Chapter 4254: Frozen in Time (Part 2)

Solus wiped her tears and nodded, blowing her nose in a handkerchief.

Lith and Solus Warped to the living room, where everyone was waiting for them. The Ernas were there as well, and with Ryla’s help, they were doing their best to support their friends.

Yet there was little anyone could do.

Aside from Falco, who was proud of himself for his ingenious use of the Scalewalker armor, everyone else seemed to be back from their own funeral.

Raaz couldn’t forgive himself for his helplessness. For once again failing to protect his family when they needed him the most. Elina fared much worse than he did. She hated herself for letting go of Surin.

Her whole body churned in self-loathing at the idea that she hadn’t even noticed that her baby girl was missing until the Awakened had run away, and she had broken free from the fear their aura had struck into her.

Aran and Leria’s shock was of a different breed altogether.

Aran was still replaying his fight in his head, cursing his stupidity for choosing a blunt weapon instead of a blade as his construct. The young boy wished he were as strong and ruthless as Onyx.

If not for her, the evil Awakened would have kidnapped him and hurt his family, and Aran believed it would have been all his fault

Leria’s mind was trapped in the moment she had unleashed her Light Mastery spell as well, yet her mind focused on her success rather than her failure.

Abominus had killed for her. He had killed because of her.

If not for Leria’s spell, the woman would still be alive. The snap of the Awakened’s neck echoed in her thoughts, followed by the blood gushing out of the wound all over the floor.

Nobody had ever told Leria that a human body could bleed so much.

Teryon was still shaken and clung to her father’s chest as if he were a lifeboat in the middle of a storm, yet Senton didn’t feel very confident about his ability to protect his children.

Lilia and Leran were awfully quiet. So quiet that Selia would have been worried sick about them if her husband didn’t already require her full attention.

Protector had taken every blow, every wound, and the strain that his children’s young bodies had suffered during the fight.

Even with his powerful Awakened physique and Selia healing him with Invigoration during the battle, he remained conscious only out of sheer grit and willpower. Protector could feel the deep emotional scars the fight had left on his children’s psyches.

Yet he was also aware of how guilty they felt for putting his life into danger. Their reckless behavior had not only almost cost their lives but had also endangered their father’s.

He hadn’t hesitated to pay the price for their actions despite his cracked life force. Lilia and Leran wouldn’t rest or relax until they were certain that Ryman was alright.

The one who fared the worst, however, was Lenart.

He sat alone in a corner as the memory of the Byk who had died for him flashed in front of his eyes. The young boy kept hearing Makhari ordering him to run away, and wondered if the Byk would still be alive if he had been brave enough to do it.

"I’m really sorry." Lith said the moment he walked through the door, drawing all eyes on him. "This is all my fault."

"Please, not this again." Raaz sighed. "You did nothing wrong."

"I underestimated the impact that revealing my Indech form was bound to have." Lith dismissed his father’s objection with a wave of his hand. "I didn’t consider that by giving hope for evolution to mankind, many among them wouldn’t be willing to wait until our bloodline spreads.

"I arrogantly assumed that I could deal with any problem that would arise because Tista and I are Divine Beasts, while Ely and Ral are under the protection of the Guardians. I was wrong. Everyone who carries my blood is a potential target."

"Is that why they called Dad a C-lister?" Aran asked. "Because he only has half of our blood?"

"A C-lister?" Lith asked. "I have no idea what you are talking about, Little Brother."

"Those Awakened tried to kidnap only our and Rena’s children." Raaz sighed. "They didn’t hesitate to kill anyone else. They called me a C-lister and said I wasn’t worth the trouble of keeping me alive."

"Yes, sure, you can share everything with a mind link, but I need Lith first." Selia chimed as she grabbed Lith’s hand and shared with him the details of Protector’s condition. ’He needs the Infirmary, and he needs it yesterday. Please.’

"Quylla, Faluel, do you mind checking on him for me?" Lith replied, Warping the Fastarrows inside the tower and Ryman inside the crystal tank of the Infirmary.

"Sure." Quylla left the room, avoiding her parents from asking where Lith was going after his family had suffered such a brutal experience.

"If you don’t need me..."

"Please, stay." Elina had already tried to take Surin from the Hydra’s arms, and she always ended up crying.

The baby girl was simply terrified of the experience and felt her mother’s fear, whereas Faluel exuded an aura of confidence that reassured Surin. Elina’s guilty conscience, however, assumed that the baby girl blamed her.

’Surin is a smart baby. She must have understood what a useless mother I am.’ She thought. ’I didn’t lift a finger when the Awakened took her away, while Faluel rescued her. It’s no wonder Surin prefers to stay with her.’

There was so much desperation in the room that Orion scratched his head in embarrassment every other minute, and Lith didn’t know what to do.

He needed the mind link to understand what he was dealing with, but he didn’t want to force the members of his family to relive their trauma so soon.

"I say we’ve had enough emotions for today." Morok entered the room with a cart filled with hot tea, oven-fresh pastries, and chocolate ice cream. "Here, drink this."

He had arranged the tea cups on two different levels and held a woman’s hand for a full second before giving her one. The grownups’ ’tea’ was actually a cocktail of alcohol, a mild sedative, and a few drops of actual tea.

Morok had no idea if any of them was pregnant and couldn’t afford mistakes, so he checked them with his breathing technique, Foresight.

The hot chocolate for the kids, instead, was chocolate powder mixed with half milk and half tranquilizer potion. Everyone was so shaken that they barely registered the weird taste of their beverages as they sipped them.

"Here, son." Raaz extended his hand to Lith. "I’ll show you everything that happened at Zekell’s. It should be enough."

Fear and shame battled inside Raaz’s heart for dominance, yet his sense of duty towards his family beat them both into submission.

Lith indeed saw everything that had happened at the Proudhammer house, but only until Raaz had been struck down. At that point, pain and a wounded eye clouded most of Raaz’s memories, turning them into a blurry mess.

"Thanks, Dad." Lith didn’t let go of his father’s hand and shook it as he would to a fellow warrior.

Raaz had done everything he could with the little he had, and Lith expressed how proud he was of his father via the mind link.

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