Before going back home, Lith went to Selia's house. According to Solus, she was supposed to have left together with Ryman, but he wanted to make sure the huntress didn't need help.
The door and the windows were locked. Lith used Life Vision, discovering that there was no one inside.
'One less person to worry about.' He shrugged. Nana was at the end of her rope and the huntress was gone, probably for good. Lith felt a sting in his heart, but he preferred to focus on those he had left.
His parents were really happy to have him home earlier and during lunch, they wanted to know everything about his last days of the academy. Lith didn't tell them about the vision, but for Tista's sake, he shared with them all the aggressions and sabotage attempts he endured.
"So much violence just for a grade?" Raaz couldn't believe his ears.
Lith explained to them how fierce was the everyday life at the White Griffon.
"Nobles take success for granted and don't like being overshadowed by commoners. They consider it as a personal insult. Commoners mostly work their ass*s off, but since the academy it's the only way out of poverty, they are ruthless too. It's easier to meet a dragon than to find an honest friend."
After many questions about the academy and as many reproaches for the things he had omitted in the past, Lith finally could tell them about the rankings. Elina and Tista cried with joy at his achievements, while Raaz simply hugged him.
"I'm so proud of you, son. I don't know what I did to deserve such a good kid."
Lith was happy too. Their joy was the first piece of good news in months.
"We should share the good news with Rena!" Elina stood up, walking toward the door.
"You stay here. I'll go get her." Lith said while opening a Warp Steps.
Elina was about to argue when the dimensional rift opened in their dining room right outside of Rena's house in the village. The mouths of the members of Lith's family fell to the ground for the surprise.
When less than a minute later the Gate reopened, they were still awestruck and so was Rena. Lith had to princess carry her through the Warp Steps. They could hear many scared murmurs coming from the village.
"Ah! Suck it, you bastards!" The voice of Zekell, Rena's father-in-law roared.
"I'm the only one with a god in the family!"
"What a classy, humble man." Lith sneered as soon as the Gate closed behind him.
After much stuttering and many questions about Warp Steps, Lith finally brought Rena up to speed. She was overjoyed by so many good news and so was the rest of the family.
Again. Lith couldn't understand why they were so excited about something they already knew.
"It's incredible! Mom, this means you can visit me whenever you want, even during winter!" Rena's words left Lith speechless.
"Indeed. Now we can go to the village regardless of the weather. Oh, gods. Freshly baked bread during winter is a dream come true!"
Suddenly the conversation degenerated into how to better exploit Lith's new ability. More than once he wanted to point out that he wasn't a cab, but there was no such word on Mogar.
After everyone had decided what they wanted to use Lith's powers for during the winter, Tista pulled Elina aside. They whispered among them for a while and even with his enhanced hearing, Lith was unable to understand what they were saying.
Rena was bombarding him with questions about the places he had access to, how many people he could move at once.
When they returned, she wasn't done yet.
"Big sis, come here please." Tista pulled Rena aside, pushing the index finger against her own lips.
"Lith, dear, please have a seat."
Elina had a serious expression, making him inwardly fear to be about to get scolded again.
'I told them so little and I am already getting my a*s kicked. I was right working on a "need to know" basis with them.' He thought.
"Would you like to have another sibling?"
Her words made Lith's brain freeze. His hands clenched the armrests so hard that only the fear to reveal his strength too made him snap out of it when the wood started cracking ominously.
'Is this a trick question?' He thought. 'After Orpal and Trion, I don't feel safe rolling the dice again. Sadly, it's not something up for me to decide. Damn if I hate rhetorical questions.'
"Sure, mom." He actually replied while hoping that his face matched his happy tone.
"Are you pregnant already or is it something you are planning ahead?"
His words made the mood in the room turn heavy. Everyone was looking at the floor with a sad expression. Elina was squeezing her own hands, taking deep breaths to calm down.
"Have you ever wondered why we didn't have any more children?" Raaz said while hugging his wife from behind to comfort her.
"Yes. I thought that since we had so many problems with food and money already, you used some spell to prevent further¡" Lith was about to say "issues", but managed to stop in time.
They were speaking about having another baby, so they didn't share his lack of love for small, smelly, noisy humans.
"¡another pregnancy."
"Well, yes and no." Elina explained.
"Sure, after you were born, we couldn't afford to have more children, even though we love each other so much." She caressed Raaz hands, kissing his forearm.
"That's why we were actually happy when the Great Mother took the choice out of our hands."
"The Great Mother? Aren't you using a darkness magic spell?" During all his life on Mogar, Lith had yet to find a single church or temple. Religions were almost non existent, gods were relegated in the roles of swear words or synonyms for destiny.
"We know the spell, but it requires a magico level of power to be viable. Otherwise repeated uses can cause permanent sterility."
Raaz's words were like a punch in Lith's stomach.
"Do you mean that¡"
"Yes." Elina nodded. "The labor was long and complicated. I don't know exactly what happened. Nana tried to explain it to me, but I couldn't and didn't want to understand.
