I can only imagine what anyone nearby was thinking, one of us losing patience produced an aura most could not stomach, the revelation that our mother was abused so horribly by the gods however brought us all to boiling point. In truth we never really understood why father hated them so gravely, why he went to such extremes to oppose them, but we did now.
We were also amazed, we always thought him short tempered in our ignorance, but now we knew first-hand how much rage he was actually managing to hold back, he wasn't short tempered at all, just a man who carried the weight of his loved ones suffering.
It was Elira who had left this time, none of us level enough to be able to comfort him, the best we could do was give him space whilst we cooled our heads. Kitra was more shocked than angry but Brim was as wrathful as Tiamuth and I, his sister in law Lia was dear to him, and Unity was his brother who helped raise him, train him, tutor him and saw him through his darkest times.
Tiamuth 's draconic blood was coming to the surface, his eyes were now reptilian and a deep emerald, his body changing as black scaled protrusions burrowed through his skin, but I knew my husband and he would be quickest to recover his composure, the real issue was me.
Magic had gone into the state it learned to adopt when I was a child, avoiding me and ignoring my calls. I want to torch the heavens to avenge my parents suffering, even knowing dad had brought that battle to an end I wanted to rip time itself apart, to go back and fight that war with him even if he never spoke to me again.
My rage was much more selfish than the others, when I acted in anger I only ever done so for my own sake, no wonder he was so worried about it all the time and told magic to never obey me during a tantrum.
I am my parent's daughter though and I don't need magic to act in anger, I speak to my first nature and begin working on a new embodiment when my sister, husband and uncle realise what I'm doing, and my mind suddenly goes blank.
A back up plan to stop me doing something unforgivable, and whilst I'm certain some might consider cruel or manipulative to have such a measure prepared, I am grateful for it and the calm it brings me. I vent my frustrations in the timeless void of my subconscious mind, never able to fully fall unconscious.
My fury doesn't subside though, I wonder how dad managed to reign himself in so well, how did he cope with holding this bottled up inside listening to everyone tell him he was short tempered and criticise him for acting brashly, how did mum cope with that experience and stay as open and loving as she did, how did they carry their pasts and still have the strength to bare the weight of the world on their shoulders.
"They were amazing." As I spoke into the abyss, my anger finally faded, transmuted into adoration and awe. My senses returned, my mind was allowed to reconnect with my body, and the void was replaced with my childhood bedroom, my dolls and stuffed animals still where I left them, too sentimental to throw them out and no children to inherit them.
How many decades had it been since they last had to contain me? The memory is loose, but I think it's eight or nine now, ninety years later and I still can't control myself. Master always told me I could think of my temper as proof I'm their daughter, now I just felt pathetic, in terms of power I may be unmatched but in terms of willpower I can't even stand thinking about what others have lived through. I sulk to myself in a heap, scarcely managing to not revert to the form of a child again.
Magic returns to me and asks me how I feel, promising me that no one is disappointed in me, but I don't respond. I appreciate the thought, but I want to feel this, I saw the violent world father spoke of, albeit the final years of that time, it felt wrong of me to have taken the freedoms and pleasures I experienced for granted so this moment of self-deprecation can be my penance. I soon feel the need to continue reading father's biography, I owe it to them to read and learn their history so I can begin to truly honour their memory, we all do.
I steel myself, determined now to read the rest with no further intermission to indulge in self-pity. Ready to continue, I pick myself up and make my way back to the study, Elira has yet to return, but I sit and continue reading.
The others are now on guard, ready to confine me again and I was happy knowing they loved me enough to stop me. Mum always used to say "The greatest sign of love there is, is to stop your loved ones crossing their own lines, the moment we accept hypocrisy is the day morality ceases to exist."
Lesson 5
Vengeance and justice are defined by power.
Six weeks after the night we went to the hill, and eight weeks since I destroyed Lia's elevation, I was halfway healed. Lia's parents had put an end to the townspeople's calls to have me punished as someone who had destroyed a divine elevation.
