A True Genius Worries

by Sophia Schmidt

  "Guardians are different from monsters or magical beasts. We do not evolve for the sake of

  power, we also gain a greater affinity with the Great Mother." She waved at her surroundings.

  "We Dryads, in particular, are deeply linked to all forms of life on a spiritual level. I can tell at

  a glance that yours is damaged. I have no way to know how it happened or how that changed

  your life¡"

  "I think I have a clear idea about it. - Lith thought.

  "But maybe, just maybe, I can offer you a solution, or at least point you in the right direction."

  "How exactly?"

  "Have you ever had a d¨¦j¨¤ vu? Or the feeling to be in the right place at the right time? That

  happens when your soul manages to guide you to an important crossroad in your life.

  We can show you where and when a keystone event will take place, but the spell requires at

  least two dryads."

  "At least? How many of you live in this forest?" Lith's paranoia kicked in, so he started to

  search his surroundings for hidden enemies, finding none.

  "Just the two of us." She sighed. "I wouldn't have left my territory if my sister hadn't been in

  mortal peril. Nor I would have handed my heart to you if I had any other choice."

  Sister. That word lit a hint of compassion in Lith's heart. She had taken an enormous risk to

  protect her family, something he deeply respected.

  Despite she couldn't even move without his permission, her eyes were filled with pride and

  defiance.

  After pondering about his options, Lith dispersed all the dark energies. He already had

  another hostage, in case the red head tried something funny. Also, he had no use for them

  since the beginning.

  If smuggling a glowing flower was hard, then how was he supposed to explain two dryads

  following him everywhere? The natural treasures were enough to compensate for all his

  troubles.

  Without the dark energy sapping her powers, the red dryad manged to dress herself with a

  wave of her hand, conjuring a satin red and gold morning dress complementing her eyes.

  The longer she was in contact with the earth, the stronger she became.

  Lith stored away the natural treasures, without letting the dryads get out of his sight. Since

  the second dryad had appeared, Lith felt a tingling annoying sensation inside his heart,

  something that resembled guilt.

  He always acted unscrupulous, killing without distinction or remorse, but he was secretly

  proud of never having harmed someone without a reason. Lith knew that the moment he

  started killing simply because he could, he would have lost his last shred of humanity.

  Following his "live expecting the worst" way of life, this time had almost killed an innocent,

  forcing another into slavery. Even for him, that was a new low.

  Feeling bewildered, he sought the advice of his moral compass.

  "Do you think I got overboard this time?"

  "Let me see." Solus pondered.

  "You got almost killed by a tentacle monster, and when another appeared you took

  precautions. That was the right thing to do. But when you determined it was not an

  Abomination, there was no reason to be so cruel.

  Magical creatures are just like humans. Some are good, others are bad. Yet you groundlessly

  tagged her as a threat. We are lucky you are masked, otherwise the next time we meet, I

  would expect her to attack us on sight." ¨C

  He silently agreed with her.

  "Do what you have to." Lith stepped back, allowing them to get close to each other.

  The two dryads joined their hands, and instantly their eyes were filled with a white light,

  while a pool of water formed in the space formed by their arms, filling it to the brim.

  The light descended in the water, forming a white sphere that spun on itself, turning the

  water in a whirlpool and making it resemble a 3D projection of a galaxy. A small, black wisp

  came out of Lith's body, making him suddenly feel lighter, like part of his emotional burden

  had finally been relieved.

  The wisp entered the vortex, turning it into a deep orange twilight colour. At that point, the

  dryads released their hands, letting the dying galaxy go.

  It kept spinning on itself, or a while before moving towards Lith, merging with his body and

  forcing him to relive all his three lives.

  Pain invaded his body while his mind was set on fire. Old injuries and bruises appeared and

  disappeared in a split second, while the memories of his first life flooded his brain.

  He fell on his knees, clawing the ground so hard to break his nails.

  The pain, the anger, the grieving despair, the revenge and finally the peace. Then it was his

  second life's turn, with its madness, the loneliness and the hunger.

  At the memory of his second death a gaping wound opened on his chest. Lith tried to spit a

  mouthful of blood, nut only saliva came out, the wound already disappeared, leaving only the

  pain before the relief of death.

  Then it came his third life, and it wasn't at all like he remembered it. There was pain, hunger,

  but a lot of light and joy. He was forced to realize all the love and affection that the people

  had showered him with, even when he had still treated them like tools, manipulating their

  actions and feelings.

  Starting with his father, then Selia, Nana, Lark and finally his friends at the academy.

  When the images in his head caught up with the present, they kept moving forward, showing

  him a place he had never seen before, where he was supposed to be at all costs.

  Chapter 107 Enlightment 2

  The vision disappeared, and Lith managed to stood up again, while healing his damaged

  fingers. He discovered that tears were still streaming from his eyes. He hadn't cried in years,

  and the feeling linked to the act was bittersweet.