"The only thing that mattered to me was that something inside of my body broke that night, making me unable to bear children anymore."
Everything made sense. Lith had wondered from time to time why even after Orpal had been disowned, after Tista had been healed, and the financial situation of the household had improved so much thanks to his jobs, his parents had stopped having children.
His mother was still young, yet nothing had happened. He had always shrugged it off, thinking they wanted to sit back and enjoy their new wealth. Yet now he couldn't help but feel guilty.
Guilty for having always ignored their distress simply because it suited him, but mostly because he was the real root of that situation. They were his parents, but Lith wasn't really their son.
'Calm down, you idiot. No need for guilt trips. I didn't choose Elina, I didn't kill the real Lith. He was already dead, so nothing that happened that night was my fault.' Lith was aware of how his birth was considered a miracle by his family.
"I pray the Great Mother every day to thank her for her gift." Elina took the word out of his mind.
"When Nana told me about my condition, I felt desperate, but as soon as I held you in my arms, it didn't matter anymore. I was already too scared after almost losing you. At that moment, you gave me a reason to live." Elina looked at him with deep affection.
Those words soothed Lith's uneasiness, but his stomach was still tied in a knot.
"Tista says that you can cure everything. Is it true?" Her eyes were full of expectancy.
"Yes."
"Do you think you can help me?"
"Absolutely." Lith lied with confidence.
The reproductive apparatus was one of his weakest spots since he never experimented with pregnant women. There was nothing in the textbooks to help him understand the difference between a functioning yet defective organ and a mint one.
He remembered how during the treatments he had found lots
of impurities in Elina's womb, but even removing them and bringing her to full health for years didn't seem to have worked out.
Chapter 252 Siblings Part 1
'I never noticed any anomaly, the damage must be something subtle. Probably it just makes the changes of pregnancy really low. I would have never missed something that affected her health.' He thought.
Lith stood up, placing his hand on Elina's belly before activating Invigoration. He scanned her ovaries and uterus for a long time, but came up with nothing.
"Odd. Everything seems fine." Noticing his mother's distressed expression, he tried to reassure her.
"Don't worry, maybe it's just because I don't know what to look for. I just need reference material." Lith touched Rena's womb, looking for clues.
"Good gods!" Lith snapped back with a shocked expression.
"Is there something wrong?" Rena was on the verge of panic. She had never seen her brother freaking out, not even after having an arm cut off.
"Yes, I mean no. I'm not ready to be an uncle, I'm too young." The room exploded with cheers, tears, and joy. Lith remained dumbstruck. He really was not ready.
'Guess they didn't know either. For a moment I thought that Rena's pregnancy was the reason behind mom's request. Like knowing she is about to become a grandma made her aware of the passing of time.' He thought.
"Thank the gods." Rena squeezed him between her arms, before putting his hand back on her belly.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting.
"After being married for almost a year, I was starting to be afraid Senton or I was sterile. I was going to ask for your help right after mom. How is the baby?"
"This big." Lith's index finger formed a circle about as big as a pea.
"I want to know if it's healthy!" Rena slapped him on the nape.
"I guess." He shrugged. The fetus was too little, there wasn't much he could see. Lith had no experience in the matter and didn't want to give them false hope.
'Me and my big mouth. The chances of miscarriage during the first pregnancy are high, or at least, they are on Earth. I can only keep my finger crossed and keep an eye on her'
"Please, no more surprises." He said using Tista as a template this time. At those words, she became beet red but said nothing.
"I need a clean slate." He explained.
'I have no idea if Rena's body has changed to better host the baby. Using her as blueprint could cause a false pregnancy.'
A few minutes later, he believed to have found the root of the problem. The difficult labor had caused the formation of adhesions in the tubes. Lith had no idea what they were, though. He only recognized them as an anomaly.
"I got good news and I got bad news. Which do you want to hear first?" He asked.
"The bad news." Elina hugged Raaz, who tried to act strong.
"It's worse than I thought. Between the damage that you suffered and the passing of time, I can't promise a full recovery."
"What about the good news?" Raaz asked.
"I think I can do it, but I need some time to prepare and to ask for guidance."
Raaz tried to lift Lith out of joy, only to realize a second too late that his son was already taller than himself.
They spent the lunch merrily, talking about their plans for the winter. Rena couldn't wait to share the good news with her husband, but remained with them, asking Elina for advice.
Lith didn't want to ruin that moment for them, so he avoided talking about the impending danger nor the distress Death Vision caused him. Tista couldn't take her eyes off his White Griffon pin, asking a lot of questions about the academy.
Lith didn't lie to her, describing in detail the teaching methods, the harsh competitive environment, and the need for commoners to get a Guilty Ballot as soon as they got admitted.
The more Tista learned about it, the less attractive the perspective of attending the academy became. She knew nothing about combat. Tista used mostly light and darkness magic for her job, while she practiced the other elements only for doing the daily chores.
'My situation is pretty much the same as Quylla's, but I doubt I'll find someone like lil brother to watch my back. Even if I get admitted, I'd be quite old compared to my schoolmates.
