1865Picking Up the Pieces (Part 1)

For the first time since they knew each other, Phloria was scared of Lith. He showed no sign of remorse nor did he care for anyone who might have died when the volcano had erupted.

Lith didn't know nor care if Hogum's servants had escaped before the blast. Even the child had been saved only on Tista's plea.

"You went easy on them." Faluel said, eating a biscuit. "If that was my father, I would have eaten the happy family alive one at a time. Sure, if it was my father, he would have likely escaped on his own after slaughtering everyone, but that's another story."

The girls needed a bit of time and liquor to recover.

The world tribulation was beyond everyone's understanding so they focused on the issue of Lith's sealed deep violet core.

"As you can see, I tried something different on each occasion." Lith said while showing them the holograms of yesterday's events to not poison them with another mind link.

"When I faced Meln, I unleashed all of my power to destroy him and protect Mom and everyone in Lutia. Then, at the Hogum Mansion, I released my fury and hate to punish those responsible for hurting Dad.

"Yet both times I failed to trigger the tribulation and even overcome the bottleneck that stunts the development of my core. Any ideas?"

"I'm sorry, I've got nothing." Faluel said. "I was thinking about telling you to go all out or to stop repressing your feelings, yet that's exactly what you did without getting any result from it."

"I would like to say something along the lines of: maybe you had to show restraint. If I did, however, I would be the first one to bash my own head. Those guys had it coming." Friya shrugged.

"Let's think about what we know about other Divine Beasts." Solus said. "After all, Lith's Tiamat form it's still one of them, born from mixing the blood of a Dragon and a Phoenix."

"Dragons are creatures of wisdom but also greed." Faluel said. "Phoenixes are creatures of passion, experiencing only the most intense love and hate. Griffons are creatures devoted to nurturing, but are also prone to jealousy and anger.

"In a way, they are similar to Life Maelstrom. They can strengthen what they care about but they can also smother them with their excessive affection. Think about how Tyris became heartbroken after finally finding true love."

"I'm indeed a creature of greed and passion." Lith said. "I crave for what I need and I either love or hate. Everything else is indifferent to me. Yet if I had to define myself with one word, I'd say hate."

He then showed him how his fury and madness had infected the Demons conjured by the Call of the Void and even Tista.

"And that's your problem." Quylla said after mulling over those images for a while.

"Should I stop hating?" Lith asked.

"Well, that would be definitely healthy of you, but it's not what I'm talking about." Quylla shook her head. "I think that you should start by stopping hating yourself."

"What do you mean?" Solus asked.

"Lith, I've seen your whole life through mind links, and thanks to them, I experienced your emotions as well." Quylla replied. "Back when you were hungry, you hated and despised yourself for your weakness.

"Then, after you got food by becoming a hunter, you kept hating yourself for not being strong enough to heal Tista. After that, you had to worry about helping Solus to recover and finding a way for her to get a body.

"This is also what you have done until now, when you blamed yourself for falling for Orpal's trap at the Heavenly Wolf restaurant and for Raaz's kidnapping.

"You keep living by taking everything on yourself and getting angry every time something outside your expectations happens. You can't always win, Lith. No one does, not even my Mom or the Guardians.

"I think that the key to break through to the light violet is to stop hating yourself and project it only outwards."

"How the heck do I do that?" Lith knew of his control issues for years.

It had been a long uphill battle that he still had no idea how to win.

"Beats me." Quylla shrugged. "But if anyone has a better idea, I'm open to suggestions."

They took turns giving Lith advice, but they all amounted to generic wishful thinking worthy of a self-help book with no real clue about how to actually achieve what he wanted.

"Okay, enough of this sorry mess that's my life." Lith stood up. "Quylla, Phloria, you've never visited the Desert before. Let me give you a tour of Salaark's palace and then you have to meet the kids.

"They need to see some friendly faces."

***

As Lith had predicted, Aran and Leria welcomed their aunties with enthusiasm. The kids invited them to play with them with water and magic in the lake which everyone accepted.

Not before kicking out Lith and Senton of course.

Now that there were only women and Aran, they could freely take a dip together while wearing only skin-tight enchanted armor.

"Can't you like mind fuse with Solus and share?" Senton asked, quickly adding in reply to Lith's glare. "Hey, I'm married, not dead."

"First, Solus would know. Second, if I ever peeked at my naked sisters, I would be no better than Meln." Lith spat at that name as if was venom on his tongue.

"Fucking bastard." Senton spat as well and that was the last time that they ever talked about exploiting Lith's access to the women's locker room.

Raaz woke up after over 24 hours of sleep and only because he was starving. He was still a bundle of nerves, yelping and stepping back in fear even when Aran tried to touch him.

To be capable of enduring physical contact, even with his own children, Raaz needed to have Elina holding his hand, to remind him that he was safe now. Orpal had abused mind links to torture and interrogate his father by projecting familiar visions in his mind.

Now, he had a hard time distinguishing hallucinations from reality. Only when Salaark was present, exuding the majestic aura of a Guardian, did Raaz manage to assume a semblance of normalcy, and only because he felt like a mouse riding a Phoenix.

The awareness that no one and nothing could touch him without paying the price soothed his broken nerves. Without Salaark, he couldn't eat without puking a few minutes later or sit without having his back against the wall.

Seeing him like that broke his family's heart but they did their best to repress their feelings and be strong for him.

"Don't worry, kids. You can stay here as long as you want. No strings attached." Salaark said. Raaz was just a distant offspring of her own children, but her heart was wrenched by his pain nonetheless.

Lith spent the two following days resting, to give his once again wounded life force the time to fully mend. The Overlord kept a close eye on his condition and did her best to help him recover.

During that time, he received countless calls on his Council amulet, the only communication device that he had left after destroying his civilian one.