2993 Black Blood (Part 1)
Despite the abundant nourishment Solus drew from the Garden, despite Lith being just a few meters away, she felt her body growing weaker by the second. Healing magic didn't work, empowering the vines along with her body.
Her breathing technique didn't work, the poison in her core tainting the world energy as soon as Solus tried to wield its power. Her wounds didn't just refuse to close like it happened to the others.
They were getting bigger and turning into cracks from which a golden light bled.
Lith, Bytra, and Zoreth knew of her bond with an artifact and understood what might be happening.
"Solus!" Bytra screamed in despair, channeling the full power of both his Eldritch and Raiju sides to conjure black bolts of lightning that fried her enemies to a crisp.
Yet more came right after and if she abandoned her position, the whole formation would collapse. Zoreth's situation was even worse. Without her, the funnel of Origin Flames would disappear and the waves of enemies would swarm her companions, Solus included.
'If only I could use tier five magic safely.' She inwardly cursed.
The immense flow of world energy of the Garden caused her more trouble than it was worth. Sure, it fed and empowered her, but it also fueled her abilities beyond her control.
She had used the pillar of Origin Flames instead of a jet stream because if her life force sparked the world energy that flowed throughout the corridor, the slightest mistake would set everything ablaze, putting Bytra, Lith, Solus, and even Zoreth herself in danger.
She had never wielded so much power and had trouble controlling it. Origin Flames could hurt their own user and always destroyed everything else.
Lith's position at the end of the formation made things simple for him. He had to choose between helping Solus and leaving the undead monsters free to surround the group.
At that point, they would be attacked from both sides and the fight's difficulty would double as well.
Lith couldn't care less about his position or the members of the Hand of Fate. He trusted Zoreth and Bytra to survive so his only priority was Solus.
'There is no point in winning this fight, there is no point in retrieving the Ears if it comes at the cost of her life!' Lith drew a deep breath, releasing a pillar of Origin Flames just like Zoreth and discovering how hard it was to control them.
The mystical fire burned at the ground, at the enemies, and wanted to burn at his allies. It was swept by the power surges of the Garden that made the Flames grow and move against Lith's orders.
Ragnar?k cut through the living and the undead, collecting blood and life force to transfuse Solus. Lith's charge was like an avalanche, sweeping everything in his path and trampling everyone who dared resist him.
The Origin Flames, the spells from his magic-holding rings, and the swings of the angry blade carved a path to Solus' side, yet left his back completely exposed.
'Lith!' She cried as the wall of flames pushed the undead away.
'Solus!' Lith grabbed her hands, pa.s.sing onto her his life force, mana, and the vitality stored by Ragnar?k.
Yet they failed. Everything they tried together failed and the infection kept spreading.
"NO!" Lith screamed in both the physical world and the Mindscape.
In a desperate attempt, he breathed a second burst of Origin Flames, this time not giving a second thought about his allies and focusing solely on Solus.
He exhaled slowly, to keep the connection between the mystical fire and his willpower open. The cost in life force would be several times greater but Lith's control over them would be surgical.
He knew himself and Solus like the back of his hand. He remembered the color and position of every strand of her hair, the shape of every one of the cracks of her life force, and how deep the fissure in her mana core was supposed to be.
The Origin Flames carried that information, ignoring everything that was Solus and burning with fury at everything that wasn't.
Solus screamed in pain, the parasites were so intertwined with her life force that destroying them set it ablaze as well. Yet she welcomed the pain, feeling that her wounds had stopped expanding.
'They are still not healing!' Hope turned into desperation when she renewed her attempts to fix the damage and failed. 'We are being overrun and you can't keep breathing Origin Flames forever. Save yourself.
'Just make me go back into the ring. My alias will die, but I should survive and maybe I'll get better.'
'No!' Lith had never risked anything on a maybe and had no intention of starting now.
***
In the throne room, Maergron was pleased with his gains and the progress of the battle. He was now filled with new powers and strength that would help him in many of his future endeavors for a long time before fading.
"Losing the golden blood was a pity, but I have still one more intruder to taste." The Fae's curiosity was piqued.
The last blood was different from anything he had ever seen before. It was red like that of a man, but under the magic lights of the room it would turn clear like pure silver and then black like a tar pool in a never-ending cycle.
Maergron dipped his hands in the Tiamat's blood, feeling his whole body tingle in a way similar yet different from the golden blood.
He drank a large gulp, experiencing something that was delicious one moment and disgusting the next. The Fae had little care for taste, only power mattered.
Maergron devoured the red side, the side of the human.
Five more eyes opened on his face and the seven eyes he now had burned each with a different color.
"Yes! I no longer control the elements. I am the elements! I'm akin to Mogar itself!" Full of joy and intoxicated by the infinite power he could now directly draw from the Garden, Maergron absorbed the silver side.
The Dragon's side.
Bright violet Origin Flames rose from his throat and seeped through every pore of his body. Red scales covered and protected his skin, amplifying the power of the Flames and engulfing him in a deadly suit of blazing armor.
"A Fire Dragon?" The Fae laughed, his voice drunken with euphoria "I now possess the cleansing flames of creation! The sky is the limit for my Forgemastering abilities. Even if I make a mistake, I can infinitely recycle magical metals!"
Then, he absorbed the black side.
"What the heck?" Maergron took a deep breath, using the breathing technique he had learned from Pharek, Starsong, to check on his condition.
He felt no different from before. The amount of mana in his core was unchanged, his powers were the same, and neither made sense. Even if it was just the blood of a human, he was supposed to gain insight into his prey's thoughts and feelings.
Instead, there was nothing.
Less than nothing.
He had absorbed the Void. The Abomination's side.
As Maergron studied his new appearance in the blood basin he finally noticed a change.