1859 Toll of the Void (Part 1)

A tendril of Spirit Magic found Felmor, a baby less than one years old who cried in panic and terror.

"Your son will live, but he will own nothing but his life." Lith Warped the child away before unleashing all the spells he had at the ready along with a river of Void Flames.

Earth and fire magic made the ground below the Hogum household crack open as it turned into magma. The black fire hit the fissures, making them burst. At the same time, the Demons of Flames self-detonated, producing a volcanic explosion.

The storm clouds above the mansion cleared and the quake stopped. The world tribulation couldn't happen anymore and the planet turned their attention to more pressing matters.

Lith's mana core calmed down as well, the violet energy it contained sealed again into thin streaks. Whatever Mogar and his core wanted from him, he had failed them both for the second time in a single day.

While Lith and Tista Warped away, the ground swelled up and hurled a river of lava that devoured everything the Hogum bloodline had ever built and killed whoever had yet to run away.

Frenon and Cenia died a few seconds later, when the magma swallowed them, yet their agony seemed to last hours. The Baronet died at peace with Mogar, knowing that Felmor wouldn't pay for the stupidity of his father.

Cenia, instead, died with her heart full of hatred for Orpal, and her spirit found itself unable to leave.

Meanwhile, in Valeron, the Royal Court stood witness to a small but ancient household turning into an active volcano, leaving a scar in Lustria that would match those left in Lith's life force.

"Do you see that, you damn fools?" Peonia slapped in the face the heads of the ancient and new households with so much strength that they staggered and bled. "That's the power you have forfeited. That's an enemy you have created!"

While Peonia talked, Quylla and Kamila hated her for speaking about Lith as if he was just a jar of magic with a face. She also reminded Vastor of the reasons he had thought of sitting out of the war, yet his promise to Manohar bound him.

The King stepped forward, stripping Morn of the insignia of General of the Army from his right shoulder. Then came Sylpha, ripping the one on the left shoulder.

One after the other, the various nobles stripped Morn's uniform of all of its features until it wasn't a uniform anymore, just red clothes.

The Royal Court had just trialed and judged Morn Griffon for his crimes. The sentence was death, but it wouldn't come easy, it wouldn't be quick, and there would be no mercy in the execution.

***

Lith and Tista alternated their Warps, giving each other the time to use Invigoration while they approached the tower. Raaz's condition was stable but still critical, just like Lith's.

The Call of the Void had ravaged his life force while his almost falling for his old self's temptation had devastated his body. The life essences he had taken would keep him together, but not for long.

First, they went to the Trawn woods. Then, after they found no trace of the tower, they moved to the nearest geyser, the one under the Verhen Mansion. Solus had moved there, to hide in plain sight.

The moment they arrived, Solus activated the Immortal Body array and warped to the Desert, where Salaark had already been notified of their arrival. The heir of Menadion was horrified when she noticed both Lith's and Raaz's state, moving everyone to a different room.

"By my Mom, you need to rest. You are no better than Dad!" Solus said.

She was scared for Lith, but even more for Raaz. While his wounds conjured the memories of Carl's death for Lith, Solus kept seeing her father, Threin, exploding over and over.

He would die in a loop while in the background Menadion was slain by Bytra. She had lost her first family and the thought of losing her new father as well made the entire tower tremble in fear.

The lights dimmed as Solus had to fight against her mental scars just to keep standing.

"We'll think about that later." Lith said with a sigh, wishing that Quylla was there.

They could only feed Raaz tonics mouth by mouth without her Injection spell. Without them, any attempt to cure him would also kill him. Invigoration could regrow lost limbs, but the process would still take a toll on the patient's body.

"Dammit!" Lith said as he estimated how long the process would take. "I wanted to fix Dad before he wakes up. He has been tortured and I didn't want him or the others to see him in such a state.

"The problem is that he has no exposed veins that I can use for a physical IV and even if he drinks tonics for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, it will take me days to heal such wounds!"

"That or a little help from the family." Salaark said, mildly annoyed for not being taken into consideration, "I don't mess with stuff that happens outside my turf but under my roof, none of my children are allowed to die!"

She weaved Creation and Rebirth magic together, putting her right hand on Raaz's forehead and the left on Lith's. Solus had prepared dozens of tonics and the Overlord opened them all with a flutter of her eyelashes.

The milky liquid filled the cracks on the Tiamat's body, seeping under his scales and skin. At the same time, it also entered through Raaz's pores and orifices while also accumulating on the stumps of his missing limbs.

Lith could see via his Tiamat eyes and Demon Grasp how Salaark's spell worked. She was using Creation Magic on the inanimated matter of the tonics to split them into their individual components.

Proteins, amino acids, mineral salts, and all kinds of nutrients in order to rearrange them to form living matter. Then, she used Rebirth Magic to shape the newborn matter into flesh, bones, and white and red blood cells.

Lith felt his body being invaded by the tonic that used the still healthy parts as a scaffold to replace everything that was missing and fix every damage that calling upon the Void had inflicted upon him.

His life force stabilized immediately, the cracks returned to their original state by consuming the life energy that he had consumed from the people of the Hogum Household.

They hadn't healed but they had not expanded either.

As for Raaz, color returned to his face as his breathing became regular and relaxed. The torso and the head, the only parts left of him were now back in perfect condition, yet the tonics kept accumulating at his extremities.

'Why is she doing that? It's not like she-' Before Lith could even finish the thought, Salaark activated her Blood Imprint bloodline ability.

The scales on Lith's and Tista's bodies turned into feathers and fire burst out of Raaz's stumps. The flames fed upon the tonics as if they were gasoline, growing in strength and size.

The milky liquid was consumed so quickly that even though Solus had prepared over one hundred of them, she suddenly feared they wouldn't be enough.