Guilt and Punishmen

by Sophia Schmidt

  The world energy was naturally shapeless, like water, it assumed the signature of whoever managed to call forth its power. As more and more of Protector's mana reached the fake core, it started to mutate until the two energy signatures perfectly matched.

  Lith was experiencing an unbelievable amount of pain. Not only because his body was already battered and his mana core running on fumes, but also because he had to take all of the impurities the world energy contained into himself to shape the fake core, allowing only the purest and strongest mana to become part of his creation.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting.

  Lith accepted the pain with joy, it was still nothing compared to what the void had done to him in the years following his brother's death.

  The last step was the most dangerous one. Lith knew that light magic wasn't enough to allow Protector's core and the fake one to merge. Just like during Forgemastering, he needed something to connect the spell with the item.

  Having nothing left, he used his own life force as a tool to achieve his goal. When Lith's energy rekindled Protector's soul spark, Lith was able to experience the Skoll's life from the moment of his birth.

  The joy of meeting his first mate and having pups together, followed by the pain of losing them to disease, hunger, or the hand of hunters. Lith could feel how happy Protector had been when he encountered Selia, how strong his desire for a new family was.

  Such happiness was something that Lith firmly believed he would never have, so he pushed forward. He consumed more and more energy despite his whole body screaming in pain, begging him to stop, and his core began to crack.

  Scarlett watched the whole process in awe. Part of her hoped for him to succeed. Another part of her hoped for him to fail, to get rid of the dangerous unknown factor Lith represented.

  Yet all of Scarlett's being hated the world's will because once again it was just standing there doing nothing.

  "I have been through my fair share of tribulations and I have yet to understand why they are called so. It's not like the world puts you to the test or something, it just watches you while the worst sh*t happens to your life. Either you live or die, it never interferes, like our lives are nothing but a two-bit sideshow."¨C She thought.

  ***

  From her throne in the underground dungeon, Tyris felt the second tribulation advent.

  "That anomaly again." She thought out loud.

  "It's better if I go check on it, before the others start pestering me about the lack of information." She stood up, appearing right before Scarlett. It was easy for a Guardian to ignore the Scorpicore's dimensional magic seal.

  "What does this mean, Forest Lord?" She asked.

  Scarlett instinctively knelt to her, explaining to Tyris all that had happened that night.

  "I see. Another Abomination hybrid, it seems. But this one isn't a man-made fake Abomination, more like a jigsaw made of different pieces. He's already at the second tribulation, I wouldn't worry if I were you."

  Tyris shrugged, preparing to leave.

  "Wait, my Lady. What do you mean?" Scarlett was shocked by her indifference. Unlike Kalla and Protector, she had no affection toward Lith, but he still was a child trying to save a precious friend.

  After witnessing so much death in a single night, she couldn't understand how the Guardian could leave without moving a finger. It would be easy for Tyris to save them both.

  "You really don't know?" Tyris turned back, raising an eyebrow in disbelief.

  "Tribulations happen constantly to beasts, humans, plants, and undead alike. Every single day. They happen whenever Mogar, the world we live in, thinks that someone can be useful for its purposes.

  "During every tribulation, Mogar evaluates the candidate's worth through their actions. Success or failure depends entirely on the candidate, though. The first tribulation is usually about the skill the world is interested in.

  The second and usually last one, is about self-control."

  "What self-control?" Scarlett was flabbergasted.

  "The kid is killing himself, burning his own life as we speak! Shouldn't the tribulation be failed already?"

  "You completely misunderstood the nature of tribulations." Tyris chuckled in amusement.

  "A talent is worthless if someone lets it control their life, as most living beings do. My talent is to inspire the change, but it could be easily subverted into bringing chaos if I was never content with the status quo and I did not give the changes the time to prove their worth.

  "Leegaain's talent is knowledge and preservation. Yet imagine how easy it would be for him to turn it into greed, hoarding everything and every life form for himself, turning from the keeper of the world into its warden.

  "Salaark embodies the desire to rule and lead by example, but she could just as easily become a tyrant obsessed with world domination. The self-control I'm talking about is the will to resist the urges your talent pushes you towards and do the opposite.

  "Take the kid, for example. Judging from his first two tribulations, the world seems to have chosen him to kill a lot of people, yet it's checking if he's just a soulless monster or if he has the will to choose the hard path and grant life instead.

  "We all serve the balance. There would be no need for a Guardian of destruction, the races do an excellent job by themselves already. That's why you don't need to worry. If he ever succeeds in passing all the tribulations, we'll just have another Guardian."

  "What if he fails? The prolonged exposure to the world's will has already altered him that much." Scarlett rebuked, pointing at Lith's scales covered body.

  "Aren't you afraid of what he could do if he manages to control that kind of power?"

  "No." Tyris shook her head. "That's just a promise of payment, barely cosmetic. As far as I know, you have passed all of your tribulations. Have you gotten any stronger?"

  "No. I've learned how to shapeshift, but my strength is always the same, no matter the form I take."

