Supreme Magus

"and that's our cue." protector whispered, even though he and selia were already enveloped in a hush spell, while dragging his wife toward the back door.

"come on, they're just making out and on our lawn at that. there's nothing wrong with making sure that things between them are okay." she whined.

"according to what you have taught me, that's being a peeping tom." protector rebuked her. "come inside. while lith explains everything in detail to her, i can do the same to you now."

selia nodded and followed him back home. she was very curious about lith's hybrid form since she had never seen a dragon before and so was kamila. after both lith's and her heart had stopped quivering, she pushed him away gently, full of questions that needed to be answered.

"is this the reason why the army holds you in such high regard?"

"the army doesn't know, nor does the mage association and the royals." lith replied.

"so i guess i can't tell zinya, right?" she asked.

"right. only four people, you included, know about it and i'd like to keep things that way." there were actually five people, but talking about solus was still out of the question.

"just four? protector and i are two, who are the other two? your parents?" kamila felt flattered and the idea of being the first person he had ever shared his secret with. protector knew about it only because they had exchanged their life forces and his parents because there was no way they hadn't noticed.

"no. no one in my family knows. they would probably accept me as i am, but i don't want to pointlessly complicate their life. for them knowing or not changes nothing, whereas you had the right to decide about your life."

lith's words made sense. aside from making his relatives worry about giving birth to more hybrids and make them paranoid about protecting lith's secret, telling them wouldn't do any good to them, nor would alter their relationship.

yet it made kamila furrow her brows.

"don't tell me that…" she knew she wasn't lith's first girlfriend so the answer to her own question was now quite obvious.

"yes. phloria knows. i told her as well when things seemed to be getting serious." lith replied.

"fine." kamila snorted, feeling jealous for not being the first person lith had opened his heart to. "who's the last one?"

lith perceived more than a tinge of rage in her voice, but lying would have been pointless.

"quylla."

"what the fuck? did you sleep with her too? did it happen before or after the academy?" even though lith had an enhanced skin and wore a skinwalker armor, he could still feel her nails stinging at his flesh such was kamila's barely bridled fury.

"what? no! who do you take me for? i never slept with quylla nor did i voluntarily tell her. it happened while we were in kulah." lith told kamila the truth about the fight with the odi and how he couldn't always control his transformation.

kamila sighed loudly in relief.

"let me get this straight. i'm the fourth to know but the second you opened up with, correct?"

"more like the fourth to know and the first person i opened up with hoping to keep you rather than just to scare you away." lith replied.

"when you put it that way it sounds much better." the edge in her voice disappeared and she kissed him again. "are those three the only people i can freely talk about it?"

"there's also selia. as soon as protector tells her about it, of course."

"she didn't know? even though she is his wife?" kamila was flabbergasted.

"ryman never shared my secret with anyone and i did the same for him. selia was damn curious about it, but when she realized i was keeping my mouth shut only because i wanted to tell you first, she understood and let it slide."

kamila felt really happy at the idea of how deep the bond between lith and protector was, and the lengths lith had gone to let her be among the first people to know.

"now what?" she asked while looking at the starred sky.

"now what indeed." lith shrugged, having no idea how things would change.

***

during the following days, lith's research progressed smoothly. ever since he had opened up with kamila, not only did a huge burden had been lifted from his chest, but also his mental scars hurt much less than usual.

lith was much more relaxed and open-minded now, free from the fear of being rejected like a freak and destined to spend the eternity alone. now his mind wasn't filled only with paranoid thoughts about things to not do and not say anymore.

the body-swapping device allowed him to plan his future, and kamila's blessing meant that he had someone to share it with. lith had finally things to look forward to rather than to be afraid of, making his brain much clearer and more focused.

before leaving protector's house, they had set up a meeting with faluel the hydra, protector's awakened master. lith aimed to use faluel's connection with the council to understand if they had something to offer to him and maybe learn from her about runes.

'depending on how our meeting goes, i might even ask to join the emperor beasts' side of the council. some of them are good, like kalla, while others are mad, like gadorf the wyvern, whereas humans look like a bunch of psychos.

'they cannot be trusted.' lith thought.

'what about your little adventure with your academy friends? do you think you'll make it this time?' solus asked.

'well, yeah. quylla seems to be much calmer now in my presence. it almost makes me feel guilty for not telling friya. i mean, that way, when kamila joins us for dinner or lunch, there would be no secrets at the table.' lith replied.

'true, but since it's a leisure trip, there's no point making things awkward again like it happened with quylla.' solus pondered while checking their surroundings. lith had started traveling only by using warp gates, to make his position known.

after meeting athung, he had hoped that the council would find a way to communicate with him in a civilized manner, but their prolonged silence didn't bode well.

even though to his eyes it was a largely useless and incompetent organization, the council was still a force to be reckoned with. hence lith made sure that they knew where he was, to prevent them from targeting others to get his attention.

being predictable was a two-edged sword since they would know where to find him, but at the same time, lith could easily predict the most convenient spots for an ambush and prepare accordingly.

after all, the council was pretty limited in its choice of approach. attacking the ernas mansion was suicidal and lith's home was heavily guarded. to avoid exposing their existence, the awakened couldn't risk triggering a full-scale war with the army or the association, so they would target lith unless they were forced otherwise.

lith warped always to the same places to go from derios to his own house, pretending to have let his guard down whereas his path was intended to lead his unknown enemies to take action exactly where he wanted them to.