"Because if you don't get out of my hair right now, we are going to find out."
"Mo-enadion, stop!" Solus rushed to correct herself since there were still people within earshot. "Look, whoever you are, there's nothing we can do. Wait for the call of the new World Tree or whatever your people do when the fucker dies."
"My na is-"
"Not interested." Solus cut Azit short. "If none of that works, here's the communication rune of a fellow elf of yours. Aalejah Eventide. She will care enough about you and your people to help you connect with the rulers of the three great countries."
"But-" Azit exchanged runes with her, yet with the elven villages gone and the fields still burning with Origin Flas, the elves would soon run out of food.
"You tortured !" Solus yelled with so much fury that her voice blasted the elf off his feet. "Your kind imprisoned and did… things to ! I made a promise and I am upholding it, but my patience is running thin."
She gritted her teeth and clenched her fists in the attempt to control herself.
"Get away from . Now!"
Azit stepped away slowly, keeping his hands raised in plain sight. The collective murderous intent in front of him was enough to keep him from breathing, making his lungs burn from the lack of oxygen.
He could have Warped away, but he didn't dare cast a spell and risk it being mistaken for an attack.
As soon as fear allowed him, he turned around and sprinted, feeling the fresh breeze filling his chest and easing his pain.
"I'm sorry. I didn't an to lose my cool like that." Solus wished to be kinder with Azit, but her body twisted in revulsion at the re sight of an elf.
"Don't apologize. You just saved his life." Lith patted her shoulder.
"You sure did." nadion snarled.
Once everyone was out of the Fringe, the boundary closed by itself even though Lith was still nearby.
"See? It wasn't ."
The various factions waved their goodbyes and left. The exit led to the republic of Chalal and getting back ho would take a while for those who didn't want to leave a trail in the Gate Network that might trace them back to their lairs.
"I bet that we'll find Aunt Loka and Malyshka waiting for us in the Blood Desert." Solus said after she made sure they were alone.
"Just the ti to get rid of all those obnoxious Liches and lose anyone who might attempt to tail them." Lith nodded. "I doubt they'll miss to give you and your mother a proper welco."
"I can use the advice of trusted friends right now." Ripha sighed while glaring at Lith. "I'm not in the right state of mind for seven hundred years and need to make important decisions."
"Before we get back to the Blood Desert and start celebrating Solus' return, I would like to ask you a few questions, nadion." Bytra cleared her throat to get their attention.
"Can't they wait? I've just reconnected with my daughter."
"No, they can't." The Fourth Ruler of the Flas shook her head. "I can understand our truce while Solus' life was at risk but why did you lie for once the battle was over? Why didn't you attack even though you've seen with your eyes what I've done with your teachings? With your life job?"
"Why would I?" Ripha frowned in confusion. "Oh, now I understand. You don't know I was by Solus' side all this ti, do you?"
"You what?" Bytra took a step back.
"I an that I was there when you gave her the Fury back and did everything you could to find the pieces of my Set for her." nadion said. "I witnessed you offering Epphy-"
"Solus." Solus corrected her.
"Solus your Absolution." Ripha rolled her eyes. "Just like I was there all the tis you risked your life to save her and I've learned from Lith's chain that you still keep the secret of the tower from your allies.
"Only your wife knows and only because Lith needed her help to convince the others to join the rescue missions."
"Are you saying that you have forgiven ?" Bytra's voice cracked as her mind refused to believe her own ears.
"Why should I forgive you?" nadion's scoff broke the Raiju's heart in a thousand pieces. "You did nothing wrong."
"What?" Bytra's knees buckled and she fell to the ground.
"Kid, I'm not my daughter. My mory is intact and I rember how the real- I'm sorry, the original Bytra was." Ripha stepped forward and helped the Raiju to stand up. "No matter what you tell or call yourself, you are nothing like her.
"She was arrogant, even more than my daughter…"
"Mom!"
"And she was the most ambitious and prideful person I've ever t." nadion pretended to not have heard Solus and continued. "Bytra always bugged to borrow the other pieces of my set to the point I often joked she would kill just to take a peek at my tower.
"As we all know, in the end she did. You, instead, are humble and caring. You could have taken not one, but three pieces of my set for yourself, and Solus would have never known about it.
"She recovered the Fury, the Mouth, and now the Ears only thanks to your help. Not to ntion you could have ambushed Lith at any ti and taken the stone ring from him, achieving Bytra's lifelong dream of having my tower."
"But I'm Bytra!" The Raiju said in frustration. "I killed you and Elphyn. I stole your hamr. I copied your work. I'm everything the 'real' Bytra was!"
"Really?" Ripha furrowed her brows in mock indignance. "Then tell how and when you, and I an you, not the person in your mories, have wronged or my daughter. I'll wait."
"Well, I…" Bytra racked her brain but there was nothing to find.
She had spent every waking mont since she had discovered that Solus and Elphyn were the sa person trying to find a way to make up for the cris of the original Bytra.
"My point exactly." Ripha nodded after the silence lasted long enough to beco awkward. "I was dead so we've never t until today. As for my daughter, you've done everything in your power to preserve and restore our family legacy.
"For that, I'll be forever grateful to you. Tezka may have opened the Fringe, but you pushed him to do it."
"Really?" Bytra said amid hiccups as a huge burden was lifted off her chest.
"Absolutely." nadion said. "To be honest, I think you are more talented than the old Bytra. She held my hamr for years during her apprenticeship but she never managed to co even close to it whereas your Absolution surpasses my creation.
"Also, you've managed to improve on the Mouth as well and based on what I've learned from Lith, you've studied the Ears enough to crack its code in less than one day."
"I didn't do any of that." Bytra shook her head. "I had help. The Eldritches of the Organization are among the most ancient and powerful beings on Mogar…"
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