  "Exactly. Until he becomes a Guardian¡" Tyris giggled at the idea.

  "he will just remain whatever he is. While if he fails, he will die. As simple as that. There is no do-over with tribulations. The number of tribulations varies from person to person, but most fail at the second one. Even if he succeeds, he could fail at the next one, or at the one after that." Tyris disappeared, leaving Scarlett more nervous than ever.

  "This is great. Now I not only have to worry about Scourge and Protector, but also about myself! I never imagined tribulations were so dangerous. Gods, I wish Kalla were here. She would know what to do."

  "She would say to move your stinger-equipped a*s and help the child. You always whine about the world's will being indifferent, yet you stand there doing nothing. What's the difference between the two of you?" A limping Kalla pointed out.

  Scarlett flinched at her appearance, but recovered quickly and did as instructed. Lith had already consumed several years of his lifespan to keep Protector alive and his core was about to crack too.

  However, he had managed to fix Protector's core enough to allow Scarlett to finish the job. She saved both their lives at once, before questioning the Wraith.

  "How did you survive that blast?"

  "First, as you should know, no one can be harmed by their own mana. So the only damage I took was from overloading my mana core. It was a calculated risk. My odds of survival were pretty good since my undead nature makes it really hard to kill me with both conventional and unconventional means.

  "Unlike you, I never trusted the men's words or underestimated a fellow Necromancer's madness. I had a contingency plan in case I was cornered and another one in the eventuality of my death." Kalla was referring to Lith's promise.

  "Don't you mean your partial undead nature?" Scarlett corrected her friend.

  "Have I already mentioned all Necromancers are a bit insane?"

  Kalla used Invigoration to further her healing process, revealing to th
e shocked Scorpicore that her body held both a mana and a blood core.

  Chapter 222 After the Storm

  "I don't understand. What is that thing? How did you manage to survive the explosion?" Scarlett was happy to see Kalla alive, even if she was heavily injured.

  Most of the shadow that usually covered her massive skeleton was gone, leaving it completely exposed. Only a faint mist covered the zone where her internal organs were supposed to be.

  One of her front paws was missing and the red light that usually burned inside her eyes was almost gone.

  When it started blinking, Kalla collapsed on the ground.

  "Survive is a strong word. Let's just say I'm not completely dead. As for your questions, it's a bit complicated to explain. After my evolution, I have been shunned by humans and magical beasts alike.

  "They don't see beyond my physical appearance, that's why I started spending so much time with the various tribes of higher undead. I felt like I didn't belong in the forest anymore, so I was searching for a new family."

  "Why didn't you tell me that earlier? I would have taught them a lesson!" Scarlett roared in outrage.

  "To what end?" Kalla sneered. "Nothing would have changed. They would behave in front of you and keep ostracizing me as soon as you turned your back. I don't need anyone's pity nor protection."

  Her voice was feeble, but filled with determination.

  "However, greater undead always treated me with respect. After I adopted my daughter, I was seriously considering turning myself into a true undead instead of being stuck in this half baked form.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting.

  "So, I started researching the blood cores, experimenting on myself to see how they interact with a living body with an intact mana core. Worst case scenario, I would have become a real undead. Nothing would have changed for me.

  "I would still be an Awakened one and Nok would follow me even if I had three heads. The actual result was quite underwhelming. The second core does nothing except take enough energy from me to sustain itself.

  "Since it didn't seem to have any side effects, I kept it as a study subject for my research on how to cure Mina. It pains me to admit that I hope the same cure will help me too. It's so frustrating always being alone."

  Kalla paused, the shadow inside her body kept getting thinner.

  "It's only thanks to my experiments that, when I recalled the darkness magic animating my undead, I was able to avoid the overload by splitting the energy between both cores. That way even if one shattered, the other would remain.

  The problem is that now that they have almost the same strength, I don't know which will prevail."

  "How can I help you?" Scarlett asked, wishing she could do the same thing Lith had done for Protector.

  "Not much. Just wait for me to come back and be my friend no matter what the result is. Also, I would greatly appreciate if you helped me find a safe place for me and Mina to live. Your forest doesn't suit any of us."

  Kalla finally succumbed to exhaustion, the light in her eyes went out completely. If not for some shreds of darkness still lingering over her, it would have been impossible to distinguish her from an old carcass.

  Scarlett felt a deep pain inside of her. By choosing to help the humans, she had endangered the lives of her underlings, causing the death of many of them. M'Rook had died fighting the Valors, leaving her without a second in command and many more had been gravely injured or maimed.

  As long as they were alive, she could heal them, but it would take a long time for the forest to recover from its wounds. In just two days, the combat prowess of her turf had been halved.

  Her dear friend Kalla was now on the brink of death, Protector had almost died, and she couldn't help but consider it as her fault. Her arrogance had blinded her. She had been so confident in her strength that she almost lost everything she had.

  "Now I understand why the members of the Council are so detached. The longer you live, the more painful it is when you lose someone. I've known M'Rook and Kalla since they were just cubs, and I raised them both like they were my own.

