Supreme Magus

2584 Trade of Secrets (Part 2)

Syrah looked at the spark in the young Fomor's eyes, the same that Xagra had before being forced to inherit his father's Harmonizer and the title of King. Now his eyes were dull and he smiled a lot less.

Syrah wished to turn back time and, strong of her knowledge of the future, spare her son from that fate but Mogar kept spinning, leaving her alone with her regrets.

"Just give me your rune." She said while putting forward her communication amulet.

"I beg your pardon?" Ryla was too surprised to make sense of the sudden request.

"I need your communication rune, otherwise I can't call you when I need you to come here." The Hati Queen didn't want Garrik to get away and have a normal life.

She wanted to keep him in Zelex and tell him all the horrible things that his father had done to her people. She wanted Garrik to live the rest of his days in shame and to take away from him everything that Xagra had lost.

Yet she knew that none of it would have made her child happy, it would have just made another young boy miserable.

The two women exchanged their contact runes and then Syrah briefly touched her Harmonizer.

"Get out before I come to my senses and change my mind." The Hati Queen turned around, afraid of losing her temper and ruining her people's future for a single moment of personal satisfaction.

"Thank you, Syrah." Ryla said.

"Thank you, Auntie!" Garrik waved his hand.

"And Morok." Syrah said while keeping her back turned and her body as still as stone. "I don't want anything to do with Glemos' stuff. Take away from my city his accursed books as soon as you can. I'll keep the contents of the vaults as compensation."

"What about the labs?" The Tyrant asked.

"They are staying here as well." Her words made him groan.

Losing the treasures in the vaults was a huge hit to his legacy but the Davross Forge alone was an incalculable loss. It was already purified and enough to craft more than one full set of equipment even for someone as big as a Fomor.

"We'll use them as training facilities when you come here to teach our people the art of Forgemastery. Once you clear your debt with us, I might consider allowing you to move the labs. If we don't need them ourselves, of course."

"Thank you, Syrah." Morok knew that it was a fake threat.

Faluel had already explained during their past visit that the labs had been devised so that only someone from the Tyrant bloodline could use them.

"Don't thank me, dammit. Just go! Zelex is wide open until you don't get your ass out of here."

"Call me if you ever need anything. Food, healing, weap-" At a snap of Faluel's fingers the Warping array activated, moving them to a distant mana geyser where Ajatar the Drake was waiting for them.

The moment Solus felt Lith's presence fade, she fused with the now free flow of world energy and Warped straight to their destination. Not before marking Zelex's mana geyser as her own, though.

"Mom, how come not-big brother has wings and eyes like us while big brother has only the eyes? Where are..." His mouth fell to the ground when he saw the majestic figure of the Drake in his real form.

He resembled an oversized lizard covered in sapphire-blue scales with a huge white horn coming out of his snout and a long tail ending in a bone protuberance that looked like a mace.

He was over ten meters (33) high at the withers and over twice as long. Thrice, if one also considered the tail.

"Is this a pet? Can I have a pet? Can we bring him home, Mom? Please!"

"Respectively, no, maybe, and absolutely not!" Ajatar replied. "Faluel, move to the next geyser. And be quick before I lose it to Morok Junior's nonsense."

The Hydra bolted away with her quickest flight spell while also weaving a Warp Steps that would move her closer to her destination of dozens of kilometers.

Ryla had a hard time chasing Garrik while they waited. He had never been outside his house let alone in the beauty of nature. He bolted left and right with his wings, trying to catch every bird and sniff every flower he saw.

The problem was that if he were to get too far away from the geyser, his Harmonizer would depower and his life force would be forever compromised.

"I'm really sorry, Lord Ajatar." Ryla gave the Drake a deep bow.

The only way she had found to keep Garrik close was to put him on Ajatar's back and let him explore the marvel that a Lesser Dragon was.

"Don't worry, young lady. I'm putting everything on his tab." He tilted his head at Morok. "I'm going to work you so hard that you won't have the time to attend your own marriage."

"Please, n-" Faluel Warped them right on cue and Ajatar left before the Tyrant could even attempt a plea for mercy. "That's great. Now how do we entertain Garrik?"

"It's not that hard." Lith turned into his Voidfeather Dragon form.

The young boy squealed in joy at the sight of another and also bigger majestic creature the likes he had never seen before. Even flying around Lith at top speed, Garrik had yet to finish exploring half of his back when Ajatar activated the next array.

Lith, Paluel, Xenagrosh, and Bytra took turns revealing their other forms to keep the boy too busy to stray from the geyser and making Morok quite jealous.

"I can't believe it" He pouted after trying and failing to engage Garrik in conversation. "I almost gave away my bloodline legacy, I revealed a secret that has been closely guarded for generations, and my own brother is more fascinated by a bunch of lizards than by my epic adventures."

"Don't take it personally" Ryla needed sheer willpower to keep looking at him, her six eyes drawn to the mighty beasts of legends. "Garrik is a good kid and he loves you.

"Ever since he met you, the only thing he talked about was the wish to see you again and how his life would change now that he has a brother. It's just that he lived as a prisoner within four walls his whole life.

"He has met Glemos a few times so he knows what a Tyrant looks like whereas he has never seen a bird, let alone a Dragon. Put yourself in his shoes."

"Fine!" Morok snorted, starting to explore the Divine Beasts' bodies as well and doing silly things like looking under the scales or snuggling on the soft feathers along with his brother.

"That's not what I meant but, oh well." The Fomor giggled seeing the barely contained anger on the Dragons' scaly snouts.

One thing was being manhandled by a child, receiving the same treatment by an allegedly grown man was another. Yet since Garrik laughed and enjoyed sharing his discoveries with his brother, Lith, and Xenagrosh let it slide.

The trip lasted but a few minutes, crossing several regions and creating several legends about mighty beasts dwelling in the deep of several forests.