Chapter 510 - The Day After (Part 1) (1/2)

”She was me, yes, but the past arrogant, selfish, and conceited me.” Xenagrosh replied as she feasted on the flesh and mana cores of her doppelganger.

”Back then, I thought that I was invincible. That as long as I kept my belly full and my turf clear from any rival, I would be happy. Now I know better. Abominations don't thrive because they all live alone.

”While other races pool up their resources and knowledge, we hoard them and spend our eternal lives in seclusion. I came to you when I realized the limitations of that kind of lifestyle, when I decided I wanted more than be powerful to be happy.

”Otherwise I wouldn't have undergone all of your experiments, traveled Mogar to find companions for our cause, nor realized that even an Eldritch is flawed in both the mind and the body. Or at least, I was.”

Xenagrosh yelled with joy as she felt her body changing. The shadows composing her dragon body were now less ethereal and more physical. A new power flowed through her black core, making it different and more powerful than it had ever been.

The Master looked at her in amazement. Even after returning to her humanoid form, the Eldritch was now womanlier than the previous construct made of stolen energies. Her body had partly recovered its features, like her shiny golden hair and two lively chestnut eyes.

”Do you think you could face a Guardian now?” The Master's voice was full of expectation.

”No, but for the first time in centuries, I'm not hungry. Whatever I have become, I'm already more than just an Eldritch. Imagine what I could be tomorrow.”

***

After the farmer died, Lith returned to the Baroness' mansion and announced her that the crisis was averted. She was so happy that she wanted to throw a party in Lith's honor, who politely declined.

Winter didn't allow to waste provisions, nor he wanted to spend a single second more than necessary in Maekosh. Both Solus and him felt there was nothing worth celebrating and the city's inhabitants made their stomachs churn.

Lith returned to Belius to give Pazeol his tracking device back and all the corpses he had collected, even those of the farmer and his family. Lith understood the man's rage, his spite for mankind, but at the same time, he had a duty.

A duty toward Solus and himself. If all the tribes involved in the monster outbreaks were bound to give birth to hybrids that powerful, then he wanted the Griffon Kingdom to take care of them on its own.

The idea of the corpses being subjected to Pazeol's experiments was much less disturbing than that of him being forced to face those things again before he could even understand the nature of the inner conflict he was experiencing.

For once, Solus had nothing to object. Rather than see such misery and death again, she would have rather preferred that Lith deserted. She was having a hard time understanding how big was Tezka's role in playing with her emotions and how big was her own.

'Was it really his plan to make us feel sympathy for them, or did I just delude myself into hoping for the impossible?' She pondered.

Pazeol was so happy while Lith described him the effectiveness of the magical tracker that he laughed like Lith's report was the best joke ever.

”Now if only Balkor dares to raise his head, we'll be able to find him and pay him back in full!” There was madness in the youth's eyes, the same madness that led him to never fully heal his own scars.