2479 Turf War (Part 1)

"As for the news about Friya's engagement, you should pick your damn amulet sometimes and ask her yourself!" Quylla said.

White Griffon Academy, at the same time.

After Lith had abruptly interrupted the Void Magic class, Professor Zogar Vastor had gone back to his office to catch up with the paperwork. With his tenure, his role as head of the Light Department, and vice Headmaster of the White Griffon, something or another always required his attention.

His new physique allowed him to work faster and for a longer period of time before feeling tired, yet there was a reason he had chosen the isolation of his office instead of bringing the work back home.

The tedious monotony of examining and signing documents helped him to keep his mind off the hunger that plagued him for a few weeks. Eating kept it at bay for a while but the amount of food he needed would arise suspicion in his colleagues and worry Zinya.

His Abomination half was growing faster than his human side, without giving it the time to adapt and contain the Chaos. The Master needed sheer willpower and his Grimbark Staff to keep the black core from consuming him.

His experiments and short rests inside the Madness helped, but he still craved the sweet taste of life force.. Vastor felt the hunger tempting him every time he visited or healed a patient, begging him to take just a little taste.

Yet the Master ignored that siren, knowing from the experience of his Eldritch associates that it was a blatant lie.

The moment I give in to the hunger, I'll become addicted to feeding off living beings. Vastor thought, focusing on the technical jargon of the research paper he was reading to beat the hunger and the constant headache it caused into submission.

I wish I could just make an excuse, disappear for a few months, and take my turn inside the Madness to stabilize my two halves. Sadly, my Abominations need it more than I do. The battle with Thrud has proven how reliant they are on Nandi,

If our enemies seal space like the Golden Griffon did and get rid of his ore ability to control world energy, the lack of Spirit Magic and breathing techniques of the monster-Eldritch hybrids becomes a fatal weakness against Awakened.

When the moment comes, we can't afford the Council standing in our path. Our involvement in the War of the Griffons proved our strength and valor, but it also forced us to reveal most of our strategies and weak points.

T'd be an old fool to think that the Council Elders aren't revising the footage frame by frame and use it to develop the means to put us down the moment our interests are not aligned anymore.

Abominations are not really Awakened and my Organization is still a probatory member of the Council. We have no seats nor representatives. They tolerate our presence simply because the alternative is a bloody fight.

I need to remove our current weaknesses or at least alter the known variables so that whatever countermeasures the Council has developed after watching us fight Thrud will be useless On top of that, to develop a treatment for myself I need more data. My Abomination half is a hybrid of the essence of all the six Eldritch descendants of the original Guardians. To fix my black core I first need to fix theirs Vastor inwardly sighed.

Despite his best efforts, new documents kept piling up on his desk faster than he processed them, making it a losing battle. Vastor had just called for his assistants' help when he received a message from the Queen informing him about the development of Lith's health condition.

I knew that the story about Elina's pregnancy being at risk due to her age was a pile of bullshit! He thought. Between the Guardians protecting Kamila and Lith's paranoia, the claim of the appearance of a second Golden Griffon would have been more believable.

"Yet this raises a question. If there was an emergency, why didn't he ask for my help? Also, why did Lith go to the Desert and ask for Quylla instead of me? Is it because he needed Salaark's Rebirth Magic and knew I can't go there or just to keep me out of his hair?

Vastor pondered the questions for a while before splitting the paperwork with the young mages and bringing his share back to the Essagor Grand Duchy via the academy's Warp Gate.

There was even more paperwork waiting for him there but at least he had several valiant helpers that he could trust with his life. Zinya and the Eldritches took care of most of the administrative duties for him, reading the draft legislations proposed by Vastor's retainers and redacting them when necessary.

They summarized the content of every approved request in a single phrase and stamped the rejected ones in advance, leaving the Master only to sign them in bulk with water magic.

Many changes had occurred in the Essagor region after the Royals had awarded Vastor with a higher noble status and funds. There were new Warp Gates to build, more roads to maintain, and more importantly train stations to prepare.

As Lith's closest allies, the Essagor and the Ernas regions would be the first to receive the first marvels of Forgemastery born from the ingenuity of the Supreme Magus.

It required the regional lords to build proper facilities to host the waiting passengers, staff quarters for the shift change, and of course, advertise the trains' times and routes. It required a lot of work that the Royals were funding with lots of gold and everyone wanted a piece of the cake.

The noble retainers sought their Lord's attention day and night, appealing to his wife whenever he wasn't available. Per Vastor's request, Zinya was now a Baroness and the name Yehval had been added to the list of those granted by the Crown.

All those who had badmouthed her in the past now rushed to make amends while those who had ignored her made excuses for their past behavior and attempted to cajole her.

Zinya was now a full-fledged noble and a peer, Vastor actively protecting her children had made it clear that she had a great influence over him even outside the bedchamber and now her old enemies were scrambling to get in her good graces. She knew better, granting them an audience with a smile and dismissing them as soon as etiquette allowed her.

"Back so soon? Zinya welcomed him back with a hug and a sweet kiss, like always. It was another routine, but one Vastor would never get sick of. "I hope that nothing bad happened:

"Yes and no." He replied. "Lith had some kind of medical emergency and he is now in the Desert. I came to warn you because your sister might need your support in dealing with the situation."

"Is Lith alright?" She gripped his shoulders, finding comfort in his smile.

"He's fine. Kind of. It seems that his life force is better, but since he went to Salaark and asked for Quylla's help, I bet that the story he told the Royals contains just a sliver of truth if none at all: Vastor replied.