Chapter 4034: Peas in a Pod (Part 1)

With the end of the battle, it took the mages of the Associations seconds to put out the fires and minutes to rescue those trapped under the rubble of the collapsed buildings.

Most Lutians trampled by the Upyrs had died at the beginning of the attack, but several people were still alive.

When the mages and the Awakened pulled the survivors out of the ruins of their destroyed homes, their joy was short-lived. Many members of their families were dead, and so were their neighbors and friends.

The walls of the still-standing buildings of Lutia were slick with blood, and the roads were littered with dead bodies. The stench of burned meat wafted through the air, forming a layer of fat on the tongues of the survivors that tasted of death.

Some people fainted, and a few puked their guts out. Most of them just cried, incapable of expressing with words the pain from losing everything and almost everyone that made their life worth living.

Salaark answered Lith’s call first, returning from her hunt and ensuring the safety of his family. As soon as she conjured a fake home to replace the tower, Lith and Solus returned to Lutia.

The tower Warped to the clearing in the Trawn Woods in case they needed its power, but Lith emerged from the Warp Gate in the barn of his house to not raise suspicions.

He remained flabbergasted seeing that the arrays of the Verhen House were still at full power. Only when he turned towards Rizel’s house did he notice the trail of destruction coming from Lutia.

’Solus, status report.’ He asked.

Lith had returned via the official channels to leave a paper trail while Solus controlled the tower from the Woods.

’The Watchtower can’t locate the energy signature of Upyrs, and there is no sign of Meln.’ She replied. ’Whatever happened here, we’re too late.’

The mana geyser was too far away to enhance Lith’s magical and physical prowess, but from there, the tower could monitor the situation and fire spells if necessary.

’How many dead?’ He asked, Warping straight to Lutia and conjuring as many Demons as he could to help with the rescue operations.

’Too many.’ She said while sifting through the reports coming on their amulets from across the Griffon Kingdom.

’I mean, among our friends.’ Lith didn’t want to sound callous and anger Solus, but couldn’t find a delicate way to ask that question.

’A few.’ Solus stared at the empty spaces on their communication amulets, refusing to elaborate further.

Lith understood why the moment he walked out of the Warp Steps. Even during the War of the Griffons, he had rarely seen so much wanton destruction. There was almost no method to it, only the cruel indifference of giants stepping on the lives of mortal men.

He noticed the disappearance of the temple of the All-father first. The absence of its tall statues and main building was hard to miss. Then, his eyes wandered to Zekell’s house, finding no trace of it.

He was about to yell for the blacksmith when he recognized Feela and Raagu. The human representative stood still without making a sound, only the trembling of her shoulders betrayed her distress.

The two halves of the Behemoth’s corpse had crushed several houses under their weight, but Lith didn’t care about the fate of their occupants. He couldn’t stop staring at one of Feela’s eyes that seemed to look at him.

There was no rage or accusation in her glassy gaze. She seemed peaceful, maybe a bit surprised to see him. Lith instinctively activated Life Vision, finding no trace of life force or of her mana core left.

Feela had died protecting his home and people, and that hurt more than any cruel word or blow could.

"Can you look for her with your black chains, please?" Raagu’s voice sounded deadpan. "I need to talk to her one last time. I need to know if there’s something I can do to compensate Feela’s family for her sacrifice."

Lith nodded and activated Call of the Void. His black chains scoured Lutia and found many angry souls, but the Behemoth was not among them. He left them alone, unwilling to exacerbate the grief of their living relatives while their wounds were still fresh.

Then, Lith let the chains move past Lutia and throughout the Kingdom, but to no avail. Feela the Behemoth was gone, and there was nothing he could do about it.

"I’m sorry." Lith shook his head. "She’s at peace now."

"That’s the first good news of this shitty day." Raagu had a hard time associating the word "peace" with Feela’s mangled corpse, but she knew there was nothing that recriminations would achieve. "Where were you all this time, Verhen?"

She turned toward Lith, her eyes were empty, but the embers of fury sparked from her voice.

"Where were you while we bled and died for your hometown?"

"In the Blood Desert." Lith knew that the truth would be of little consolation to the bereaved, but it was all he had to offer. "Meln sprung a surprise attack against the Desert as well. He lured Salaark away and sent a few of his Upyrs after me.

"They didn’t try to kill me so much as to stall for time and keep me from alerting Grandma of what was happening. I came here as soon as I could."

"I see." A part of Raagu didn’t trust his words and wanted to blame Lith for what had happened, but the reports flooding from the Blood Desert brooked no argument. "I’d leave if I were you, Verhen. There’s nothing good that your presence can achieve."

"Verhen?" Hearing that name snapped many people out of their daze.

"He’s here?" Asked a man rocking the corpse of his daughter.

"Is this your fault?" A woman asked while staring at him with wide, uncomprehending eyes.

Her clothes were bloody and tattered, but she didn’t seem to notice. Her hair was caked with dirt and soot, her arms still twisted at unnatural angles as a healing spell put them back together with pops and cracks.

"Are you the reason my house is destroyed and my family is dead?" She spoke with a flat voice, as if she were a puppet in the hands of a poor ventriloquist.

Yet her words broke the dam of shock and grief that froze many Lutians in place. They repeated her questions, outrage and fury burned higher with every voice that joined the chorus.

Lith didn’t know what to say.

For the first time in his life, no lie came to his mind that could explain what had just happened. Anything he would say, no matter if true, false, or something in between, would be of no consolation.

’I need to leave before it’s too late.’ He thought. ’Staying is the cowardly move. I’m an Awakened and a Divine Beast at that. If I let them hit me to vent their rage, they are the only ones who are going to get hurt.

’It would add insult to their already grievous injury.’

The surviving Lutians crowded Lith from every side, their voices quickly rose in an angry din of blame and insults.

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