  "Now M'Rook is dead. Kalla will survive or turn into a true undead, either way she will leave the forest forever. I've been so obsessed with the Abomination threat, by pursuing my 'master plan' and always thinking big picture that I've disregarded the details.

  "Those small, precious details that make my life worth living. I've neglected both the lives of my subjects and their happiness. Maybe I have become too old to be a Lord of the forest. Maybe Leegaain is right, I should leave my turf to someone better than me and strive to become a Guardian.

  "By the Great Mother, I never thought the day I would get tired of living could ever come."¨C Scarlett was lost in thought when she heard a movement from her right.

  Protector was getting up and for the first time since they had known each other, he seemed to be out of his mind with rage.

  "Don't worry, Protector. Your friend is fine, I made sure of that myself." Scarlett tried to calm him down.

  "Fine? How dare you to call losing decades of his life being 'fine'? Why the heck didn't you stop him?" He pointed his muzzle to Lith's shrivelled body. He had lost so much of his body weight before losing consciousness that he was unrecognizable.

  Protector was still as weak as a baby, his life hanging by a thread while his core could never recover completely from the damage it had suffered. Yet his rage was stronger than all that.

  "You wanted him to die, you crazy fcker! Did you think I have gone deaf? I heard your whole conversation with that pompous as, whoever she was. You can forget me helping you again in the future! If you don't want to make an enemy out of me, you'd better do as I say."

  Scarlett nodded. Her guilt prevented her from even trying to defend her foolish actions.

  "As soon as Lith wakes up, you'll tell him that I'm dead."

  "What?" Scarlett didn't see that coming.

  "What he did was stupid, reckless, and immature. He may act all wise and mighty, but his earlier actions were those of a child throwing a tantrum." By sharing their life forces, Protector had been able to see Lith's life just like Lith had seen his.

  He still couldn't believe his friend was actually older than himself and an alien from a gods forsaken world at that. Yet the revelation hadn't changed the feelings Protector harbored toward Lith.

  Quite to the contrary, it made them even deeper.

  "He has gone through a lot of pain, maybe too much, but that's not justification enough to put an end to his own life in a mad attempt to save me. If Lith learns about my survival, he will not hesitate to repeat the same mistake.

  I would have died, leaving my mate alone, but so what? He didn't stop for a second to think about what he was throwing away. All he cared about was keeping life and death in his own hands, like it was all a game and he refused to accept defeat.

  His obsession with control will sooner or later kill him. He needs to experience the pain of loss again to appreciate what he has. His family, his friends, the little female, and you, Solus." Protector said to the ring at Lith's finger, leaving Solus shocked.

  "Solus?" Scarlett asked.

  "The female that inhabits the ring. That's her name."

  Scarlett pondered for a while. The name didn't ring any bells. She had no idea it was something Lith had come up with years ago, so all of her knowledge was useless in solving the mystery behind her existence.

  "You too must keep my survival secret from him, otherwise he'll never change. So far, he has lived pushing everyone away, never letting people come close to him and making up one excuse after another to justify his actions.

  He has lost years before appreciating even his own family. If he keeps acting like this, he will understand how much he cares for those around him only after he has lost them for good and then he will turn into another Balkor. Is this what you want for him, Solus?

  A life of self-inflicted isol
ation followed by killing sprees with no care for the consequences?"

  Even if Scarlett had allowed her to respond via a mind link, Solus didn't know what to say. Earlier she had tried to stop Lith, but she was too exhausted to push through the barrier the world's will had put him into to prevent her from interfering.

  "Please Solus, listen to me." Protector continued.

  "This is the only way to help him. By telling him of his success, you would be enabling his obsession. It would only be a matter of time before he does it again. He will suffer for my loss, yes, but it should act as a wake up call.

  "He needs to stop indulging in his obsession. We exist to pass down our hopes and dreams for the future through our actions. Our lives are like rivers that cross paths, sometimes briefly, sometimes for a long time creating a bond.

  Those bonds are what allows us to leave a part of ourselves behind.

  "Our legacy is not limited to our offspring. Every person we meet changes us, as we change them. I know he will suffer for my loss, but it's not the end of the world.

  Either he learns to open himself up to others, instead of trapping himself into plans and preparations for what may or may not happen, or he will end up cutting his ties with everyone to avoid getting hurt.

  Whatever he decides, at least he will find his way in life. What we are going to offer him, is a chance to understand every day is precious and it should not be wasted on revenge and recrimination."

  Solus didn't say a word, crying the whole time.

  "Solus, these are my last words, so please find a way to pass them to Lith. Hate is a double edged sword. It can give you the strength to face your enemies and protect those you love. Yet if it becomes your reason for living instead of just a tool for survival, it will turn into a venom that will consume you.

  Even if we met late in my life, even we aren't even of the same race, know this. I've always loved him as a son and I always will."

  Solus was still hesitant, lying to Lith was something she had never thought about before. She didn't even know if she was capable of doing it.