3014 Story of My Life (Part 2)
Lith held the toddlers in his arms and wings while the triplets sat on comfortable bean bags of Earth's design.
He was telling them stories and the Forge was just for ambiance. The Forgemastering circles were lit up doing nothing and small mana crystals of different colors sprouted from the ground and walls, providing light and warmth.
The floor was covered in tall grass from the Garden and the mystical plants that Raaz grew spread their sweet scent. Small wisps of light shaped like fairies danced between the flowers and disappeared if touched.
'Good gods, it looks like an enchanted cave like the ones in the fairy tales I read as a child.' Kamila thought.
'Correction. It doesn't look like an enchanted cave. It is an enchanted cave. Now listen.' Solus let go of Kamila's arm and mouth.
In the story Lith was telling, Raaz was depicted as an earth god who took care of the land and the animals, ensuring a bountiful harvest every year. Elina was the goddess of fertility who nurtured life and taught morals to humans.
Together they made their children into good workers and good people.
Lith used holograms to show their actions and the passage of time.
Air magic gave every creature a different voice while the other elements were for special effects. The story taught the kids how even the humblest job was the foundation of the wealth they enjoyed.
Then, he told them the story of the travels of Derk McCoy, a man who couldn't die but could still experience pain. Of course, being a fairy tale, the pain was mostly emotional, seeing the land change and the people he knew pass away while he remained the same.
It was an age-appropriate and doctored version of Lith's struggles, to teach the children that power makes no one perfect. Derek was depicted as a powerful but flawed man and the kids sometimes booed at his blatant mistakes and cheered when he redeemed himself.
After that, it was the turn of the story of Elphyn, the Forgemaster who had gained everything she wanted and lost everything she loved. Just like for Derek, it was the story of Solus' first life but devoid of tragedies and grief.
Threin left Menadion because they argued which also led Elphyn to cut contact with her. In the story, Elphyn reached the pinnacle of her craft, got herself a mage tower and great fame, but due to her egotistical behavior she ended up with no one to celebrate her success.
Lith glossed over Solus' past flings and the constant quarrels with Menadion, but left Elphyn's condescending attitude toward her fellow apprentices and her obsession with her work.
The moral was that you can't get everything you want. Elphyn chose herself over everything else, sacrificing her relationships in the pursuit of magic.
Since it was a story, in the end, Elphyn realized her mistakes and after finding her parents, she helped them get back together.
'Gods if I like happy endings.' Solus sniffled.
Kamila was surprised that, among the many stories, there was no one about Lith's current life. He kept the attention of the kids with special effects, altered the appearance of the Forge to suit the fairy tale he was telling, and gave them plenty of snacks.
When they were engrossed in the narration, Lith switched the sweets with fruit slices and the triplets ate them without noticing.
The last story turned out to be the most shocking of them all.
It was about Kamila the Constable, who traveled undercover throughout the Kingdom to expose crime and evil-doers. In the story, she wore a ridiculous long black cape with a deep hood that looked cool on paper but would stick out like a sore thumb in real life.
There was no need for investigations or crime lab analysis. She would always encounter innocents crying for help and catch bad guys in the act, no matter how serious or unplausible the crime was.
She only had to drop the cape to reveal her uniform and show her badge to have the bad guys grovel on the ground for mercy.
Kamila couldn't help but laugh at the silliness of the story and how the kids took it seriously instead.
"Yet her greatest enemy waited for her right in her office. It was him the evil overlord Paperwork." The children gasped as the hologram of a pile of documents with a mantle and a mean expression took the form of a Hydra.
"No matter how many forms she filled, more would come for each crime she solved. Paperwork could only be contained, never beaten."
"Isn't that a pointless fight, Uncle Lith?" Falco asked. "Why does she care?"
"Because if she doesn't do her job, innocents stay in jail and bad guys get released." Lith said. "People like your aunt Kamila and your grandfather Raaz struggle in silence.
"Even if no one sings their praise, without people like Grampa there would be no food on your table and without people like your aunt, the streets wouldn't be safe."
The kids nodded and Elysia grinned with pride even though she had no idea what they were talking about except that they were praising her mother.
Kamila covered her own mouth since it was her turn to sniffle.
'Does he do this often?' She asked.
'Every time it's his turn to take care of the kids.' Solus replied. 'I know I shouldn't eavesdrop, but I end up dropping whatever I'm doing and listening to the stories from a corner.
'The last time it was about Rena, Tista, Phloria, and Yurial. I always cry when he tells my story.'
'If this has been going on for a while now, why didn't you tell me sooner?' Kamila felt annoyed for being left out.
'Because what we are doing is wrong and because I liked to consider it my thing.' Solus's cheeks flushed.
"Uncle Lith, is this how you met Auntie Kami?" Teryon asked. "Did you two work together on a crime and fall in love?"
"No, no." Lith dismissed the idea as preposterous even as a fairy tale. "This is now. Back then, your aunt was a data analyst and I was a bold lone Ranger."
The few details were enough to arouse the crowd's interest and ask for the full story.
"Fine. Elysia, Valeron, this is how I met your mother…"
'Gods, no!' Kamila didn't consider their romance to be age-appropriate from the start to the circumstance of her marriage proposal.
There were so many parts that she would have liked to be skipped that she'd rather have the kids believe she and Lith had married at first sight.
'Gods, yes.' Solus laughed at her expense.
"Dada?" Valeron the second tugged at Lith's arm, using Dragon scales to convey a message too complex for him to express it with words.
"Yes, I know I'm not your father, Valeron. Yet Jormun entrusted you to me and until he returns, I'll be your dad. You are part of the family, son. Get used to it."
The word son transmitted by the Dragon scales hit the baby boy like a punch to the gut. He started to cry, clinging to Lith's chest while his small wings wrapped around the arm holding him.
