3054 A Matter of Choice (Part 2)
'How can holding my baby trigger a world tribulation?' Lith had experienced it often enough to understand what was about to happen.
'According to what everyone told me, a peaceful life means no-' His eyes fell on Elysia who was not only in her Tiamat form as well but she was also surrounded by Flames that refused to answer Lith's will.
Yet he wasn't worried about the Flames since they seemed to be harmless for both father and daughter. Nor did he keep wondering why the world tribulation had started or what Mogar could possibly want from him inside his own home.
The only thing that filled Lith's mind at that moment was fear.
'What if I fail this time? What if I die? Will Elysia die with me?' He stared at the small Tiamat in his arms, wondering if the results of the world tribulation might affect her due to the deep bond they shared.
His rational mind told him that it wouldn't make sense. That he was the one undergoing the world tribulation and that Mogar would never hurt an innocent child. Yet no matter how sound his arguments were, none of them mattered.
For the first time in his life, Lith was terrified of failure. He was afraid of dooming Elysia to either die with him or live her whole life with the trauma of witnessing her father's violent end.
'I can't let her grow up like Solus! I won't abandon her. I'll never abandon her!' Lith held the baby girl closer to his chest, focusing solely on the soft, regular beat of her heart.
Elysia was calm, thinking that it was just another of the games that her father staged for her. She unfurled her wings and wrapped them around his chest in an embrace, making his fear turn into fatherly fighting spirit.
"Leave me alone!" Lith roared at the top of his lungs and Mogar obliged.
The quake stopped and the clouds moved away while father and daughter returned to their human form. Lith was still watching the Flames disappear and wondering what had just happened when the door to his office was busted open.
"Are you alright?" Many voices asked as one, drowning him in follow-up questions that overlapped too much to be intelligible.
Kamila checked on Lith's and Elysia's bodies while Solus examined their life forces to make sure that the tribulation hadn't affected them in a negative way. Raaz, Elina, and their daughters bombarded Lith with pleas for an explanation and rea.s.surance.
Leegaain and Salaark, instead, remained in front of the door calmly, making sure that no one who wasn't allowed access to the Mansion's keep would find the tower.
Once it was clear that nothing bad had happened, Lith managed to calm everyone down enough to share with them the recent events. The results of the silly test about Elysia's future would have melted everyone's heart if not for what came after.
"I don't get it." Lith looked at the Guardians, hoping for guidance. "I was just playing with Elysia. There were no trapped souls, no cruel monsters, nothing. How could I receive my final tribulation when there was nothing at stake?"
"Kid, you seem to have forgotten how world tribulations work so let me jog your memory." Leegaain sighed. "They are never about fighting or with all the wars and petty squabbles on Mogar, tribulations would be a daily occurrence instead of the matter of legends.
"They are about a deal between a person and Mogar. The first tribulation is the offer, the second is about control, and from then on each tribulation sets one or more conditions about what Mogar needs and you are willing to offer.
"Those things require a trigger, something that as you pointed out, can't happen in the quiet of your lab unless you're truly unlucky. That's not your case, though. You have already finished discussing terms.
"The only thing remaining is your signature and Mogar's. Your last tribulation requires no trigger, only for you to make a choice. And you can do that at any time and any place.
"You decide when your final tribulation starts and your decision will determine its success or failure."
"What choice?" Lith asked.
"I can't tell you." The Father of All Dragons shook his head. "The revelation might change you for better, but also for worse. I can't risk ruining your life or taking away from you something you have worked so hard to build.
"The only thing I can tell you is to trust yourself. Most people die at the second tribulation. Very few arrive at the threshold of Guardianhood like you did and even fewer don't chicken out like Baba Yaga did."
"What about Elysia? Why did she change with me?"
"I really can't say." Leegaain turned around and left Lith surrounded by people yet alone with his questions.
***
Jiera continent, Arutha region, a few days later.
Argantyr the Elemental Lord, had a hard time believing his bad luck.
He had spent millennia sealed inside a barrier by the same people who had given him life. With limited access to the world energy and no host, his powers had stagnated and for a long time, he had believed that his miserable existence would have been eternal just like his life.
When the small ants who sapped the little strength he could gather over time and performed the maintenance of his enchanted cage had disappeared, Argantyr had allowed himself to hope his moment had finally come.
Then, once he freed himself with great effort and patience, he discovered how wrong he was. Humans had disappeared, monsters attacked him from every side, and plants and beasts never stopped long enough for him to make his offer.
It had taken Argantyr months to find a potential host and even longer to form the bond. The lost city spoke a dead and buried language that nothing had in common with the speech of the Torin Kingdom.
The Elemental Lord had resorted to drawings and gestures to communicate, succeeding solely because the human was a criminal on the run who would have done anything to escape capture.
After they had bonded and Argantyr had granted his host the unfair revenge he desired, the Elemental Lord could finally start growing his power after millennia of starvation.
He traveled from one mana geyser to another, tainting them with his essence and forming an intricate magical formation called Divine Right.
The colossal array amplified the might of Argantyr's enchantments and expanded the area within which he could manifest his full prowess with each new geyser he infected.
Like for all lost cities, there was no limit to how powerful the Elemental Lord could grow. Argantyr only needed time and resources to become invincible and finally he had both in spades.
At least until not one, but three white cores and a flight of Dragons and Griffons had started chasing him. A single white core was supposed to be nothing compared to an artificial Guardian created by Forbidden Magic, but reality begged to differ.
Each piece of equipment of the three white cores was made of Davross and the ochre Griffon empowered everything and everyone with her Life Maelstrom. The black Phoenix and the white Dragon joined their Primordial Flames, generating pillars of white fire that engulfed half of Argantyr's body.