Scarlett didn’t fare much better. Darkness magic was slow, but she was still close to its source and she was wounded. She managed to only partially dodge the incoming attack and crashed to the ground with half of her side destroyed by Xacha’s spell. She gritted her teeth to not lose consciousness and used Invigoration to escape from the jaws of death. After she recovered from her wounds, Scarlett was surprised to notice that she was still in her pseudo Guardian form. She waited to be back to her peak condition before taking the Eyes of Menadion out of her pocket dimension. Much to her surprise, the artifact could still perceive Xacha’s life force running under the Gheluan forest in the form of an intricate network of hybrid tentacles. They were all converging into the cave from which the mad Nue had emerged. Scarlett stepped inside the cave, finally able to make sense of Xacha’s ramblings about her offspring. In the middle of the cave, inside two gelatinous pods, there were the remains of two smalls Nues. The tendrils that Scarlett had seen and fought up to that point were coming out of the pods, providing the cubs with a constant flow of nutrients. They were the size of ten years old child, but they were skeletal and on the verge of death. Up until Xacha’s death, the tendrils had harvested life force just to keep them alive. Thanks to her pince-nez, Scarlett could see a black core inside their bodies. Somehow it had taken a deep root, to the point that without it the small Nues wouldn’t be able to survive. "They must have been infected during the monster outbreak." Scarlett pondered. "Judging from what I see, the Abomination must have been killed before its seeds could properly develop. Once the creature died, Xacha’s children must have started to slowly die due to the black core fading. "Emperor Beasts have an amazing vitality, but in this case, it would be a curse. It must have taken them weeks to get to this point. Weeks during which Xacha could only watch them suffer. It must have driven her mad." Scarlett was really close to the truth. The creatures involved in the so called monster outbreak weren’t actually monsters, just Abominations hidden behind a meat mask. One of them managed to spread its disease to some of the creatures of the forest before being captured. When Xacha had realized her cubs were among the victims, she had begged the Lord of the Forest, Myshar the Unicorn, to spare the Abomination. To keep it alive long enough for her to safely extract the black cores or at least find a cure for her cubs’ condition. Yet Myshar refused. She knew that any attempt would have been pointless. That a corrupted core was beyond saving and that leaving the Abomination alive would only mean giving it more chances of escape. Xacha wasn’t the only one struck by that tragedy, but unlike the other parents, she couldn’t find the strength to put her down her small, innocent pups. She had used all the ingredients she had, all the artifacts she possessed just to buy them one more week, then one more day until she struggled to prolong their lives of even one second. It was then that her mind had snapped, making her turn to Forbidden magic to solve her problem. The other beasts called it madness, but to Xacha it was an epiphany. If they needed the black core to survive, then she only needed to find a way to make it thrive. The answer was so simple that she almost couldn’t believe it. Her research needed test subjects, but luckily the forest was full of life. When Myshar had realized what was happening, it was too late. Xacha’s hybrid form fueled by her madness and countless sacrifices proved to be too strong for her. Scarlett watched at the pods and at their content. Her heart ached at the idea of killing such helpless creatures, but she had no choice. Even if she managed to somehow stabilize their condition, those hybrids were cursed to experience the worst of their three worlds. Like an undead, they would never physically grow. Like an Abomination, they would live in perpetual hunger. Last, but not least, it was only a matter of time before they regained some form of consciousness and either committed suicide or fell into desperation once they understood how cruel their destiny was. Through the gel of the pods, Scarlett could hear their small voices moaning in pain, their bodies squirming now that Xacha’s death had stopped the tendrils from working. She had no idea what kind of magic the Nue had used, and the young creatures were in agony. A wave of her pawn released enough darkness magic to shut down their pain receptors before giving them a peaceful death. They didn’t even notice it, Scarlett made sure to make them fall asleep before putting them out of their misery Only after the last hybrid was dead did the sky clear and the earth cease its trembling. ’Wait, what? Wasn’t the tribulation about killing Xacha but releasing the cubs? Then why did nothing happen when I met Lith? He’s a hybrid too, but Mogar didn’t want me to put him down. Isn’t he supposed the potential Guardian of death or something? Then what am I....’ Her streak of unanswered questions was interrupted by an all too familiar feeling. It was like a stomach-ache, but worse. As if instead of bile, she had to puke molten lava. ’No! Please, not now. I’ve waited for over a hundred years for my core to evolve and it happens now? I’m never coming back to the Gorgon Empire. This place is bad luck!’ Scarlett thought as the impurities accumulated inside her body over the years were expelled. The pain she was experiencing made the fight with Xacha look like a pleasant experience. *** A few weeks had passed since Lith had resumed his duty as a Ranger. Lutia was already free from snow and bad weather, whereas spring had yet to reach the Kellar region. After the events of Zantia, everything became quiet. Despite the chilly winds and black clouds on the horizon, the northmen could see all the signs that announced the end of winter. Days would pass now between snowstorms and the bad weather would last hours instead of days. Soon the roads would be open again and supplies wouldn’t be an issue anymore. Rich and poor alike could plan their tomorrow without fear, so there wasn’t much for Lith to do. He had often the time to visit Kamila and his parents, but most importantly, he had received full access to some of the most important libraries of the Kingdom. It allowed him to gain a complete understanding of the basics of higher Necromancy and to learn all about the known undead species. "Fuck." Lith said with a dejected voice, drawing on himself several looks of reproach. He had searched for years for that knowledge, working day and night for the Griffon Kingdom to get his hands on everything known to mankind about undeath. It was a vital step in his research to escape from the cycle of death of rebirth that had worried him since his reincarnation on Mogar. Like if often happens, the answers he got weren’t the ones he had hoped for.