  They were mostly tears of pain, but at the end of the vision, they had turned to joy from his

  third life. When he saw the dryads standing a few meters from him, Lith finally remembered

  where he was.

  "Is it supposed to hurt so much?" In another moment, rage and doubt would have filled his

  voice. But he was still shaken from the experience. He was questioning all of his life choices,

  including what to do next.

  "No, it's not." The blond dryad was genuinely worried.

  "It was meant to show you the past, to help you understand the future. It shouldn't have been

  so painful."

  Because Lith had her heart, she had felt an echo of his anguish.

  "Humans are the real monsters. How could a kid endure so much pain?" ¨C She thought

  Somehow Lith knew instinctively in what direction he needed to go. A feeling of uneasiness

  was growing inside him with every second, like when he received the phone call from the

  hospital the day Carl died.

  It wasn't too late yet, but the clock was ticking. He had to get there as fast as he could. Yet

  that development was too odd to be true, so he needed answers before taking any rash

  decision.

  "Are you sure this will help me with my soul?" As the memories were fading, Lith was

  returning to his old self.

  "As I said before, no. But it's likely. Any soul's priority should be the desire to be mended, to

  be whole again." The blond dryad said while shaking her head.

  "What else could it be?" Lith had never grow fond of riddles.

  "It could mean meeting the love of your
life, the person that will become your best friend."

  She shrugged. "The only thing that I know for certain is that you will find someone or

  something related to what your soul craves the most."

  "I'll be honest, all this talk about souls and destiny sounds fake like a flying pig, but a deal is a

  deal." Lith gave back the yellow lotus to the dryad, before darting away faster than a bullet.

  As soon they were alone, the blond dryad demeanour changed like heaven and earth had

  switched places, looking at her sister with eyes full of annoyance.

  "First you let a newborn Abomination best you in combat and use you to leech the world

  energy, turning your turf into a dump. Then you need my help to handle a human child.

  You've sunk low, dear Lyta." She said with a sneer.

  "That bastard took me by surprise." Lyta pouted. "Don't act so smug, you and I know that in

  my place you wouldn't have fared any better. As for the human, that's no child, it's a monster.

  He didn't bat an eye even after seeing me naked.

  Thank the gods it's not an academy student. I would die of embarrassment if we ever meet

  again. What about you? You yielded without even attempting to fight, to the point of giving

  your heart to him. That was beyond stupid, dear Ryssa.

  What if he decided to keep you as a slave? What if he demanded me to hand mine too before

  freeing me? How could you take the risk of turning us both into wh*res?"

  Her voice was full of contempt, looking down on her sister.

  "Because I asked her to do so." Scarlett appeared from thin air towering over the nagging

  dryad.

  "The reason why I let that Abomination live, is to teach you that being confident is one thing,

  being conceited is another. You can't expect me to cover for all your mistakes, Lyta. Do your

  job properly, or I will find someone else to do it." It roared.

  "As for the boy, is just a pet project of mine. He is not human, but not an Abomination either.

  I needed to see how he behaved when given absolute power. Unlike you, I don't let unknown

  flowers grow in my garden."

  "Also, I wanted to check if that dryad mumbo jumbo about souls could actually fix him.

  Otherwise he would have never accepted any help, he is too paranoid. This way he believes to

  have earned it." ¨C The last part the Scorpicore kept to itself.

  It would have been too rude telling its minions that not even the Lord of the forest believed

  about their so-called spiritual powers.

  Meanwhile, Lith was following the instructions contained in the vision, looking for a particular

  clearing in the forest, about ten kilometres (6,2 miles) from the academy's gates. As he closed

  in, his worries and anxieties faded away.

  "Are you alright?" Solus asked.

  "Not really. Do you know what was the most disturbing thing about that spell? It made me

  realize that I may have grown as a hunter and a mage. But as a person, I remained stale.

  I'm still so scared of being hurt, that it takes me years to realize the good faith of someone.

  Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that suddenly I believe that this world is full of wonderful

  people, only that I regret having lost so much.

  Think about my father, Raaz. I spent so much time treating him as a menace, that when I

  started enjoying his company, it was too late. It's the same reason I never managed to have a

  healthy relationship back on Earth.

  To really connect with someone, you need to let yourself be vulnerable, to be sincere and

  open. But I always failed at that. I expected something to go wrong, for the other person to

  betray my trust, to the point of barely giving any.

  And here I am, doing the same thing, over and over. I don't do favours, I cut deals. I don't ask

  for help, I just wait for people to be indebted to me and then I collect it. The worst thing is

  that even if I wanted to change, I would not know where to start."

