A few days before Lith had to once again leave to resu his duty as Ranger of the Kellar region, Zinya finally mustered enough courage to tell Kamila about her final decision.
"Kami, I could never thank you and Lith enough for what you did for . The last week has been the happiest ti of my life." She said.
"This is just the beginning, Zin. There are still so many things that we have yet to do together. I’ll not be often ho, but I’ll try my best to not make you feel lonely. I’ve already found a caregiver for you." Kamila replied with a smile.
The daily expenses for the caregiver and Zinya would make it even harder for her to repay her debt, but she didn’t mind at all. Kamila had planned everything and was ready to bear the consequences of her decision.
"Thank you, but I’d like to remain here." Zinya blurted it out.
"What? Why?"
"You have your personal life and your career to worry about, Kami. I’m not a child and you can’t take care of forever. I’d rather live here as a housemaid than burden you more than I already did. I already spoke with Elina about it.
"The Verhen are nice people. They accepted to give food and accommodation in exchange for my job while they teach everything I need to stand up for myself. They are even willing to pay once I’m done learning.
"I’ve also decided to file for divorce. If I stay at your house, Fallmug might look for there. He will never co looking for here, instead. I don’t know if I have the strength to face him yet, so this is the perfect solution."
Kamila tried to convince Zinya to reconsider, but she was adamant about it. Kamila was sad at the idea that eting her sister without Lith’s help would take her quite so ti. The closest Gate was in Derios, and to reach Lutia from there it would take her over one and a half hours.
Yet seeing her so happy and determined, filled her heart with joy.
’I did all I could to give Zin her freedom, if I force her to co with , she would just exchange one cage for another. Here she’ll be surrounded by people who don’t take care of her because it’s their job but because they want to.
’Also, she will be safe from Fallmug, since attacking a mage’s family is plain suicide.’ She thought.
’Zinya and I have tried visiting her children, but Zinya’s in-law didn’t even let us in. According to the law, she is just a disabled, incompetent mother who has run away from her ho.
’To be able to claim any right over her children, she first needs to get a divorce and have the ans to take care of them. I don’t want to burden Lith with this matter as well.’ Kamila thought while preparing to say her goodbyes.
"I’m really sorry, I knew nothing about this. It wasn’t an elaborate sche I devised from the very beginning to keep you and your ho all to myself." Lith said as a joke, yet for second Kamila almost fell for it.
"When will you be back?" She asked.
"I don’t know. It could take weeks, maybe months. The silver lining is that now that you have exchanged your communication rune with Tista, she can help you reach Lutia whenever she is at ho." Lith said.
"That’s not what I asked you, you silly. I miss you already." She hugged him tightly. During those twenty days they had lived together and the idea of waking up alone hurt her more than she expected.
"Will you wait for ?" He asked returning her embrace.
"I promise."
Lith took her back ho, where they kissed one last ti before he had to resu his duty.
***
Ever since Scarlett the Scorpicore had visited Leegaain, asking for his help to solve the issue of her inability to obtain a purple core and achieve new tribulations, she had remained within the Gorgon Empire.
Hundred of years had passed since the last ti she had left the Griffon Kingdom, back when she was still a young Emperor Beast. Taking the mantle of the Lord of the Forest had given her great powers but also a great burden.
"Travelling allows to learn about different magical philosophies, understand what the heck Mogar wants from with its stupid tribulations, and to check about Abominations. Many birds with one stone." She said out loud, drawing attention on herself.
’Dammit, I’m not used to be disguised as a human. I keep making stupid mistakes that force to move from a town to another as if I’m a wanted criminal. I keep forgetting that fake mages need to chant gibberish to use magic and that they can’t break stone with their bare hands.’ She thought while calling a waiter to get seconds.
Another thing she had a hard ti with, was the small portions of food humans consud. Even if her appearance was that a woman, her body was still that of a Scorpicore and so was her stomach.
She looked like an adventurer in her thirties, about 1.67 ters (5’7") tall. Her shoulder length ashen gold hair had red shades and she wore a gold rimd pince-nez on her nose.
The body Scarlett had shapeshifted into was pretty, but not gorgeous. She preferred to go unnoticed in human settlents rather than being forced to constantly deal with flocks of admirers.
Centuries ago, when she had taken a walk with Salaark, they had been forced to knock down the entire male population of a village just to be able to order a beer without soone hitting on them.
She was currently in the city of Tyrenar, to investigate the rumors about a mysterious monster that was slaughtering n and beasts alike for no apparent reason.
’If I’m right, I might have found one of those new Eldritch Abominations. Right after the monster outbreaks ended, the Council reported the appearance of several creatures of unparalleled power.
’According to my sources, they should still be within my league. If I manage to track one of them and defeat it, I could finally learn sothing more about this Master. I could even find out his location.’ Scarlett thought as she took her communication amulet out of her pocket dinsion for the first ti in almost a year.
"Oh crap!" She blurted out, this ti intentionally. She had so many missed calls that it took her quite so ti just to take note of who she wanted to call back and who she would just ignore.
"Call if you need anything else." The young waiter gave Scarlett a kind smile that she returned while wondering why the heck a Treantling was working in a restaurant. Treantlings were trees that after living for centuries in a zone rich with world energy had beco Awakened.
They were the plant equivalent of a magical beast. His disguise was flawless, but Scarlett’s enchanted pince-nez allowed her to not only see the mana core of her opponents, but also their life force.
The Eyes of nadion were one of her most prized artifacts, which had allowed her to increase her knowledge about light magic by leaps and bounds ever since she had ’liberated’ it from the paws of a mad Griffon.
Just like for any living creature, being born from a good natured parent didn’t guarantee that they would inherit their heart or wisdom. So of Leegaain’s children were so infamous that the Council had put a bounty on their head even though they weren’t even Awakened.
User Comments
0 comments from readers