let those feelings transpire.

  Their bond was strong enough that they needed the mind link only to talk. If they wanted to avoid sharing a strong emotion or a recurring thought from the other, they had to be careful.

  Lith wasn't as good as her, so Solus could feel his yearning for her voice, the desire to contact her along with the sense of betrayal preventing him from opening their mind link.

  It would have been easy for her to contact him first and play with his feelings to get what she wanted, but Solus never even considered doing it. The only thing she wanted was for him to accept her as a person just as she did for him.

  'Lith didn't even contact me to share the ranking results. We worked so hard for that, spending so many nights awake and yet he still cut me off like that. Like I am nothing.

  'I just did to him once what he does to everyone else on a daily basis.

  'What I did was wrong, but so is Lith's constantly shutting everyone out every time he has a problem. He needed to realize how his lies can affect his loved ones. Piling lies upon lies, only because it's more convenient than opening himself to others, even a little.

  'I understand why he can't talk about his past lives or being an Awakened one, but hiding all the bad things that happen to him and always acting behind the others' backs with the excuse that he does it to "protect them" is bullsh*t.

  'Lith never shared with his parents the ostracism he suffered from the other students, the mean words Professors like Rudd addressed him with or the difficulties he faced during the exams.

  'By sugar-coating every aspect of his life, maybe he doesn't make his family worry about him, but for sure he ends up alone, incapable of sharing any of his burdens and to rely on his loved ones.

  'Lith can't hope for others to help him in times of need. They never know what he is going through, simply because he hides from them even what he had for breakfast! The only good thing that came out of my lie is that at least he opened up with his family.