  "That's because you are forgetting another of your flaws: you obsess with perfection instead

  of just trying to improve. If you really want to change, start with that. Take things a little at

  the time." ¨C

  Lith was now above the clearing, watching the same scene of the vision replay in front of his

  eyes.

  Six rough looking individuals, probably hunters, had just cornered a young Byk (AN: bear type

  magical beast).

  Chapter 108 Struggling

  "I don't get it, how is this supposed to be related to my soul? Sure, hunting a pup is a

  shameful act, but I don't see why I should meddle. It's none of my business." ¨C

  Lith's sight blurred, feeling his head spinning again while images kept rapidly appearing and

  disappearing. He watched the White Griffon academy's walls crack and crumble, until the

  whole castle fell into ruins.

  "What the heck? Another vision?" He was flabbergasted.

  "It must be guiding you toward something related to the power struggle revolving around the

  academy. Seems your soul is nicer than you, since it cares for Linjos and the kids."

  Solus' tone was gentle and warm, hoping for him to open his heart to others, even if just a

  little.

  "I don't see how the two things are related, but in for a penny, in for a pound. What's the

  power level of the hunters?"

  "Three cyan, one green and two yellow mana cores. The latter are unlikely to be mages, too

  many muscles, too little mana." Solus replied. ¨C

  Lith memorized the opponents based on their strength, before coming up with a last-minute

  plan. Not having much to work with, he had to keep it simple.

  Killing in cold blood six people just because of a "mystical prophecy" was out of question. His

  conscience was still nagging at him for how he treated the dryads, so he needed a softer

  approach.

  Lith instantly switched his hunter suit with the academy's uniform through the pocked

  dimension, having decided to play the role of the na?ve student upholding justice.

  He approached the hunters on foot, while weaving several spells, ready to be unleashed with

  but a thought, just in case. Once he got close enough, he snapped his fingers, using air magic

  to amplify the sound into a small boom, drawing their attention.

  "Hey, what are you doing so close to the academy? This part of the forest is reserved to the

  students. Scram, before I call the security."

  The sudden noise caused them to freeze for a moment, giving the Byk the opening it needed

  to escape the encirclement and run away. The six hunters turned towards Lith, looking at him

  with irritated eyes and ill-concealed killing intent.

  ***

  Raghul, the leader of the mercenary team disguised as hunters, was enjoying his last

  assignment quite a bit. He had never been paid so handsomely to do a menial job. During the

  last days, they had been killing magical beasts, it didn't matter if big of small since the pay was

  the same.

  He had no idea why his contractor sent them specifically to that forest, but according to

  Rodimas, the smartest of the team, it was about upsetting the academy's balance.

  Based on the intel she had gathered, the Headmaster had some kind of deal with the beasts.

  Her guess was that slaying those nearest to the academy and making the students appear as

  the perpetrators, it would ruin the relationship between Linjos and the Lord of the forest.

  If that happened, either he could no longer have the
exams take place in the forest, or he had

  to risk his students' safety.

  Raghul didn't understand what good could came out of it, and more importantly, he didn't

  care. The reason he had accepted that job, despite the suspiciously high reward, was because

  he hated academies.

  The memories of what he had gone through, back in the day when he had been admitted to

  the Water Griffon, still haunted his dreams sometimes.

  When a goddamn kid appeared out of nowhere, allowing their prey to escape, he was greatly

  annoyed.

  "What a rotten luck. How the heck did this pest found us in this frigging huge forest? If we

  get exposed, we'll lose the other half of the pay." ¨C

  "Hey, kid! Do you have any idea how much money your little stunt has just costed us? At least

  ten gold coins! Hope you have enough on you to compensate for our loss, otherwise I'll have

  to roughen you up."

  Raghul wasn't surprised that the first to react had been Terion. He was the kind of man that

  always thought with his wallet.

  Lith saw a lean man, with curly brown hair and a face full of freckles, walking double time

  towards him, yelling something about money.

  "Don't you have any shame? First you gang up against a young Byk and now try to extort from

  a student? You are unworthy of calling yourself hunters."

  Lith pretended to be outraged, while waiting for the next piece of the vision. Saving the cub

  had no effect, and so far, even interacting with the hunters had no effect.

  While the two quarrelled, Raghul noticed that despite all that ruckus, no one was coming.

  "Maybe there is a way to cut our losses. If this kid has come here alone and Rodimas is right

  about our mission, maybe by killing him we can keep our cover and even earn an extra. The

  orders are to not get caught in the act, after all.

  Not to mention is best to avoid having the academy staff on our tail."-

  "Come on, Terion. Cut the kid some slack. He is right, we are too close to the academy. We

  are not looking for trouble."

  Terion recognized the codeword for murder, yet his poker face was impeccable. He didn't

  smirk, didn't pause what he was doing not even for a second, managing to withhold his killing

  intent.