They had spoken to everyone they could and told them the Whole story, from then on, most were happy to accept that, though mostly because my low magic proficiency made them believe that mental manipulation, which the church was trying to accuse me of, was out of my skill set.
The church however remained aggressively opposed to my continued existence.
Having destroyed a divine elevation, I had become an open enemy of believers, and they weren't subtle in their attempts to lead the black sheep to slaughter.
Ten years into the Age of Rebirth on the 34th of Onkris The depths of their hatred were put on full display, a holy man foolishly tried attacking me in broad daylight. Luckily, by that point I possessed strength enough to defend myself, but Master made a point to teach me that those with power earn enemies, not victories with its use.
Dodging his attacks at first, whilst wasting breath asking him to give up and retreat, struggling to honour the olive branch offered to me by the people. Fortunately, that was preserved when Lia tried to intervene and was struck for her efforts. which both placed him fully in the role of aggressor and inspired my attitude to change.
He may have been a holy man, but he must have possessed the luck of the devil, for if it hadn't been for the timely intervention of Master and some guards, I don't know what I would have done, but I made it clear any hand that strikes her would be claimed as compensation.
After watching that scene unfolded most townspeople were quick to back Lia's parents despite my overboard retaliation, but the church grew angered, desperate, and defensive.
No one knew it as the fight unravelled, but that was the start of what would be recorded as the only civil war in Haslon's history.
Over the course of a little over two weeks open brawls had become common, as had vandalism, increasingly violent protests and vigilantism and I was kept under lock and key along with Storyteller at Lia's place, where I was clung to endlessly by the cry-baby.
In truth it wasn't for my sake, everyone said it was, but the truth is simply that they didn't want to admit the people they had called neighbours now wanted them dead. I felt like I was being punished for the opinions of others again and my old habits threatened to return until a missive arrived.
The events reached a point the lord was obligated to step in and stamp out what had devolved into civil war between the clergy and the townspeople, especially since more sinister groups were popping up amidst the chaos, twisting events to rally people to their own separate causes.
One such group was under direction of none other than my dear father who now claimed me kidnapped and had rallied the ignorant fools around him, a fact which would lead to me aiding the guards most eagerly.
We had been summoned to the lord's manor a week later, on the 12th day of Bastel, it had been asked of us stamp out as much of the fires as we could even if only temporary in time between then and the specified date and included a list of ring leaders for me to try and talk down.
I didn't know my father's name from the list of dissidents, but Storyteller recognised it and thought it best to admit when I saw him break a sweat from reading. With that knowledge came a chance to at least partially right the wrong of leaving my siblings to their fate, so with the captain of the guard I returned to the place of my birth.
The guard captain was taken aback by the sight of a still heavily wounded boy pushing his way through a mob of slum dwellers with strength enough to make them fall over one another as I made my way to the piece of filth I called a father.
He was upon a rickety plinth of scrap wood and was in the process of displaying my half-starved elder siblings as he blamed their conditions on the church and nobles.
"See this noble dog? Even their pups think they can do whatever they want." His exclamation cut short and neutralised by my sudden deafening laughter, even as stitches ripped open, I couldn't help myself.
Wiping tears from my eyes I asked magic to turn the ground behind me into something the gathered mob could sit on and ordered them to stay out of family affairs. slightly more cooperative than it had been of late, magic chose to oblige me and as the crowd sat to see where things were heading, my mood shifted and my palpable bloodlust made my father, siblings and everyone, including the Knight captain, shrink.
I jumped onto the shoddy construct before me, having to exert effort as to not make the thing collapse, and simply told him if he moved, I might not be able to resist my urge to end him before I knelt before my terrified sisters. I apologised for not knowing their names and introduced myself, the revelation I was the very son whose kidnapping he used to earn this audience's attention making him even more nervous.
