Chapter 3911: Proper Evolution (part 2) |
Everyone nodded, hoping that the young boy would drop the argument.
"Then we should focus on what really matters." Leria nodded.
"We are all going to be indented!" The triplets celebrated the news with an improvised synchronized dance. "Can you turn red again, Auntie?"
"It's Indech, not indented." Tista exhaled sharply. "Also, I think I will be red for a long while. Be right back."
Tista Warped to the Spark, put on Ishka's honor, and returned to the Infirmary.
When she shapeshifted again, her Indech form caused her no trouble. It felt as natural as her Bloodwind Phoenix form, and absorbing the world energy through her wings came to her much easier than in her Hekate form.
"Let's see the changes in my life force." Tista sighed while placing her hand on the crystal tank.
The Infirmary displayed the same readings as before, but projected a different hologram of her life force. Tista's human aspect looked identical to Lith's except for the heart.
"This won't help us much with Zoreth, but it will help me with Ryla." Quylla pointed at the small differences in the life forces due to the Void's absence. "Your body never had to adapt to Chaos, Tista, so you are closer to a pure rank 3 human than Lith."
"In less flattering words, I'm more vanilla." Tista groaned.
"Your words, not mine." Quylla shrugged.
"Thank you, sister." Urhen squeezed the air out of Tista's lungs with a joyous embrace. "I can't wait to spread the good news with our tribe. We Balors were wrong about you Tiamats.
"You are not the evil demons of our legends. You are part of our family and our saviors."
"You are welcome, Urhen." Tista did her best to hide her disappointment and return the Balor's sincere smile.
"What are you talking about, Auntie?" Aran asked. "We Verhen are all proud Dem-"
"Since we are done here, what do you say if I bring you girls home?" Lith said while shutting his little brother up. "If we learn anything else, we'll let you know, Urhen. Ryla, don't you want to share the good news with Garrik?"
"Excellent idea." Both women nodded. "Let's go."
"Not so fast!" Solus grunted, not liking one bit how tightly they held to Lith's arms. "Lith, go back to your regular human form, please. Rena, bring Ryla back to the Heavenly Plume tribe first and then Urhen to Zelex. We have work to do and need Lith to do it."
"Excellent idea." Rena dragged the two women away from her brother without giving them time to argue. "We won't disturb you anymore. Bye!"
Rena had full access to the tower, so Warping in front of the Kingdom's embassy took her but a thought. Ryla flew to her son while Urhen sighed and moaned all the way back to Zelex, but Rena pretended not to hear.
"What do we do now?" Lith asked, assuming his Indech form to get accustomed to it, and discovering he had gone back to having only two feathered wings.
"Now we rest." Baba Yaga dispelled her apex form and assumed the appearance of the Mother. "The Infirmary needs time to process all this data, and the Elemental Storage is empty.
"There's not much we can do until Zoreth and the tower recover their strength."
"How is Auntie Zor doing?" Leria tugged at Faluel's hand since she couldn't reach Lith's.
"She's still ill, but we are working hard to help her, Leria." Faluel caressed the young girl's head. "Xen- Zoreth will be fine. You kids have nothing to worry about."
Aran and Leria exchanged a short glance and nodded to each other.
"I'm sorry, Big Bro and Sis. We have to go. We'll be back by dinnertime!" Aran Warped himself, Leria, Abominus, and Onyx to the embassy, and from there they went to Lutia.
"Do you know why the kids have gone back home, Senton?" Lith showed the log of the Warp Gate in the barn.
"No, but that's not the problem." Senton stared at the holographic screen in horror. "It's not safe for Aran and Leria to travel alone. Not with the bounty Meln put on our heads! Onyx and Abominus are strong, but-"
Lith Warped Senton to Lutia along with a DoLorean.
"Me too!" Raaz raised his hand. "I swear to the Gods, when I get my hands on that rascal-"
"I'll take that as a no." Lith Warped his father as well. "Before we leave the Infirmary, there's one more-"
The triplets tugged at his wings, handling the pristine feathers like a shiny new toy.
"White is nice, but I hope my wings are black." Falco said.
"Like a crow?" Teryon scoffed. "I want them red like those of a Phoenix."
"Red wings on red skin?" Lenart tutted. "That's lame too. That's why I want my wings golden like Mom's hair."
"Then I'll have my skin white and my wings red!" Teryon grunted.
"Yeah, right, because you can decide the color of your skin." Falco replied.
"How is it different from what we are doing with our wings?" Teryon countered.
"Kids, stop." Lith brought the argument to a halt before it could escalate due to the absence of the triplets' parents. "Don't you want to see my final secret?"
"What secret?" The triplets asked as one.
"I want to check if the discovery of my Indech life force alters my Tiamat form." He gently pushed the kids away from his wings and shapeshifted.
Much to the triplets' dismay, there was no change in Lith's appearance.
"This is disappointing, but not unexpected." He nodded. "Yaga, if you please."
"Another charge?" She asked, putting the Hands on.
"Yes, thank you." Lith replied. "I didn't develop Phoenix wings until I came to terms with that side of my life force, so I don't see why the human aspect should be any different."
Baba Yaga had the triplets take a few steps back before flooding the Tiamat's body and eyes with the raw power of the elements.
"Maybe we should have done this while Ryla was still here." She said after a few seconds had passed and nothing had happened.
"I don't think that's the issue." Lith said. "I never let go of her elemental abilities and didn't consume them. This just shows how the lack of exercise weakened my human side."
He could only circulate one elemental ability at a time, keeping the other five sealed inside his eyes. Lith felt their power but no connection, as if he were using Domination.
'My wings!' He thought. 'I'm such an idiot. In my Indech form, my wings absorbed the world energy with such ease that my body was always full to the brim with the power of all elements. Maybe that's what I'm missing.'
Lith repeated the exercises he had learned from Ryla step by step, feeling a slow but steady flow of world energy entering his feathered wings. Practice and Baba Yaga's help allowed him to increase the amount of world energy he absorbed as the seconds passed.
It took him several minutes of sheer focus to create an elemental flow on par with his Indech form and amplify it with the Fomor's abilities enough to feel something click inside of him.
Comments 9