"Why are you letting me go?" The Emerald Dragon managed to say after Thrud erected a wall between them to hide from his view and opened a way out for him.

"You need my Origin Flames for your army. You need me as your general. You've spent months training me, sharing your plans of conquest with me. How can you free me knowing that I might betray you the moment I get out of here and ruin everything?"

"I don't need a slave. I already have plenty of them thanks to my crazy father." She said amid sobs. "I can always find another Xedros for the Origin Flames. Mogar is full of idiots like him.

"The only reason I needed you was because I thought that, after hundreds of years of solitude, of being treated as nothing but the offspring of the Mad King, I had finally found someone to share my life with.

"As for my plans, you don't have to worry about me. Soon everyone will know about my return and I can use the knowledge you'll share with them to my favor. I can't and I won't stay hidden for long because I have no need to anymore.

"I know that I have no right to ask anything from you, which is why I'm begging you. Please, whatever you decide to do, wait at least three more months." The wall disappeared, revealing Thrud on her knees and with her forehead stuck to the ground.

"I can't Awaken until the baby is born. It would be too risky. On top of that, I can't enact my plan before that term without putting their life at risk. Please, I beg you. Don't do it for me, but for the baby.

"They have no fault. If you have to hate someone, hate me." She kept crying, but her voice remained steady.

Jakra felt his heart as if a vise squeezed it, but his body refused to move and he shivered in disgust even at the thought of coming one step closer to her.

"I promise that I will not endanger our child's life." He said.

"Thanks." Thrud slammed her head against the ground until she started to bleed in a sign of contrition. "One last thing. If my plan fails, if I die on the battlefield, please, take care of the baby in my stead.

"Victory or defeat, I want this to end with me. Don't let them grow in my shadow nor people mistreat our baby because of me. Promise me that if something goes wrong, If I can't give them the throne, you will at least give our child a normal life."

"I promise." Jakra said before turning his back to her and escaping from the Golden Griffon for the last time.

He soared through the skies towards his home, the Gorgon Empire, feeling the need for the support of his family. Yet the tears that came from his eyes non-stop weren't of joy or relief so much as of sadness.

With each flap of his wings, Jakra got further away from his tormentor, yet he also grew more miserable.

***

Jiera Continent, ruins of the city of Yankar, Baba Yaga's hut, a few days later.

Right after saving Dawn from the effects of Valeron's True Griffon spell, the Red Mother had been called upon by the Red Sun as well.

Silverwing's Annihilation, the anti-Guardian spell that the First Magus had left as a part of her legacy to the Kingdom, had damaged Dusk's steed beyond what Sunset's self-repair capabilities could mend.

Baba Yaga had spent the previous weeks working hard to keep Dawn from being forced to sacrifice Acala to save her own life and to punish Dusk to the best of her abilities.

The Bright Day was already in such critical condition that she couldn't withstand any more harm without dying. The Red Sun, instead, had been stripped of his powers and Baba Yaga had passed onto him half of Sunset's injuries to ease her work.

Dusk had also been forced to take his human form. He looked like a handsome man in his mid-twenties, about 1.9 meters (6'3") tall, with blonde hair, bright red skin, and orange eyes that seemed to flicker like flames every time he moved his gaze.

His body was covered in bloody bandages since his wounds didn't heal any faster than those of a regular human. The pain and the bleeding, however, were nothing compared to the helplessness he felt.

For all of his life, Dusk had been the apex predator among apex predators whereas now he was so weak that any of the hybrid children who lived in the hut could easily beat him.

He stood up from his bed with a grunt, holding his right shoulder and left side to not let the wounds open again, and walked to Dawn's room where the fallen ranger lay.

"Why are you doing this to us? To me?" Dusk asked in a rough voice as the weakness of his knees forced him to sit on the nearest chair.

He had barely made a few steps, yet his breathing was already ragged from fatigue.

"I know that you can instantly heal us both if you want, mother."

"I can, but I won't." Baba Yaga shook her head while changing Acala's bandages and applying barely enough healing magic to not make his wound fester and keep the recovery process steady.

"I'm tired of your antics. Tired of seeing my Horsemen focus on something as irrelevant as conquest and forget about the mission I gave them back when you three reached adulthood. It's time for you to learn that actions have consequences.

"You are supposed to be adults, not a bunch of cry-babies that call for their mom the moment something doesn't go as they expected. I'm not going to heal your wounds because you've brought them upon yourselves." She said.

"How can you say that?" Dusk snarled. "We did what we did for our brethren! After Jiera's fall, too many undead moved to Garlen. We sent to the Eclipsed Lands all those that they could accommodate, but after they reached full capacity, war was the only possible answer.

"How could the Courts possibly feed so many mouths otherwise? Or maybe you would have preferred that we culled our own just to spare a few animals whose lifespan runs out in the time it takes me to blink my eyes?

"Tell me one time that I asked for your help. One time that I meddled with human affairs. Among the Horsemen, I'm the one who has dedicated his entire life to the mission you entrusted to us, Mother.

"I even took the body of a Lich and used his resources to find a way to overcome the weaknesses of your faulty children." He said.

"Every creature has the right to live or at least to fight for their survival. That's why I didn't interfere with your stupid war. Also, I can't deny that, unlike your sisters, you never needed to be rescued before." Baba Yaga gave to the Ranger a broth of herbs that would naturally speed up his recovery.

"Then why are you punishing me like this? Is it because we took the steeds?" Dusk asked.

"No, you idiot. I couldn't care less for the steeds." She replied with anger, yet not before having Hushed Acala's ears to not disturb his sleep. 

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