I spoke flatly and void of any emotion as I addressed the two dangerously thin girls. "I won't lie, I have no intention of being a brother, a son or even an acquaintance of yours, but leaving you all here for so long in such conditions was a cruelty you did nothing to earn. Come with me and I'll see you cared for, to pay for my sin you will never need fear anyone again."
Standing up and turning from them, my cold predatory gaze settled on my father, feeling my humanity begin to crumble at the mere sight of him. I offered him a choice between telling everyone gathered the truth, confessing every sin, or suffering my revenge.
I had scarcely finished when the coward began rambling his confession immediately, I had stop him in order to tell the crowd that they are to spread the word that if anyone in the slums causes trouble for the next week, I would wipe it off the map. Introducing myself as the one who destroyed a divine elevation to give my threat credibility, but adding if he tried to cut his confession short, they were welcome to kill my now sobbing father.
With that matter settled, I healed and then took my sisters to the guard captain and asked them if mother and the others were still around. when they confirmed they were, my eldest sister tried to talk to me beyond that, but I simply ignored her as I struggled to not hate them instinctively, as we made our way to their home.
We arrived to find my mother unconscious, the reek of crude alcohol clinging to the shanty building itself. I told the guard captain to send some men to arrest the unconscious woman for child abuse and, if he still lives, my father later but for now collect my siblings and honour my promise to them.
I don't know what made me believe so, but I got the sense I could trust the stranger. That he lived by some code and everything he saw of their condition was contradicting that to the point he couldn't refuse me.
I found out the child they had after me didn't survive, as my remaining siblings kneel at a patch of dirt which must have been their grave, I second guessed letting my parents live.
Leaving I paused a few steps away, turning around and beginning to take of my shirt so I could warn them this wasn't the end. "I know you're angry and hurt by everything that has happened to you, but before you try to act on it you should see the consequences." Removing my shirt I let them take in the sight of my ruined body, blood saturated bandages and torn stitches on full display.
The next week passed, and we had successfully done our part at quelling the uproar, albeit sometimes heavy handedly on my part, and we found ourselves escorted to the ruling noble's home, Lord wasn't a title granted to descendants of nobility, it was an elevation which demanded standing.
In his manor, a lord was absolute; no lie could be told, even of omission, no treachery possible, to put it simply a lord in his manor was as a god in heaven, a thought that made me most reluctant given my recent encounter with such a being.
The escort contingent that was sent for us was also growing nervous as I began to show my discomfort, the guard captain clearly having informed his men of my display in the slums.
Storyteller tried in vain to settle me, but to no avail until Lia jumped on my back and demanded I carry her, at which point he just seemed defeated as I accepted my fate and wrapped my arms under her legs to support her.
His feeling of being defeated growing deeper as she asked occasionally if I could manage and despite becoming even more dour when I stated that it wasn't like I had a choice, I still chose to bear the burden rather than discard it.
The guard captain started to laugh openly, commenting on how much control the girl seemed to have over me and earning a brief glare, but I couldn't deny it, so I just challenged him to look into her eyes and bring himself to deny her the next time she makes a request of him.
The others stopped dead in their tracks at my words, and when I noticed and stopped myself, I turned to ask them why they had paused but their expressions were alien to me. Turning to ask Lia if she understood, I noticed her usually pale cheeks were now flushed red and I reached my limit of social mystery, choosing instead to storm ahead to the manor alone. Lia's increasingly tight grip on my shoulders threatening to rip out my stitches for the tenth time.
When we made it to the lord's door unaccompanied however, my mistake at leaving them behind was exposed. The guards stationed there drew weapons at my approach, tensions were rising quickly even as I insisted I was invited there, but the lack of escort was understandably suspicious and my reason so bizarre I didn't understand either.
I let Lia down with the care one would a babe and made ready to defend myself. Halting by the loud metallic clattering as the guard captain having removed greaves and pauldrons to move quicker appeared, waving his arms and shouting. The sight of him further raising their suspicions of me until he came to a stop and ordered them to stow arms and repeated the same bizarre explanation I gave them.