'Dammit, I want to learn more about magic. I'm tired of the daily routine, Lutia is starting to feel a cage like home previously was. At the same time, it's a safe haven for me.
'The academy sounds like the forbidden love child of a viper's nest and a warrior's arena. I want to test my limits, but it's kind of extreme as first challenge. Ballot or not, I don't know if I can stand so much pressure.'
Tista needed time to think, so she went back into her room to study the offensive spells from her grimoire. She learned them years ago at Lith's and Nana's insistence, but after never using them, Tista remembered only the simplest ones.
After taking Rena home, Lith Warped to a random location in the Trawn woods. After checking not to be followed, he Warped to an irrelevant spot at Lutia's outskirts.
'Warp Steps should make following me impossible, even to the Queen's corps. Being careful never hurts, though.'
After coming through each Gate, he would walk for a few dozen meters in a random direction before opening another. Lith hoped that the multiple spatial jumps would allow him to lose his tail, even if an artifact capable of opening again or tracing Warp Steps did exist.
Only then he opened a Gate to the mana geyser in the Trawn woods. Without Solus, he wouldn't be able to recognize the place, if not for the fact that the mana geyser was the only spot were weeds, grass, and flowers had already started to grow again in the scarred ground.
The damage caused by the Abomination he had fought alongside the other three Kings of the woods wouldn't recover until spring, if not even later. Everything reminded him of Protector, making Lith's blood boil.
'F*ck Protector. I'm here for much more important stuff. Solus, do you mind turning into the tower?' This time he didn't say he needed her, nor he gave her an order. Lith was really asking her permission.
'Sure.' Solus had no idea of what was happening. To reduce the suffering from isolation as much as she could, she had found a way to fall into a kind of deep slumber. Solus had missed all the recent conversations and thought Lith just wanted to train or Forgemaster something.
'What do you need?' She asked.
Lith didn't reply until the tower was completely formed before answering. There were no changes from the last time. The repairs on the first floor had progressed, but weren't finished yet. The tower was comprised only by the ground floor and the basement.
"Not what, but who. I think it's time for us to talk. I didn't want to have this conversation without giving you a physical presence and a voice too."
Solus consciousness took her wisp form. The sphere of light was bigger and brighter than the last time he saw it. When she was close enough, Lith noticed another change. There was something at its center, something that looked almost solid.
Chapter 253 Siblings Part 2
"Uhm, thanks." After all the time she spent alone, Solus was confused by his apparently kind behavior. Lith placed his right hand on the wisp, making her experience physical contact for the first time in months.
The wisp turned out to be solid enough to stop his hand. Solus could feel not only Lith's warmth, but also his touch. It was the closest thing to a caress she had ever experienced, so she couldn't help but quiver.
"Interesting. Now your wisp form is tangible and warm." Lith was amazed. He had expected his hand to go through it.
"Indeed. What were you saying?" Solus was happy with her development, but for some reason, she felt really embarrassed. Lith quickly recovered from the surprise, remembering why they were there.
"It's easier if I show you, rather than tell."
If he was talking with anyone else, Lith would have asked her if she really meant what she said the last time they talked. Yet with Solus the
re was no need to. Once their minds were fused, there was no way to lie or hide even the most embarrassing thought.
That was the reason why once they had started trusting each other they had stopped doing it. Lith because after considering Solus as a person, a girl at that, there were many parts of his past he wasn't willing to brag about.
Solus because the more her personality developed, the more she felt the need to have some personal space.
Lith clearly remembered how terrifying was his life from her point of view. Always scared of losing him in battle, to the point of sacrificing herself during the fight with the Talons, or almost degrading her own core to keep him alive when he failed to save Protector.
He remembered how much she had suffered hiding the truth from him, that she was aware of what coming clean could cause, yet when faced between her sake and Lith's, she had always put him first, no matter the consequences.
Lith shared with her all his memories about the last weeks. Every minute, every second was unveiled. He wasn't afraid to admit how much he cared for her, how being separated made him feel incomplete.
"Wait, this is¡" Solus was shocked by the amount of information. It was the equivalent of a one sided mind fusion. Lith was showing her everything without receiving anything in return.
"Why didn't you fuse our minds again?" She asked.
"Because I don't want to force you again. Your lie hurt me deeply, but you are still my Solus. You are the only person I never had to lie to and I don't want for it to change. So, I'm doing something that I usually don't.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting.
"I'm showing myself vulnerable.
"I understand how my behavior must be terrifying for someone forced to ride shotgun with me without never touching the wheel. I understand how Protector's words made you feel and why you lied to me.
"I'm willing to forgive you, but you have to promise me never to do it again. I'm not perfect, so if you disagree with me, nag at me until my ears bleed, kick my ass, whatever. Just don't act behind my back again."
Solus was so happy that the walls of the tower trembled a little. She wasn't used to expressing herself with words anymore, so she triggered a mind fusion, sharing as much as he did, no matter how embarrassing it was or how pathetic she looked in those memories.
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