2404 Looking in the Mirror (Part 2)

With her body now full of energy and her mind more messed up than ever, she knew she had to put some distance between them.

***

"Where's next?" Tista had noticed that both Solus and Tista were distraught but she preferred to wait until they decided to open up.

"I would like to go to Phogia and Bima. The problem is that Phogia has no mana geyser and Bima doesn't even have a Warp Gate." Solus replied. "I won't last long in either of them and reaching Bima will not be easy."

"I don't understand." Dawn spoke from Nyka's mouth, making Elina's words echo in the Vampire's mind. "What need do you have for geysers? As long as you carry your true body, you should have all the energy you need."

"It's a side effect of the long distance from Lith." Solus was a good liar but not that good. "Keeping my own body away from his demands a lot of energy and mana geysers make up for it."

"I see." Dawn replied, but Nyka had spotted the lie and she doubted that the Horseman had been fooled.

Phogia turned out to be better and worse than Solus had expected. The people burned by the Thousand Flames had already been healed or had died in the days following the attack.

Simple earth magic spells had removed the black from the flames while light magic made the grass regrow. Yet judging from the few people they met on the streets and the lack of a field hospital, it was clear that either thousands had died during the attack or had moved out after.

"Actually, it's both." A guard replied when Solus found the courage to ask for an explanation. "Ever since the day Supreme Magus Verhen stormed Phogia, the smell of burned meat has become an integral part of the city.

"It makes foreigners hungry because it reminds them of barbecue. Yet to those who live here, it's a constant reminder of the friends they have lost and of their own flesh burning from the heat of the Thousand Flames."

"What about using darkness magic to cleanse the air?" Tista asked.

"It worked for some, but not for all." The man inhaled deeply. "There are people who even with their nose plugged keep smelling it. It's gone to their head and there's no way to take it out.

"Don't get me started on how many of them react when they hear the sizzling of meat on a pan. We had many riots near the restaurants and not because the people were hungry."

After Phogia, they moved to Bima, discovering that it was scarred in a different way.

The crater that Lith had opened while bursting through the city gates had been fixed, but the outer rim of the city was still a wreck. Some houses had to be rebuilt from the foundations, others were missing an entire floor, and many had huge cracks in their walls.

The city needed builders more than Healers but Solus found a way to help.

She would cut stones with earth magic in shapes that fitted the cracks. Then, she altered the density of both the walls and the patch so that they would mix into a homogeneous substance before hardening them again.

The people of the outer rim couldn't believe their own eyes and seeing their homes repaired so quickly filled them with joy. The damage was akin to a scar that constantly reminded them of what they had lost and of the harsh future waiting for them.

Fixing their homes also healed their wounds and helped the citizens of Bima to pretend to have gone back to their old lives.

Without a mana geyser, Solus had to go back to the Verhen Mansion at the end of each day, but now she took care to not remain alone with Lith again while Nyka avoided Elina's gaze as best as she could.

'I'm used to people being angry at me the moment they discover I'm a Vampire but this is the first time I'm judged guilty by association.' She thought while taking a stroll in the park.

'How can you be surprised?' Dawn replied. 'It's the same feeling that Solus is experiencing and the reason behind this trip. Even when she didn't deal a single blow, none of those cities would have fallen without her help.

'In the same way, by carrying me you are also carrying the burden of my past actions.'

'That's not true. I chose to bond with you because I wanted to protect the Eclipsed Lands and give Uncle Vladion the chance to uphold his word. Even now I'm not doing this for myself. I'm doing it for Solus!'

'How noble of you.' Dawn sneered, projecting telepathic images of all the things that Nyka had done once she had become able to walk under the sunlight. 'Let's say you are such a generous soul. Do you think the Rezar called Nalrond would give a damn about it?

'Do you think that any of my past victims would?'

Nyka's mind became blank and suddenly bonding with Dawn didn't seem such a good idea anymore.

'I swear to the gods, if you do anything to Solus, I will…'

'You'll do nothing.' Dawn withdrew her light energy and suddenly Nyka fell into the daytime slumber typical of undead. 'I'm sick and tired of being threatened. You are nothing like Elina.

'She recognized me for what I am and challenged me out of genuine worry whereas you have allowed your petty interests to blind you until I put you in front of a mirror. Your defiance is born from shame and guilt.'

Dawn withdrew more of her power and Nyka felt her skin starting to burn under the direct sunlight.

'If I really wanted to hurt you, I could have killed you or beaten you into submission a hundred times over.' The Horseman released her powers and Nyka healed as she could move her body again.

'Instead of worrying about me or your friend, you should worry about yourself, child. You are too naïve for your own good and are playing with powers beyond your understanding.'

'Are you telling me to go back to Lightkeep and ask Baba Yaga to split us?' Nyka asked.

'Do it, if that's what you want.' Dawn shrugged. 'I just wanted to remind you that I'm not a tool and that as long as we are bonded you carry my burden. I think that both you and Solus need me to fix your childish mentality but the final choice is up to you.'

The Vampire was now aware of how helpless she was and that Dawn could have easily taken her body over any time she wanted. So without thinking, she hid the crystal inside her chest and cut off the Horseman's influence over her.

'I hate to admit it, but Dawn is right. I've been foolish to think that people would separate her from me just because I'm her new host.  Dawn's burden is now my own as much as Lith's burden weighs on Solus.

'I need Dawn to walk a mile in Solus' shoes while Solus needs her to have someone to talk to. No matter how much I care for her, I'm too young and have no idea how to help her.'