The hole Phloria's death had left in Lith's heart had beco smaller over ti but there was no way to fill it. Phloria had a special place in his mind, right beside Carl among the people Lith believed to have failed.
"Here we are." Quylla cleared her throat and opened a heavy, enchanted double door that separated the magical labs from the rest of the house.
The hardwood was studded with Adamant plates filled with magical runes and white crystals that powered the various enchantnts.
A long corridor separated Quylla's quarters from Morok's, ensuring their insulation. A single line of gold-veined white marble bricks traced the border between the two magical labs.
Without such precautions, unleashing different kinds of powerful energy at the sa ti might have had disastrous consequences.
"The sad part is that this is the smallest wing and yet it costs much more than the rest of the house." Being born a poor orphan, Quylla hated spending money almost as much as Lith. "I envy your tower so much."
"I'll take it as a complint." Solus nodded.
Quylla knocked on the closed door before entering. She didn't want to startle Morok and the others in the middle of an experint and risk soone getting injured.
"Co in," Morok's voice was transmitted by one of the door's many enchantnts. Lith and Solus found Morok, Ryla, and Garrik sitting in a circle with their hands joined. They were in their real forms, each one of them with their six eyes open. Ryla activated one of her elental powers at a ti and then passed it on to the others.
"Stop training, you oaf: Quylla said. "We have guests, and they didn't co here to watch you practice"
"We're almost done." Morok's and Garrik's fangs were clenched in effort, the light in their red eyes flickered as it beca dimr.
Morok failed first, the mystical red fire went out and he started to pant heavily, Garrik lasted a bit longer but was also much more tired.
"What's this sll?" Solus sniffed an unknown pungent scent.
"Sweat." Ryla cleaned her son and the Tyrant with a pulse of darkness magic. "This is harder than it seems."
"Uncle Lith! How are Aran and Leria?" Garrik's eyes lit up and he tried to stand up from the floor but his knees failed him.
"Not so fast, young man" Quylla helped him to sit back safely and then handed him a glass of fresh juice and so cookies. "You need to regain your strength."
"What about ?" Morok grumbled.
"Not so fast, old man." She gave him a sweater and a walking stick. "You don't want to catch a cold."
Morok glared at her until Quylla burst out laughing.
"I'm sorry, I couldn't resist." She gave him a sweet kiss before handing him honeyed tea and his favorite snacks.
"Thanks. I needed so sugar." Morok winked at her before taking the food. "How are you doing, guys?"
"That should be my question." Lith replied. "I have missed quite a lot of practice sessions. To answer you, though, I'm fine. Better than ever."
Lith told them about his recovery and the changes in Death Vision.
"Nice." Morok patted Lith's shoulder while eating. "If it's of any consolation, I've made little to no progress. Watch!"
He took deep breaths, opening his six eyes at the sa ti and splitting the world energy into its elental components. Lith could see with Life Vision the six elental flows mixing with each other first and then with the Tyrant's life force.
As the elents neared a balance, the six eyes tried to collapse into one but Morok kept them separated. As a result, a few of the elental scales on the Tyrant's body turned erald and those that already were beca more brilliant.
"It may be small but it's still a step in the right direction." Solus said.
"The issue is not the length of the stride but how difficult lifting the foot is." Morok stopped the process, sighing heavily. "Glemos made a mistake by teaching how to fuse my eyes as a child.
"It affected my life force as I developed and now that I've reached the violet, I'm afraid it's too late to steer it in a completely new direction.
"What you have just witnessed was trying to channel Spirit Magic through my body like you suggested. It works, but only a minimal part of the energy gets redirected. The rest goes to my eyes and pushes to rge them.
"Resisting my instincts takes such a toll on my focus that any advancent requires a lot of ti and effort. Even if I die of old age, I doubt I'll manage to alter my life force significantly."
"Then why are you doing this?" Solus asked. "Why are you putting so much effort into a project destined to fail from the start?"
Life Vision showed her several stress points on the Tyrant's body and how drained his mana core was. Solus had never seen Morok sweat even while going all-out as he fought
for his life.
It could only an he had been practicing for hours on end.
"Isn't it obvious?" He replied. "Even if I fail, it doesn't an my children will. I need to work hard to set solid foundations for the path they'll walk once they are born. The more I learn and the more leads I find, the smoother it will be for them.
"I'm perfectly fine with entrusting everything to the next generation. I'm not my father. My children won't be my tool. I'm theirs."
"You are nothing like Glemos." Quylla hugged him. "But don't you dare call yourself a tool.
That's sothing only I can do."
"Got it, boss." He chuckled.
"What about you, Ryla?" Lith asked.
"I made no progress at all." She lowered her head, wringing her hands. "My Fallen life force can't make progress. I don't even bother trying to Awaken because it would only make things worse. At least as a non-Awakened, I can leave the mana geyser at any ti without exploding."
"I'm sorry, Ryla." Quylla gave her an apologetic nod. "I've studied your life force but between my mother's ss and everything that happened recently, I didn't have the
ti to analyze the data."
"It's alright, Quylla" The Fomor caressed Garrik's head. "I'm not the priority."
"Yes, you are!" He jumped to his feet. "What's the point of traveling through Mogar if I can't share it with you, Mom?"
"I can follow you, baby. I just can't enter human settlents." She replied. Garrik gritted his teeth and said no more. He had practiced magic long enough to understand how silly he already sounded. His life on the surface was liberating and exciting, but it had also made Garrik's limits more evident.
"Can you please check on my life force, Uncle Lith?"
"Sure, but you could have asked Quylla. She's very talented in light magic." Lith said
while using his breathing technique, Abyssal Gaze.
"I know." Garrik replied. "But you are, I an, were a hybrid too. You succeeded in rging your life forces. You can offer practical guidance!"
Invigoration confird that Garrik's life forces were slowly fusing together.
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