Baffled as they were the men followed orders, stowing their weapons and saluting, whilst Lia reinstated herself as my burden.
As the guard captain led the two of us inside, I tried to enquire as to why they fell so far behind, but all he had to say as he directed us to a lounge chair for us to wait on, was that he didn't wish to breach the confidences he had been made privy to in our absence.
The irksome answer frustrated me as I let Lia down on the soft cushions, which threatened to swallow her, and sat myself on the floor lest any wounds had begun leaking.
The guard captain asked me why she clung to me so constantly, but the mystery of that habit was beyond me so I just replied that it was most likely out of security since she knew I could free her if the divine tried to enthral her again. The man laughed thunderously as he expressed his joy at seeing the young man, he'd heard had such a trying life still maintained some innocence, apologising and insisting he meant no offence when my temper got the best of me and I replied bluntly I would not suffer mockery.
The others joined a few minutes later, and as soon as Storyteller, Master and Lia's parents arrived, someone arrived to welcome us and escort us to the room the meeting would be held in.
I would have waited outside had I knowledge of what was about to happen, the air of diplomacy lasting only as long as introductions before giving way to one of despair and tragedy. After that we were all thick with choler, Bile, or both as the result of the Lord's first relevant question.
"Now Lia, under my power I must ask you, tell me everything in regard to your elevation and why Unity destroyed it."
I'll never forget how Lia cried that day or her ineffective attempts to silence herself, eyes locked on me apologetically but unable to stop under the lord's power, who himself was so disgusted at what he was hearing.
He found he was rendered unable to rescind his command as soon as he would have liked, and only snapped out of his disgust when I barked at him to silence her. She clung to me after that, apologizing over and over for wrongs she never committed. Needlessly saying she never meant to lie to me, even though I never believed she had. I stroked her head and tried to soothe her, in the same way her mum taught me to do, usually the best way to stop the waterworks, but it didn't work that time, her tears flowed ceaselessly and stalled the conversation until I managed to at least make them do so silently, my glare remaining on the lord for inflicting her with such grief.
"I'll have that man executed, for this." He had the air of anger about him, but even whilst calling for some paper and a quill, he hid it masterfully behind a veil of being bound by duty. Showing it only when I argued he couldn't kill a man for a crime that was merely a potential eventuality at that stage.
Seeing his determination to see the man punished in some way I purposed instead the man be stripped of his nobility and banned from owning property. He halted his writing a moment as he considered my suggestion but continued writing without a verbal response, irritating me as I was unaccustomed to such a neutral response.
When finished, he spans the paper and slid it towards me, claiming it only fair my opinion was considered as these new laws were ultimately my doing. A responsibility I didn't enjoy was being forced on me, but I needed to stay calm unless I upset Lia further, reading the decrees they seemed legitimately fair, but I immediately tore the seventh from the sheet and asked magic to burn it.
Remaining as calm as possible I tell Lord if he tries to impose nobility on me it would take more than Lia to stop me leaving, at least I intended to, but I caught myself wondering why I was so focused on her.
In the end I simply stated that I would leave without permission before accepting noble status. Raising his hands in defeat and telling me the pyrotechnics were overkill he counter offered a rewording stating the victim of severe mistreatment at noble hands would be given the option of claiming their estate, a reduced one-time monetary payment, or a mutually agreeable request of Lord. Agreeing immediately, I seized the opportunity to state my intent to leave, metaphorically stunning the adults and resulting in Lia's hands digging into me with strength belying her stature.
After prying Lia's fingers off of me and raising my shirt to find reopened wounds once again, I told her not to worry, that I wouldn't be leaving for years yet, then she and her parents moved to another room when that failed to stop the new wave of ear-piercing cries, along with Master and Storyteller.
