Supreme Magus

Chapter 4191: Second Chance (Part 2)

Then, Lith turned into his Abomination form, and Raldarak followed suit. His skin turned a shiny black akin to polished obsidian, and his eyes white. Two sets of membranous wings formed on his back, and he wrapped them around himself like a blanket.

Blue flames burst from his head and wreathed his body, but they carried no heat. Quite the contrary, they were cold to the touch.

’Whatever this fire is, it doesn’t behave like Scourge Flames.’ Lith examined the fire shrouding his son with his mystical eyes. ’There is no malice in Ral’s flames. No pain.

’These blue flames seem to be made of pure death force and world energy. Ral is burning no soul to fuel them.’

Before Kamila could get worried, Lith shapeshifted into his Indech form.

Raldarak’s skin turned copper-red, and a set of stumpy, featherless wings popped on his back. No new eyes opened, but since the same happened with Elysia, Lith didn’t worry about it.

"Our little man really is perfect." Lith nodded. "You did a magnificent job, Kami. Now, for the closing act..."

Lith shapeshifted into his Tiamat form, quickly imitated by Raldarak. The baby boy’s body was now covered in pitch-black scales. Small horns protruded from his forehead, and a short tail from the small of his back.

Once Raldarak opened his eyes and there were still only two of them, Lith sighed in relief.

"No surprises this time." Yet when he raised his head to look at his wife, he noticed that everyone else had their eyes wide and their mouth agape.

"What are you staring at?" Only when Lith turned Raldarak around did he notice there were three sets of wings on his back.

The uppermost was membranous, but not upside-down like Lith’s. The lowermost wings were featherless stumps of pink flesh identical to those Ral had displayed as an Indech and a Voidfeather Dragon.

The middle set, however, was a pair of pristine white membranous wings made of pure energy.

"Farm me sideways!" Lith blurted out, saved only by the Guardians’ always watchful presence. "Discovering my Indech form and Kami tapping into Raldarak’s must have prevented his human life force from atrophying.

"This little imp has no problem keeping his Indech wings on. My only question is, why are there no black energy feathers covering his wings? Does he suffer from some form of elemental imbalance?"

"Silly Featherling." Salaark chuckled. "I would be offended by your allegation that I’ve let something bad befall our Ral, if I didn’t know that any parent in your shoes would be as worried as you.

"Kami, Lith, you have nothing to worry about. Ral misses his energy feathers for the same reason he misses all his other feathers. He’s a newborn, and his body needs time to grow and develop.

"Right now, his energy wings are barely a light show and don’t need containment. Forming the feathers so early would just drain the little strength he has. Give him time."

"Thanks, Grandma." Lith and Kamila said in unison, sighing in relief. "Who’s next?"

"Me! Me! Me!" Solus jumped while waving her arms as if Lith was far away instead of just a few meters.

"One healthy baby, coming right up." Lith shapeshifted back into his human form and pulled the baby boy away from his body, only for Raldarak to grab at his clothes. "Don’t worry, Ral, I’m not going anyw-"

It was then that Lith noticed that his son had Carl’s eyes. The color didn’t match, and neither did its shape, since the baby boy didn’t share a single drop of blood with Lith’s Earth brother.

Yet Raldarak looked at Lith with the same eyes as Carl did in Derek’s earliest memories. He was hopeful, scared, and desperately looking for protection.

Lith felt the baby boy’s fear even without the Dragon Scales and brought Raldarak back to his chest, holding him tight.

’I won’t let you down again.’ Something in Lith’s gut tightened as the baby boy’s expression relaxed. ’Now, I have the power and the means to protect you. I swear that this time, I won’t let anyone harm you. You will not spend your life in fear!’

Lith wrapped his arms around the baby boy and doubled over, as if to protect him from an invisible enemy.

If Elysia was his opportunity to turn a new page and start over, Raldarak was Lith’s second chance. His second chance to make up for Carl, Yurial, Elfiam, and all those he had failed to save in the past.

To forge a different ending to an all too familiar painful story.

A primal roar rose from Lith’s chest and erupted from his mouth, generating a sudden gust of wind strong enough to push Solus back. He refused to let go of the baby.

To give to any of Lith’s many enemies an opportunity to hurt his son, his brother, his friend.

Lith roared again and shapeshifted into his Tiamat form, growing to his full size. Salaark used dimensional magic to stretch the room enough to contain the 30 meters (100’) tall colossus, but didn’t need to protect the others.

Small barriers enveloped all those in the room, preventing the roar from bursting their eardrums and sending them crashing against the walls. Even in his rage, Lith protected everyone just as he protected Raldarak.

His mind was clear, and his fury was cold, aimed solely against those who might try taking the baby boy away from him.

Lith roared a third time, generating a silvery-black pillar from his body that resonated with Raldarak and with Elysia, who was in the adjacent room.

Each one of the babies emitted a smaller pillar of light as they shapeshifted into Tiamats as well, their energy becoming one with their father’s.

"Is this another Demon Dirge?" Raaz asked as the light spread to the rest of the Mansion and then farther and farther away. "It feels different from the last time. I-"

The sound of many eggs cracking at the same time cut him short.

"What was that?" Raaz asked.

"That." Senton conjured a mirror of water, revealing that Raaz now had two wings on his back, covered in both black and white feathers.

Raaz stared at his own eyes in disbelief as they blazed with elemental mana. When he grabbed the ice mirror to take a better look at himself, he noticed that his fingers now ended with talons instead of nails.

"Gods, yes!" Aran needed only a thought to shed his human appearance, becoming covered in black scales and growing up to almost 2 meters (6’ 7") tall.

Leria instantly followed, while the triplets needed a second longer. Aran’s Demon form had blue-veined black feathered wings, while Leria’s had red-veined silver feathers.

Falco had yellow-veined black feathered wings, Lenart had black-veined silver feathers, and Teryon had red-veined blue ones. The kids grew bone spikes on their spines and heads, but they were too small to call them horns.

"How did you do that and why am I-" Rena’s voice rose into an unintelligible roar as gold-veined black scales covered her body and feathered wings of the same colors unfurled from her back.

Her teeth turned into fangs, and a long tail grew from the small of her back.

Ryla’s wings split into six and turned from physical into pure elemental energy, each one of a different kind.