Chapter 2873: Black Tide (part 1)

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"Point taken." The Banshee imprinted the Home Stone and buried it right outside the Wayfinder's dimensional compressing array.

Lith took the babies out of the carrier and handed them to Kamila before removing the harness.

"Keep them close and don't leave their side not even for one second." He said while looking her straight in the eyes.

"I will protect them with my life." She nodded.

"Yeah, sure. You are totally going to protect them and not the other way around." Lith had a hard time keeping a straight face. "Be a good girl and take care of your mom, okay?"

"Mama." Elysia nodded as her father cupped her face and kissed the crown of her head before moving on to Valeron the Second.

"Be a good boy and remember that I love you. I'll be back soon." Lith put his hands on the baby boy's cheeks and Valeron gripped the fingers with all of his strength.

"No." He cried, shapeshifting into his Bahamut form to claw at Lith's skin in an attempt to hold him there. "No!"

"No?" Lith asked in confusion. "No as in, you don't want me to come back?"

"No!" Valeron cried harder, flames bursting out of his mouth and silver lightning coursing through his small body to give it strength.

Lith had failed to consider that this was the first time he had said Valeron goodbye since adopting him nor was he aware of the fact that his parting words were painfully similar to those that Jormun had spoken with his final breath.

Only when Lith shapeshifted as well did the Dragon scales solve the mystery and convey all of the baby boy's pain and fear. The violent flow of emotions made Lith reel, unable to break contact until he shapeshifted back into human form.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you worry, little one. Rest assured, I am coming back. I promise." He kissed Valeron's forehead and stepped back, gently escaping his grip.

"No!" The Life Maelstrom focused on the baby boy's hands and burst forward in a powerful stream that hit Lith square in the chest.

He opened his emerald eye to defend himself from the sudden attack and Dominate the silver lightning, just to receive another blow that put him on his knees.

Another emotional blow.

There was no aggression in the bolts of energy. They were just the clumsy attempt of Valeron the Second to protect Lith. Their violence came solely from the lack of mastery of the baby over his own abilities.

Even without Domination, Lith needed but a thought to bridle the silver bolts of lightning to his will and control them like they were his own. He could feel the emerald and the yellow eyes react to the newfound power.

It made sense since Life Maelstrom was a mix of life force and air element. The tingle in his black and red eye, however not so much.

"No." Once Valeron's mana organ ran out of Life Maelstrom, the stream of energy faded along with his voice.

The baby struggled until the strain from using so much strength made him fall asleep. Yet even after losing consciousness his inner turmoil endured and small tears streamed down his cheeks.

Shocked and confused, Elysia shapeshifted into her Tiamat form. Valeron's pain hit her like a nightmare come true and she started crying as well. She didn't know the right words and her father was out of her grasp so she cried for him to stay.

When that failed, she cried for her grandmother to stop him. Then for her grandfather and lastly for the kind blond aunt that always looked at Elysia from the shadows.

No one answered her pleas, making Kamila's efforts to calm down the baby girl vain as well.

"We'd better go before I change my mind." Lith's homing instinct was scratching at his brain, the call of his blood almost too strong to deny it. "Who's coming with me?"

Solus stepped forward. Her stay on the mana geyser of the camp had been long enough to regain all of her strength.

"You can count on us." Raagu rapped on the Sealed Box containing the annoying Lich King.

"Occupied." Replied an annoying voice from within.

"I'm coming too." Friya stood up. "Master of Space, remember? If you need to get out of there, I'm your best bet."

"I'm not leaving your side." Tista said. "I didn't understand a word the babies said but if something happens to you, I would never forgive myself."

"Nor I yours." Bodya snarled. "The Black Tide has already taken Narso away from me. I'm going to make them pay."

"Calm down, child. This is just a recon mission." Ilthin said. "You are going to need my help. I'm the only one who can get close to a monster tide and live to tell the tale. Also, I'm the strongest among us."

"What about me?" Quylla asked in outrage.

"You are staying behind with me." Aalejah replied. "With my arrays and your Light Mastery, we can use this time to reinforce the camp's barriers and add a few more."

"What's the point of doing that? The Black Tide is hours away from here." Quylla countered pointedly.

"Allegedly hours away." The elf countered. "If the Nidhogg's calculations are wrong or whatever caused the migration also interferes with the camp before we are done evacuating, we are going to need to buy as much time as we can."

***

Back into his Tiamat form's full size, Lith soared the sky while the rest of the group sat between his neck and shoulder blades. He moved with astounding speed, the Life Maelstrom coursing through his body empowered his muscles despite the emerald eye keeping the silver lightning sealed inside his body.

Once released, the Life Maelstrom couldn't last for long so Lith had to use Domination to lock it in a closed circuit and keep it from dissipating. Despite that, silver sparks erupted from all over his body with unforeseen consequences.

The air and fire fusion empowering his wings left respectively a trail of storm clouds and fire upon his passage. The silver flames produced by the bone spikes on Lith's head were now spread all over him, forming a thin shell.

They burned at the air in front of him, reducing friction and repelling the currents produced by his high-speed flight. At the same time, they inflicted no harm on his passengers, allowing them to move freely without the need of a barrier.

"Is this normal for you?" Raagu pointed at the feathered wings whose veins shifted color with each flap. The elemental flames enveloping the feathers followed suit just one heartbeat late.

"No. I have experienced Life Maelstrom a few times in the past, but nothing like this happened back then."

'Because your life forces had yet to achieve harmony and you were still incomplete.' Everyone thought, deeming it useless to ask any more questions.

"What the actual fuck?" The Tiamat arched his back slightly enough to flap his wings forward without jolting away his companions.

That and the air magic supporting his flight spells brought him to a halt in a handful of seconds. The night was quiet, with only the sound of the wind breaking the silence.

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