The room to ourselves lord sent for the nobleman who was to be stripped off his status and we spent the few hours the noble took to show up, discussing the matter. Ultimately, he only conceded when I expressed that I'm only asking for permission as a formality. I had no intention of staying here beyond the age of fifteen regardless, and at full strength I was beyond their ability to stop.
The next subject was that of the nobleman's son whom I had gravely injured, I revealed I intended to heal him, leaving his punishment solely in the Lord's hands beyond that, thankfully he was unwilling to execute a minor, and after a moment to think, he told me of a nation to the north-east conducting experimental treatments on damaged psyche.
Upon their arrival, the man who had so recently revaluated me entered backwards, before joining us at the mediation table and sitting at the edge with his son.
The boy was in a chair with wheels for mobility and covered in bandages almost completely. I felt a little sick seeing what I had done to him, my memory was hazy from that night, so this was essentially my first time witnessing my horrific handiwork. They weren't opposite me and the lord, a breach of etiquette tolerated so his son could be next to him, a circumstance that I expected a raise in volume to accommodate, but when the man next to me spoke, it was with ferocity I'd have considered him incapable of seconds ago.
The rage I had sensed was no longer passive. He demanded to know if he had already started scheming the events of the future he had been enlightened to, but as the terrified noble shrank and stammered all I noted was the peculiarity of being the calmest one around for a change.
Managing to only respond with a dazed question of his own, he nervously began looking between us. "Don't. You. Dare. Lay your fowl gaze upon this boy." I was shocked to hear the venom in the lord's words, I hadn't considered him capable of the bloodlust he now emitted. The noble shrank and I thought the remainder of the conversation might proceed with more civility, until Lord had finished speaking of the future we faced and then forced the man to hear of his son's transgressions against me the night he received his injuries. Sparing no detail as the spoke of him and his friends torturing me with both tools and magic.
I was shocked that the noble was able to push through the fear enough to try and imply that it must be a fabrication. That however was the last straw and brought the little remaining patience the lord had to an end, as the Lord raged at being contradicted, especially in his own manor. His presence exploded, causing my instincts to kick in and I found myself standing a few feet away from where I had been sat a moment ago. Face to face with my ignorance, how foolish I was to challenge the gods when I could scarcely comprehend the extent of power in this man's hands.
The nobleman broke down, crying and speechless, throwing disgusted glances at the boy next to him, hating the lord for revealing what he done, wishing I never existed. Unity was clear.
I started to feel sick; I blurted out that this was all pointless which brought the lord to reason and allowed him the chance to regain composure. I continued, in no hurry to see them do so, telling them that I would just do as I intended and moved toward the boy in the chair, the nobleman moved to halt my approach, but the lord instead stopped him.
I asked Magic to right this dire wrong, and it happily obliged me, almost proud to see me do the right thing for a change, to see me grow. The two men were stunned as the boy began twitching almost immediately, the first movement the body before me had made in years. Even his hair began to return to how it was that night, the scared flesh of his scalp returning to health and the few tufts of hair that remained falling to make room for a healthy head of it. Apparently though, Magic repaired him too well, and before anyone had realised he was able to move, he stood and punched me, ripping bandages from his face and torso. It didn't hurt, but the surprise put me off balance and I fell to the floor.
As I moved from laying on my back, ready to push myself up, the boy had already started raving about how a commoner like me should know my place, I sighed and turned my eyes to him as Lord offered me the chance to choose his punishment again. My reply simply that what we had previously discussed would suffice.
I pushed myself to my feet, noting aloud that apparently no amount of pain will teach him his errors, the treatment option is his only hope. Outraged at my comment he swung for me again, trying desperately not to repeat my mistake I used as little effort as possible as I deflected the swing with a back handed slap but there was still a harsh pop as his wrist was disjointed, so I asked magic to concuss him long enough for guards to shackle him. The room shook as a shockwave resonated through him. chandeliers, portraits, candelabras rattled as the pulse dispersed into the walls, floor and ceiling.
