2335 Battle at Dawn (Part 1)

"I promise that I'm going to make Thrud pay. If the Kingdom falls, I have no reason to keep my identity a secret. I'll move to a different country and live openly as the Master. You guys will be always welcome to join me."

A snap of his fingers and Vastor Spirit Warped away.

"What have you done?" Now that they were alone Orion managed to clear his head.

"I told you already. What needed to be done." Jirni replied.

"Don't you remember what Lith said about Awakening? It will take you months to get stronger and years to learn magic properly. What point does this have?" He asked in bewilderment.

The room had started to spin like a top, but he couldn't stand still anymore.

"The point is that even though I'm still powerless, at least now I can grow stronger." She replied. "Our daughters are Awakened, Orion. I didn't care for magic because I thought I could always protect them.

"Yet what can our money and political power do when something like this happens?" Jirni clenched her hands while grief tightened her throat until her voice was reduced to a whisper. "What will we do when another monster walks up to our door and takes another of our children?

"I'm not going to stand still and beg someone else to do the dirty work for me. Not again! I can't live like this one second longer. When our babies need us, I want to be more than a meat shield. I want revenge!"

"And so do I." Orion sighed. "But again, it will take us years. It's pointless."

"No, it will take me years whereas you need to strengthen your body enough to Awaken. You heard Quylla, you can retain the power of your violet core. On top of that, you already are a skilled mage.

"I'm sure that it wouldn't take you long to get used to true magic, Spirit Magic, and body casting."

"Even if the cost is Forbidden Magic?" He asked.

"How is it different from selling yourself to Salaark?" Jirni replied with a snort.

"You knew?"

"Of course I did. I didn't miss your disappearance nor that of your entire life's work. There's no other reason to take so many tomes away with you. I don't know why she turned you down but I'm certain that at the next crisis, her answer will be the same."

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Orion looked her in the eyes while holding her hands.

"I'm not going to ask you anything, dear, but I have to do this. I can feel the madness creeping inside my head already. The next time something like this happens, I'll die if I stay like I am." Jirni replied.

"Also, there's another reason I wanted to Awaken."

"Which is?" Orion asked.

"I want us to have another baby." Jirni was in her early forties and even though still possible, a pregnancy would have been difficult to achieve and risky. "Awakened keep their fertility until they die. Think of Fyrwal or Tyris."

"This is insane!" Orion said in shock. "First, there's no guarantee of the gender of the baby. Even if it is a girl, she could never replace Phloria. This is just the grief talking."

"No, it's not." Jirni shook her head. "I don't want to replace Phloria nor am I fixated on having another girl. I just want a second chance. I want to give this baby everything I failed to give our Little Flower.

"On top of that, I need this. I need an anchor to this life. Without someone who really needs me, I don't know if I can keep going on. Our other children are all grown up and ready to settle down.

"Awakening will allow me to have the energy to be a good parent and give me the time to see them happy. That and the power to protect everyone. I don't plan to live forever, I'll die right after the last of our children."

"Then so will I." Orion hugged her, understanding all too well how Jirni felt.

He was a natural violet-cored Archmage. The god of the forge. A Royal Forgemaster and the Commander of the Knight's Guard. Yet all those titles amounted to nothing. When push came to shove, he was no different from any grieving father.

"Never again will I let someone get away with killing one of our children. It may take me years, maybe even centuries, but I swear to you that if Thrud wins, I'll bide my time and kill her son when she least expects it." Orion said.

"And I will be there with you, dear. Do you want me to call Vastor?" She asked.

"Yes, but no Forbidden Magic. I want our old and new children to have a father they can be proud of."

***

The following morning, Lith woke up with Solus hugging him from the left side and Kamila from the right.

'Damn, the last thing I remember is that we moved here to lie down while listening to the baby's heartbeat. We must have dozed off almost at the same time. That or Kami didn't object to Solus staying.

'Yesterday was a nightmare and Solus needed company as much as I did.' He thought while making breakfast for everyone.

Maybe it was because of the nap on the beach, or maybe because the Desert's sun had filled his Abomination side with energy. Whatever the answer, Lith felt full of vigor yet no less depressed than the previous day.

He prepared a triple serving of waffles for everyone, tea, coffee, and a Triple Threat cake.

The latter received such a warm welcome that by the end of the breakfast, only two slices were left even though Lith had barely touched the cake.

"Let's save them for later." Kamila said, taking her tea plain in a whimsical attempt to make up for what she had eaten.

"In case we have guests?" Lith's voice dripped with sarcasm.

"No, silly, in case we get hungry." Solus replied and Kamila nodded.

He was about to say something very rude that would have put him into trouble with both women when his communication amulet lit up and opened the communication on its own.

It meant that the situation was so dire that the Crown had deemed it necessary to use the Royal Override code to have his attention.

"Magus Verhen, is this a bad moment?" King Meron asked.

"Yes, Your Majesty. I'm not even done with breakfast." Lith replied.

"Then you better sit down because it's about to get much worse." A wave of Meron's hand made a map pop out of the blue gem of the army amulet.

It depicted the Distar region and an ominous red dot was advancing toward the White Griffon academy.

"Is that Thrud?" Lith asked, receiving a nod in reply. "Why is she still going there? The academies are down and the only threat left to her army are the Royal artifacts in Valeron.

"I expected her to try and reach the capital of the Kingdom as stealthily as possible."

"We believed the same and guess what, we were both wrong." Meron sighed. "Did you sit down?"

"Yes, Your Majesty." Lith hastily pulled a chair, bracing for impact.