"Back then, Ilthin told me something that I treasured deeply, and then she gave me this." Lith handed to Kamila the communication rune business card of the Banshee that he had never used, yet he didn't throw it away either.

"Are you showing off your mad pick-up skills or what?" Kamila regretted her choice of words and the poison they were coated in the moment she heard them coming out of her own mouth, yet it was too late to take them back.

Her wounded heart demanded payback but, in her case, cruelty was a tool pointy at both ends and it inflicted the same amount of pain to both of them.

"No. I just want you to have it." Lith flinched at her allegations, but just for one second. "Maybe, if you speak with Ilthin, she'd tell you what she told me."

"Can't you just repeat her words without the need of a middleman?" Kamila took the rune card and stored it away.

"Let's be honest. You don't trust me much anymore so anything I say would sound fake, especially since you know how good a liar I am." Lith replied. "On top of that, if our wordings are too similar, you might think it's a rehearsed speech."

"Gods, I had almost forgotten how paranoid you are." Kamila couldn't help but chuckle. "These cards are single-use and I doubt you can force a Firstborn to do anything."

"Anyway, I want to let this be your choice, not mine. Goodbye." Lith left the moment the movie ended.

He had followed Nalrond's advice while also giving Kamila a tool to dispel her doubts. Back in the tower, after revealing Solus to her, Kamila had chosen to get out of his life.

Yet if she still cared about their relationship, she would call Ilthin and maybe choose to be part of it again.

***

Gorgon Empire, the city of Nestamaath, Capitol of the Empire, and current access to Leegaain's lair.

Jormun Nidho, also known in the Griffon Kingdom as Jakra the Emerald Dragon had finally returned home after over two months of wandering and five hundred years of imprisonment.

Right after leaving the Golden Griffon, he had thought about going straight to his siblings, but that would have meant breaking his word to Thrud and more importantly, endangering the baby's life.

Now, however, the pregnancy had almost come to term and Jakra couldn't hold back any longer. Training alone to master his abilities as an Awakened and searching for a way to obtain the violet core kept his mind busy, but only until Invigoration lost its effectiveness.

When exhaustion forced him to stop and rest, Jakra's sleep was haunted by the memories of the centuries he had spent inside the Golden Griffon and of the months he had been a prisoner of his own body at Thrud's service.

He had come to fear sleep more than death because while the latter would give him peace, the former tortured his mind and body, making him regret having left Thrud's side.

While under the slave spell, at least he would sleep like a baby. Not only because the forbidden magic forced him to, but also because there was some sort of relief in knowing that none of his actions were actually his responsibility.

With freedom, instead, also came the burden of the consequences of his actions and the regret for the lives that he had been forced to take.

After one restless night too many and having come too close to taking his own life, Jakra had chosen to go to the only person who might understand his situation without judging him.

Leegaain, the Father of all Dragons, the Lord of Wisdom, and more importantly, his father.

"Dad?" He asked while knocking on one of the many backdoors of the lair that Leegaain always prepared in the case something happened. "Can I come in?"

The door opened and closed by itself the moment Jakra stepped through it.

"Well, well, well. The prodigal son returns. Have you finally come back to your senses or is this some kind of elaborate form of suicide?" Leegaain asked.

He was in his Dragon form, a creature covered in black scales so big that the only way to see his full figure was to look at him from a few hundred meters of distance.

"I'm surprised you didn't bring your girlfriend or at least reinforcements. Aren't you going to introduce me to my grandson?" Leegaain's words oozed spite and sarcasm, yet they were meant solely to vent the pain that Jormun had inflicted upon his wounded fatherly heart.

So, when the Emerald Dragon fell onto his knees, begging for Leegaain's help while sobbing like a hatchling, the Lord of Wisdom's rage disappeared. His heart only ached more as Soul Vision revealed the pitiful state his beloved son was in.

To his mystical senses, Jormun looked like a Dragon whose scales had been ripped off with a rusty knife. His pink skin bled non-stop and it was almost invisible under the many scars that covered the entirety of his body.

His eyes were lifeless and his spirit broken to the point of being almost beyond saving.

Almost.

"Who dared to do something like this to my son?" Leegaain took Jormun amid his huge hands, forcing him to revert into an Emerald Dragon.

Jormun was still so small compared to Lord of Wisdom that Leegaain could rock him like a baby while searching for external wounds with his breathing technique, Worldkeeper, finding none.

"I did it to myself." Jormun said amid sobs. "I was so stupid as to-"

"Hush child, you don't have to shoulder your burden alone. From now on, I will be with you." Leegaain used a mind link to share his son's memories, gaining a clear understanding of everything the Guardian had witnessed during Scarlett's tribulation.

"A slave spell? An army of Awakened? Mogar almighty, what have you done?" Leegaain blurted out in surprise.

Yet the Emerald Dragon didn't reply, lost in the first pleasant dream he had since reacquiring his freedom. Between the almighty protection of his father's embrace and having shared his anguish with someone who could understand him, Jakra's mind was finally at peace.

***

Grand Duchy of Deirus, the capital city of Temshin, Deirus Household, at the same time when Lith left Zinya's home.

With only two generations of wealth behind him, there was only so much that Velan Deirus could make to ensure the safety of his home. All households had to start from the most basic arrays and add more powerful formations on top of them as soon as they could afford them.

Until the mid-tiers, the arrays were basically standard equipment, something that all households had in common with minuscule variations. Only the higher-tiered magical formations could be custom-made based on their master's wishes.

It was the reason why the small figure donned in black had no trouble avoiding the guards, managed to not trigger any of the alarms that she knew like the back of her hand, and even to pick the magical lock of a window without the arrays noticing her presence.

'Today you crossed a line that you shouldn't have Deirus.' Assassin Jirni Ernas thought while she navigated through the mansion with ease thanks to the blueprints that she had spent weeks memorizing down to the smallest detail.