Guards entered and shackled him, taking him to a holding cell until arrangements could be made as his father stared at me slack jawed. When I removed my shirt to inspect myself for freshly opened wounds, of which I had many, I noticed the nobleman cover his face at the sight of my increasingly soiled bandages. I grinned as I told him it's too late for pity, to which he inquired as to why I didn't simply heal myself. Growing tired and blunt I yawned before explaining the difference between me and his son is that I accept when I have done wrong and suffer the consequences of those actions.
Noting my increasing discomfort the lord summoned someone to change my bandages while we discussed the final matters, distressing them both as my full range of injuries is exposed. Lord continues by stating it was now time for the nobles sentencing, now more sombre than angry, he began by listing the crimes for which this punishment was due, then informed him of the punishment we had also discussed earlier.
Before the guards removed him from the room, Lord also made sure to make him aware of the fact I denounced him being executed and refused taking his title as compensation. The knowledge seemed to visibly rob him of what little pride he had left, I realised he was broken completely and used unity to confirm my suspicion that he intended to take his own life.
I shook my head as I recited the old adage of apples not falling far from the tree and to their confused expressions, I recommend an additional imposition, that being he continues his work revaluating, residing in the manor under the Lord's watchful eye so he can't cut his sentencing short.
His expression soured as he realised I had seen through him and Lord nodded in agreement to the proposition. Business settled I was given leave to return home, and Lord bid me farewell as he asked that I send Lia's father in to speak next and recommended I take Lia home so she could rest.
My exhaustion was weighing on me, so with that in mind, I decided to ask Lia's mum to take her home instead. When I reached the waiting room however I found they were ahead of me and Lia and her mum had left earlier, Master playing escort for them in case there was any immediate backlash.
Storyteller was silent, and so was I, we knew how much things would change after this, we even suspected the church might defy the lord and continue to target me anyway. They aren't bound by the lords will and acted in unpredictable ways, or rather in ways I couldn't understand. As we walked down the long path from the manor to the town, flanked by beautiful gardens to either side, I told Storyteller I was going to stop at Lia's home and try to reinforce the building with magic so it would no longer require guards.
After a long silent reply to my statement, Storyteller only replied with a question, asking me what I intended to do with her. Naive to a fault I simply replied with my previous statement about reinforcing her home, for which I earned an exasperated and melodramatic response about a man trying to get blood from a stone.
I barked at him for being vague and mocking me for not understanding, but his demeanour changed, and he asked me plainly if I intended to take Lia with me when I left. I adamantly insisted that wasn't an option, but he called me a fool, asking me if I freed her from her fate just to decide for myself what she does and doesn't do. Growing angry, I insisted that wasn't my intention, admitting that I still harboured too much hate and anger at the world to be responsible for anyone else, earning a laugh that was obviously at my expense before telling me that I've been oblivious to the fact I have taken plenty of responsibility for her already.
The revelation made me feel both foolish and nauseous, but I would be even more foolish to deny what I knew was true. Asking why dealing with people has to be so difficult, my father grabbed me and told me that of my many talents, socialising and empathy was most certainly absent from the list. My follow up question about whether or not that was supposed to be as back handed as it was, remained unanswered as he simply told me life was going to be harder from now on.
Three hours later, the town guard marched en masse, and whilst Lord had told us that he saw them as the aggressors in this case, we would have never believed this outcome. We had expected an official announcement that any hostility from the church would be met with conviction, but what happened was the complete banishment of any who refused to renounce the gods.
The church surrounded and kept under watch, a temporary prison for those who refused to abandon their faith until transport and provisions could be provided for them to be humanely evicted from town. Criers were also dispatched to officially announce that the Lord saw me as an ally and that I would be assisting him in bringing any continued conflict to an end, which was news to us all.
Everyone was surprised, but I saw his reasoning, everyone knew my strength and no one but the church would knowingly risk a confrontation.