Chapter 2903: Warp Home (part 1)

At first, small spheres of light seeped out the fissures in the Eternal Fortress, darting toward the sky like lonely shooting stars. As the cracks widened and the walls fell apart, more and more found their way out until there was a cascade of light reaching for the heavens.

Millions of souls soared through the air like fireworks, celebrating the end of a nightmare.

Everyone stared at the spectacle in awe, the pity they had almost felt at Thaymos' agony was forgotten as the joy of the freed souls touched the hearts of the spectators. Everyone but Lith.

'Thank you.' 'Finally!' 'I'm coming!' L1tLagoon witnessed the first publication of this chapter on v€l--B1n.

He could hear their voices and distinguish them as if they spoke in turns. Some were just happy that their suffering was over, others looked forward to reconnecting with the loved ones they had been separated from for so long.

All of them thanked Lith yet he felt unworthy of that praise.

'I failed them. If not for Tyris, they would still be trapped. I never cared for their suffering. This time, I failed.' While the rest of the camp looked at the sky, Lith stared at the ground in shame.

'Is everything alright?' While the rest of the camp looked at the sky, Solus looked at Lith. 'Is there something wrong with your life force? Have the cracks widened?'

The light show had distracted the babies, giving him the time to space out and her to check on him.

Lith shared his senses with Solus, letting her listen to the voices he heard and feel what he felt.

'Thank the gods.' She sighed in relief, pissing him off big time.

'I beg your pardon?' He snarled, quickly returning to his usual snarky self.

'I was afraid that between your wounds and the aftereffects of the tower's overdrive, your condition might have worsened while you are just being a sourpuss like usual.' Solus replied.

'I'm not. At least not always.' Lith replied. 'I just feel undeserving of the praise of all those souls. I didn't do anything for them.'

'I beg to differ and more importantly, they beg to differ.' She forced him to look up at the vibrant light of the ascending souls. 'If you hadn't come to Jiera, Tyris wouldn't be here.

'If you hadn't adopted Valeron and been such a good father to him and Elysia, he wouldn't have cried like that and Tyris would have just taken us to safety. If it wasn't for our tower, there would be no self-destruction spell and those souls would still be trapped.

'You may have not done as much as you'd like for them, but that's still far from nothing.' Solus immersed herself the joy of the voices and amplified it for Lith, until he couldn't ignore them anymore. 'Stop acting like you bear the weight of Mogar on your shoulders.

'Even if we couldn't beat Thaymos on our own, even if this was a failure, it's not your fault. You are the reason the expedition is here in the first place. Accept your responsibilities but also your credit when it's due.'

'Thanks.' Lith stood up slowly, looking down again but this time to check on the babies.

Their cooings and giggles made him smile and raise his eyes to the sky.

'Any time.' Solus took his hand and a share of his burden, letting the light of the ascending souls brighten the darkness of his scales.

Once the last soul disappeared, Thaymos' pseudo cores faded away and the lost city turned into a pile of rubbles.

"People of Jiera, the Eternal Fortress is no more." Tyris' voice resounded clear throughout the camp and the amulets, making everyone burst into cheers and screams of joy.

"Always remember, this is what you caused." Tyris projected the devastation left by the passing of the different monster tides through the region and images of Thaymos' victims. "If not for your greed and folly, none of this would have happened."

The bitterness in her voice brought the celebrations to a stop.

"Always remember, this is what you have lost by turning your back on me." The figure of the Great Mother became translucent. "There are still many horrors like the Eternal Fortress out there and you are going to face them alone.

"This is the last favor I make you. Farewell." Tyris disappeared while her words still echoed through the air.

The night was back to being dark and cold and even those in the middle of a crowded city felt lonelier than ever.

***

With the disappearance of the Black Tide and Thaymos' destruction, the colonization process became faster and easier. The monsters of Zelex could focus on building their homes and fortify their settlements.

With no more need for scouts and long-distance patrols, reverted monsters and undead worked tirelessly to make themselves homes. They cleaned the rubble from the streets and repaired the buildings, turning their living quarters from refugee camps into proper cities.

Quylla performed daily checkups on the non-Awakened members of the expedition, identifying diseases typical of Jiera but unknown to Garlen while they were still in the incubation phase.

She collected blood and saliva samples from the infected that after being sent through the Gate reached the White Griffon's Light Department. There they would be studied in order to develop healing spells.

In the rare cases when enhancing the immune system with light magic wasn't enough, Quylla would cleanse her patient with Invigoration.

Orion ordered the Forgemasters to focus on the Gate, leaving a skeleton crew of guards to protect the camp. The rest of the members of the expedition spent their days exploring their surroundings while Orion and Kelia continued their diplomatic efforts with Medolin.

Even though Tyris was allegedly gone for good, the result of her actions still remained. The elf city was now free to expand past the boundaries of the Fringe and restore nature from the ravages of the Black Tide.

On top of that, the battle against Thaymos had been recorded and even though the people of Garlen had lost, they had shown an outstanding prowess. Their magic, the DoLoreans, and their artifacts were tangible proof of what the elves of Medolin could achieve by collaborating with the colonists.

Sure, there were still several monster tides to face and lost cities to contain, but it was an excellent start.

Lith spent his time resting. The injuries he had suffered and the repeated use of mystical flames had put a huge strain on his life force that the blue flames had further aggravated.

Quylla, Solus, and Raagu had all prescribed him to not exert himself in any way for at least four days. He followed the advice without protesting since the babies started to cry the moment he got out of their sight and there was no way to make them stop until he returned.

He passed his time by either chatting with his companions or lazily glancing at the information about the forbidden spells stored inside the Eyes of Menadion. The blueprints of the Eternal Fortress were much older than the Golden Griffon's but no less sickening.

Lith performed the latter solely while in the privacy of the tower, sitting on the stone throne of the Mirror Hall.